What really happened during the Salem Witch Trials - Brian A. Pavlac

翻译人员: Meng Ren 校对人员: Wanting Zhong

You’ve been accused of a crime you did not commit.

你被指控犯下莫须有的罪名。

It’s impossible to prove your innocence.

你绝不可能证明自己的清白。

If you insist that you’re innocent anyway,

如果你坚称自己是被冤枉的，

you’ll likely be found guilty and executed.

就很可能被判有罪并被处决。

But if you confess, apologize, and implicate others for good measure,

但如果你认罪、道歉， 并转而指控他人，

you’ll go free.

你就会被释放。

Do you give a false confession— or risk a public hanging?

你愿意假装认罪—— 还是被当众处以绞刑？

This was the choice facing those accused of witchcraft

这就是 1692 年 2 月 到 1693 年 5 月间，

in the village of Salem, Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693.

马萨诸塞湾省塞勒姆村被指控 巫术罪的人们所面临的抉择。

They were the victims of paranoia about the supernatural,

他们是对超自然力量的迫害妄想的受害者，

misdirected religious fervor—

是被误导的宗教狂热的受害者，

and a justice system that valued repentance over truth.

也是当时重视忏悔 甚于真相的司法系统的牺牲品。

Salem was settled in 1626 by Puritans, a group of English protestants.

1626 年，一群来自英格兰的清教徒 （英国新教的一个派别）登陆塞勒姆。

Life was strict and isolated for the people of Salem.

塞勒姆人民的生活 戒律严苛，与世隔绝。

Battles with their Native American neighbors

他们与印第安原住民

and groups of French settlers were commonplace.

和法国殖民者们矛盾不断。

People feared starvation and disease,

人们恐惧着饥饿与疾病，

and relations between villagers were strained.

村民的关系剑拔弩张。

To make matters worse, 1692 brought one of the coldest winters on record.

雪上加霜的是，1692 年经历了 有史以来最寒冷的严冬。

That winter, two cousins,

那年冬天，一对表姐妹，

9 year old Betty Parris and 11 year old Abigail Williams

9 岁的贝蒂 · 帕里斯 和 11 岁的艾比盖儿 · 威廉姆斯

started behaving very strangely.

突然开始变得行为怪异。

A physician found nothing physically wrong —

医生找不出任何生理上的问题——

but diagnosed the girls as under “an evil hand.”

却将女孩们诊断为 受到了“巫术的蛊惑”。

Puritans believed that the Devil wreaked havoc in the world through human agents,

清教徒们认为，恶魔通过附身 人类代理人，即女巫，在世间作恶，

or witches, who blighted nature, conjured fiendish apparitions,

破坏自然， 唤出邪恶的幽灵，

and tormented children.

甚至折磨小孩。

As news swept through the village, the symptoms appeared to spread.

消息迅速在村子里传开了， 相似病状也开始在更多的村民身上蔓延。

Accounts describe 12 so-called “afflicted” girls contorting their bodies,

记录里描述道， 12 名所谓 “被侵扰的” 女孩扭曲着身体，

having fits, and complaining of prickling skin.

被痉挛和刺痛的皮肤所折磨。

Four of the girls soon accused three local women of tormenting them.

其中四名女孩很快指控 当地三名女性对她们施加伤害。

All three of the accused were considered outsiders in some way.

这三名女人都是 某种形式上的边缘人。

On February 29th, the authorities arrested Sarah Good,

2 月 29 日，这三人被当局逮捕， 她们分别是：

萨娜 · 古德，一位怀着身孕 抚养幼女的贫困母亲，

a poor pregnant mother of a young daughter,

Sarah Osbourne, who had long been absent from church

萨娜 · 奥斯本， 她长期缺席教会活动，

and was suing the family of one of her accusers,

而且正在和指控她的一家人打官司，

and Tituba, an enslaved woman in Betty Parris’s home

以及提图芭， 她是贝蒂 · 帕里斯家的女奴，

known by her first name only.

姓氏不详。

Tituba denied harming the girls at first.

一开始，提图芭否认 自己伤害了女孩。

But then she confessed to practicing witchcraft on the Devil’s orders,

但随后承认自己 在恶魔的指令下施行了巫术，

and charged Good and Osbourne with having forced her.

并且指控古德和奥斯本 逼迫她这么做。

Osbourne and Good both maintained their innocence.

奥斯本和古德坚称自己是清白的。

Osbourne died in prison, while Good’s husband turned against her in court,

奥斯本在监狱中死去， 而古德的丈夫则在法庭上翻脸，

testifying that she "was a witch or would be one very quickly."

作证说她 “即使不是女巫， 也快变成女巫了。”

Good’s 4 year old daughter was imprisoned

古德四岁的女儿被关进监狱，

and eventually gave testimony against her mother.

最终也出庭指控了自己的母亲。

Meanwhile, Good gave birth in jail.

而古德在监狱里生产，

Her baby died, and she was convicted and hanged shortly thereafter.

但孩子早夭，她随后不久 就被宣告有罪并处以绞刑。

Tituba was held in custody until May, and then released.

提图芭被收押至 5 月， 之后被释放。

These three victims were just the beginning.

这三个受害者 只不过是故事的开始。

As accusations multiplied, others, like Tituba,

随着指控数量的增加， 其他人也不得不像提图芭一样

made false confession to save themselves.

昧着良心招供，以求逃过制裁。

The authorities even reportedly told one accused witch

有报道称当局甚至告诉 一个被指控巫术罪的人，

that she would be hanged if she did not confess, and freed if she did.

如果她认罪，就能被释放， 否则就会被绞死。

They were not particularly interested in thoroughly investigating the charges—

官方对彻底核查事实真相 并不感兴趣——

in keeping with their Church’s teachings, they preferred that the accused confessed,

为了遵守教会的教义， 他们更在乎让被指控者认罪，

asked for forgiveness, and promised not to engage in more witchcraft.

请求宽恕， 并承诺绝不再使用巫术。

The court accepted all kinds of dubious evidence,

法庭接受了所有模棱两可的证据，

including so-called “spectral evidence”

包括所谓的 “幽灵证据”：

in which the girls began raving when supposedly touched by invisible ghosts.

女孩儿们被看不见的幽灵 触摸时就会胡言乱语。

Complicating matters further, many of the jurors in the trials

让案情更为复杂的是， 许多陪审团成员都是

were relatives of the accusers, compromising their objectivity.

指控者的亲戚， 他们无法做到客观公正。

Those who dared to speak out, such as Judge Nathanial Saltonstall,

那些胆敢发声质疑的人， 比如法官纳撒尼尔 · 索顿斯托尔，

came under suspicion.

反而遭到了怀疑。

By the spring of 1693, over a hundred people had been imprisoned,

到了 1693 年春天， 上百人被关进了监狱，

and 14 women and 6 men had been executed.

14 名女性和 6 名男性被处死。

By this time, accusations were starting to spread beyond Salem

这时，指控开始向 塞勒姆周边的城镇蔓延，

to neighboring communities, and even the most powerful figures were targets.

甚至一些最有权有势的大人物 也遭到了指控。

When his own wife was accused,

当马萨诸塞省（当时麻省仍是英属殖民地） 省长的夫人被指控后，

the governor of Massachusetts colony suspended the trials.

省长叫停了这些审判。

Sentences were amended, prisoners released, and arrests stopped.

判决被修正，囚犯被释放， 逮捕行动也停止了。

Some have speculated that the girls were suffering from hallucinations

有的人猜测女孩儿们被真菌感染，

caused by fungus;

从而产生了幻觉；

or a condition that caused swelling of the brain.

或是得了某种疾病， 导致大脑炎症。

But ultimately, the reason for their behavior is unknown.

但我们终究无法得知 事情的真相。

What we do know is that adults accepted wild accusations by children

我们能确定的是：

一群成年人把儿童发出的荒谬指控 当成了确凿的证据。

as hard evidence.

Today, the Salem Witch Trials remain a cautionary tale

如今，塞勒姆审巫案 已经成为一个警世故事，

of the dangers of groupthink and scapegoating,

它时刻提醒着我们，团体盲思 和利用替罪羊何其危险，

and the power of fear to manipulate human perception.

而恐惧对人类感知的操纵 又是何其强大。