The witchcraft delusion of 1692

by Thomas Hutchinson

The old constitution being dissolved, it was absolutely necessary an Assembly should be called. What was the rule of law in the meantime might be made a question; but at the first meeting of the General Assembly (the 8th of June) an act passed that all the laws of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay and the Colony of New-Plymouth, not being repugnant to the laws of England, nor inconsistent with the charter, should be in force to the 10th of November, 1692, in the respective colonies, except where other provisions should be made by acts of assembly; and all justices of the peace had the same power given them in the execution of laws which magistrates used to have. No other acts were passed except two or three relative to the revenue; an act for erecting a naval office; another to enable the Governor, with the advice of the council, for six months to come, to raise and transport, or march the militia into either of the governments of Rhode Island, Connecticut, Narragansett or New-York; and another act for establishing a court of sessions of the peace, and inferior court of common pleas. The assembly was adjourned on the second of July to the second Wednesday in October.

The confusion occasioned by the supposed witchcraft seems to have been the reason why nothing more was done towards a body of laws better adapted to the new constitution; for on the 2d of June the commissioners held their special court at Salem.

Before I relate their proceedings, I will collect, as far as I am able, the several instances of what was called Witchcraft, from the beginning of the country.

It is natural to suppose that the country, at the first entrance of the Europeans into it, afforded the most suitable scene, especially as a notion prevailed that the savages all worshipped the Devil; but I find no mention of witchcraft for the first twelve or fifteen years. About the year 1645,[2] several people in Springfield, upon Connecticut River, were suspected of witchcraft, and a greater number were supposed to be bewitched; among the rest two of the minister’s children.[3] Great pains were taken to prove the facts upon the suspected persons; and about the year 1650, a poor wretch, Mary Oliver,[4] no doubt weary of her life, after long examination, was brought to confession. It does not appear that she was executed.

Whilst this inquiry was making, Margaret Jones[5] was executed at Charlestown.[6] Mention is made by Mr. Hale, of a woman at Dorchester,[7] and another at Cambridge[8] about the same time, all denying what they were charged with, at their death; and soon after Mrs. Hibbins[9][10] the magistrate’s widow, was executed at Boston. In 1662, at Hartford, about 30 miles below Springfield, upon the same Connecticut River, one Ann Cole, whose father is said to have been a godly man who lived next door to a Dutch family, was supposed to be possessed by a Demon who sometimes spake Dutch and sometimes English, and sometimes an unintelligible language, the demons speaking in her things unknown to herself, and holding a conference, &c. Several ministers who were present took the conference in writing with the names of the persons mentioned as actors; and, among the rest, of a woman in prison upon suspicion, one Greensmith. Upon examination she confessed also, and appeared to be astonished at the discovery, and owned that she and the rest had been familiar with a demon who had carnal knowledge of her, and though she had not made a formal covenant with him, yet she had promised always to be ready at his call, and was to have had a high frolick at Christmas, and then the agreement was to be signed. The woman upon this confession was executed.[11][12] Goffe, the Regicide, says in his diary, January 20, ’62, that three witches were condemned at Hartford; and afterwards, Feb. 24, that the maids were well after one of the witches was hanged. In 1669, Susanna Martin, of Salisbury, was bound over to the Superior court upon suspicion of witchcraft, but discharged without trial.[13]

Another ventriloqua, Elizabeth Knap,[14] at Groton, in 1671, much as Ann Cole had done at Hartford, alarmed the people there. Her demon was not so cunning. He railed at the godly minister of the town, and at the same time uttered many blasphemous expressions; and then charged all her afflictions upon a good woman in the neighborhood. The woman had better fortune than perhaps as good an one had at Salem some years after.[15] The people would not believe the Devil, and Elizabeth confessed that she had been deluded, and that it was the Devil himself who tormented her in the shape of good persons. In 1673, Eunice Cole,[16] of Hampton, was tried, and the jury found her not legally guilty; but that there were strong grounds to suspect her of familiarity with the Devil.

In 1679, the house of William Morse,[17] of Newbury, was troubled with throwing bricks, stones and sticks, and playing so many pranks that he that believes the story told by Glanvil of the devils at Tedworth cannot avoid giving credit to this. It is worth observing that none of the family, except one boy, were afflicted. He was tossed about from one side of the room to the other, would have knives stuck in his back, and once one of them seemed to come out of his mouth. He would bark like a dog, and cluck like a hen, and once was carried away and could not be found for some time; but at length was discovered creeping on one side, dumb and lame, and, when able to express himself said “that P——l[18] had carried him over the top of the house, and hurt him against a cart wheel in the barn.” Morse took the boy to bed with him and his wife, and had the chamber pot with its contents thrown upon them, and they were severely pinched and pulled out of bed, &c. These things are related very seriously,[19] and it is a great wonder that P——l escaped; for it does not appear that anybody suspected the knavery of the boy.

In 1683, the demons removed to Connecticut River again, where the house of one Desborough[20] was molested, and stones, earth, &c. thrown at him, not only through the windows, but doors, by an invisible hand; and a fire, kindled nobody knew how, burnt up no small part of his estate. It seems one of Desborough’s neighbors had a quarrel with him about a chest of clothes which Desborough detained; and, as soon as they were restored, the troubles ceased. All was charged upon the demons, and nobody, from anything which now appears, suspected the honest neighbor.

In 1682, the house of George Walton,[21] a Quaker, at Portsmouth, in New-Hampshire, was attacked in much the same manner. Walton had contention with a woman about a tract of land, and she was supposed to have done the mischief but by witchcraft.

About the same time another house was infested at Salmon falls[22] in New-Hampshire. And, in 1684, one Philip Smith,[23] a justice of the court, and representative of the town of Hadley, on Connecticut River, an hypochondriac person, supposed himself to be under an evil-hand; and suspected a woman, one of his neighbors; and, continuing in that state until he died, he was generally supposed to be bewitched to death.