Hunting Witches in Salem, Massachusetts

In the summer of 1692, many people in and around Salem, Massachusetts, accused dozens of their neighbors and kinfolk of being witches. Officials convened a special court to hear the testimony of the accusers and to examine the accused. In the end, nineteen convicted witches were hanged, and more than 150 accused witches crammed the jails before the trials were finally called off.

DOCUMENT 1

Witnesses against Accused Witch Susanna Martin, 1692

Neighbors lined up to give testimony that, in their minds, proved that the accused were witches. Like many other accused people, Susanna Martin pleaded not guilty to witchcraft. The court, persuaded by the testimony of witnesses, sentenced her to death, and she was executed on July 19, 1692.

Bernard Peache testify'd, That being in Bed on a Lords-day Night, he heard a scrabbling at the Window, whereat he then saw, Susanna Martin come in, and jump down upon the Floor. She took hold of this Deponents Feet, and drawing his Body up into an Heap, she lay upon him, near Two Hours; in all which time he could neither speak nor stirr. At length, when he could begin to move, he laid hold on her Hand, and pulling it up to his mouth, he bit three of her Fingers, as he judged, unto the Bone. Whereupon she went from the Chamber, down the Stairs, out at the Door. …

John Kembal ...Being desirous to furnish himself with a Dog, he applied himself to buy one of this Martin. ...But she not letting him have his Choice [Kembal went to another neighbor to get a puppy]. Within a few days after, [when] this Kembal ...came below the Meeting-House, there appeared unto him, a little thing like a Puppy, of a Darkish Colour; and it shot Backwards and forwards between his Leggs. He had the Courage to use all possible Endeavors of Cutting it, with his Axe; but he could not Hit it. ...Going a little further, there appeared unto him a Black Puppy, somewhat bigger than the first; but Black as Cole. Its motions were quicker than those of his Ax; it Flew at his Belly and away; then at his Throat, also over his Shoulder. ...His heart now began to fail him, and he thought the Dog would have Tore his Throat out. But he recovered himself, and called upon God in his Distress; and Naming the Name of JESUS CHRIST, it Vanished away at once. ...[The next day, Susanna Martin told other people that he had been frightened by puppies, although] Kembal [said he] had mentioned the Matter to no Creature Living.

Joseph Ring ...has been strangely carried about by Demons, from one Witch-Meeting to another, for near two years together. ...Afterwards ...this poor man would be visited with unknown shapes ...which would force him away with them, unto unknown Places, where he saw meetings, Feastings, Dancings. ...When he was brought into these Hellish meetings, one of the First things they still did unto him, was to give him a knock on the Back, whereupon he was ...as if Bound with chains, uncapable of Stirring out of the place, till they should Release him. ...There often came to him a man, who presented him a Book, whereto he would have him set his Hand; promising to him, that he should then have even what he would; and presenting him with all the delectable Things, persons, and places that he could imagine. But he refusing to subscribe, the business would end with dreadful Shapes, Noises and Screechings, which almost scared him out of his witts. ...He saw the Prisoner [Susanna Martin], at several of those Hellish Randezvouzes. Note, This Woman was one of the most Impudent, Scurrilous, wicked creatures in the world & she did now throughout her whole Trial, discover herself to be such an one. Yet when she was asked what she had to say for her self, her Cheef Plea was, That she had Led a most virtuous and Holy Life.

SOURCE: Cotton Mather, The Wonders of the Invisible World (Boston, 1692), 115–26.

DOCUMENT 2

Robert Calef, More Wonders of the Invisible World, 1700

A few New Englanders spoke out against the witch-hunt as the persecution of innocent people. Robert Calef, a Boston merchant, wrote a scathing criticism of the witch trials and their supporters.

And now to sum up all in a few words, we have seen a biggotted zeal, stirring up a blind, and most bloody rage, not against enemies, or irreligious, profligate persons — but ...against as virtuous and religious as any they have left behind them in this country ...and this by the testimony of vile varlets, as not only were known before, but have been further apparent since, by their manifest lives, whoredoms, incest &c. The accusations of these, from their spectral sight, being the chief evidence against those that suffered; in which accusations they were upheld by both magistrates and ministers, so long as they apprehended themselves in no danger. And then, tho' they could defend neither the doctrine nor the practice, yet none of them have in such a publick manner as the case requires, testified against either; tho', at the same time they could not but be sensible what a stain and lasting infamy they have brought upon the whole country, to the indangering of the future welfare not only of this but of other places, induced by their example ...occasioning the great dishonour and blasphemy of the name of God ...and as a natural effect thereof, to the great increase of Atheism.

SOURCE: Robert Calef, More Wonders of the Invisible World (London, 1700), unpaginated "Epistle to the Reader."

Questions for Analysis and Debate

What persuaded witnesses against Susanna Martin that she was a witch? How might a critic such as Robert Calef have responded to the testimony of these witnesses? How might the witnesses have explained Martin's claim that she led "a most virtuous and Holy Life"?

What do these documents suggest about the status of Christianity in New England in the late seventeenth century? Why did witch-hunters believe that the devil was such a threat, when Calef believed that the witch-hunters themselves were the greater danger?

CONNECT TO THE BIG IDEA

Why did some Puritans accuse their friends and neighbors of being witches?