ESCAPING SALEM: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692 In Richard GodBeers novel “Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692” he tells of a witch trial that took place in Stamford Connecticut in 1692. GodBeer starts readers off with the setting taking place in Daniel and Abigail Wescots household. He tells of a dilemma going on in the household pertaining to their servant; Katherine Branch. She was experiencing hallucinated fits that caused her to convulse and scream in pain. The ongoing fits led the Wescot’s and other citizens of Stamford into believing the fits were caused by bewitchment. The suspicion then leads Katherine Branch to tell of visitations from the devil in numerous forms, as well as being tormented by witches. She accuses Elizabeth …show more content…
The sudden change in Kate’s health raises suspicion from Abagail Wescot; leaving her to believe that Kate was simply faking her symptoms. Though Abagail had reason to believe Kate was simply putting on a show she then worries as concern from Daniel Wescot raises attention. Despite the conflictions the Wescots felt into determining whether or not Kate was simply duping them or was genuinely experiencing the bewitchment their daughter had once experienced; both Daniel and Abagail found it suitable to seek any advice or opinions from neighbors determining the issues going on with Kate. When seeking medical advice from the local midwife Goody Bates, she and the wescots were open to believe that Kate’s fits could’ve been caused naturally. As stated “Goody Bates saw no reason to ignore the possibility of a natural explanation” (GodBeer, pg.17). This was an opinion and open minded thought Daniel was also open to believe in. That is until Kates symptoms began to show signs of bewitchment. This worried many other neighbors that came to aide eventually leaving Daniel to seek visitation from John Bishop, whom at the time GodBeer deemed him credible due to his education and experience in religion as well as his time served as pastor which was nearly fifty years (21). John …show more content…
The type of evidence conducted was to find any “devils marking” on any of the accused women’s body. This tactic was both poorly used in the Stamford trials as well as Salem trials. The process of determining whether Clawson or Disborough bodies contained any markings consisted of gathering a group of women “faithfully sworn, narrowly and truly to inspect and search her body” (GodBeer pg.94). This form of evidence was unfair on the accused parts seeing as the abnormality on either of the woman’s body had been there due to natural causes. Salem practiced the same tactic by “examining the body of the accused for a small red circle. If the mark did not bleed or hurt when pricked with a pin, people believed the devil had magically caused it” (Wilson, pg.34). This tactic sharing similarities with evidence gathered for the Stamford witch trial, both in which were unfair in both cases. Another form of evidence used in the court was “Ducking” this tactic involved binding the suspects and then throwing them into a body of water; if the suspect sank the suspect was innocent; if the suspect floated, that meant the water had rejected their bodies as unholy and so they were found guilty. These forms of evidence showed unfairness on behalf of the two suspects, neither of the outcomes can be helped. Luckily the
Richard Godbeer presented an excellent picture on how puritan life was structured, how it functioned, and how they perceived the super natural in this novel. Reading "Escaping Salem," I was thrown several different scenarios displaying how witchcraft was addressed in early puritan society and how they reacted towards it. The supposedly bewitching of Katherine Branch showed the reader how the people of Stamford and the court system handled the act of witchcraft. After reading this novel, I can say that I do believe the accused in the Stamford witchcraft trial received a fair trial.
Myth-busting: Ergot Poisoning The years 1691 to 1692 mark an important date in Salem Massachusetts. A small village on the North coast of Massachusetts, Salem became notorious for their injustice and cruelty of their Witch Hunts, in which over 20 people, men and women, were executed in half a year. Surrounded by Religious Paranoia and uncertainty in their newfound community, people began looking at practices of the Devil as a scapegoat for unusual happenings. Believed to have been works of the devil for centuries, this idea has been rebuked in recent times, as a study in 1976 strongly suggested the effects of Rye Ergot Poisoning to be the main force behind the Witch trials.
While leading accusers in prior cases tended to be older men, the Salem Trials were predicated largely on accusations from young women--- and this often-marginalized demographic held a great amount of influence and directive sway in these Salem proceedings. The rate at which defendants were convicted and executed exceeded any precedent, as did the visible resoluteness with which "justice" was handed down. Norton, faced with these aberrations, devotes Devil's Snare to the pursuit of "a deceptively simple but rarely asked question: why was Salem so different from all previous witchcraft episodes in New
The death of 8-year-old Elizabeth Kelly in 1662 and her autopsy provided more fuel for the witch-hunt hysteria (Klein p.2). According to Boynton, “those who attended the examination of Elizabeth’s body may not have been familiar with the physical changes that occur after death, including the time frame for rigor mortis […] and the occurrence of livor mortis,” (Boynton 38). Bryan Rossiter, the doctor who performed the autopsy, noted strange “preternatural” findings on her body that were in fact “natural occurrences for an almost week-old corpse,” (Boynton 39). The findings that Rossiter published were gruesome, including large red spots on her cheek, black and blue arms, a terrible stench, and stiffness of the body (Boynton 39). This report highly distraught the citizens of Connecticut and stirred further unrest and more prosecutions of witches (Klein
Nineteen men and women hung from the tree of destruction, for they were the ornaments of hysteria. New England was supposed to be a land of opportunity for the Puritans. During the summer of 1692, Salem Village proved to a wretched example of this; twenty people were falsely accused of witchcraft and were accordingly jailed and executed. Salem’s infamy has bewildered many, for nobody truly knows in entirety what caused the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692. Clearly, there were a few possible causes of the hysteria; however, envious, young, single women; sexism; and lying little girls stand out as the main causes.
Accused, trial, guilty, executed, devil, jury - the news spreading around Salem, Massachusetts was deathly. Starting with women, and then expanding to men, there were accusations of witchcraft encompassing the whole town. The arraigned did not stand a chance against the court. The accused witches went through one of the most arduous times of all people in Salem; however, after a well-abounding amount of trials, the cases were closed and the issue was solved. “It was the darkest and most desponding period in the civil history of New England.”
Two magistrates travelled from Salem Town, John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, to the village to hold a public inquiry. The legal backgrounds of these two magistrates were as questionable as the doctor's. They engaged in brutal interrogation tactics. They allowed the use of absurd evidence, such as spectral visits, dreams/visions, birth marks and deformities, even though a very well respected minister Cotton Mather, recommended against it. Both Good and Osborn proclaimed their own innocence, even though Good accused Osborn.
The only challenge was how to present the witchcraft evidence to the court. After Mercy Disborough and Elizabeth Clawson were accused of bewitching Kate, men especially Daniel wanted them to be hanged for practicing witchcraft. This brought an argument between men and women to an extent of men accusing women of cursing children, livestock or themselves by witchcraft. The reason behind women being accused of witchcraft was that they had gone against men point of
5. Evidently from the documents, the most frequently recurring phenomena the accusers felt was the witch 's presence awakening them in their slumber and in some cases said to be sitting on their chests choking them. The bewitchment of animals and creatures being another apparent part of testimonies. For instance, John Louder states "And some tyme after that I being not very well stayed at whome on a Lords day and on the after noon of s 'd day the dores being shutt I did see a black pig in the Roome Comeing towards mee soe I went towards itt to kick it and it vanished away,"(Bridget Bishop,TSB-4,11).
REVIEW OF LITRATURE A.) SUMMARY SOURCE A Although the whole book had information on the Salem witch trials. The introduction, chapter 1 and 2 and the conclusion had information regarding the research needed • Introduction: states what the Salem witch trials where and who they accused.
Some of the most unique and historical events regarding witches, took place right here in Massachusetts. The witch trials of the late 1600’s were full of controversy and uncertainty. The Puritan town of Salem, Massachusetts was home to most of these trials, and became the center of much unwanted attention. The trials which took place during 1692 resulted in the hanging of fourteen women and five men that were accused of being witches. Also, one man was pressed to death by heavy weights for refusing to enter a plea.
In the book, The Witches: Salem 1692, the author Stacy Schiff attempts to condense a large volume of research into a cohesive narrative that tries to avoid to much speculation. There is some contention that the book does speculate into the motives of primary accusers that some reviewers have intimated are bordering on fiction. However, the author defends her arguments logically, and her inferences do seem to bridge the gaps effectively. One of the items that causes some confusion, to both the historically curious, and to the researcher is that the author has created a list of dramatis personae in which the historical figures are labeled as a cast of characters which might make the book seem fictional.
“Let either of you breathe a word, or the edge of a word, about the other things, and I will come to you in the black of some terrible night and I will bring a pointy reckoning that will shudder you,” (Act I, 160). She was the first person in the play to accuse a person of seeing people summon spirits of the Devil. This caused a massive, wide-scale witch hunt to take place; families torn apart, mothers, fathers, and even children murdered for what was considered to be the greater good. Now, others began to accuse people of witchcraft and people who had been lifelong friends to each other now had no choice other than to point fingers at each other or be put to death. Widespread panic and unreasonable action was sweeping through everyone in Salem, all because of a little lie by
In a small village called Salem, witchcraft and sorcery exist, however everyone is pointing fingers but not a single soul knows who is actually to blame for this nonsense. During this time period of hysteria, there are multiple scenes that are very questionable due to one person and one person only. Abigail is the one most responsible for the hysteria and witchcraft in Salem. She threatens the group of girls that accompanied her in the woods while they all danced. She has also lied about many things on multiple occasions in which causes an extreme amount of suspicion.
In Salem, Massachusetts summer of 1692, a group of teenage girls were said to have been “under evil hands”. When the girls were asked, who had done this to them, they accused local middle aged men and women. According to Castillo, “the first three women they accused were Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba, the slave” (1692, Castillo). Tituba claimed to not be a witch however, her mother was. These three women were the first witches to go on trial, all three were found guilty.