Salem Witch Trials Redux

Found this about it: http://www.ultranet.com/~kyp/amirault.html#Prologue

from the above source:

quote:

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The "physical" evidence presented at the trials is now also known to be worthless. One child had a small scar on the hymen. This scar was not
seen in an examination of the child soon after the case started, likely because the child's pediatrician did not use a coloscope, a device for
examining colons and vaginas under magnification. More recent studies show that these sort of small scars are normal hymeneal irregularities. The
girl with the hymeneal scar testified that she'd been anally sodomized with a knife, not vaginally raped. She claimed that Gerald's big knife got
stuck in her so badly she couldn't pull it out.

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Excuse me, big knife, arse, no scarring of said arse..........Alarm bells are ringing......

And then theres this:

quote:

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The children readily admitted to practicing their testimony, and much of it was quite incredible. One boy said he'd been tied to a tree in front of all the students and teachers. He also said that Cheryl had killed a dog and buried its blood in a sandbox, and that a robot threatened to kill him if he told. Another boy said that Vi killed a frog and made him eat it. (During the original interview, he said the frog quacked like a duck.) A girl claimed her wrist was slashed and it bled. She also said that a robot (like R2D2 in Star Wars) threw her in circles and bit her on the arm.

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The prosecutors elicited testimony that the kids had been taken everyday to a "secret" or "magic" room. Yet no child was ever able to show the police where this room was, nor could the police ever find such a place in spite of their diligent searching. The children could not agree upon which floor the room was located, or even whether it was in the school or somewhere else.

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They got convictions with this? How?

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[This message has been edited by joz, 02-21-2002]