The Devil’s Magic And Witchcraft Craze: A Research Of The Salem Witch Trials
“The witchcraft trials were an echo chamber for the deepest cultural anxieties of the age, revealing all the horrors that followed when the strongest religious and moral taboos were broken” - Robert Muchembled In 1692, the citizens of colonial Salem, Massachusetts turned on each other in a series of vicious accusations revolving around witchcraft. Over two hundred innocent people were convicted while twenty of those were executed. A total of fourteen women were hung, each who stood outside the cultural norm. The Salem Witch Trials demonstrates the ways in which female members of society were marginalized, were assumed to be devil worshipers, otherwise known as “Witches”. This infamous historical phenomenon was not the beginning of this widespread issue that is present all throughout history, but a glimpse into what the future would hold for marginalized groups such as those of the Salem Witch Trials. During the years of 1691 and 1692, the residents of Salem, Massachusetts faced yet another year of harsh weather and poor crops. There had been a recent Smallpox breakout and the colony was constantly under attack by Native Americans and continuously flooded with refugees.
Villagers made their own clothes, planted their own vegetables, and raised their own cattle. Farming in the New England territory was already hard due to the harsh climate and rough and rocky terrain. Salem was a world where people saw the devil being every misfortune. The Church was a very important quality in the 17th century New England life. Almost every aspect of life was regulated by the Church such as games, social gatherings, and even dancing. The Church considered talking to a pet, playing with children, and even making music odd behaviors. All of these actions were seemed to be malevolent to some extent and you clearly were working with the devil if to do so. Most people in Massachusetts were Puritans, which were colonists that had left England seeking religious tolerance. But the Puritan code of ethics was far from tolerant. Women were stuck to dress codes of long, dark gowns and given the job of raising the children of the house. Individual differences were not accepted and were frowned upon which lead to the demonization of marginalized groups, mainly females with their Calvinist beliefs. The Salem Witch Trials were not just women being accused of Witchcraft, there was an underlying issue much larger than that. Not only was the town threatened with agricultural and economic hardships but political ones as well. The greatest threat came from England which had revoked the Massachusetts charter in 1684. After that, a new charter was imposed in 1692, which imposed restrictions on the colony’s right to self govern themselves and doomed political power. The charges of witchcraft in Salem came at a time when the “institutions of the Puritan theocracy – the church, the commercial community, the government – felt most threatened”.
The Salem Witch Trials arose in the spring of 1692 with what began as “an echo chamber for the deepest cultural anxieties of the age, revealing all the horrors that followed when the strongest religious and moral taboos were broken”. A group of young girls in Salem, Massachusetts encountered what was known as a series of “fits” which involved seizures, violent outbursts, diarrhea, a livid skin color, sensation of heat and cold in their extremities, as well as muscle spasms. Those to have experienced these “fits” claimed to have fallen under the control of the Devil. They blamed local women who seemed to be outcasts from the village and claimed they had been practicing dark magic and presumed to be Witches. One after another, accusations of witchcraft spread throughout the town. If one person was accused, another person had to be accused. It was a domino effect of accusations being made against women. As the mania of witches spread during Puritan colonial Salem, Massachusetts, the political officials called for a special court to apprehend the cases. The first to be accused in the Salem Witch Trials was Tituba, Samuel Pariss’ slave, Sarah Good, a homeless beggar, and elderly Sarah Osborn. Although, the first to be convicted was Bridget Bishop, who was hung that June of 1692. In the months that followed, the justice system was overwhelmed with cases spewing in from all across Middlesex, Suffolk, and Essex counties. Governor William Phips ordered the establishment of a special Court of Oyer and Terminer to decide on witchcraft cases. The most vocal of the nine judges for the Court included Johnathan Corwin, a wealthy merchant and John Hawthrone, a wealthy landowner and Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton. The special Court of Oyer and Terminer based their prosecution off of three things: confession, testimony of two eyewitnesses to acts of witchcraft, along with spectral evidence.
Other evidence included examining women for a “witch mark” along with “touching tests” which is where afflicted girls tortured by fits became calm after touching the accused. As you can tell, the evidence held against those who were accused had to be upheld in a court of law as they produced a sufficient amount of “evidence” to execute those that were deemed “Witches”. It wasn’t until after the trials and a total number of fourteen innocent women’s lives had been taken that public officials apologized for what they based their prosecutions on. In 1693, the Witch Trials began to slow down due to the enormous negative impact it had on the Puritan community. Friends and family were torn apart and many people started to believe innocent people were starting to be accused, which was the case from the very beginning. Historians believe one of the biggest reasons it slowed down was due to the large accusations being made against people of higher status. At the beginning of the trial, people with little to no power were accused because it was hard to defend themselves. To point out, Tituba, a slave from Barbados, was the first witch accused. She was quickly sent to jail because she was of such low status because she was a slave, and a woman of color. Bridget Bishop, a widow in her 50s, was also tried during the trials and later executed. Bishop was not the first person accused of witchcraft but first person tried due to the case being easy to win against her as her low status consumed her. Next was Sarah Good, age 39, a poverty-stricken pregnant women who would often go to villagers doors asking for loose change and food. Ann Pudeator, age 70, was an outspoken widow who even dared to accuse her accusers of lying. One of the wealthier ones accused was Martha Corey, age 72. Corey was married to a wealthy farmer and was known throughout the village as she had a child out of wedlock.
All of the accused were of lower status which exemplifies that marginalized groups of people were the targets in the trials. A pattern can be seen throughout these prosecutions, it was mainly women who did not fit in with the Purinisit town’s belief of what women should be like. So because of these women not fitting in with the towns sexist belief of how or what a woman should be like, it was easy to accuse them of practicing the Devil’s magic. In conclusion to Sarah Good’s examination, it states though she was not willing to mention the word God and her answers were very wicked and presented in a spiteful manner. She was reflecting and responding harshly against the authority with base and abusive words and many lies. For that, she was taken in. It was here that her husband said he was afraid. That she either was a witch or would be one very quickly. Mr. Hawthorn asked him his reason why and he claimed it was her bad carriage to him and indeed he said “I may say with tears that she is an enemy to all good”. It was written in the recorders note during the examination of Bridget Bishop: two men told her to her face that she had been caught in a plain lie and now she is going away. Bishop dreadfully afflicted 5 people and will now charge this woman to be the very woman that hurts them. This is a true account of what I have taken down during her examination according to best the understanding and observation of her records. I have also have examination taken notice that all her actions have great influence upon the afflicted people and that they have been tortured by her devilish actions.
As the hunts continued, the accusations started to be made toward villagers of higher status. Towards the end of 1692, accusations grew too bold and were shut down. One accusation was made against Governor Phipps’ wife. The town quickly turned down charges against the accused witches and as the accusations grew even bolder, the trials came to an end. Could the town of Salem not fathom a member of their society who belonged to the upper class and had power, be accused of being a devil worshiper? Or was it because those who belonged to the lower class were easy to accuse and were marginalized based on their social standing? Although both male and females were accused and prosecuted during the Salem Witch Trials, marginalized females such as those who were widows or much older were at a higher risk of being accused. According to Brian Levack, accusations of female being accused of witchcraft outnumbered males being accused of witchcraft by 75% in 14 regions. Only in one region did men outnumber women. Levack’s conclusion was that accusations of witchcraft correlated with being female during that time period. Carol Karlsen, author of The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England states that during the Salem Witch Trials, 'the single most salient characteristic of witches was their sex. At least 344 persons were accused. . . of the 342 who can be identified by sex, 267 were female. . . half the males accused were 'suspect by association'. Not only was gender a leading factor in whether or not an individual was accused, but age was also a major component. In colonial Salem Massachusetts, women under the age of 40 were unlikely to be witches. Roughly under a fourth of women under the age of 40 accused of witchcraft were officially indicted and few were ever convicted. The Puritans of Salem, Massachusetts adopted Calvin’s way of thinking when it came to the position of women in their society.
John Clavin was a reformer from the 1500s that followed the misogynist stereotypes towards women. This can be clearly seen with the way the Salem Witch Trials were demonstrated from the beginning to end. In his recurring statements about the greatest sins of women, it includes: vanity, triviality, inconstancy, frivolous curiosity, and excessive concern with dress and finery. In Calvin’s teaching, he often presents women more prone to sins that men, as men may be deceived by women’s minds, which therefore makes it the woman's fault. When Calvin would give sermons, he would accuse women of being more responsible than men for the present sinful condition of the human race. He presented a sermon on 1 Timothy 2:12-14, and claimed that Adam, too, is guilty, he continues on to the second point: “Woman is more guilty than the man, because she was seduced by Satan, and so diverted her husband from obedience. In his whole theology, Calvin had a hard headed view that women are unequal to men. A woman is a companion to man and man in incomplete without a woman. He proclaims that “Adam was incomplete without Eve” and the true order of nature is the submission of all women to all men. . God did not create two beings of equal understanding, and women are innately inferior to men. Calvin’s theology played an enormous role in prosecutions of the Salem Witch Trials. Judges were of the male gender while those who were persecuted were female. With the Puritian’s following Calvin’s teachings, they already look at those accused as lower to them in society. Those who prosecuted where males of higher status who had land and money. With Calvin’s theology running through the Puritans veins, women were already at a disadvantage during these horrid persecutions. Women were already looked at as sinners, who could easily be blamed for what went wrong during the society at times where society was in need, socially, politically, or economically. As stated by Muchembled in his book A History of the Devil From the Middle Ages to the Present, “The witchcraft trials were an echo chamber for the deepest cultural anxieties of the age, revealing all the horrors that followed when the strongest religious and moral taboos were broken”. As these trials took place, they blamed their deep rooted anxiety on what was going on in their small Puritan society of colonial Salem, Massachusetts.
The economic hardships and slowdown of population growth could have caused widespread scapegoating which, during this period, manifested itself as persecution of so-called witches, due to the widely accepted belief that “witches existed, were capable of causing physical harm to others and could control natural forces”. Witchcraft became the force behind death, illnesses, food shortages, convulsions, and delinquency. These people could not accept the problems their society was facing and had to find a scapegoat for their problems. These scapegoats ended up being marginalized groups of people and demonized women who did not fit the cultural norm at that time. Most of these were women who lacked Calvin’s ideal “womanly characteristics”. A writer from the Washington Post wrote an article on What the Salem Witches Can Teach Us About How We Treat Women Today and states, “Centuries ago, the Salem witch trials targeted those most vulnerable in colonial society, forcing women like Bishop to pay the highest possible price for nonconformity”. In this environment, women were consigned to rigid roles — mother, wife, caretaker. They had one job: producing obedient, religious children. Women who stepped outside these rigid boundaries were seen as working with Satan. The Salem Witch Trials demonstrate the ways in which females were portrayed as evil and marginalized in Salem, Massachutests and were blamed for every misfortune. They believed Satan would select the weakest individuals such as women, children, and the insane and blame them for allowing the Devil to tempt them into their wrong doings to carry out his work. The witch trials that occurred in Salem is known today as the Women’s holocaust and shows how marganilized groups can be demonized in society. A woman is not a witch, just a ferocious woman.
