| Typical of the Witchcraft Trials | [Frontispiece] |
|---|---|
| Painting by Mattison, about 1854. The only conception of the witchcraft trials ever spread on canvas.—Courtesy of The Essex Institute. | |
| PAGE | |
| Witch-eclipse of the Moon | [1] |
| Salem Village (now Danvers Highlands) | [14] |
| The New England Witch | [15] |
| The 1692 Meetinghouse | [17] |
| The Present Church and Parsonage | opp. [18] |
| Governor Simon Bradstreet | [21] |
| The Mathers, Increase and Cotton | opp. [22] |
| The Witch Plat, or Place of Executions | [29] |
| The Witch Plat, showing “The Crevice” | opp. [29] |
| Warrant for Mrs. Howe’s Arrest | opp. [31] |
| Ipswich Farms | [51] |
| Location of Mrs. Howe’s Home | [60] |
| The Aaron Howe House | [62] |
| Descendants of James Howe, Sr. | [64] |
| The Howe Arms | [66] |
INTRODUCTION
The proceedings in witchcraft in 1692 to us who are two hundred and twenty years removed from the scene, seem, at first, impossible, then mortifying, and persuasive of disowning our fathers and forgetting the period of their folly. At best, the occurrence furnishes the wildest and saddest chapter in our New England history.
Antiquity of the Witch
and Her Legal Status
The doctrine of familiar spirits was current in most ancient times. It is possible that immediately after the fall in Adam the imprisoned spirit of man began to assert its former freedom and ability. The old Scriptures depicted the witch’s character, gave warning of her blighting influence, and enacted heavy penalties against employing her agency. In Exodus, xxii. 18: “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” In Leviticus, xx. 27: “A man also or a woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.” In Deuteronomy, xviii. 9-12: “When thou art come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or any observer of times, or any enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer; for all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord.”
The Colonial Laws and
Their Biblical Origin
The colonial laws to which New England witches were amenable, codified by Rev. Samuel Ward, of Ipswich, who had had extensive legal training and practice before entering the ministry, were published in 1641. Mr. Ward[[2]] followed Moses, the great Hebrew lawgiver, in great measure, but he distanced England in mildness and was far ahead of his time in scope. With him, however, the witch found no favor. Death was the punishment for witchcraft, first and last, and the Puritan, whose sure palladium of civil and religious freedom was the Bible, obeyed the precept to the letter, his highest knowledge and authority.
The Modern Witch and
Her Terrible Persecution
The modern witch, it is said, had her birth near the beginning of the Christian era. Her persecution began about two hundred years later. From that time hundreds of thousands of victims were immolated to appease the inconsiderate and insatiate demands of her persecutors.