The Penguin Book of Witches (34 page)

4
.
In this account, fear of the native population continues to be bound up in a fear of Catholicism along the New York frontier.

JOHN HALE,
A MODEST ENQUIRY INTO THE NATURE OF WITCHCRAFT
, 1702

1
.
Excerpted from John Hale,
A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft.
Originally published in Boston by B. Green and J. Alten for Benjamin Eliot under the Town House. Images of the original text available from the University of Virginia’s online Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project, http://salem .lib.virginia.edu/archives/ModestEnquiry/index.html.

2
.
John and Tituba Indian had made a “witch cake” at the behest of Mary Sibley, an intriguing example of the use of so-called white magic in the discovery of devilish doings. The witch-cake episode represents an instance of English folk-magical belief that stopped short of being considered witchcraft. Episodes like this indicate that the Puritan worldview was one heavily inflected with, and even understood by, magical principles, which should be taken on their own historically contingent terms.

3
.
Hale references not only witch-hunting manuals that were in wide circulation during the Salem panic, but also the guides for jurymen that were used to ensure that the trials proceeded appropriately. Hale is struggling with the fact that the Salem trials were conducted legally, and in accordance with established precedent. The Salem trial was a failure both of faith and of system, and Hale, like others of his generation, is at pains to determine how such a tragedy could have come to pass.

4
.
Witchcraft historian George Lincoln Burr identifies “D. H.” as Deliverance Hobbs. See Burr,
Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases 1648–1706
, 417.

5
.
George Burroughs preaching at a witches’ Sabbath.

6
.
Burr identifies Goody F. as Ann Foster, who later died in prison. Burr,
Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases 1648–1706
, 418.

7
.
Among other things.

8
.
There is something rather sweet and quotidian about this witches’ picnic, with bread and cheese wrapped up in a cloth for convenience while flying about on a stick.

9
.
Martha Carrier.

THE TRIAL OF GRACE SHERWOOD, PRINCESS ANNE COUNTY, VIRGINIA, 1705–1706

1
.
Ducking stools were most often used in England and Scotland as punishment and humiliation, primarily for women accused of being scolds. They were infrequently used to determine whether someone was a witch. English witches were more frequently identified using the touch test. The ducking stool has more in common with the pillory or the stocks as a punishment, rather than as a diagnostic tool. Interestingly, the ducking stool persists in contemporary carnival settings as the dunk tank, in which a person sits over a tank of water, scolding and jeering at the carnival goer who tries to hit a lever with baseballs that will release the jeerer into the water.

2
.
Excerpted from Henry Howe,
Historical Collections of Virginia.
Originally published in Charleston, S.C., by Babcock and Co, 1845.

3
.
Howe falls victim to a commonly voiced curiosity about Salem; namely, if everyone who confessed was let off, why didn’t everyone just confess, whether guilty or not? The editor concedes that strength of character might have had something to do with it, though more likely was the fact that the accused at Salem considered lying to be a mortal sin. Mostly likely of all was that it was hardly a foregone conclusion that confession would lead to leniency. In witch trials leading up to Salem, confession was more expected to contribute to a death sentence. Salem was an exception because of the necessity of identifying all the other presumed witches in the conspiracy, who could only be reliably identified by another confessed confederate.

4
.
There is a Witchduck Lane off Lynnhaven Bay in Princess Anne County, Virginia, and a nearby neighborhood is referred to on Google Maps as Salem. Data retrieved March 10, 2012.

5
.
“Uxor” is Latin for “wife.”

6
.
Original document reads “Differr,” and might imply that the jury of women is to ascertain if Grace Sherwood’s body has any marked differences from what is expected, which might determine that she is a witch.

7
.
Anew, that is, to have Grace Sherwood examined again.

8
.
To look for “images and such like things” suggests that the court wanted Sherwood’s house searched for poppets and other examples of image magic.

9
.
The first jury of women assembled to search Grace Sherwood for teats actually refused to do so and were then charged with contempt.

10
.
Grace is to be tossed into water “above a man’s depth” and have her ability to float gauged. However, care is to be taken to keep her from drowning.

11
.
Grace Sherwood is ducked and searched and found guilty, but instead of being hanged, is committed to prison. By 1705/6 witches were no longer the mortal threat that they had been a mere decade earlier.

MOB JUSTICE IN THE SOUTH, 1712

1
.
Excerpted from Samuel G. Drake,
Annals of Witchcraft in New England and Elsewhere in the United States from Their First Settlement.
Originally published in New York, 1869, 215–16.

LITTLETON, MASSACHUSETTS, 1720

1
.
Excerpted from Thomas Hutchinson,
History of Massachusetts-Bay,
vol. II. Originally published in Boston, 1767, 20–22.

2
.
Proverbs 19:5, “A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaketh lies shall not escape.”

3
.
The key word here being credulity, not only of the girls’ parents, but also of the neighbors who diagnosed witchcraft in the first place. As an explanatory category, witchcraft has persisted to 1720, even though Hutchinson would have his readers see this account as an example of the fallacy of belief in it.

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, 1728

1
.
The First Great Awakening was a period of religious revival that took place in the North American colonies from the 1730s until the early 1740s. Whereas ministers of Samuel Parris’s generation delivered intellectual sermons that were dense in their theological underpinnings and argumentation, the leaders of the First Great Awakening emphasized an emotional experience of faith for their congregations.

2
.
Excerpted from
The Weekly News-Letter
, Boston, MA, no. 97, October 31, 1728, 1–2.

3
.
The most popular contemporary representation of the diagnosis of witchcraft via weight doubtless occurs in a scene in
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
(1975), in which a suspected witch is weighed against a duck, which, if they weigh the same, would mean she floats in water, and is therefore guilty of witchcraft. She is found guilty and hauled away to her death, commenting, “It’s a fair cop.”

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 1737

1
.
Excerpted from
The New-York Weekly Journal
, New York, NY, no. 214, December 12, 1737, 1.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK, 1741

1
.
The best account of this grim episode in the history of colonial New York is found in Jill Lepore,
New York Burning: Liberty, Slavery, and Conspiracy in Eighteenth Century Manhattan
(New York: Vintage, 2006).

2
.
Excerpted from
The New England Weekly Journal
, September 29, 1741, 1–2.

3
.
Latin for “Though the name changes, the moral stays the same.”

4
.
The idea of witchcraft as an impossible act underscores what the writer sees as the unreason of the position that a group of conspirators should be responsible for burning the city. Witchcraft has transformed into a rhetorical device, one that will persist well into the twenty-first century, to denote unreason, paranoia, and irrational fear.

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, 1787

1
.
Excerpted from Old Whig,
From the Independent Gazetteer, &c.
(Philadelphia, 1787).

2
.
Exodus 22:18, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.”

MOLL PITCHER, LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, 1738–1813

1
.
For more on the consumer revolution of the eighteenth century, see Richard Bushman,
The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities
(New York: Vintage, 1992).

2
.
Excerpted from Samuel G. Drake,
Annals of Witchcraft in New England and Elsewhere in the United States from Their First Settlement.
Originally published in New York, 1869, xliv–xlvii.

3
.
High Rock is now marked by a tower within a state park in Lynn, Massachusetts.

The page numbers in this index refer to the printed version of this book. To find the corresponding locations in the text of this digital version, please use the “search” function on your e-reader. Note that not all terms may be searchable.

Aires, Samuel, 165

Alexander VI, Pope, 46

Allington, Giles, 50, 51, 251
n

Andrews, Ann, 189–90

Andrews, James, 176

Anthony, Allan, 59

Apollonius Tyaneus, 203–4

Aquendero (chief Sachem), 207

Ayres, Widow, 71

Baker, Thomas, 59

Barber, William, 54

Barnes, Elizabeth, 216

Batcheler, John, 198

Bellomont, Earl of, 207

Benedict VII, Pope, 46

Best, John, 165

Beylie, Alice, 52, 251
n

Bibber, Goodwife, 170, 171, 172, 180

Bibber, John, 170, 172

Bible, 3–5, 31, 149, 178, 221, 228, 240
n
, 243
n
, 244
n
, 247
n
, 276
n
, 280
n

Bishop, Bridget, 166, 195, 274
n

examination of, 167–68, 274
n

Bishop, Sarah, 274
n

Blasdell, Harry, 72

Boddie, John Bennett, 250
n

Bodin, Jean, 280
n

Bonah, Maxmt., 217

Booking, Jane, 85

Book of New England Legends and Folklore in Prose and Poetry, A
(Drake), 257
n

Booth, Sergeant, 51

Boulton, Nathaniel, 64–65

Boulton family, 255
n

Bowen, Elizabeth, 54

Bowen, Thomas, 54

Boyer, Paul, 125–26, 266
n
, 268
n

Bracketts, Captain, 175

Bradbury, Thomas, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68

Bradstreet, Simon, 74

Brattle, Thomas, 193, 194

Braybrook, Samuel, 167, 170

Brentius, Johan, 17

Bridges, Ann, 216

Brief and True Narrative of Some Remarkable Passages Relating to Sundry Persons Afflicted by Witchcraft, A
(Lawson), 275
n

Brigham, John, 163

Brown, Charles, 71, 73, 258
n

Bulkley, Mr., 101

Burchard, Henry, 236

Burgess, Mary, 216

Burnham, Nathaniel, 163

Burro, Beno, 215

Burroughs, George, 189, 203, 213, 275
n
, 280
n

Hobbs’s accusation against, 173–77, 276
n

Hubbard’s statement against, 182–83

Burroughs, Goodwife, 173, 174, 176–77

Burroughs, J. J., 219

Butten, Mathias, 78

Buxton, Jane, 90

Buxton, John, 168

Calef, Robert, 169, 199–206, 275
n
, 280
n

Carrier, Martha, 186, 213, 278
n

examination of, 186–88

Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits Personating Men
(I. Mather), 193

Chandler, Susan, 85

Chapman, Henry, 215, 216, 217, 218

Charles II, King of England, 59, 85, 260
n

Cheevers, Ezekiel, 139, 150, 270
n
, 271
n

Churchill, Sarah, 189–90

Clifford, Jon, 68

Clifford, Sarah, 67

Clinton, Laurence, 162, 164

Clinton, Rachel, 273
n
–74
n

Knowlton’s deposition on, 164–65

warrant for, 162–63

Cobbet, Mr., 108

Cobby, Goodman, 73

Cole, Anne, 79–82

Cole, Eunice, 62–68, 70, 255
n
, 256
n
–57
n
, 266
n

complaint against, 62–63

depositions against, 63–68

judgment of, 68

Cole, John, 79

Cole, William, 63

Coleman, Mary, 64–65

Coleman, Thomas, 65, 66

Colonial Surry
(Boddie), 250
n

Corbmaker (old woman), 233

Cornick, John, 215, 216, 217, 218

Corwin, Jonathan, 129, 131, 133, 156, 161, 167, 169, 185, 270
n

Cory, Deliverance, 272
n

Cory, Giles, 149, 150–51, 154, 156, 169, 272
n

examination of, 169–72, 275
n

Cory, Martha, 149, 157, 169, 178, 182, 271
n
, 275
n

examination of, 150–56, 271
n
–72
n

Cotle, Mary, 216

Court of Oyer and Terminer, 184–85, 193, 195

Cowman, John, 112

Crosby, Henry, 272
n

Crucible, The
(Miller), 270
n

Cullender, Rose, 85, 90, 91

Cullick, Captain, 94

Currin, Mr., 138

Cushing, J. P., 214

Daemonologie
(James I), 16, 30–40, 244
n
–48
n
, 276
n

Dalton, Samuel, 67, 68

Dane, John, 198

Daniel (char.), 23–29, 243
n

Daniels, Cora Linn, 242
n
–43
n

Darcy, Brian, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Darlington, Oscar G., 250
n

Davies, Owen, 239
n

Davis, Ephraim, 71

Davis, James, 71

Davis, Winifred, 216

Dawson, Thomas, 238
n

Decanniffore (Onondaga Indian), 207

De Mill, Anthonio, 59

Deming, Sarah, 93

Demos, John Putnam, 256
n
, 258
n
, 273
n
–74
n

Denny, Amy (Amy Duny), 85, 86, 87–91, 260
n
–61
n

Devil, xiii, 17, 18, 20, 21, 50, 66, 70, 73, 74, 76, 79, 80, 81–82, 91, 112, 202–3, 207, 220, 225, 228, 230, 265
n

ability to assume shape of innocent person of, 61, 157, 178, 193, 194, 254
n

absolute belief in, 182–83, 263
n

covenants with, 81, 84, 98, 99, 100, 102, 103, 104–6, 109, 111, 120, 145–47, 148, 154, 155, 159, 167, 170, 176, 189–90, 194, 200, 201, 212–13, 262
n
, 263
n
, 270
n
, 271
n
, 272
n
, 280
n

in
Daemonologie,
30–31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 244
n
, 245
n
, 246
n
, 247
n
, 248
n

in
Dialogue Concerning Witches and Witchcraft,
23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 243
n

in
Discourse on the Damned Art of Witchcraft,
42, 44, 45, 46, 249
n
, 250
n

in Knapp possession, 95–111, 114, 262
n
, 263
n

in Salem witch trials, 125, 126, 132, 133, 135–39, 140, 141, 145–48, 149, 152, 154, 155, 157, 159–60, 164, 165, 167, 170, 173, 174, 176, 178, 180, 182–83, 186, 187, 189–90, 195, 210, 211, 212–13, 268
n
, 269
n
, 271
n
, 272
n
, 275
n
, 276
n
, 277
n
, 278
n
, 280
n

speaking through others by, 97, 98, 107–8, 109, 110–11

Tituba’s description of, 132, 141, 269
n
, 278
n

Devil in Massachusetts, The
(Starkey), 267
n

Devil in the Shape of a Woman, The
(Karlsen), 126, 255
n
, 257
n
, 261
n

Dialogue Concerning Witches and Witchcraft, A
(Gifford), 22–29, 241
n
–43
n

Dimis, Hannah, 216

Dimond, John, Jr., 235

Dimond, John, Sr., 235

Discouerie of Witchcraft, The
(Scot), 7, 15–21, 240
n
–41
n

Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft, A
(Perkins), 41–46, 132, 248
n
–50
n

Dolman, Mrs., 93

Dow, Henry, 63, 64

Drake, Abraham, 66, 255
n

Drake, Robert, 66

Drake, Samuel, 257
n

Durent, Ann, 85

Durent, Dorothy, 85–88

Durent, Elizabeth, 85, 87–88

Durent, William, 85–87

Durston, Gregory, 237
n
–38
n

Dutton, Samuel, 67

Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 7, 41

Elliott, Andrew, 198

Encyclopaedia of Superstitions
(Daniels and Stevans, eds.), 242
n
–43
n

English, William, 63

Entertaining Satan
(Demos), 256
n
, 258
n
, 273
n
–74
n

Epistemon (char.), 31, 32–40, 245
n

Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences, An
(I. Mather), 95

Estabrooke, Mr., 101

Eve, 37, 246
n
, 249
n

Evelith, Joseph, 198

Everyday Life in Early America
(Hawke), 269
n

Faith No More, 256
n

Feavor, Dr., 89

Felgate, Mr., 51

Ferrall, John, 18–19

Fisk, Thomas, Jr., 198

Fisk, Thomas, Sr., 198

Fiske, William, 198

Fits, Richard, 163

Foster, Ann, 213

Fowler, Rebecca, 112–13, 264
n

Francis, Joan, 92–93

Frazer, James George, 242
n

Fuller, Joseph, 163

Fuller, Lieutenant, 138

Fuller, Mary (junior), 163

Fuller, Mary (senior), 163

Fuller, William, 63

Garland, John, 59

Garret, Goodwife, 93

Gaul, Mr., 205

Gedney, Bartholomew, 185

Gidney, Major, 171

Gifford, George, 22–29, 241
n
–43
n
, 244
n
, 248
n
, 249
n
, 250
n
, 252
n

Glover, Goodwife, 114–21, 264
n
–65
n

execution of, 121

imprisonment of, 117–18, 119–21

trial of, 118–19, 264
n

Goddard, Jon, 65

Goddard, Sarah, 216

Godfrey, John, 70–78, 258
n
, 259
n
, 260
n

court list of witnesses against, 71

testimonies against, 71–77

trial verdict for, 77–78

Goff, Phillip, 94

Gold, Benjamin, 170

Gold, Nathan, 72, 73

Gold, Thomas, 171, 275
n

Golden Bough, The
(Frazer), 242
n

Good, Sarah, 135, 166, 174, 211, 265
n
–66
n
, 267
n
–68
n
, 271
n
, 272
n

examination of, 132, 133–35

in Tituba’s confession, 137, 138, 139, 141, 142, 143–44, 145, 147, 148, 270
n

warrant for, 127–28

Good, William, 128, 129, 135, 168, 268
n

Goodwin, John, 114, 115, 117, 210

Gould, Nathan, 72

Gragg, Larry, 41

Gray, Rebecca, 51, 251
n

Greensmith, Goody, 94

Greensmith, Nathaniel, 79

Greensmith, Rebecca, 79

Griggs, William, 143, 144, 266
n
, 270
n

Griswold, Michael, 93

Haart, Bethazar D., 59

Haggai (prophet), 18

Haile, Mary, 93, 262
n

Hale, John, 56–57, 84, 193, 209–13, 253
n
, 281
n
–82
n

Hale, Matthew, 85, 212

Hall, David, 254
n
–55
n
, 258
n
, 259
n
, 260
n
, 275
n

Hall, Mary, 58–59, 60–61, 253
n
, 254
n

Hall, Ralph, 58–61, 253
n
, 254
n

Hancock, George, 215, 216, 217

Harper, Jonathan, 218

Harris, Thomas, 51

Harrison, Katherine, 92–94, 262
n

Hathorne, John, 129, 131, 185

Bishop examination by, 167–68, 274
n

Giles Cory examination by, 169–72, 275
n

Good examination by, 133–34

Martha Cory examination by, 150–56, 271
n
, 272
n

Nurse examination by, 158–61, 273
n

Osburn examination by, 135–36

Tituba examination by, 136–39

Hawke, David Freeman, 269
n

Hayne, Thomas, 71–73

Haynes, Joseph, 81

Helmet, Mr., 59

Henley, Ursula, 216

Herrick, Henry, 198

Herrick, Joseph, 131

Herrick, Marshal, 166

Heseltine, John, 71

Heseltine, Jane, 71

Hibbens, Ann, 257
n

Higgins, Ann (Ann Huggins), 66–67, 68

Hill, Luke, 215, 216, 217, 218

Hinnom, 5

Historical Collections of Virgnia
(Howe), 282
n

History of Massachusetts-Bay
(Hutchinson), 283
n

History of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, The
(Hutchinson), 221–23

Hobbs, Abigail, 173–77, 276
n

Hobbs, Deliverance, 212–13

Holdred, Isabell, 71, 72–73

Holdridge, Goodwife, 71–72

Homer, 204

Hooker, Samuel, 81

Horace, 204

Howe, Henry, 282
n

Howen (Glover neighbor), 119

Hubbard, Elizabeth, 138, 139, 143, 145, 159, 161, 167, 170, 179, 180, 187, 266
n
, 269
n
, 270
n
, 273
n

statement against Burroughs of, 182–83

Hubert, Elizabeth, 128, 131

Hughes (Glover neighbor), 119–20

Hutcheson, Joseph, 128, 130

Hutchinson, John, 168

Hutchinson, Thomas, 221–23, 283
n

Hutton, Ronald, 237
n

Icarus, 281
n

In the Devil’s Snare
(Norton), 126, 266
n
, 267
n
, 268
n
, 274
n

Ingersoll, Joseph, 174

Ingersoll, Nathaniel, 129, 131