It’s impossible to prove your innocence.

要證明自己的清白是不可能的。

If you insist that you’re innocent anyway, you’ll likely be found guilty and executed.

如果你堅持自己是清白的，就可能被判有罪並被處死。

But if you confess, apologize, and implicate others for good measure, you’ll go free.

但如果你認罪、道歉並供出共犯，你就會被釋放。

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

你會給假口供，還是冒上被公開吊死的風險？

This was the choice facing those accused of witchcraft, in the village of Salem, Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693.

這就是 1692 年 2 月到 1693 年 5 月間在麻州沙連市那些被指控使用巫術的人所面臨的選擇。

They were the victims of paranoia about the supernatural, misdirected religious fervor, and a justice system that valued repentance over truth.

他們是對超自然力量的偏執、被誤導的宗教熱情，以及重視悔改多於真相的司法體制之下的受害者。

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

一群清教徒（英國新教徒） 於 1626 年定居沙連。

Life was strict and isolated for the people of Salem.

對沙連人而言，生活很嚴竣且與外界隔絕。

Battles with their Native American neighbors and groups of French settlers were commonplace.

和原住民鄰居以及法國定居族群的鬥爭是司空見慣的事。

People feared starvation and disease, and relations between villagers were strained.

人們很害怕挨餓和疾病，且村民之間的關係很緊張。

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

更糟糕的是，1692 年出現了記錄中最寒冷的冬天之一。

That winter, two cousins, 9-year-old Betty Parris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams, started behaving very strangely.

那年冬天，9 歲的 Betty Parris 和 11 歲的 Abigail Williams 這一對表親開始出現奇怪的行為。

A physician found nothing physically wrong, but diagnosed the girls as under “an evil hand.”

醫生認為她們身體上完全沒問題，反而診斷出她們是被「邪惡之手」操控。

Puritans believed that the Devil wreaked havoc in the world through human agents, or witches, who blighted nature, conjured fiendish apparitions, and tormented children.

清教徒相信惡魔透過人類代理人或女巫世上作亂，祂們破壞大自然、召喚惡靈，並虐待孩童。

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

隨著消息在村裡傳開，症狀似乎也開始傳播。

Accounts describe 12 so-called "afflicted" girls contorting their bodies, having fits, and complaining of prickling skin.

紀載描述了 12 名所謂「受折磨」的女孩，她們會扭曲身體、暴怒，以及抱怨皮膚刺痛。

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

很快地，其中四名女孩控訴三名當地女子折磨了她們。

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

這三位被控訴的女子在某種程度上都被視為外人。

On February 29, the authorities arrested Sarah Good, a poor pregnant mother of a young daughter, Sarah Osbourne, who had long been absent from church and was suing the family of one of her accusers, and Tituba, an enslaved woman in Betty Parris’s home, known by her first name only.

2 月 29 日，當權機關逮捕了帶著小女兒的懷孕窮媽媽 Sarah Good、長年不上教堂且正與控訴人之一親友打官司的 Sarah Osbourne，以及被監禁在 Betty Parris 家中的奴隸 Tituba（我們只知其名）。

Tituba denied harming the girls at first.

Tituba 一開始否認傷害了那些女孩。

But then she confessed to practicing witchcraft on the Devil's orders, and charged Good and Osbourne with having forced her.

但接著她便招供，說自己受到惡魔命令施行巫術，並指控 Good 和 Osbourne 強迫她這麼做。

Osbourne and Good both maintained their innocence.

Osbourne 和 Good 都堅持自己的清白。

Osbourne died in prison, while Good's husband turned against her in court, testifying that she "was a witch or would be one very quickly".

Osbourne 死在獄中，而 Good 的丈夫則在庭上倒戈，作證說她「是女巫，不然就是很快會成為女巫」。

Good's 4-year-old daughter was imprisoned and eventually gave testimony against her mother.

Good 的 4 歲女兒被監禁起來，最終也作證指控她的母親。

Meanwhile, Good gave birth in jail.

同時，Good 在獄中產下孩子。

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

她的寶寶沒活下來，沒多久後她也被定罪吊死。

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

Tituba 被拘留到五月，然後被釋放。

These three victims were just the beginning.

這三名受害者才只是開端。

As accusations multiplied, others, like Tituba, made false confession to save themselves.

隨著指控倍增，其他人也像 Tituba 一樣為了自保而做假供。

The authorities even reportedly told one accused witch that she would be hanged if she did not confess, and freed if she did.

據說當權機關甚至告訴一位被指控的女巫，她不認罪就會被吊死，如果認罪則會被釋放。

They were not particularly interested in thoroughly investigating the charges.

他們並沒有特別想要徹查這些指控。

In keeping with their church's teachings, they preferred that the accused confessed, asked for forgiveness, and promised not to engage in more witchcraft.

與教堂教誨一致，他們期望被指控的人認錯、尋求寬恕，並保證不再施行巫術。

The court accepted all kinds of dubious evidence, including so-called "spectral evidence", in which the girls began raving when supposedly touched by invisible ghosts.

法庭接受各種含糊的證據，包括所謂的「靈異證據」，也就是女孩被看不見的鬼魂觸碰後會開始胡言亂語。

Complicating matters further, many of the jurors in the trials were relatives of the accusers, compromising their objectivity.

讓事情更複雜的是，許多審判中的陪審團都是控訴者的親戚，影響了他們的客觀度。

Those who dared to speak out, such as Judge Nathaniel Saltonstall, came under suspicion.

像 Nathaniel Saltonstall 法官一樣敢挺身而出的人，則會受到懷疑。

By the spring of 1693, over a hundred people had been imprisoned, and 14 women and 6 men had been executed.

到 1693 年春天，已有超過一百人被監禁、14 名女性和 6 名男性被處決。

By this time, accusations were starting to spread beyond Salem to neighboring communities, and even the most powerful figures were targets.

到了此時，指控已經開始蔓延到沙連外的鄰近社區，連最有權的人物也成了目標。

When his own wife was accused, the governor of Massachusetts colony suspended the trials.

麻薩諸塞殖民地的總督在自己的妻子遭到控訴後，便將審判延緩。

Sentences were amended, prisoners released, and arrests stopped.

判刑被修正、囚犯被釋放，而逮捕行動也停止了。

Some have speculated that the girls were suffering from hallucinations caused by fungus, or a condition that caused swelling of the brain.

有些人推測這些女孩是受菌類引發的幻覺或者引起腦部腫脹的症狀所苦。

But ultimately, the reason for their behavior is unknown.

但終究來說，導致她們行為怪異的原因不得而知。

What we do know is that adults accepted wild accusations by children as hard evidence.

我們可以知道的是，成人接受孩童的胡亂指控，將它視為鐵證。

Today, the Salem Witch Trials remain a cautionary tale of the dangers of groupthink and scapegoating and the power of fear to manipulate human perception.

直到今天，塞勒姆審巫案依舊是針對團體迷思和替罪羔羊危險以及恐懼得以操控他人感知的一則警世寓言。

Weaponized accusations of witchcraft were around for millennia before reaching the village of Salem.

被武器化的女巫指控在抵達塞勒姆村莊前，已存在千年之久。

Travel to the ancient city of Alexandria and follow the tragic story of Hypatia, a renowned scholar and political advisor brought down by a charge of witchcraft

前往古城亞歷山大港，了解希帕提亞這為名學者與政治顧問因為巫術指控而被打倒的悲慘故事。