Bewitched: the Salem Witch Trials

 Okay, now we are going to discuss another dark period in American history…Salem, Mass., in the 1690s. I encourage you, Dear Reader, to watch this documentary on the witch trials, ALTHOUGH it is definitely over the top:

Also, this story of English witches will aid you in contextualizing this story.  This is a film regarding the Pendle Hill witch trials in England, which occurred a bit earlier than the Salem experience.  It is kind of necessary, in order to understand the context surrounding the above trials, so I encourage you to watch it before reading this post.  One of the things you will see, is that the role of children was as prominent as that of Salem:

It is so interesting to me, how powerful children can be in any given situation.  I think that it is somehow especially horrifying--how children, even at this early period, were among the chief accusers, both at Pendle Hill, and Salem.  Little girls, who 'told on' their parents, friends, and neighbors.  Their role in these dramas, reminds me of the role children had in the Hitler Jungen (Youth)--where kids were supposed to narc on their parents, if for some reason they weren't following the Nazi party line.  

There is another similarity here, beyond the role of children--it's the fact that the main accusers in both settings were little girls, who were viewed as one of the primary categories of potential victims of witches, because they were female and young.

Salem.

Here is a map:

In the last post, I spoke about how, during the Middle Ages, the absolute belief in the unseen ruled Europe.  However, beginning in the seventeenth century, with the coming of the Scientific Revolution, this belief waned in its' hold over the general populace.  The inquiring mind now ruled the popular imagination.  Now, this is not to say that witch hunts ceased.  Not at all.  In some sectors of Europe, they became even more prevalent.  Why?  Because of the strict adherence to scripture, of religious groups like Calvinists, and Puritans.  This last sect of Protestants were, for some reason, highly susceptible to a fear of the unseen (i.e. daemonic) world.  

Puritans had a deep-rooted notion that the Devil had an insidious influence on the material world, and that this manipulation was one of His greatest pleasures.  Therefore, the known universe was divided irrevocably between Good and Evil.  There was no in-between, no 'grey area,' and therefore no tolerance--especially by the Puritans, of difference in their collectives.  Anyone who did not conform to accepted standards, was a target for potential accusations of witchcraft--the overtly sexual;  the old;  foreigners;  Catholics.  These are just some examples of the people who were victims of the witch hunts in Salem, where conformity was a necessity for survival.

Another factor in understanding the events in Salem, was the geography.  As I have already stated, Salem Village was separated from the town and the city of Boston by a goodly distance.  Because of this, families lived in relative isolation from the outside world.  Neighbors therefore had to live and interact with one another for decades--this did not exactly help enmities that existed among the inhabitants.  Indeed, this state of affairs exacerbated these feuds, with deadly results, by the 1690s.

It began with the arrival of the Reverend Dimsdale, in the hamlet of Salem Village, not Salem Town.  He came with his wife, daughter, and niece.  From the start, Dimsdale caused problems in this rural farming community, largely due to the exorbitant fees he demanded, in order to preach to this flock.  He wanted two cords of wood;  he wanted a farm;  he wanted a salary.  All of this for a failed merchant from the West Indies.  Eventually, the community was polarized between "anti-Dimsdaleites, and pro-Dimsdaleites."  The former hated his style of preaching.  They found him not worth the price of admission, since his exorbitant demands place an undue strain on the community.

Then came the winter of 1692.-93: 

It is the household of the Rev. Parris, that we must concentrate upon.  One afternoon, or so the story goes, one of Parris' slaves, Tituba, was 'playing' a game with the two little girls, by putting egg white and water into a clear glass and then giving the mixture a gentle stir.  She then allegedly told the little girls to look into the glass, if they wanted to see their future husbands.  Well! The game was a resounding success, especially during the long winter days, where the girls were house-bound.  Word soon spread to other households in the area, and before anyone could say 'jack robinson,' there was a troop of pre and post-pubescent gals, all participating in this silly (but scary) little game.

Now, it should have been harmless, but the games had an unfortunate effect on Betty, the daughter of Samuel Parris.  She began to suffer from strange 'fits' and 'trances.'  A local physician (John Hale, I believe), was called into consult on her case.  He examined the little girl, and eventually pronounced her to be suffering from daemonic possession.  He advised the parents to have the girl fast, and perform spiritual penance, in an effort to cleanse her spirit, which was not exactly good advice for a little girl suffering from hysteria (or extreme anxiety), especially since she reportedly had a 'delicate disposition.'

As Parris investigated the events, he began to uncover the antics that had been on-going in his kitchen, for most of the winter.  He then turned his attention to his precocious niece, Abigail, who then began 'suffering' from violent fits and aggressive behavior.  Descriptions of her actions include scratching anyone who came near her.  

Now, why did Abigail suddenly become afflicted with God knows what?  Could it be because she knew the jig was up, and tried to cultivate a sympathetic response from her guardians? Possibly.  But, before Parris could shake his Bible at the sky, the other girls who'd participated in the fortune-telling began suffering from fits similar to those of Betty and Abigail.  Gee, I wonder why they did that?  All of the "afflicted" were girls under the age of 21.  And they were female in a patriarchal age.  Once the truth of the afternoon sorcery was out in the open, then they needed to protect themselves, perhaps.

From there, the girls were pivotal in pointing the finger at various older women, at first concentrating on the marginal characters, and later, concentrating upon those who were not at all fond of the Reverend Parris.  Chief among his supporters, were the Putnam family, one of the more powerful groups in the small community.  The Putnams were also among the ones with the highest rate of afflicted females.  Go figure.

By the end of the hysteria in Salem, more than 150 people languished in jail, one four year old went insane, and twenty people had been executed.  They were hung, with the exception of Giles Corey. and not a regular hanging, but one with slow strangulation.

Nice, huh?

Giles Corey was pressed to death.  What is pressing? lying the victim down on the ground, laying a board across the chest, and piling stone after stone on the chest until the person suffocates under the pressure.  Corey, 80, lasted almost three days.  Tough son-of-a-gun!!

Until next time, Dear Reader, have a wonderful week.