Were Salem's accused witches burned at the stake?

No one convicted in the Salem witch trials of 1692 was burned at the stake. Nineteen of the condemned were hanged. Fact-checkers and historians describe the belief in Salem burnings as a common misconception, probably borrowed from witch hunts in Europe. Snopes rated the claim false. [1] [2]

According to History.com, twenty people were executed as witches. Nineteen were taken to Gallows Hill and hanged. The elderly Giles Corey was pressed to death with heavy stones after he refused to enter a plea. Destination Salem adds that at least five others died in jail in poor conditions while awaiting trial, for a total of 25 deaths across 1692 and 1693. [2] [3]

The exact hanging site was long uncertain. Maps from around 1700 show Gallows Hill but no marker. In 1921 historian Sidney Perley proposed a spot near the base of the hill. A research team that began reviewing the evidence in 2010 concluded he was right, and the site was confirmed as Proctor's Ledge in January 2016. The Proctor's Ledge Memorial was dedicated on July 19, 2017. [4]

The reason was legal. English law governed New England at the time, and it treated witchcraft as a felony, a crime against the government, punishable by hanging. Richard Trask, the Danvers town archivist, makes this point. On the Continent, witchcraft was treated as heresy, a crime against the church, and burning was the usual penalty. [5] [3]

The Salem Witch Museum notes that burning was typical in Europe, though not exclusive, and that England is an exception to the heresy approach. USA TODAY adds a caveat to one social media claim. It is wrong to say the American practice differed from England's, since English law also used hanging. A historian quoted there said burnings might have occurred in parts of the future United States that were under Spanish rule. [4] [6]

European witch hunts did involve burning. History.com cites codes such as the Holy Roman Empire's Constitutio Criminalis Carolina, which prescribed fire for malevolent witchcraft. Burnings took place across parts of modern Germany, Italy, Scotland, France and Scandinavia. Historians estimate that about 50,000 people were executed as witches in Europe between the 15th and 18th centuries. Many were hanged or beheaded first and their bodies burned afterward, while others were burned alive. The Salem story is most likely mixed up with this wider history. [2]