In January of 1692, a village doctor diagnosed Reverend Parris's daughter and neice as bewitched. Soon after, the girls began accusing adults throughout the town of bewitching them. At the time, youngsters often accused adults of witchcraft in rebellion against strict Puritan rule. Teenage girls especially accused people of being witches because they had no other way to vent their emotions. Usually, they were homebound day in and day out. The townspeople believed the girls' accusations because fear and suspicion were running rampant in the town due to a strong belief in the Devil, disease, and numerous property disputes between residents. Chief Justice William Stoughton presided over many of the court cases that ended in the hangings of 19 men and women. One man named Giles Corey was pressed to death by large rocks, and 7 people died in prison. The court was disbanded by Governor William Phipps before all 150 men and women accused by the teenage girls could be put to death. The disbanding formally ended the witch trials and America's darkest moment in history. The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 have often been compared to the McCarthy hearings of the 1950s in the United States where alleged communists were put on trial in an effort to rid the United States government of all potential communists.