The play has many historical accuracies with the events in Salem. In both the play and the actual trials Tituba, the slave of Samuel Paris, was the first to be accused and admitted to practicing witchcraft to save her life. Furthermore, the play depicts the hysteria and unfounded accusations that were the primary driving force during the trials.
A major plot device in "The Crucible" is the extramarrital affair between the characters John Proctor and Abigail Williams. Historically, the affair probably never happened as there existed a large age descrepency between these two people, and they lived about eight miles away, a considerable distance at the time. Furthermore, characters were changed in the play; "The Crucible" has three judges presiding over the trials, while the actual trials had nine.
Arthur Miller added a note on the historical accuracy of the play, indicating that while he did not strictly adhere to the history of the trials, "the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history." While the history is not identitcally replicated, it is accurately represented.