Using Court Records to Map the Witchcraft Accusations, Salem, 1692

Benjamin Ray Religious Studies, UVA

“Using Court Records to Map the Witchcraft Accusations, Salem, 1692”

In the last three or four years, scholars of the Salem witch trials have begun to understand the full geographic detail of the Salem episode and also the a day-by-day chronology of the 14 month legal process, from March 1692 through May 1693. Equally important is the geographic analysis of the social, economic, and religious situation in Salem village prior to and after the witchcraft episode based on village records and church records. The results of this new research have significantly changed our understanding of the Salem witchcraft outbreak. In light of the new research, the Salem story has become not only more accurate but also more interesting and complex as well as more relevant. Using the original court records and other primary sources, the “Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive” has created static digital maps and as well as dynamic and interactive digital maps of Salem village, Salem town, other neighboring towns, and more widely, all of eastern Massachusetts Bay Colony where the accusations spread across twenty-two other towns and villages. These maps integrate both spatial and temporal information contained in the court records and other primary sources.