In 1692, in Salem Village, Massachusetts, the witch hysteria began with young girls becoming overcome with fits accompanied by seizures and screams.
The townspeople soon thought this was due to black magic, and a witch hunt soon began with allegations of witchcraft spreading like wildfire throughout the Puritan settlement.
During this witch hunt, twenty people were put to death and executed as witches. While they were not burnt at the stake, they still had a brutal death.
The myth of burning at the stake came from European witch trials, where it was expected.
While burning at the stake may not have occurred during the Salem witch trials, a young boy, Robert Middleton, was burnt at the stake through a vicious attack that permanently impacted his life and death, even though he survived.
10 /10 Attack On Robert
During the afternoon of his birthday, he was attacked while walking to a friend’s apartment. He was tied to a tree with a rope, had gasoline thrown on him, and then set ablaze.
As the rope caught fire, he was rescued. He escaped and was later found by his mother, burned almost beyond recognition, and close to death.
9 /10 Robert's Death
While he lived for over a decade with his injuries, Robert died on April 29th, 2011, from skin cancer that most likely stemmed from his original skin grafts.
On his death bed, Robert named the person he thought had attacked and lit him on fire in a 27-minute video. This person was Donald (Don) Collins, a 13-year-old at the time, who was his neighbor.