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Did you hear about Salem? – L’affaire des sorcières expliquée en anglais (niveau B2)

621 Vues 0 J'aime Posté sur: October 15th 2025

Did you hear about Salem?

Niveau B2

One day in 1692, in Massachusetts Bay Colony, US, a young girl fell to the ground and began to scream. There was no reason for her to scream. But she wouldn’t stop. Or perhaps, she couldn’t stop? The people of Salem Village said she was looking for attention. Then, another girl started barking. After that, a third and fourth girl began to shake uncontrollably. What was happening?

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Salem’s doctor visited the girls and examined them. When he was finished, he made an announcement: something evil was causing this behaviour. The girls were bewitched!

But who were the witches?

Everyone in Salem became suspicious of the poor, the elderly or people who were a little bit strange. They began to wonder if these people were guilty. Soon, more girls had fits and then, they began accusing people! Servants, wives, mothers, widows, farmers and even a four-year-old child were accused of witchcraft.

There was a lot of hysteria and so many accusations, that all the people in Salem were afraid. Would the girls accuse them too? During fifteen months of witch trials, twenty people died: some people were hanged, others died in jail, and one man was crushed under a pile of rocks. Many lives were ruined and everyone in Salem was traumatised. Eventually, some of the girls admitted they were lying.

Today, the whole world knows about Salem and the witch trials. We shake our heads and think, “Why did people believe the girls? Of course, there weren’t witches in Salem. How did this hysteria happen?” But we don’t really like to talk about Salem because it scares us. Why?

Because it could happen again…

to fall (fell, fallen): tomber

to scream: crier, hurler

to bark: aboyer

to shake: trembler

evil: malfaisant

behaviour: comportement

bewitched: ensorcelé

the elderly: les personnes âgées

to wonder: se demander

guilty: coupable

a fit: un malaise

a widow: une veuve

witchcraft: la sorcellerie

a trial: un procés

to be hanged: être pendu

jail: la prison

to be crushed: se faire écrasé

a rock: un rocher

to lie: mentir

to scare: faire peur

GE_Salem_Blog_Imge2.png

Salem_witch_4_©CC BY-SA 4.0.

Marque: Witchcraft history
Publié dans: Culture

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