Tituba

Tituba frightens the children of Salem Village

Tituba was a slave in Salem Village during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. She was the first to be accused of witchcraft and the first to confess. This confession was obtained after she was beaten by her master. She accused others, setting off the witchcraft hysteria that swept the village. She was never tried or executed as a witch. She was sent to jail, but later released. What happened to her after her release is not known.

Tituba was a West Caribbean Indian from the land of Barbados, where she practiced incantations and songs of conjuring. She was asked by Ann Putnam to conjure up the spirits of her dead children that she had lost to miscarriage (she believed her babies to be murdered).

Tituba is a character from Arthur Miller's play, The Crucible.