Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials is a comprehensive and interactive digital reference to the largest and most famous witch hunt in American history. It includes over 450 events in the witchcraft crisis of 1692-1693, plus more than 100 events in the years leading up to and following the trials. The app also includes biographical information on more than 350 individuals, from Reverend Samuel Parris to Rebecca Nurse and Judge Samuel Sewall. Over 200 events are geo-referenced, so you can use it as a guide to trace the activities of 1692-1693. You can even search for accusations of the use of specific acts and aspects of witchcraft from a list of more than forty such crimes, ranging from black cats and spectral attack to references to the devil’s book.

It is a visual database as well, showing over 100 current photos of the sites of 1692, as well as historic sketches and portraits of individuals. You can use the guide to visit the events of the witchcraft crisis – either in person, or from the comfort of your home.

The app is backed by the rigorous research of Emerson Baker and James Kences, two experienced scholars of Salem witchcraft. Every event includes references to one or more of the forty primary and secondary sources used to construct the app, including Baker’s recent history of the trials, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience (Oxford University Press, 2014). It contains many direct quotes from the extensive surviving court records of the trials, and many events link directly to on-line transcriptions and images of specific documents.

Data is displayed on scaleable maps, which can be zoomed in or out with a simple pinch or swipe, and on easy to search tables. With a few taps you can search and restrict events to a range of dates. The events are grouped in 17 different actions, or phases of the crisis, such as Samuel Parris’s Ministry in Salem Village, the Earliest Accusations, and The Andover Phase. Modern day landmarks, including the Salem Witch Trials Memorial, the Charter Street Cemetery and the Judge Corwin House are also included.

Despite the large volume of data contained in the Salem Witch Trials, it is fast, easy to use and provides an enjoyable experience for the tourist, amateur historian, educator or researcher. You can even walk through Salem with a GPS enabled iPhone or iPad and watch your user position change as you intersect the location of important historical events, and visit the landmarks and locations of sites described and geo-referenced in the app.

If you are fascinated in what really happened in 1692, and where it happened, you need the Salem Witch Trials.

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