Q 01/05

Doubts about which kind of evidence helped end the Salem witch trials?

A) Hearsay evidence

B) Spectral evidence

C) Circumstantial evidence

D) Physical evidence

Answer · why

B) Spectral evidence

Spectral evidence was testimony that a suspect's spirit had attacked the accuser, and Increase Mather's Cases of Conscience warned against relying on ...

Q 02/05

Which Salem judge alone later publicly confessed his guilt?

A) William Stoughton

B) John Hathorne

C) Samuel Sewall

D) Jonathan Corwin

Answer · why

C) Samuel Sewall

Samuel Sewall confessed after a run of family deaths, including a stillborn child, that he feared were God's punishment for the trials.

Q 03/05

How did Giles Corey die during the Salem trials?

A) Pressed to death under stones

B) Drowned during the swimming test

C) Burned at the stake in the town square

D) Hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem

Answer · why

A) Pressed to death under stones

Giles Corey refused to enter a plea and was pressed to death under stones, a refusal said to have kept his estate from being seized.

Q 04/05

Who was the first person tried and executed at Salem?

A) Sarah Osborne

B) Rebecca Nurse

C) Tituba Indian

D) Bridget Bishop

Answer · why

D) Bridget Bishop

Bridget Bishop had faced a witchcraft charge back in 1680 without being convicted, yet in 1692 she became the new court's first case.

Q 05/05

Eighth-graders won a 2022 exoneration for which last convicted Salem witch?

A) Abigail Faulkner

B) Elizabeth Johnson Jr.

C) Susannah Martin

D) Rebecca Nurse

Answer · why

B) Elizabeth Johnson Jr.

Elizabeth Johnson Jr. was sentenced to hang in 1693 but spared, and earlier bills clearing the accused had left her out.