Who was the first person executed during the trials?

Bridget Bishop was the first person executed during the Salem witch trials. She was hanged on June 10, 1692, in Salem, Massachusetts, after being convicted of witchcraft by the newly established Court of Oyer and Terminer.

Bishop was not a complete stranger to accusations. She had previously faced a witchcraft charge involving the death of Thomas Oliver but was acquitted. In 1692, several afflicted young people accused her of causing supernatural harm, and witnesses described alleged attacks by her invisible spirit. Her reputation, clothing, and behavior were also treated as suspicious by Puritan authorities.

Her case was the first brought before the special court created to hear the growing number of witchcraft accusations. The court accepted spectral evidence and testimony about dreams, visions, and invisible attacks—forms of evidence that later came under intense criticism. Bishop was convicted quickly and executed eight days after her trial began.

She is sometimes confused with later victims such as Sarah Good or Rebecca Nurse, who were among the five people executed on July 19, 1692. In total, twenty people died in connection with the trials: nineteen by hanging and Giles Corey by pressing.