User:Ecollotta/Sarah Osborne

Sarah Osborne

Issue on this page is under the ‘Media’ section and is cited as “This article appears to contain trivial, minor, or unrelated references to popular culture. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture, providing citations to reliable, secondary sources, rather than simply listing appearances. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (January 2019)”

Statement in ‘Media’ section: Osborne is mentioned in the original version of Arthur Miller's The Crucible but does not appear as a character. Miller added her (along with other characters) into a courtroom scene when he wrote the screenplay for the 1996 film adaptation. In the drama, her name is spelled "Osburn". She was portrayed as a very pathetic character by actress Ruth Maleczech, an impoverished and obviously deranged beggar but also aware that she is in grave danger. As no evidence indicates that Osborne was mentally ill, her movie depiction may be a composite character of Osborne and Sarah Good, the latter of whom was known to mutter and insist she was reciting the Ten Commandments, as does the Osborne character in the movie.

Also a random mention of the show True Blood???

Scholarly sources:



Ray, Benjamin  C, and Tara S Wood. “Salem Witchcraft Papers No. 095: Sarah Osborne.” The Salem Witchcraft Papers. Digital Format by Scholars' Lab, University of Virginia Library, 2018. http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/n95.html

* contains several primary source documents. Individual documents used will receive individual citations.

Carroll, Meghan. “Sarah Osborne.” Salem Witch Trials. University of Virginia, 2001. http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/people/osborne.html.

Other sources:

Salem Witch Museum. “Sarah Osborne House.” Salem Witch Museum, n.d. https://salemwitchmuseum.com/locations/sarah-osborne-house/.

“She was an ill and fearful woman in her late 40s, possibly suffering from depression and/or senility… in her answers to the magistrates, it seems Osborne was struggling with anxiety… ”