Final answer:
During the Salem witch trials, methods used to condemn witches included accusations based on misfortunes deemed supernatural, intense questioning, and public fits demonstrated by adolescent girls. Executions followed convictions, most by hanging, and one by pressing. The trials ended as doubts about spectral evidence rose, leading to annulled convictions and reparations.
Step-by-step explanation:
Methods Used to Condemn Witches
The Puritans in New England, particularly in Salem Village, condemned witches using a variety of methods during the witch trials period, most prominently in 1692. Accusations of witchcraft were often based on evidence such as the sickness or death of children, the loss of cattle, and other unexplained disasters which the Puritans attributed to the devil's influence and witchcraft. Women were primarily targeted as they were seen as more susceptible to the Devil due to their 'weaker constitutions'.
Those accused of witchcraft were subjected to various forms of intense questioning and public scrutiny, and non-conformity to societal norms was grounds for suspicion. In the infamous Salem witch trials, adolescent girls, who claimed to be afflicted by witchcraft, accused others by demonstrating fits and convulsions during cross-examinations. Convictions often led to execution, with victims being hanged, and in the case of Giles Corey, pressed to death. Additionally, high-profile cases such as the accusations against the wife of Governor Phipps ultimately led to the end of the reliance on 'spectral evidence' and helped end the trials.
The witchcraft scare in Salem concluded as societal skepticism grew, and influential figures like Cotton and Increase Mather began to doubt the legitimacy of spectral evidence. Eventually, the Massachusetts courts annulled the convictions and made reparations to the victims and their families, acknowledging that the trials were a mistake and reflecting a shift away from Puritanical orthodoxy.