Salem's Witch Hunts and Mass Hysteria
The Burning Times: Mania for Persecutions in Old and New Worlds
Sep 21, 2008
In 1641, English King Charles I, son of James I who was rabid about exterminating witches, enacted a law making witchcraft a capital crime. Charles II decreed the Colonies couldn’t self-govern in 1684. These are two of the historical factors that contributed to the tragedy that would occur in Salem, Massachusetts.
Salem Witch Hunt Seeds Are Sown
- 1688: After having an argument with Goody Glover, Martha Goodwin, 13, began to exhibit peculiar behavior. Soon her three siblings behaved the same. Glover was arrested and tried for bewitching them. Reverend Cotton Mather met twice with Glover following her arrest to try to persuade her to repent practicing witchcraft. Glover was hanged. Mather took Martha in, but her bizarre behavior escalated.
- 1689: John Putman and wife Ann Sr. were instrumental in having the Rev. Samuel Parris appointed as Salem Village’s minister. He was married, had a nine year old daughter, Betty, and a twelve year old niece, Abigail Williams. Parris wouldn’t allow the girls to play tag, hide-and-seek and other games because he believed these were signs of idleness which allowed demonic forces to work evil. In addition to his family, he brought his two slaves from Barbados, John and Tituba Indian.
- 1691-1692, winter: Reading was a welcome pastime during the cold months. Books about fortune telling were popular in New England then. Although Puritans believed this was sinful, Betty, Abigail, Ann Putman Jr. and some friends had clandestine gatherings to practice divinations, often with Tituba present. The slave entertained them with stories of Voodoo, demons and mysterious animals. They told fortunes by dropping egg whites into glasses of water, then interpreting the pictures they formed. Betty and Abigail became upset, frightened by what they saw and reacted with unusual behavior. Parris believed this was a physical illness and asked Dr. William Griggs, to examine the girls. He didn’t find a medical cause and concluded they were bewitched.
- 1692: Mary Sibley asked Tituba to bake a witch cake from rye meal and feed it to a dog. This was an English folk remedy. The cakes contained the afflicteds’ urine. Dogs were believed to be familiars and, when they ate the cakes, spells abated.
Belief in Witchcraft Affects Salem Townspeople
Puritans believed in witches and their ability to harm others. Witchcraft was making a pact with the devil in exchange for powers to do evil. It was considered a sin because it denied God’s supremacy and a crime because the witch could summon demonic forces to perform malevolent deeds. When witchcraft was suspected, it was thoroughly investigated and the practitioners identified, judged and executed if circumstances warranted.
Soon Betty and some of the girls made their accusations. Tituba was the first one named, followed by Sarah Osborne and Sara Good. All were prime candidates for accusations of practicing witchcraft. Tituba was from a foreign land and talked of strange things. Osborne was elderly and hadn’t attended church in over a year, a Puritan sin. Good’s husband refused to support their family, so she begged villagers for alms. When residents didn’t give her any, she muttered alien words and left. Townspeople often attributed her visits to livestocks’ deaths, believing her mumbo-jumbo was a curse.
Two magistrates from Salem Town, John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, went to Salem Village to investigate. During the questioning of the accused, Betty, Abigail and six others often screamed and tumbled on the meetinghouse’s floor. Good and Osborne maintained their innocence, but Tituba confessed.
Related articles:
Ergot Caused Some Witch Hunts: Theory
Witch Persecution: Causation Theories
Sources:
Dictionary of Witchcraft, David Pickering, (Cassel, 1996)
The Encyclopedia of Witches & Witchcraft, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, (Facts on File, Inc., 1999)
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