Puritans, witches and Salem.
For the second edition of my Witch Trials trilogy, I’m looking across the pond to the US. Although the most well-known Trials occurred in Salem, Massachusetts, the hunt for witches in America began a few decades before the infamous Salem Trials. Before we dive into witch-hunting, I’m gonna go back a little further to the early 1600s. (So bear with me, my darlings.)
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, reforms to the Church of England were made, which didn’t sit well with some Protestants. Known as ‘Separatists’, these people thought the Church of England to be corrupt and beyond reform. They moved to Holland, in 1609, where they hoped to worship how they wanted without the Church breathing down their necks. Some of them ended up returning to England but eventually decided to seek out the New World of America. The ‘Pilgrims’ (or ‘Saints’ as they liked to be called) boarded a ship, the Mayflower, to take them to their new home.
The Mayflower departed England on September 6th, 1620. It took the Pilgrims across the pond to the east coast of America and landed on the shores of Massachusetts. Many made this and similar journeys during the 17th century and it was know as the Great Puritan Migration. This voyage took a total off 66 days and they didn't arrive where they'd planned to. Their destination was supposed to be Northern Virginia, but they were knocked off course by Atlantic storms. They weren’t to know then, but August – October is the hight of the Atlantic Hurricane Season. The storms wreaked havoc with the ship and the people. Many leaks forms throughout the ship and even the main mast cracked. This meant that it wasn’t safe to use the sails. On quite a few occasions, they just had to let the violent weather take them wherever it wanted. The mast was repaired and most of the leaks were plugged, but it was still a dangerous situation.
On November 11th, 1620, the Pilgrims were finally able to stand on solid ground after just over 2 months at sea. They landed at Cape Cod. They made an attempt to sail further south, to Virginia, but the waters were too rough and they nearly shipwrecked. They ended up turning back and anchored in what’s now called Provincetown. This is where they spent over a month trying to decide where to build. By December 25th, they finally made their decision and began building their little colony in Plymouth.
Many didn’t survive their first American winter and they lived on the Mayflower during that time. If it wasn’t for the native people, it’s probable that none would have survived. They taught the colonists how to hunt and grow squash, corn and beans.
The Mayflower didn't just carry people to America, it also took something else with them: superstition. The fear of witches and their craft spread throughout the colonies over the years. This lead to many accusations and a lot of unnecessary death. The Puritans wanted to get away from old superstitions and begin a new life, but they were unable to shed their fears.
Forty-six years before the Salem Witch Trials, America’s first recorded accusations of witchcraft occurred. In 1625, Hugh and Mary Parsons from Springfield, Massachusetts, accused each other of witchcraft. Husband and wife were brought to trial. They were both found not guilty. Mary was still sentenced to be hanged for the death of their child but died in prison.
Around 80 people in Massachusetts were accused of being witches. 13 women and 2 men were hanged during an 18 year witch-hunt in New England, between 1625-1663. The Salem Witch Trials didn’t occur until 30 years after.
‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.’
The Salem Witch Trials occurred from 1692 -1693. 20 innocent people lost their lives and more than 200 were villainised. It all started with four young girls who claimed to have come to harm via witchcraft. Betty Parris and her cousin Abigail Williams (aged 9 and 11) were the first. Then Ann Putnam and Elizabeth Hubbard (aged 12 and 17) followed suit. After these initial accusations, all hell broke loose.
The trials were led by religion, superstition and fear. The Bible states: ‘Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live’. This is taken from Exodus 22:18 and was followed to the letter during this time. The belief in witches was fuelled by Bible stories, like the Witch of Endor. The Bible was the word of God and every word was believed to be fact. Questioning any of its content was to question God Himself.
Seeking out witches was encouraged by Reverend Samuel Parris, who wasn’t doing very well within the community. He was struggling to bring order to his congregation, until he found a way of channelling the energies of his flock: accuse each other of witchcraft! With tensions already running high, it didn’t take long for the people to begin taking out their frustrations on those they had disputes with.
And so it began
In February 1692, Parris’ daughter and niece, Betty and Abigail, started behaving very strangely. This included screaming, throwing things, contorting their bodies and crawling around the floor. After a physician was unable to give a medical diagnosis for their condition, witchcraft was said to have been the cause. Not long after this, Ann Putnam, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, and Mary Warren (friends of Betty and Abigail) came down with the same ‘affliction’. When Parris asked the girls who had cast the spell upon them, they pointed the finger at three women: Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and the Parris’ house-slave Tituba. From then, Salem village was gripped with mass hysteria and fear.
Sarah Good was a homeless beggar woman, who was taking in by Parris for a time. He threw her out due to her ‘malicious behaviour’ and ‘ingratitude’. Sarah Osborne, who was a wealthy landowner, hadn’t attended church in over three years. Although she claimed this was only due to a recurring illness, her absence made her just as much of an outcast as Good. Tituba was a Native American, who had ben enslaved by the colonists. She was the first to be accused of witchcraft. As well as other tasks, she looked after the children and often kept them entertained by telling stories of ghosts, demons and magic.
Tituba confessed, but later revealed that her confession was beaten out of her by Samuel Parris. She also supported the girls’ accusations against Good and Osborne. Good was already hated by the Parris family and had no standing within the community. Osborne, because of her land deals, inadvertently affected the finances of Ann Putnam’s father. They were all charged with crimes of witchcraft. Sarah Osborne was hanged in May, followed by Sarah Good in July,1692. Since Tituba confessed, she was imprisoned. Parris refused to pay the fees to release her, so that’s where she stayed until she was finally sold for the price of the jail fees. After her release, she disappeared from history.
The month after the first three women were accused, the girls pointed the finger at two others. Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse were regular church-goers and had good standing in the community. Martha insisted the girls were lying for personal reasons and questions the validity of their claims. Because she denied the existence of witches, this was evidence that she was one. She was charged with the crimes of witchcraft. (So, if I deny the existence of mermaids, does that make me a mermaid? Hey, I can dream.) The Putnam’s claimed that the ‘spectre’ of Rebecca was tormenting them. The use of ‘spectral evidence’ had become admissible in court. This was due to a Puritan theologian named Cotton Mather, whose work was very popular in Massachusetts.
Martha’s case wasn’t helped when the girls began screaming in court. They said her spectre was there, tormenting them. The girls also said they could see a yellow bird feeding off of her hand. Rebecca and Martha, who were both in their 70s, were both hanged as witches and their convictions just added fuel to the already raging fire. Martha’s husband became accused for defending her, but he refused to stand trial. In order to try getting him to confess, he was crushed to death with rocks (pressing). He didn’t confess and was never convicted, so his last will was honoured. His lands went to his heirs, instead of being taken by the Putnam’s who’d accused him.
Although spectral evidence was allowed in court because of Mather’s reputation, he soon came to see that everything was going too far. He wrote to a judge in May of 1692. He instructed them to only use it reasonably. Many who were accused confessed to being witches in hopes that they’d be shown leniency. Those who weren’t hanged or didn’t die in a cell, later recanted. They explained that the only reason they confessed was that they didn’t want to die for being falsely accused. Once spectral testimony came under attack and people began to recant, the courts had no choice but to suspend the trials and reassess the situation.
The trials eventually stopped. In May 1693, those who were still in jail received pardons. 19 people were hanged as witches and Giles Corey was crushed to death. Many others dies in jail while awaiting trial. More than 200 people had their reputations ruined by malicious and false accusations. And the accusers? Nothing happened to them. they were never held to account. Nobody doubted the existence of witches, their power, or Satan’s ability to deceive and corrupt. Once the mass hysteria had settled, the girls lived out their lives as though nothing had ever happened.
Those who’d had the finger pointed at them but had received a pardon had to live with the stigma hovering over their heads and weren’t as lucky as their accusers. In 1696, the General Court mandated a day of fasting and repentance for the trials on 14 January 1697. Judges who took part in the trials publicly repented, asking the community for forgiveness. In 1700, petitions were filed with the colonial government of Massachusetts, by the families of those who were convicted, to have the convictions overturned. In 1711, 22 people were exonerated and financial compensation was issued to their families. This continued over the next decade, but not all who’d been convicted were cleared. It wasn’t until 2001 that all those who were convicted as witches received a full pardon.
Well, my darlings, that’s it for this week. Thank you for continuing this journey with me. It’s hard to write about such horrors, especially when they actually happened. I can’t believe it took over 300 years for all those innocent people to have their names cleared. I just hope they it has brought them some form of peace on the other side.
Next week will be the conclusion to my dive into the witch trials. I’ll be looking to Europe, where many were burned.
Love and light to you all.
Blessed be xxx