The Salem Witch Trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. It is one of the most infamous cases of mass hysteria in history, resulting in the execution of twenty people and the imprisonment of several others. The trials began when Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, two young girls in Salem Village, started having bizarre fits and claimed to be possessed by the devil. These accusations sparked a wave of hysteria in the community, and soon others started to exhibit similar symptoms. Over the course of the trials, a total of 185 people were accused of practicing witchcraft. The accused included women, men, and even children as young as four years old.
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According to The Discworld Companion , Magrat s mentor, Goodie Whemper maysherestinpeace , a witch of an experimental turn of mind, decided to find out if a broomstick could keep its magic if you pulled all its bristles out one by one while it was in flight. In the final act, Pearl dons one of Ruth s dresses a long red dress as a twisted subversion of Dorothy s iconic short blue dress that she wore when she visited Oz and heads to her audition.
The accused included women, men, and even children as young as four years old. The trials were characterized by a lack of due process, with accused individuals being denied the right to legal representation and subjected to coercive interrogation techniques. Many of the accused were forced to confess under duress or faced the threat of execution.
Flying Broomstick
Brooms are the traditional flying mount of the Witch Classic (and many a contemporary). According to The Other Wiki the idea of witches riding on brooms goes back to at least 1453. In the original woodcuts, they've got the head or brush part in front, logical enough since the original witch's broom was a staff with a carved phallic end and the brush was tied on as a disguise. Today's depictions most often put the head in the back, for sake of an aerodynamic appearance (and for similarity with an exhaust pipe or jet engine).
As brooms aren't exactly designed to be ridden upon, riding one would require really good balance so as not to fall off, especially when really high up. Prospective witches and warlocks should also try not to land wrong while sitting on their brooms either or you'll end up "Riding the Rail" if you know what I mean. But if these difficulties are discussed at all, there will usually be a Hand Wave about how the same magic that causes the broom to fly also makes the experience more comfortable than it logically ought to be.
At some point, witches were portrayed as riding the brooms side-saddle, similar to how women traditionally rode horseback. If two witches are shown together, the difference in how they sit on their brooms usually relates to a Tomboy and Girly Girl dynamic.
Appearance-wise, these broomsticks are almost always the old-fashioned kind made by tying bristles in a rough cone around the end of a long stick; modern brooms are very rarely put to such uses. When they are, it'll often be as a joke on witches getting on with changing times. In these cases, however, it's likelier for the joke to be pushed further and to show the witch riding around on a vacuum cleaner; even more recently, witches might be seen flying on roombas, as an ultra-modern broom.
Similar to the Magic Carpet, which is also a flying object but has unrelated origins and applications.
For the Speculative Fiction version see Rocket Ride. Compare Sky Surfing, in which various flying objects are ridden on while standing: particularly daredevil witches may well do this on their brooms. If also used as a weapon, it's a Broomstick Quarterstaff.
Those who confessed were often spared from the gallows but were still imprisoned. Those who maintained their innocence were more likely to be found guilty and executed. The trials came to an end when skepticism about the legitimacy of the accusations grew and the Governor of Massachusetts disbanded the court in May 1693. In the years following the trials, the colony issued apologies and compensation to the families of the victims. The Salem Witch Trials have since become a cautionary tale about the dangers of mass hysteria and the importance of safeguarding the rights of the accused. The trials also had a lasting impact on American culture, inspiring numerous works of literature and art and serving as a reminder of the potential dangers of intolerance and persecution..
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