TITUBA

Tituba was a Carib Indian who was the slave of Reverend Parris, the Reverend of Salem. Tituba was believed to practice evil. She was believed to read tea leaves and palms, tell fortunes, and know much about voodoo and black magic. Tituba also told stories, stories that amazed some of the girls of Salem. These stories would lead to the chaos of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

At first, the stories were only told to Abigail Williams and Elizabeth Parris (the daughter and niece of the Reverend). Though this “circle” grew rapidly. Soon others were being “bewitched” by Tituba’s stories. The girls who were told Tituba’s stories starting going into “fits”, claiming that Tituba had bewitched them. During these “fits” the girls would stare into space, choke, cough, claim that they were being tortured by people wearing red and flying on brooms, or get down on their knees and act like wild animals.

Doctors were sent in and the doctors diagnosed “the evil hand”. The girls were then persuaded to tell who did this to them. The whole town was at the girls’ mercy for anyone they accused would be imprisoned, hung, or pressed to death with two large stones. They claimed Tituba along with many others bewitched them. Over twenty people were killed due to being accused of practicing witchcraft. Tituba was not among them however. She confessed to bewitching the girls saying, “The devil came to me and bid me serve him.” She also claimed to have signed her name in the devil’s book in blood.
The hysteria of Salem Witch Trials will always remain in the pages of history, as a dark event which took lives of many innocent people. Tituba's slave status restricted any attempts to uncover the mystery of her life.