The trial of Bridget Bishop
On 2 June 1692 in Salem, Bridget Bishop's trial opened. It was the first case of the newly created Court of Oyer and Terminer and the start of the Salem witchcraft trials.
Bridget Bishop's trial began on 2 June 1692 in Salem and ran for eight days. Wikipedia records it as the opening case of the newly created Court of Oyer and Terminer, and says it officially opened the Salem witchcraft trials.
Cotton Mather wrote up the trial in his book Wonders of the Invisible World. In his account, several people testified against Bishop. They said her shape pinched, choked or bit them, and that the shape threatened to drown one of them unless she wrote her name in a certain book. History.com says ten witnesses testified against her and that she was convicted and given a death sentence.
She was hanged on 10 June 1692. The University of Virginia's Salem archive says High Sheriff George Corwin escorted her to the summit of Gallows Hill, where she was hanged by herself from an oak. History.com puts the hanging at Proctor's Ledge, close to Gallows Hill. The archive calls her the first person the Salem trials sent to the gallows.
"Bishop's trial, which was the first case seen before the new Court of Oyer and Terminer, began on June 2, 1692 and lasted eight days, officially starting the Salem Witchcraft Trials.[3][page needed] A record was given of her trial by Cotton Mather in "Wonders of the Invisible World." In his book, Mather recorded that several people testified against Bishop, stating that the shape of Bishop would pinch, choke or bite them. The shape also threatened to drown one victim if she did not write her name in a certain book."
- Bridget Bishop, Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive, University of Virginia (Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive)
- Notable Women Executed in the Salem Witch Trials, History.com (A&E)