SALEM WITCH TRIAL

This is a memorial poster for July 19, 1692 – one of the darkest days of the Salem Witch Trials.

It's designed to look like aged parchment, with ornate vintage borders, a witch hat at the top, a sketch of the gallows on Gallows Hill, and a little calendar icon marking June 10, 1692.

What it says:

"TODAY IN HISTORY - July 19, 1692"

Three hundred thirty-four years ago today, five innocent women were executed during the Salem Witch Trials.

It then lists the five victims hanged on that day:

• Elizabeth Howe
• Rebecca Nurse – 71 years old, a well-respected church member
• Sarah Good – a poor, pregnant homeless woman at the time of her initial accusation
• Sarah Wildes
• Susannah Martin

Below that it notes:

"Nearly five weeks earlier, on June 10, 1692, Bridget Bishop became the first person executed after being convicted of witchcraft in Salem."

The math checks out – 1692 + 334 = 2026 – so this version of the graphic was made to circulate this year.

The bottom half is the moral framing:

"The Salem Witch Trials were never a story about evil magic. They were a story about fear, hysteria, false accusations, and what can happen when communities allow panic to outweigh truth and reason."

"More than three centuries later, these events are still remembered—not to glorify witchcraft, but to remind us of the importance of critical thinking, compassion, and protecting people from persecution driven by fear."

And it closes with "

"May we never become the kind of society that mistakes fear for truth or suspicion for evidence. History remembers the victims — not the hysteria."

It's signed TheFabulousUnicorn at the bottom, which is the page/creator that makes these history-style graphics.

The history behind it

In 1692, in colonial Massachusetts, a wave of paranoia swept through Salem Village after a group of young girls claimed to be afflicted by witchcraft. Over about 15 months, more than 200 people were accused.

In total 20 people were executed — 19 by hanging (14 women and 5 men) and one man, Giles Corey, pressed to death for refusing to enter a plea. Another 5 died in jail.

July 19, 1692, was the second mass execution after Bridget Bishop's hanging on June 10. The five women listed were all tried in late June, convicted on spectral evidence — testimony that a spirit of the accused was harming the victim — and hanged together on Gallows Hill.

The colony eventually realised the trials were a mistake. In 1711 the convictions were reversed, and compensation was paid to families.

That's why the poster is still shared every July — it's less about witches and more about how easily fear can replace evidence.

Hj Zulheimy Maamor

19 September 2026: 7:09 p.m.