Tituba was a slave woman who served for Rev. Samuel Parris in the seventeenth century. In the well-known “Salem Witch Trials” of 1692, she is credited as being the first person in history to be charged with practicing witchcraft. Thought to be a native of South America, she was transported to Boston after being sold in Barbados. She moved to Salem with the Parris family, having worked for them for ten years. She took care of the family’s little girls, and when they began experiencing unexplained convulsions, Tituba and two other people were charged with witchcraft. Following her first denials, she eventually admitted to witchcraft and provided detailed accounts, which sparked a widespread witch hunt and the well-known “Salem Witch Trials.” She then withdrew her confession, and since there was insufficient proof, she was freed.
Early Years of Tituba
It’s unclear exactly what Tituba’s early years were like. According to records, she was taken from her community as a young kid and was born in a Venezuelan Arawak tribe hamlet. She was later sent to Barbados for sale.
She was purchased in Barbados in 1680 by Samuel Parris, or his agent, who then transported her to Boston, New England, along with two additional slaves. She worked for the Parris family as a teenage girl. Rich businessman Samuel Parris inherited sugar plantations in Barbados. He was named the village of Salem’s new minister in November of 1689.
Along with his family, Parris brought his slaves to the village. John, another slave he had, was reportedly a Native American. John and Tituba are rumored to have been married. Tituba took care of Parris’s 11-year-old niece Abigail Williams as well as his 9-year-old daughter Elizabeth, also known as Betty Parris.
The Witch Trials in Salem
The residents of Salem began to report fits, aches, and convulsions in February 1692. Betty Parris and her cousin Abigail Williams started it all. Ann Putnam and Elizabeth Hubbard, two of their acquaintances, also reported experiencing strange hallucinations and visions. It is said that at that time, Mary Sibley, a neighbor, and Tituba and John cooked a witch-cake. (To make a witch-cake, combine rye meal with the urine of affected girls). In the hopes that it might expose the identity of the troublemaker, they fed it to the dog. However, the girls’ condition grew worse.
When the physician that Rev. Parris called was unable to identify a medical explanation, he speculated that the cause might be supernatural. The girls were identified as witchcraft targets as a result. Other villagers reported having fits, getting bitten, and being pinched.
Panic and frenzy ensued as a result, spreading throughout Salem and the neighboring towns. Of the four girls, one acknowledged that she was involved in fortune-telling. The witch who might have cast a spell on the girls and the community was the target of a hunt. The Parris kids claimed that Tituba told them stories about occult rites, which made her the first suspect. Tituba used to spend most of her time with the girls. She was charged with creating a witch cake and engaging in “voodoo” practices.
Tituba acknowledged that her Barbados mistress had taught her about occult activities after Parris questioned her. She added, though, that she wasn’t a witch because the methods were just to stave off evil forces and not to hurt anyone. She went on to say that she had simply created the witch-cake to assist Betty Parris.
Two other people were implicated by the afflicted girls: Sarah Good, a mentally ill and impoverished woman, and Sarah Osborn, an elderly widow who frequently disagreed with the Parris family. On March 1, 1692, Tituba and the two ladies were summoned before the court on accusations of witchcraft.
All three of them initially refuted the accusations, but Tituba eventually admitted to being a witch. John Hathorne, the town justice of Salem, questioned her. In her confession, she spoke of a tall, white-haired man who traveled from Boston with his goons and was dressed in a dark cloak. She claimed he had visited her and given her the order to hurt the girls. She testified that she was threatened with death if she disobeyed. She revealed how the devil had approached her and asked to be served by him with this description.
Tituba went on to tell of her contacts with the devil’s henchmen, who had told her to harm the kids and had manifested as a variety of odd animals, including demonic hogs, black dogs, red cats, and black cats, among other creatures. Along with the other two accused, she talked of them flying on a pole and how they changed into bizarre, winged animals.
Hysteria in Salem was caused by Tituba’s descriptions and the implications of the other two. The people of Salem panicked when she made a hint that the devil had a book full of names of more persons he had given orders to do his bidding. As a result, a large witch hunt known as the “Salem Witch Hunt” started in an effort to find every potential suspect. When asked the identities of the suspects or whether she had seen the Devil’s book, she would answer evasively while describing the monsters in great detail. Almost 185 witches and wizards were identified as suspects in a few of months. They endured hanging, stoning, drowning, and torture. The Salem authorities imprisoned 150 persons in total, 19 of them were executed.
Tituba was only detained because she was thought to be crucial to the case. Her confession spared her from the death penalty and she was never tried. The other detained accused witches’ trials went on, and Tituba eventually withdrew her confession, saying that she had only done so because Parris had physically assaulted her and coerced her into saying what she had to say.
It is assumed that she may have known that her life might be saved by her confession. She later acknowledged that she had lied to protect herself, but in the middle of the widespread witch hunt and their trials, her retraction received little notice.
Ultimately, she was declared “not guilty” owing to a lack of evidence, and the “Grand Jury” penned a comment labeled “Ignoramus” when she was not indicted in the case. There are conflicting accounts of what transpired with her following the trial. According to some sources, she and her husband were sold to an unidentified party; yet, other reports claim that she was freed; nonetheless, more information is unavailable.
Modern research believes that the Parris girls’ fits and convulsions were caused by a polluted rye floor. The idea of witchcraft originated at the time because microbiological contamination was not yet understood.
Even though Tituba vanished following the trials, she continues to exist in a number of made-up stories. The Crucible, an Arthur Miller play from 1953, and Tituba of Salem Village, a children’s book by Ann Petry, are two of the most well-known of these. The 2013 WGN series “Salem” and the television series “American Horror Story: Coven” both featured Tituba’s character.
Net worth of Tituba
The estimated net worth of Tituba is about $1 million.