Tuesday, December 23, 2008

"Matthew's Begats" - Andrew Peterson, 2004 (Contemporary)

Abraham had Isaac
Isaac, he had Jacob
Jacob, he had Judah and his kin
Then Perez and Zerah
Came from Judah's woman, Tamar
Perez, he brought Hezron up
And then came

Aram, then Amminadab
Then Nahshon, who was then the dad of Salmon
Who with Rahab fathered Boaz
Ruth, she married Boaz who had Obed
Who had Jesse
Jesse, he had David who we know as king

David, he had Solomon by dead Uriah's wife
Solomon, well you all know him
He had good old Rehoboam
Followed by Abijah who had Asa
Asa had Jehoshaphat had Joram had Uzziah
Who had Jotham then Ahaz then Hezekiah

Followed by Manasseh who had Amon
Who was a man
Who was father of a good boy named Josiah
Who grandfathered Jehoiachin
Who caused the Babylonian captivity
Because he was a liar

Then he had Shealtiel, who begat Zerubbabel
Who had Abiud who had Eliakim
Eliakim had Azor who had Zadok who had Akim
Akim was the father of Eliud then
He had Eleazar who had Matthan who had Jacob
Now, listen very closely
I don't want to sing this twice
Jacob was the father of Joseph
The husband of Mary
The mother of Christ


I hope you paid very close attention to all of that because there will be a pop quiz at the end of this post...just kidding. Ever notice how whenever some people tell a story it seems like they always have to go back to the Garden Of Eden to tell it? Andrew Peterson's "Matthew's Begats" does exactly that, but fortunately for us he doesn't quite go all the way back, and it only takes him 2 minutes and 12 seconds to do it. This little ditty is taken from the Bible from the book of Matthew, chapter 1.

The purpose of Matthew's Begats is to establish the genealogy of Jesus. If you were to flip through the Bible randomly, you would notice that any time a person is introduced as a character in a story, we are told (at least) who his father and grandfather were. Many of these ancestry reports also name the person's mother, and quite often the country from which the character's family came from. While these can sometimes be quite lengthy and boring, they do serve a real, historical purpose.

The Older Testament of the Bible was originally written in Hebrew, which is the language of the Nation of Israel. Historically, nearly all of the people groups of the Middle East were oral cultures, which means that they didn't write things down a lot. They simply passed their people's history from person to person and generation to generation by word of mouth such as telling stories and singing songs. As is true with all oral cultures, because of the nature of informational preservation being "the norm", very little information was lost or altered. While we in the West might find such communication inconsistent and unreliable, for these cultures it was a way of life. So, in the same way that we preserve facts in writing with little alteration is the identical mechanism for which oral cultures preserve facts...the only difference is in the medium.

In the Israelite culture, since there were very few written records (including family trees), the characters in the various stories were given brief genealogical introductions so as to establish credibility. Family lineages were well known among all the people. If the story character was foreign to the nation, then his or her country of origin was given as an identifier. All one would have to do, to establish that character's existence, would be to travel to the named geographical area, speak the character's lineage, and then watch the locals' heads nod up and down. So, every time there is a lineage in the Bible, it is to establish that he or she was not a made up character and that he or she really did exist and do the things that were mentioned in the story.

Matthew's Begats are no different. Historically, they establish the existence of Jesus Christ's presence on this earth as a real, honest-to-goodness, flesh-and-blood person. There are virtually no cultures that deny His existence in this capacity. To do so would be unrealistic and silly; no one, acting in any capacity, could ever be in any position to say for certain that a man named Jesus never existed, for along with the "stories" the things He did during His life, what is undisputed is the existence of His followers, their writings, and the unearthed archaeological artifacts.

A good analogy of historical genealogical evidence can be seen if we look at our own surnames. One's surname is usually the unique familial identifier. More weight of importance is given to one's surname than one's first name. In fact, for example, in China, a person's familial name is given before his birth name. Historically, many surnames grew out of of one's occupation. The name "Smith" historically implies that one's family was involved in some sort of craftsman trades work, suggesting that one's ancestor was perhaps a blackSmith or silver Smith. "Wainwright" and "Wright" are derivatives of the term for a wagon repairman. Three guesses what former occupations were perhaps held by founding members of families named "Carpenter" or "Shepherd". Our own surnames can also designate the name of the family's founder. Consider, for example, "Anderson" (the son of Andrew) or "Johnson" (son of John). Surnames were also given to indicate a particular geographic or topographical region from which one's family hailed, like: "Hill", "Ford", and "Woods". Furthermore, while today the surnames rarely have anything to do with these historical indicators, one can generally determine another's nationality simply by the name's appearance, spelling, and pronunciation. Examples are "Lopez" (of Spanish descent), "Jablonski" (of Polish descent...the "ski" gives it away), "Fong" (of Chinese descent), and the dead giveaway of "McDonalds" or "O'Briens" from Ireland. The Begats, however, do not just establish the mere human person of Jesus in history.

There are numerous places in the Bible and throughout other historical records in which the preservation of a single name was of great importance. Genealogies do not only tell us occupation, origin, and attribute. Genealogical records were also historically kept to establish and maintain class and influence. A knight during the Middle Ages had to produce his "patience of nobility", was a record of his family tree proving his higher social class. The nobility (kings, lords, counts, etc.) keep long, lengthy records of their heirs and ancestors in order to maintain their family's occupation of their office and act as identification and evidence of their right to bear such noble offices and titles and to act in their respective official capacities. A noble family heritage also entitled him or her to more respect and privilege.

Again, Matthew's Begats keeps right in step with tradition. However before I demonstrate this, I must go forward from His birth and describe a particular scene surrounding His death.

Jesus came that we might have life and have it more abundantly. He is God. As such, He is and has laws (such as lying, stealing, cheating, etc.). Man breaks those laws a lot. Like on earth, judges cannot ethically carry on intimate relationships with criminals. So it is with God. So mankind has to be punished, just like the courtroom criminal. But no matter what Man does, he conviction cannot be undone. Just like our earthly laws, once a felon, always a felon. As with our earthly laws, a penalty must be paid. The Bible teaches us that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the standard of God. So, we will all one day stand before the Great Judge, each one of us (including me) with a mountain of sin penalties from our breaking of God's laws. Just like on earth, "not getting caught" doesn't mean the crime wasn't committed, and the passage of time does not negate this fact, either. So, Since God has no use for our money or our possessions, the penalty for sin is eternal death. The baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem 2000 years ago to live a perfect life and to die an innocent man on a cross...to sacrifice Himself in place of our own selves, so that our sin penalties (now and forever) are paid in full. We can either accept the sacrifice of His body and spirit or we can one day stand before Him and use our own to pay the penalties. It's up to us.

I mentioned that He was innocent when He died. This is true. There were many accusations against Him. None but one of them held merit. That accusation is never forgotten in the description of His crucifixion; however, I find that the gravity of the truth in this accusation is often missed or lost. The lineage of Jesus Christ, given by Matthew 1, traces His parentage all the way back to Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel. However, about half way through Jesus' family tree, there is mention of a king named David. It is this particular ancestor that, had Jesus played up and called more attention to, might have saved His life. But He never did. Only at the beginning of His birth story (found synoptic in Matthew 1 and Luke 3) is this king heritage mentioned.

One thing we can credit to the Jewish oral culture is that there wasn't a single person in the culture who didn't know his history. They even knew the metaphysical details surrounding these events. King David was the best king that Israel ever had. He was such a good king, and God was so pleased with King David that He made an unconditional promise to Him. God told David that he would never cease to have an heir sit on the throne of Israel. This was a straight-up promise that God made with no strings attached, that from that point on, someone from David's children would always be the king of Israel.

A long time had passed since King David. The nation of Israel lost many political battles and was conquered and nearly destroyed by many invaders such as the Babylonians. Ultimately, the Babylonians then gave way to the Roman Empire. However, just because a nation is overcome by another does not mean that the heritage of kingship disappears forever. Israel had been under the control of hostile nations and lived in fear and hatred of them for many hundreds of years, but ever since the Babylonian invasion of Israel around 594 B.C., they were never strong enough to attain their own autonomous monarchy again.

When Jesus was crucified, the only accusation that was substantial enough to get the attention of the then-ruling Roman government and to "stick" was that Jesus had claimed to be King of the Jews. It was customary for the crime of the crucified person to be burned in wood and hung above his head as he hung on his cross. On Jesus' cross, in 3 languages, hung the letters "INRA", which stands for "Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews." This was the crime Jesus was ultimately crucified for.

Jesus Christ, born in a manger, was the lost heir to the throne of David. The Roman tetrarch Herod knew it - he ordered all Hebrew boys under the age of 2 to be killed for his power was threatened by another king. Travellers from the Far East knew it - they brought Him gifts fit for a King and bowed down and worshiped Him. Jesus was descended from King David, which would have made all the difference in the world to the situations in which He often found Himself, including His death. But He never even mentioned entitlement to His earthly throne at all. Not one word. His purpose was not to be the king. It was to be the Savior of all mankind so that mankind would no longer be eternally separated from Him. He loved us that much. But the Bible teaches us that He came unto His own people, and His own people rejected Him. As his well-documented family history shows us...He really was the King of the Jews!


Happy Birthday King Jesus!



"Matthew's Begats" - Andrew Peterson, 2004
(bluegrass version)


~information been-getted from lots of different places, but mostly from the Bible from various places from the Newer Testament Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Monday, December 15, 2008

"Cities In Dust" - Siouxsie & The Banshees, 1985 (gothic rock)

Water was running; children were running
You were running out of time
Under the mountain, a golden fountain
Were you praying at the Lares shrine?
But ohh oh your city lies in dust, my friend
ohh oh your city lies in dust, my friend

We found you hiding, we found you lying
Choking on the dirt and sand
Your former glories and all the stories
Dragged and washed with eager hands

But ohh oh your city lies in dust, my friend
ohh oh your city lies in dust, my friend
your city lies in dust

Water was running; children were running
We found you hiding, we found you lying
Water was running; children were running
We found you hiding, we found you lying
your city lies in dust
ohh oh your city lies in dust, my friend

Hot and burning in your nostrils
Pouring down your gaping mouth
Your molten bodies blanket of cinders
Caught in the throes .......

Your city lies in dust

"Cities in Dust" is probably THE most well known song by gothic rockers Siouxsie & The Banshees, and ironically the song is about probably THE most famous volcanic eruption in history - Mt. Vesuvius. The cities in dust, then of course, are the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, which were both destroyed by the mountain on August 24, 79 A.D.

Mt. Vesuvius (in Italy) is one of the European mainland's only active volcano to have erupted in the past 100 years. The 79 A.D. eruption is of particular historical (and lyrical) note because archaeological expeditions to the area unearthed petrified "statues" of the townsfolk. i.e the eruption was so quick and deadly that many died right in the midst of their activities and their bodies were forever preserved as ash-to-stone statues. Volcanoes are quite diverse in their eruption behaviors due to the diversity of the composition of the earth's crust beneath and the length of time between eruptions. Some are quite docile, such as those on the Hawaiian Islands. Mt. Vesuvius, however, has a propensity for violent, explosive eruptions more along the lines of something like Mt. Saint Helens in the Pacific Northwest.

For the citizens of Pompeii and Herculaneum, first warnings of the volcano's rumblings came on February 5, 62 A.D. At about mid-day, a long and muffled roar shook the town. Unfortunately, nobody knew was it was, nor did they know where it came from. Dispite being a very active volcano in geologic terms, as far as human time lines went, it had lain dormant for as long as anyone could remember. Plus, because of the prolonged dormancy, there were no records to suggest that this particular volcano ever caused any sort of destruction.

This earthquake lasted for two days. It shook the foundations of buildings, which damaged walls and ceilings. Residents fled the scene for fear of the failing buildings, but many fell victim to many rifts and chasms formed by the shaking ground outside of the cities. Nearby reservoirs broke and the cities were flooded. As with all earthquakes, the duration was short, lasting only a moment with aftershocks lasting for just a few hours after. Dispite the event, citizens returned to their cities and rebuilt what was damaged.

For the next 17 years the earthquakes and tremors continued, and every time, the people of Pompeii and Herculaneum made repairs, intent on making their city more grand and spectacular than it had been previously. Nearing August of 79 A.D., the frequency of these warning signs increased, however their intensity was so slight that buildings were not destroyed, and so the villagers were not alarmed. However, other warning signs that we currently deem as evidence of impending volcanic doom began to arise and were also disregarded. For example, natural wells and springs began to dry up. Today, we understand this sign as a dramatic increase in temperature, which causes the water to evaporate, but to those who lived in Pompeii and Herculaneum, it was merely a sign that the gods were displeased.

On August 20, the earth began to rumble and crack. The usually calm ocean began hurling ferocious waves against the shoreline. Horses and cattle and other animals became uneasy and unsettled. Finally, on August 24, the earth could no longer contain its fury and the mountainside gave way to the tremendous pressure underneath with an earsplitting crack. Firey stones and flames spewed from the mountain's summit sending ash and rock raining over the countryside. Mud flowed from the side of the mountain at incredible speeds, swallowing up and burying anything and everything in its path. Yet even worse were the invisible killers - mephetic vapors which rolled down to the towns silent but deadly - asphyxiating gases such as sulphur dioxide, carbonic acid, and hydrogen sulfide. The most deadly of all volcanic gases, however, is carbon dioxide.

It was now that the people of the sister cities chose to flee. Many of them stopped to retrieve their personal belongings and load up their oxen, horses, and donkeys with whatever they could carry. Because of the pandamonium, many people opted to stay inside in their homes and businesses waiting for the streets to clear. Ignorant of the invisible dangers, still many others took shelter in inner rooms of their homes, believing the structures would protect them from the ash, mud, and other volcanic debris.

For those who waited to long to escape or trusted in their internal shelters, death inevitably came. As many as 400 were asphyxiated by the invisible carbon dioxide that crept through every crevice. Many could not outrun the mudflows. If none of those things were to blame for one's death, then there was yet one more element which no living being could escape: volcanic ash fall, also known as "hard rain". The US Geological Survey has this to say about "hard rain":

"Volcanic ash consists of tiny jagged particles of rock and natural glass blasted into the air by a volcano. Ash can threaten the health of people and livestock, pose a hazard to flying jet aircraft, damage electronics and machinery, and interrupt power generation and telecommunications. Wind can carry ash thousands of miles, affecting far greater areas and many more people than other volcano hazards. Even after a series of ash-producing eruptions has ended, wind and human activity can stir up fallen ash for months or years, presenting a long-term health and economic hazard."

Volcanic ash is not the product of burning things. It is not water soluble, is extremely abrasive, mildly corrosive, and conducts electricity when wet. Yet the particles are tiny enough to be suspended and carried by air currents, which fall to the ground long after the other volcanic dangers have passed. These particles are also minute enough to be inhaled, which causes burning to the lungs, esophogus, and other air passage. The body cannot remove these particles efficiently, so the more ash that is inhaled equates to eventual respiratory failure. In the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, there was enough hard rain to bury the entire city in 30 feet of volcanic ash in a matter of hours. At this rate, though each ash particle is tiny and almost weightless by human standards, even just a few inches is enough to collapse an entire building.

We know so much detail about this ancient eruption thanks to Roman historian Pliny the Younger who chronicled the events surrounding his uncle's (Pliny the Elder) death, which he wrote about to another Roman historian, Tactitus. Pliny the Elder was also a casualty of this eruption in that he was a maritime commander who tried to use his navy ships to rescue those who fled the area. You can read exerpts of this disaster from Pliny the Younger's letters HERE.

As if this dual tragedy wasn't enough, today Mount Vesuvius isn't just the only active European volcano, it is also the most deadly. While in 79 A.D. the population death of the two cities was limited to only about 15,000, today there are 3,000,000 people living at this mountain's base.




"Cities In Dust" - Siouxsie & The Banshees, 1985



~Information from sources that'll blow you away, such as:
http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/education/gases/dead.html

Sunday, December 7, 2008

"American Witch" - Rob Zombie, industrial rock (2006)

This is a journey of angst, fear, guilt, anxiety
This is a journey of angst, fear, guilt, anxiety
This is a journey of angst, fear, guilt, anxiety
This is a journey of angst, fear, guilt, anxiety

Body of a monkey and the feet of a cock,
Dragged from her home on the killing rock,
Black dog dying on the weather vain,
The Devil's in a cat and the baby's brain,

The End - The End of The American,
The End - The End of The American,
The End - The End of The American,
The End - The End of The American Witch,

Alone on the hill and ready to die,
Cancer of darkness - blacken eye,
The mark of the wolf and the sign of the calf,
Angels bleed down above the raft,

We all pray for 20 innocents,
We all bow down 20 innocents,
We all hang high - 20 innocents,
We all accused - 20 innocents,

Do you want to know where their dreams come from?
Some showed the faith and some showed none.
Do you want to know where their dreams come from?
Some showed the faith and some showed none.

The song was released in 2006, but in 1692 release never came for hundreds that were accused, 19 hanged, 1 pressed to death, as many as 13 dead in prison, and 2 dogs executed as "agents". These statistics represent the unfortunate souls who found themselves in the midst of an episode of mass hysteria in Puritan Massechusetts - the Salem Witch Trials. Whether the blame lies on the Indian frontier wars, economic conditions, teen boredom, congregational difficulties, or personal jealousies, it all began with little Betty Parris, age 6. Betty was the daughter of Village minister Samuel Parris. In 1688, Samuel Parris was invited to Salem by prominant elder John Putnam.

During the exceptionally cold winter of 1692, Betty became strangely and violently ill. She writhed with fever, suffered convulsions, lashed out, and ran about indoors diving under furniture. While there are theories to suggest that her behavior was purely conscious pretend out of boredom, there are now other theories that support the plausibility of an actual illness such as "convulsive ergotism", which is an illness caused by the ingestion of "ergot", a fungus found in developing rye grains; rye was the common cereal of the time. To put it in perspective, the modern hallucinogenic drug LSD is a derivative of ergot. While there is no way of proving either theory, the symptoms caused by convulsive ergotism matched that of Betty's...and also the symptoms of many of the folk of Salem who acted strangely that year.

Talk of witchcraft began when Betty's playmates, Anne Putnam (11 yrs.) and Mercy Lewis (17 yrs.), and Mary Walcott began to exhibit the same highly unusual symptoms. Believe it or not, it was actually the town doctor who was responsible for the ignition of the hysteria that would follow, for when his treatments of the girls failed, it was he who suggested that the origin of the afflictions was supernatural in nature. The widespread belief in witches made the doctor's diagnosis all the more likely. Apparently a doctor is above error or ignorance, so who was making the girls sick?

The list of afflicted girls had grown to 7 and now included: Anne Putnam, Elizabeth Hubbard, Susannah Sheldon, and Mary Warren. The girls' behavior worsened. They would contort themselves into grotesque positions. They would often freeze in mid-motion, and they cried out and complained of biting, pinching, and stinging sensations, leading the townsfolk to believe that these sensations were being controlled by an outside source.

First, the focus turned to Minister Parris's Indian slave, Tibuta, whom he had acquired in Barbados. A neighbor, Mary Sibley, tried to help Tibuta with a form of counter magic. She instructed the slave to bake a cake of rye, mixed with the urine of the afflicted person, and feed it to a dog. Dogs were believed to be agents of witches who carried out their commands. However, Tibuta's act in carrying out this magical witch cake actually landed her in more trouble. Now it was obvious she was a practicioner. She baked her cake on February 25 and by February 29, an arrest warrant was issued for her and two other women. Betty Parris and Abigail Williams named their afflictors (as was the judicial requirement of the time) and the hunt was on. However, was was dismissed was the obvious corroboration of stories between the two girls. Abigail Williams and Mercy Lewis even began claiming to see witches flying about in the winter mist. No matter how ridiculous and "fixed" the story became, the accusations and testimonies of the girls were supported by the Putnam family.

The first three women to be tried for practicing witchcraft were: Tibuta, the Indian slave and obvious choice; Sarah Good, a beggar and homeless social misfit; and Sarah Osbourne, an old and quarrelsome woman who hadn't been to church in a year. The trial was set to take place in a local tavern, however on the date of the event, hundreds of townsfolk unexpectedly showed up. Of course, during the examination, the girls began their act contorting, screaming, crying, and carrying on before those in attendance and the magistrate. Soon, others of the village came forward with stories of cheese and milk spoiling suddenly and animals being born with deformities (signs of the presence of witches in the environment).

As was the custom, the magistrates asked the accused the same leading questions over and over again. The very nature of the questions suggested that the magistrates had already decided that the women were guilty. Strangely enough, though, the entire escapade might have ended right then and there had it not been for Tibuta. Perhaps it was out of fear or maybe it was out of sheer frustration, but she admitted being a witch. She testified that she met a tall man from Boston (Satan) who appeared as a dog or a pig and asked her to sign his book and do his work. Tibuta, though, not only ruined her own chances of release, she ruined the release of Good and Osbourne, for in her testimony, she stated clearly that these other two women, plus one more, were also witches. Her confession launched an even more expanded prosecution and the hunting of witches became even more zealous. ***Click to see Tibuta's inquisition. ***Click to see Sarah Good's inquisition.

Next would come the naming of Sarah Cloyce, Rebecca Nurse, and Martha Corey as afflictors. Now, however, it wasn't just children putting on the show. Ann Putnam's mother, Ann Putnam Sr. joined the accusers. No one was safe. The records show that even a 4 year old girl, Dorcas Good (daughter of Sarah Good) was accused of sending her specter to bite the victims. Little Dorcas was imprisoned for 8 months and watched as her mother was carried off to the gallows. The perfected performances of the "afflicted" girls continued to evolve. As it did, so did the number of accused. ***Click to see the examination of Rebecca Nurse.

Jails grew to capacity and the colony teetered on the brink of utter chaos.
Just then, Governor Phips returned from England. His first order of business was to create a new court, "the oyer and terminer" to hear witchcraft cases. Five judges were appointed to the court. The Chief Justice was gung-ho witch hunter William Stoughton. The court followed the advice of ministers (who were not legally trained) and that of a townsman named Cotton Mather, who was a popular author on witches at the time. The court instituted the "touching test". Accused witches were forced to touch their accusers in the courtroom; it was believed that the touch of the afflictor would stop the contortions of the afflicted. Of course, when touched, the young girls immediately ceased their convulsions. Another test that was implemented was the "witch's marks" test. Here, the court would strip the accused of their clothing and subject their naked bodies to scruitiny, looking for some kind of birth mark, mole, or other such markings upon which it was believed the witch's familiar would stick to. Hearsay, gossip, suppositions, and stories - all evidence that would normally be disallowed in the court - were admitted as evidence. The accused were not allowed to have any legal counsel. They were not allowed to have witnesses testify under oath on their behalf, and there was no chance of appeal. If a verdict of 'not guilty' was returned, the jury was asked (by the displeased Chief Justice) to reconvene and consider a guilty verdict (i.e. it wasn't a choice to find the accused not guilty). The court was a joke.

Soon, more and more adults of all walks of life would join the movement in accusations. If there was a long-standing struggle between families, one accused the other of being witches (such as the showdown between the Putnam and Topsfield families). Citizens who openly criticized the trials found themselves on trial. Skeptics who questioned the existence of witches wound up on trial. People who tried not to get involved and denounced the trials were accused. It didn't matter if you lived in Salem or not; village ex-minister George Burroughs, who was living in Maine at the time, was accused of forming an Indian-devil alliance during one of his failed military campaigns. He faced 30 accusers. If one refused to stand trial, he was punished by imprisonment and faced an execution of being pressed to death under stones; this was the case of 80 year old Giles Corey.

Finally, but Autumn of 1692, the bloodlust began to subside. Two figured prominently. Increase Mather, father of zealous court puppeteer Cotton Mather, published Cases of Conscience, considered "America's first tract on evidence". His dissertation persuaded the court to disallow spectral evidence (hearsay from the victim that the accused's "specter" had visited her). Highly regarded minister Samuel Willard circulated his Some Miscellany Observations, which brought forward some theological arguments concerning good and evil and how the Devil might even cause the innocent to appear guilty. These writings greatly influenced Governor Phips, who then overhauled his court. He removed the "touch tests", "witch's marks" tests, and implemented a burden of proof that we still used today - the accused may only be found guilty by a clear and convincing evidence. Eventually, Samuel Sewall, one of the judges, issued a decree of atonement and apology.

The following is a list of those who were executed as a result of the Salem witch trials: (to read a transcript of the actual trial, click on the lighted name)

Hanged on June 10


Hanged on July 19

Sarah Good, Salem Village
Rebecca Nurse, Salem Village
Susannah Martin, Amesbury
Elizabeth How, Ipswich
Sarah Wilds, Topsfield

Hanged on August 19

George Burroughs, Wells, Maine
John Proctor, Salem Village
John Willard, Salem Village
George Jacobs, Sr., Salem Town
Martha Carrier, Andover

September 19
Giles Corey, Salem Farms, pressed to death

Hanged on September 22

Martha Corey, Salem Farms
Mary Eastey, Topsfield
Alice Parker, Salem Town
Ann Pudeater, Salem Town
Margaret Scott, Rowley
Wilmott Reed, Marblehead
Samuel Wardwell, Andover
Mary Parker, Andover

Other accused witches that were not hanged, but died in prison:

Sarah Osborne, Salem Village
Roger Toothaker, Billerica
Lyndia Dustin, Reading
Ann Foster, Andover

Thirteen others may have also died in prison, but sources conflict on the exact number.



"American Witch" - Rob Zombie, 2006.


~gathered from clear and convincing sources such as:

http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm
http://www.salemwitchtrials.com/faqs.html
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/salem.htm
http://etext.virginia.edu/salem/witchcraft/texts/transcripts.html
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/salem/17docs.html