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Salem Witchcraft. Part 1 · An Essay on Demonology, Ghosts and Apparitions, and Popular Superstitions

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Section eight of an essay on Demonology, Ghosts and Apparitions and Popular Superstitions.
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This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
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For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read by
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Brent Patrick. An essay on Demonology, Ghosts and Apparitions and Popular Superstitions by
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James Thatcher. Salem Witchcraft, Part one. I shall now detail an impartial
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history of the memorable trials and executions for supposed witchcraft at Salem in sixteen ninety
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two. A controversy respecting the settlement of a minister had subsisted in Salem for
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some time prior to this melancholy catastrophe. They had also recently been deprived by
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death of several of their most distinguished and influential characters, who had been considered
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as the fathers and governors of the town for half a century. Unfortunately,
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two or three ministers in the town and several in the vicinity, were,
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with a large proportion of the inhabitants, bigoted and superstitious believers in the doctrine
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of witchcraft, and they aggravated the general prejudice and fanaticism from preconceived opinions and
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strong prejudices, it was scarcely possible that the trials should be impartially conducted.
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This seemed not to be recollected, that in the trials of witches no other
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evidence should be received than in the trials of murderers and other criminals, and
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that no convictions should be made but through the most substantial human testimony, rejecting
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all diabolical or which evidence which can, on no principle be deemed legal in
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any case. In the language of the late doctor Bentley in his History of
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Salem, the spark fell upon inflammable matter, and behold, how great a
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matter a little fire kindled. But it would be unjust not to make due
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allowance for the times in which they lived, and the melancholy delusions which prevailed
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from the war of prejudice, and the slavish effects of the most imbecile apprehensions.
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These errors, like those of a thousand years ago, are equally opposed
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to the progress of knowledge and to a pious confidence in the wisdom and goodness
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of an almighty providence. The authorities from which the following history is derived are
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Hutchinson's History of Massachusetts, Doctor Cotton Mather's Magnalia, Wonders of the Invisible World
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by the same author, Historical Collections and More Wonders of the Invisible World by
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R. Caliph of Boston, published in seventeen hundred. In a letter of
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Thomas Bradle F R. S. Stated October eighth, sixteen ninety two,
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published in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, we have the following account
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as to the method which the same Salem justices do take in their examinations.
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It is truly this a warrant being issued out to apprehend the persons that are
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charged and complained of by the afflicted children, as they are called, said
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persons are brought before the justices, the afflicted being present. The justices ask
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the apprehended why they afflict those poor children, to which the apprehended answer,
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they do not afflict them. The justices order the apprehended to look upon the
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said children, which accordingly they do. And at the time of that look,
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I dare not say by that look as the Salem gentlemen do, the
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afflicted are cast into a fit. The apprehended are then blinded and ordered to
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touch the afflicted, and at that touch, though not by that touch,
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as above, the afflicted do ordinarily come out of their fits. The afflicted
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persons then declare and affirm that the apprehended have afflicted them, upon which the
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apprehended person, though of never so good repute, are forthwith committed to prison
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on suspicion for witchcraft. Such was the excess of their stupidity, that to
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the most dubious crime in the world they joined the most uncertain proofs. A
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person ought to have been a magician to be able to clear himself from the
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imputation of magic. The first instance of reputed witchcraft in the town of Salem
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took place in the family of mister Paris, Minister of Salem, and very
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soon after one or two in the neighborhood were afflicted in a similar manner,
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and a day of prayer was kept on the occasion. The persons who complained
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of being afflicted were a daughter and a niece of mister Paris, girls of
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ten or eleven years of age, and these were soon followed by two other
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girls. They made similar complaints and exhibited antique gestures and tricks similar to those
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of Goodwin's children. Two or three years before, the physician, unable to
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account for the complaint, pronounced them bewitched. They named several women whose specters
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they saw in their fits tormenting them, and in particular Tichiba, an Indian
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woman belonging to mister Parris's family. She had been trying some experiments which she
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pretended to be used in her own country, in order to find out the
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witch. Upon this, the children cried out against the poor Indian as appearing
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to them pinching, pricking, and tormenting them, and they fell into fits.
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Ticheba acknowledged that she had learned how to find out a whitch, but
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denied that she was one herself. Several private facts were kept at the minister's
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house, and several more public by the whole village, and then a general
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fast through the colony. This probably had a tendency to bring the afflicted into
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notice, which, with the pity and compassion of those who visited them,
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encouraged and confirmed them in their designs and increased their numbers. Tichuba, as
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she said, ed, being beat and threatened by her master to make her
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confess and to accuse her sister witches, as he termed them, did confess
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that the devil urged her to sign a book which he presented, and also
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to work mischief with the children, and she was sent to jail. The
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children complained likewise of Sarah Good, who had long been counted a melancholy or
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distracted woman, and also Sarah Osborne, an old bedridden woman, both of
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whom, being examined by two Salem magistrates, were committed to jail for trial.
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About three weeks after, two other women of good character and church members,
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Cory and Nurse, were complained of and brought to their examination. When
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these children fell into fits, and the mother of one of them joined with
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the children and complained of nurses tormenting her and made most terrible shrieks, to
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the amazement of all the neighborhood. The old women denied everything charged against them,
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but were sent to prison. And such was the infatuation that a child
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of Sarah Good, about four or five years old, was committed, also
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charged with being a witch, and of biting some of the afflicted, who
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showed the print of small teeth on their arms, and all that the child
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looked upon, it is said, fell down in fits, complaining that they
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were in torment. Elizabeth Proctor being accused and brought to examination. Her husband,
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as every kind husband would have done, accompanied her to her examination,
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but it cost the poor man his life. Some of the afflicted cried out
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against him also, and they both were committed to prison instead. Says Governor
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Hutchinson, of suspecting and sifting the witnesses and suffering them to be cross examined,
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the authorities, to say no more, were imprudent in making use of
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leading questions, and thereby putting words into their mouths, or suffering others to
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do it. Mister Parris was over officious most of the examinations, although in
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the presence of one or more of the magistrates were taken by him. They
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allowed of such as the following trivial replies to their examining questions. John the
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Indian, She hurt me. She choked me and brought the book a great
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many times. She took hold of my throat to stop my breath. She
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pinched and bit me till the blood came. I saw the witches eat and
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drink at such a place, and they said it was their sacrament. They
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said it was our blood, and they had it twice that day. Upon
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such kind of evidence, persons of blameous character were committed to prison, and
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such was the dreadful infatuation that the life of no person was secure. The
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most effectual way to prevent an accusation was to become the accuser, and accordingly
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the number of the afflicted increased every day, and the number of the accused
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in proportion, who in general Paris in their innocence, more than a hundred
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women, many of them of fair characters and of the most reputable families in
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the towns of Salem, Beverly and over bill Rica, et cetera, were
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apprehended, examined, and generally committed to prison. Good Wife Cory, as
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she was called Author's note, good wife, goody, and goodman were vulgar
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terms applied to heads of families by the lower class, and of Author's note
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was examined before the magistrates in the meeting house in the village. The novelty
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of the case produced a throng of spectators. Mister Noyes, one of the
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ministers of Salem, began by prayer. Several children and women were present that
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pretended to be bewitched by her, and the most of them accused her of
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biting, pinching, and strangling, and said that they did in their fits
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see her likeness coming to them and bringing a book for them to sign.
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She was accused by them that the black man, meaning the devil, whispered
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to her no. Now while she was on her examination. The unfortunate woman
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could only deny all that was laid to her charge, and she was committed
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to jail. A miserable Negro slave was accused by some of the girls,
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but on examination she extricated herself by her native cunning question to Candy, are
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you a witch? Answer Candy? No? Which in her country? Candy's
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mother? No? Which? Candy? No? Which barbadoes this country?
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Mistress? Give Candy witch. Did your mistress make you a witch in this
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country? Yes? In this country, mistress, give Candy witch. What
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did your mistress do to make you a witch? Mistress? Bring book and
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pen and ink. Make Candy right in it. From this testimony missus Haskins,
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the mistress had no other way to save her life but to make confession.
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Footnote A good wife, goody, and goodman were vulgar terms applied to
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heads of families by the lower class. In April sixteen ninety two, there
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was a public hearing and examination before six magistrates and several ministers. The afflicted
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complained against, many with hideous clamors and screechings on their examinations. Besides the
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experiment of the afflicted falling down at the sight of the accused, They were
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required to repeat the Lord's prayer, which it was supposed a real witch could
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not do. When Sir William Phipps entered upon the office of Governor in May
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sixteen ninety two, he ordered the witches to be put in chains. Upon
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that it was said the afflicted persons were free from their torments. In May,
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missus Carey of Charlestown was examined and committed. Her husband published the following
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facts. Having for some days heard that my wife was accused of witchcraft,
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and being much disturbed at it, we went to Salem by advice to see
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if the afflicted knew her. The prisoners called in before the justices singly,
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and as they entered were cried out against by the afflicted girls. The prisoners
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were placed about seven or eight feet from the justices and the accusers. Between
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the justices and the prisoners, the prisoners were ordered to stand directly before the
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justices, with an officer appointed to hold each hand lest they should therewith afflict
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the girls, and the prisoner's eyes must be constantly fixed on the justices,
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for if they looked on the afflicted, they would either fall into these fits
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or cry out of being hurt by them. After examination of the prisoners who
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it was that afflicted these girls, et cetera, they put them upon saying
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the Lord's Prayer as a trial of their guilt. When the afflicted seemed to
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be out of their fits, they would look steadfastly on some one person and
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not speak, And then the justices said they were struck dumb, and after
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a little time they would speak again. Then the justices said to the accusers,
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which of you will go and touch the prisoner at the bar. Then
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the most courageous would venture, but before they made three steps would fall on
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the floor, as if in a fit. The justices then ordered that they
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should be taken up and carried to the prisoner that she might touch them.
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And as soon as this was done, the justices would say, they are
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all well, before I could discern any alteration. But the justices seemed to
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understand the manner of the strange juggle. Two of the accusers, who pretended
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to be bewitched were Abigail Williams, niece of mister Parris, aged eleven or
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twelve years, and Indian John, the husband of Titchiba, who was now
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in jail. This fellow had himself been accused of witchcraft, but had now
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become an accuser for his own safety. He showed several old scars which he
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said were the effects of witchcraft, but more likely of the lash On inquiry
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who they would accuse as the cause of their sufferings. They cried out Carrie,
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and immediately a warrant was sent by the justices to bring my wife before
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them. Her chief accusers were two girls. My wife declared to the justices
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that she never had any knowledge of them before that day. She was obliged
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to stand with her arms extended. I requested that I might hold one of
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her hands, but it was denied me. She then desired that I would
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wipe the tears and the sweat from her face, and that she might lean
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herself on me, as she was faint. But Justice Hathorne said she had
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strength enough to torment those persons, and she should have strength enough to stand.
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I remonstrated against such cruel treatment, but was commanded to be silent or
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I should be turned out of the room. Indian John was now called in
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to be one of the accusers. He fell down and tumbled about like a
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brute, but said nothing. The justices asked the girls who afflicted the Indian.
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They answered, she meaning my wife. The justices ordered her to touch
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him in order to his cure, but her head must be turned another way,
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lest instead of curing, she would make him worse by looking on him.
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Her hand was guided to take hold of his, but the Indians seized
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hold of her hand and pulled her down on the floor in a violent manner.
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Then his hand was taken off and her hand put on his, and
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the cure was quickly wrought. My wife, after being thus cruelly treated,
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was put into prison, and the jailer was ordered to put irons on her
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legs, which weighed about eight pounds. These chains, with her other afflictions,
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soon produced convulsion fits, so that I was apprehensive she would have died
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that night. I entreated that the irons might be removed, but in vain.
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I now attended the trials at Salem, and finding that specter evidence together
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with Idle or Mali vicious stories was received against the lives of innocent people.
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I trembled for the fate of my wife, as the same evidence that would
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serve for one would serve for all in this awful situation. I thought myself
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justifiable in devising some means of escape, and this, through the goodness of
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God was affected. We were pursued as far as Rhode Island, but we
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reached New York in safety, where we were kindly received by Governor Fletcher.
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To speak of the treatment of the prisoners and the inhumanity shown them at their
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executions, as more than any sober Christian can endure. Those that suffered,
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being many of them church members, and most of them of blameless conversation.
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Jonathan Carey, Captain John Alden of Boston Mariner, was sent for by the
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magistrates of Salem upon the accusation of several poor, distracted or possessed creatures or
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witches. On his examination, these wretches began their juggling tricks, falling down,
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crying out, and staring in the faces of people. The magistrates demanded
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of them several times who it was of all the people in the room that
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hurt them. One of the accusers pointed several times to one Captain Hill,
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but said nothing till a man standing behind her to hold her up, stooped
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down to her ear, when she immediately cried out Alden Alden afflicted her.
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Being asked if she had ever seen Alden, she answered no, but she
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said the man told her so. Alden was then committed to custody and his
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sword taken from him, for they said he afflicted them with his sword.
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He was next sent for to the meeting house by the magistrates and was ordered
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to stand on a chair to the open view of all the assembly. The
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accusers cried out that Alden pinched them when he stood on the chair, and
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one of the magistrates biden the Marshal hold open his hands that he might not
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pinch those creatures. Mister Gidney, one of the justices, bid Captain Alden
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confess and give glory to God. He replied he hoped that he should always
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give glory to God, but never would gratify the devil. He asked them
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why they should think that he should come to that village to afflict persons that
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he had never seen before, and appealed to all present and challenged any one
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to produce a charge against his character. Mister Gidney said he had known him
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many years, and had been to sea with him, and always believed him
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to be an honest man, but now he saw cause to alter his opinion.
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Alden asked Gidney what reason could be given why his looking upon him did
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not strike him down as well as the miserable accusers, But no reason could
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be given. He assured Gidney that a lying spirit was in his accusers,
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and that there was not a word of truth in alle all they said of
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him. Alden, however, was committed to jail, where he continued fifteen
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weeks. When he made his escape. At the examinations and at other times,
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it was usual for the accusers to tell of the black man or of
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a specter as being then on the table, the people present would strike with
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swords or sticks at those places. One justice broke his cane at this exercise,
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and sometimes the accusers would say they struck the specter, and it was
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even reported that several of the accused women were hurt and wounded thereby, though
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at home at the same time. In June and July, the Court of
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Oyer and Terminer proceeded on trials and condemnations, and six miserable creatures were executed
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protesting their innocence. At the trial of Sarah Good, one of the afflicted
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girls fell into a fit, and after coming out of it, she cried
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out against the prisoner for stabbing her in the break best while in court,
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and actually produced a piece of the blade of the knife, which she said
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was used and broken in doing it. Upon this, a young man was
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called to prove the imposition. He produced a haft and part of the blade,
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which the court, having viewed and compared, found to be the same,
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and the young man affirmed that yesterday he happened to break that knife,
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and that he cast away the upper part in the presence of the person who
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now produced it. The girl was cautioned by the court not to tell any
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more lies, but was still employed to give evidence against the prisoners whose lives
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were in her hands. Mister Noyes, the minister, urged Sarah Good to
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confess, saying he knew she was a witch, and she knew she was
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a witch, to which she replied, you are a liar. I am
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no more a witch than you are a wizard. At the trial of Rebecca
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Nurse, it was remarkable that the jury brought her in not guilty immediately all
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the accusers in the court, and soon after all the afflicted out of court
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made a hideous cry, to the amazement of the court and spectators. The
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court, having expressed some dissatisfaction, the jury were induced to go out again
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to consider better one expression of hers when before the court, they now brought
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her in guilty, and she was condemned. After her condemnation, she was
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by mister Noy's of Salem excommunicated and given to the devil. The governor,
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however, saw cause to grant a reprieve, upon which, when known,
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the accusers renewed their dismal outcries against her, insomuch that the Governor was by
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some Salem gentlemen prevailed with to recall the reprieve, and she was executed with
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the rest. The testimonials of her Christian behavior, both in the course of
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her life and at her death, are numerous and highly satisfactory. Mary Eastye,
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her sister, was also condemned. She was of a serious and religious
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character, and before her execution she presented a petition to the court and the
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reverend ministers at Salem, protesting her innocence before God. She petitioned not for
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her own life, for she knew she must die, but most earnestly prayed
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that, if possible, no more innocent blood might be shed by her own
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innocence. She said, she knew the court was in the wrong way,
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and humbly begged that their honors would examine the confessing witches, being confident that
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many of them had belied themselves and others. They had accused her, and
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others, she said, of having made a league with the devil, which
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she and they most positively denied. The Lord alone, who is the searcher
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of all hearts, knows that, as I shall answer it at the tribunal
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seat, that I know nothing of witchcraft. Therefore I cannot I dare not
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but lie my own soul by confessing. She entreats their honors not to deny
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the humble petition of a poor, dying, innocent person, and prays that
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the Lord will give a blessing to their endeavors, that no more innocent blood
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shall be shed. These two women were among the eight who were executed together.
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When the Reverend mister Noyes, turning towards the bodies, said, what
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a sad thing it is to see eight firebrands of hell hanging there. John
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Proctor, while confined in prison, complained that two young men were compelled to
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a confession by being tied neck and heels till the blood was ready to burst
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out of their noses. They then confessed that one had been a wizard a
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month and the other five weeks, and that their mother had made them so
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when she had been confined in jail without seeing them for nine weeks. He
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adds, my son William Proctor, when he was a examined, because he
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would not confess that he was guilty, they tied him up neck and heels
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to the blood gushed out of his nose. At a court held in Salem
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April sixteen ninety two by the Honorable Thomas Damforth, Deputy Governor, Elizabeth Proctor
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was tried for witchcraft. The witnesses were Indian John, husband to Tichiba,
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and three or four girls who pretended to be afflicted by the said Proctor.
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The questions by the court and the answers of the witnesses were exceedingly futile and
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whimsical, but they exhibited their antique gestures and fits which they pretended were caused
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by the presence of the prisoner at the bar. The court then put the
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question, thus, Elizabeth Proctor, you understand whereof you are charged, viz.
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To be guilty of sundry acts of witchcraft? What say you to it?
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Speak the truth as you will answer it before God another day. What
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do you say, goody Proctor, to these things? I take God in
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Heaven to be my witness that I know nothing of it, no more than
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a child. Proctor, the husband, being present in court, the afflicted
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girls cried out against him, saying he was a wizard, and again exhibited
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their tricks and fits. The question was put by the court, who hurts
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you answer, goodman Proctor? And his wife too by the court, what
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do you say, Goodman Proctor, to these things? I know not?
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I am entirely innocent. It is no less painful than astonishing to add that
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by such miserable evidence Proctor and his wife were both condemned and executed. Proctor
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earnestly entreated that he might be allowed a few days to prepare himself for death,
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and at his execution he desired in the most affecting manner that mister Noyes
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would pray with him and for him, but his request was cruelly denied him
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because he would not confess himself to be a wizard. August nineteenth, sixteen
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ninety two, five persons were executed, all protesting their innocence in the firmest
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manner. One of this number was mister George Burroughs, who had been a
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preacher several years before at Salem Village, where there had been some misunderstanding between
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him and the people. Afterwards he became a preacher at Wells. It was
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alleged against mister Burrows that he had been seen to perform feats of strength exceeding
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the natural powers of man. He had lifted a barrel of molasses or cider
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from a canoe and carried it to the shore. He would with one hand
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extend a heavy musket of six or seven feet barrel at arm's length. In
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addition to these charges, it was urged by the writers of that day,
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as a principal part of the evidence, that seven or eight of the confessing
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which is witnessed against him. But it will appear from the examinations by the
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court that their evidence was drawn from them. For example, question to Mary
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Lacey was there not a man among you at your meetings, none but the
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devil. Your mother and grandmother say there was a minister there? Did you
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not see men there? There was a minister there, and I think he
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is now in prison. Was there not one mister Burrows there? Yes?
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Question to another witness. Were there not two ministers there? I heard Sarah
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Good talk of a minister or two. One of them is he that has
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been to the eastward. His name is Burroughs. Margaret Jacobs had been brought
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to accuse herself of being a witch, and then to charge Burroughs, the
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minister, and her own grandfather, But afterwards, being struck with horror,
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she chose to lose her own life rather than persist. In her confession.
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She begged forgiveness of Burroughs before his execution, who is said to have freely
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forgiven her, and to have prayed with and for her. She also recanted
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all she had said against her grandfather, but all in vain as to his
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life. Some of the accusers asserted that Burrows often attended the witch or devil's
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sacrament. Some testified that in their torments, Burrows tempted them to go to
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a sacrament, and he would with the sound of a trumpet, some and
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other witches, who quickly after the sound, would come from all quarters unto
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the rendezvous. Numerous other charges, equally frivolous, were brought against this unfortunate
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minister, as stated by doctor Cotton Mather, among others, his venomous bites,
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leaving the prints of his teeth upon the flesh, which would compare precisely
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with his set of teeth. It is seldom that a man eighty years of
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age can boast a good set of teeth. And some said that he had
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not won in his head, and could be no other than imaginary teeth.
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But these could answer their purpose. Burroughs had been twice married, and it
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was reported of him, perhaps truly, that he had treated his wives unkindly.
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Several of the bewitched adds doctor Cotton Mather gave in their testimony that they
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had been troubled with the apparitions of two women who said they were Burrow's two
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wives, and that he had been the death of them, and that the
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magistrates must be told of it, before whom if Burrows, upon his trial,
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denied it, they did not know, but they should appear against him
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in court Burroughs, being now on trial, one of the bewitched persons,
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was cast into horror at the ghosts of the two deceased wives then appearing before
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him and crying for vengeance against him. But he, though much appalled,
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utterly denied that he discerned anything of it, nor was this, adds doctor
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Mather any part of his conviction. It was testified by some of the witnesses
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that the prisoner had been at witch meetings with them, and that he was
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the person who had seduced them into the snares of witchcraft, That he promised
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them fine clothes for doing it, that he brought puppets to them, and
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thorns to stick into those puppets for the afflicting of other people, and that
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he exhorted them with the rest of the crew, to bewitch all Salem village,
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but be sure to do it gradually if they would prevail in what they
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did. It was testified of one Ruck brother in law to the prisoner,
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that himself and sister with Burrows, going out two or three miles to gather
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strawberries. Ruck with his sister rode home very moderately with Burrows on foot and
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company. Burrows stepped aside into the bushes, whereupon they halted and hollowed for
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him. He not answering, they proceeded homewards with a quickened pace, and
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yet when they were got near home, to their astonishment, they found him
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on foot with them, having a basket of strawberries. Burrows then fell to
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chiding his wife for speaking to her brother of him on the road, which,
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when they wondered at, he said he knew their thoughts. Ruck being
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startled at that, intimated that the devil himself did not know so far.
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Burrows answered, my God makes known your thoughts unto me. The prisoner at
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the bar had nothing to answer unto what was thus witnessed against him that was
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worth considering. But the court began to think, says doctor Mather, that
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he then stepped aside, only that by the assistance of the black man,
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he might put on his invisibility, and, in that fascinating mist gratify his
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own jealous humor to hear what they said of him. This is paying no
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great compliment to the philosophical character of the court. Burrows was, however,
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condemned, and was carried in rags in a cart through the streets of Salem
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to his execution, and his body was dragged by the rope over the ground
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and buried among some rocks. One hand and part of the face left uncovered
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when on the latter he repeated the Lord's prayer, probably because it was the
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popular opinion that a wizard is deprived of the power of doing it. And
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he also protested against the injustice of his sufferings with such awful solemnity as to
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affect the spectators to tears, and it was by some apprehended that the populace
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would have prevented the execution. He suffered this ignominious death at the age of
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about eighty years, with fervent prayers that the dreadful delusion might cease as soon
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as he was turned off. Doctor Cotton Mather, being mounted, addressed himself
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to the people, declaring that Burroughs was not an ordained minister, and that
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there was the fullest proof of his guilt. Doctor Increase Mather, equally credulous
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in these things with his son, in his case of Conscience, affirms that
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he was present at the trial of Boroughs, and had he been one of
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his judges, he could not have acquitted him. For several persons did,
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on oath testify that they saw him do such things as no man that has
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not a devil to be his familiar could perform. End of Section eight.