The Penguin Book of Witches (15 page)

[Hathorne]:
Why did you go to Thomas Putnam’s last night and hurt his child?
18

[Tituba]:
They pull and haul me and make go.

[Hathorne]:
And what would they have you do?

[Tituba]:
Kill her with a knife.

Left
19
Fuller and other said at this [time] when the child saw these persons and was tormented by them that she did complain of a knife that they would have her cut her head off with a knife.

[Hathorne]:
How did you go?

[Tituba]:
We ride upon sticks
20
and are there presently.

[Hathorne]:
Do you go through the trees or over them?

[Tituba]:
We see nothing but are there presently.

[Hathorne]:
Why did you not tell your master?

[Tituba]:
I was afraid. They said they would cut off my head if I told.

[Hathorne]:
Would you not have hurt others if you could?

[Tituba]:
They said they would hurt others but they could not [scored out]

[Hathorne]:
What attendants hath Sarah Good?

[Tituba]:
A yellow bird and she would have given me one.

[Hathorne]:
What meat did she give it?

[Tituba]:
It did suck her between her fingers.

[Hathorne]:
Did not you hurt Mr. Currin’s child?

[Tituba]:
Goody Good and Goody Osburn told that they did hurt Mr. Curren’s child and would have had me hurt him too but I did not.

[Hathorne]:
What hath Sarah Osburn?

[Tituba]:
Yesterday she had a thing with a head like a woman with 2 legs and wings.

Abigail Williams that lives with her uncle Mr. Parris said that she did see this same creature with Goody Osburn and yesterday being [scored out from “with”] and it turned into the shape
of Goody Osburn.

[Hathorne]:
What else have you seen with Goody Osburn?

[Tituba]:
Another thing hairy. It goes upright like a man. It hath only 2 legs.

[Hathorne]:
Did you not see Sarah Good upon Elizabeth Williams [scored out] Hubbard last Saturday?

[Tituba]:
I did see her set a wolf upon her to afflict her.

The persons with this maid did say that she did complain of a wolf
.
21

[Tituba]:
She further said that she saw a cat with Good at another time.

[Hathorne]:
What clothes doth the man we [scored out] go in?

[Tituba]:
He goes in black clothes. A tall man with white hair, I think.
22

[Hathorne]:
How doth the woman go?

[Tituba]:
In a white hood and a black hood with a top knot.

[Hathorne]:
Do you see who it is that torments it that hurts them now?

[Tituba]:
I am blind now I cannot see.

Salem Village, March the 1st, 1691/2, written by Ezekiel Cheevers

If the expansion of the Salem witch trials was ignited by Tituba’s confession, then we must ask her reason for confessing and condemning these other women. It is tempting to say that Tituba confessed to save herself, but when she did, she did not know that she would be spared because of it. Usually in an early modern witch trial, if one confessed it would only hurry one to the gallows, as was the case with Ursula Kemp one hundred years before. It has been argued that Parris beat Tituba’s confession out of her; the descriptions of her body, when it was examined looking for her witch’s teat, also include evidence of bruising. We may never fully understand
why
she confessed. She was a slave and a woman in a rigidly hierarchal society. Her questioning was leading at best and aggressive at worst. Tituba confessed for the same reason that people confess to crimes they did not commit today—because she had been hounded into it by people in a position of power.

What we can understand is
how
she confessed, which may tell us something about why. Tituba’s confession displays a deep knowledge of English witchcraft: the covenanting with the Devil, the spirit familiars in the forms of animals, riding on a stick to the Sabbath, and sending out a spirit to do harm (often against children) are wholly consistent with English thinking about witchcraft. These details are perfectly consistent with English witchcraft manuals—too consistent. For someone who could not read (Tituba made her mark rather than sign her name) this kind of knowledge could only have come from someone else. Such details about witchcraft were scholastic, rather than common folk knowledge. These details coming from the mouth of an illiterate slave from Barbados strongly suggests coercion both in the act of the confession, as well as instruction in what specifically to say.

The First Examination of Tituba
1

Tituba the Indian Woman’s Examination, March 1, 1691/2

[Q]:
Why do you hurt these poor children? What harm have they done unto you?

[A]:
They do no harm to me. I no hurt them at all.

[Q]:
Why have you done it?

[A]:
I have done nothing. I can’t tell when the Devil works.

[Q]:
What, doth the Devil tell you that he hurts them?

[A]:
No. He tells me nothing.

[Q]:
Do you never see something appear in some shape?

[A]:
No. Never see anything.

[Q]:
What familiarity have you with the Devil, or what is it that you converse withal? Tell the truth. Who it is that hurts them?

[A]:
The Devil for aught I know.

[Q]:
What appearance or how doth he appear when he hurts them? With what shape or what is he like that hurts them?

[A]:
Like a man. I think yesterday I being in the lentoe chamber I saw a thing like a man, that told me serve him and I told him no, I would not do such thing.
2

She charges Goody Osburn and Sarah Good as those that hurt the children, and would have had her do it. She saith she hath seen four, two of which she knew not.
3
She saw them last night as she was washing the room.

[A]:
They told me hurt the children and would have had me go to Boston. There was five of them with the man. They told me if I would not go and hurt them they would do so to me. At first I did agree with them but afterward I told them I do so no more.

[Q]:
Would they have had you hurt the children the last night?

[A]:
Yes, but I was sorry and I said I would do so no more, but told I would fear God.

[Q]:
But why [scored out] did not you do so before?

[A]:
Why, they tell me I had done so before and therefore I must go on. These were the four women and the man, but she knew none but Osburn and Good; only the others were of Boston.
4

[Q]:
At first being with them, what then appeared to you? What was it like that got you to do it?

[A]:
One like a man just as I was going to sleep came to me. This was when the children was first hurt. He said he would kill the children and she would never be well and he said if I would not serve him, he would do so to me.

[Q]:
Is that the same man that appeared before to you? That appeared the last night and told you this?

[A]:
Yes.

[Q]:
What other likenesses besides a man hath appeared to you?

[A]:
Sometimes like a hog. Sometimes like a great black dog. Four times.

[Q]:
But what d [torn] they say unto you?

[A]:
They told me serve him and that was a good way. That was the black dog. I told him I was afraid. He told me he would be worse than to me.

[Q]:
What did you say to him then after that?

[A]:
I answered, I will serve you no longer. He told me he would do me hurt then.

[Q]:
What other creatures have you seen?

[A]:
A bird.

[Q]:
What bird?

[A]:
A little yellow bird.

[Q]:
Where doth it keep?

[A]:
With the man who hath pretty things here besides.
5

[Q]:
What other pretty things?

[A]:
He hath not showed them yet unto me, but he said he would show them me tomorrow, and he told me if I would serve him, I should have the bird.

[Q]:
What other creatures did you see?

[A]:
I saw two cats, one red, another black as big as a little dog.

[Q]:
What did these cats do?

[A]:
I don’t know. I have seen them two times.

[Q]:
What did they say?

[A]:
They say serve them.

[Q]:
When did you see them?

[A]:
I saw them last night.

[Q]:
Did they do any hurt to you or threaten you?

[A]:
They did scratch me.

[Q]:
When?

[A]:
After prayer, and scratched me because I would not serve them and when they went away, I could not see. But they stood before the fire.

[Q]:
What service do they expect from you?

[A]:
They say more hurt to the children.

[Q]:
How did you pinch them when you hurt them?

[A]:
The other pull me and haul me to pinch the child and I am very sorry for it.

[Q]:
What made you hold your arm when you were searched? What had you there?

[A]:
I had nothing.

[Q]:
Do not those cats suck you?

[A]:
No, never yet. I would not let them, but they had almost thrust me into the fire.

[Q]:
How do you hurt those that you pinch? Do you get those cats or other things to do it for you? Tell us, how is it done?

[A]:
The man sends the cats to me and bids me pinch them and I think I went over to Mr. Griggs’s and have pinched her this day in the morning. The man brought Mr. Griggs’s maid
6
to me and made me pinch her.

[Q]:
Did you ever go with these women?

[A]:
They are very strong and pull me and make me go with them.

[Q]:
Where did you go?

[A]:
Up to Mr. Putnam’s and make me hurt the child.

[Q]:
Who did make you go?

[A]:
A man that is very strong and these two women, Good and Osburn. But I am sorry.

[Q]:
How did you go? What do you ride upon?

[A]:
I rid upon a stick or pole and Good and Osburn behind me. We ride taking hold of one another and don’t know how we go for I saw no trees nor path, but was presently there, when we were up.

[Q]:
How long since you began to pinch Mr. Parris’s children?

[A]:
I did not pinch them at the first, but he made me afterward.

[Q]:
Have you seen Good and Osburn ride upon a pole?

[A]:
Yes and have held fast by me. I was not at Mr. Griggs’s but once, but it maybe sent something like me, neither would I have gone, but that they tell me they will hurt me. Last night they tell me I must kill somebody with the knife.

[Q]:
Who were they that told you so?

[A]:
Sarah Good and Osburn and they would have had me kill Thomas Putnam’s child last night.

The child also affirmed that at the same time they would have had her cut her own throat [scored out from “her”] of her own head for if she would not they told her Tituba would cut it off and complained at the same time of a knife cutting of her when her master hath asked her about these thing[torn] she saith they will not let her tell, but tell her if she tells her head shall be cut off.

[Q]:
Who [torn] you so?

[A]:
The man, Good, and Osburn’s wife. Goody Good came to her last night when her master was at prayer and would not let her hear and she could not hear a good while.
7
Good hath one of these birds, the yellow bird, and would have given me it, but I would not have it and in prayer time she stopped my ears and would not let me hear.

[Q]:
What should you have done with it?

[A]:
Give it to the children. Which yellow bird hath been several times seen by the children. I saw Sarah Good have it on her hand when she came to her when Mr. Parris was at prayer. I saw the bird suck Good between the forefinger and long finger upon the right hand.

[Q]:
Did you never practice witchcraft in your own country?
8

[A]:
No. Never before now.

[Q]:
Did you [lost] see them do it now while you are examining?

[A]:
No, I did not see them but I saw them hurt at other times. I saw Good have a cat beside the yellow bird which was with her.

[Q]:
What hath Osburn got to go with her?

[A]:
Something. I don’t know what it is. I can’t name it. I don’t know how it looks. She hath two of them. One of them hath wings and two legs and a head like a woman.

The children saw the same but yesterday which afterward turned into a woman.

[Q]:
What is the other thing that Goody Osburn hath?

[A]:
A thing all over hairy, all the face hairy and a long nose and I don’t know how to tell how the face looks. With two legs, it goeth upright and is about two or three foot high and goeth upright like a man and last night it stood before the fire in Mr. Parris’s hall.

[Q]:
Who was that appeared like a wolf to Hubbard as she was going from Proctures?
9

[A]:
It was Sarah Good and I saw her send the wolf to her.

[Q]:
What clothes doth the man appear unto you in?

[A]:
Black clothes sometimes, sometimes serge coat or other color, a tall man with white hair, I think.

[Q]:
What apparel do the women wear?

[A]:
I don’t know what color.

[Q]:
What kind of clothes hath she?

[A]:
A black silk hood with a white silk hood under it with topknots. Which woman I know not but have seen her in Boston when I lived there.

[Q]:
What clothes the little woman?

[A]:
A serge coat with a white cap, as I think.

The children having fits at this very time, she was asked who hurt them.
10
She answered Goody Good and the children affirmed the same, but Hubbard being taken in an extreme fit after she was asked who hurt her and she said she could not tell, but said they blinded her and would not let her see and after that was once or twice taken dumb herself.

The Second Examination of Tituba
11

Second Examination, March 2, 1691/2
12

[Q]:
What covenant did you make with that man that came to you? What did he tell you?

[A]:
He tell me he God and I must believe him and serve him six years and he would give me many fine things.
13

[Q]:
How long ago was this?

[A]:
About six weeks and a little more. Friday night before Abigail was ill.

[Q]:
What did he say you must do more? Did he say you must write anything? Did he offer you any paper?

[A]:
Yes. The next time he come to me and showed me some fine things. Something like creatures, a little bird something like green and white.

[Q]:
Did you promise him then when he spake to you then? What did you answer him?

[A]:
I then said this. I told him I could not believe him God. I told him I ask my master and would have gone up but he stopped me and would not let me.

[Q]:
What did you promise him?

[A]:
The first time I believe him God and then he was glad.