The first of the accused to be questioned was Sarah Good, who denied the charges with vigor. Then came Sarah Osburne, who was dragged out of a sickbed to testify. She, too, denied the charges. But, every time these women denied the charges the children became hysterical and went into their fits. Finally, the old slave Tituba was questioned. She apparently decided that she should tell her accusers what they wanted to hear, and she concocted a wild tale of witchcraft out of her rich imagination. The selections that follow are actual transcripts of the testimony taken down that infamous day, March 1, 1692, in Salem by the village clerk. The proceedings have been edited just enough to make them readable.
HATHORNE: Sarah Good, what evil spirit have you familiarity with?
GOOD: None.
H: Have you made no contract with the devil?
G: No.
H: Why do you hurt these children?
G: I do not hurt them. I scorn it.
H: Who do you employ then to do it?
G: I employ nobody.
H: What creature do you employ then?
G: No creature; I am falsely accused.
H: Why did you go away muttering from Mr. Parris’ house?
G: I did not mutter, but I thanked him for what he gave my child.
H: Have you made no contract with the devil?
G: No.
Judge Hathorne desired the children, all of them, to look upon her and see if this were the person that had hurt them, and so they all did look upon her and said this was one of the persons that did torment them. Presently they were all tormented.
H: Sarah Good, do you not see now what you have done? Why do you not tell us the truth? Why do you thus torment these poor children?
G: I do not torment them.
H: Who do you employ then?
G: I employ nobody. I scorn it.
H: How came they thus tormented?
G: What do I know? You bring others here, and now you charge me with it.
H: Why who was it?
G: I do not know, but it was someone you brought into the meeting house with you.
H: We brought you into the meeting house.
G: But you brought in two more.
H: Who was it then that tormented the children?
G: It was Osburne.
H: What is it you say when you go muttering away from persons’ houses?
G: If I must tell, I will tell.
H: Do tell us then.
G: It is the commandments. I may say my commandments, I hope.
The testimony went on for a while longer. Sarah Good continued to be a very uncooperative witness, but finally Judge Hathorne finished with her and called Sarah Osburne to the stand.
HATHORNE: What evil spirit have you familiarity with?
OSBURNE: None.
H: Have you made no contract with the devil?
O: No, I never saw the devil in my life.
H: Why do you hurt these children?
O: I do not hurt them.
H: Who do you employ then to hurt them?
O: I employ nobody.
H: What familiarity have you with Sarah Good?
O: None. I have not seen her these two years.
H: Where did you see her then?
O: One day a-going to town.
H: What communications had you with her?
O: I had none, only, how do you do or so. I did not know her name.
H: What did you call her then?
[At this point Sarah Osburne had to admit that she had called her Sarah.]
H: Sarah Good saith that it was you that hurt the children.
O: I do not know if the devil goes about in my likeness to do any hurt.
Mr. Hathorne desired all the children to stand up and look upon her and see if they did know her, which they all did, and every one of them said that this was one of the women that did afflict them and that they had constantly seen her in the very habit that she was now in.
The evidence continued. In a feeble effort to gain sympathy, she said that she “was more like to be bewitched than that she was a witch.” Mr. Hathorne asked her what made her say this. She answered that she was frightened one time in her sleep and either saw or dreamed that she saw a thing “like an Indian all black which did prick her in the neck and pulled her by the back part of her head to the door of the house.” Mr. Hathorne asked her if she had seen anything else. She replied that she had not. At this point, however, some of the spectators said that Sarah Osburne also had heard the voice of a lying spirit.
H: Hath the devil ever deceived you and been false to you?
O: I do not know the devil. I never did see him.
H: What lying spirit was it then?
O: It was a voice that I thought I heard.
H: What did it propound to you?
O: That I should go no more to meeting, but I said I would and did go the next Sabbath day.
H: Were you never tempted further?
O: No.
H: Why did you yield thus far to the devil as never to go to meeting since?
O: Alas! I have been sick and not able to go.
Sarah Osburne was then dismissed from the stand, and Mr. Hathorne began to question Tituba, the slave, who told her questioners just what they wanted to hear.
HATHORNE: Did you never see the devil?
TITUBA: The devil came to me and bid me serve him....
H: What service?
T: Hurt the children, and last night there was an appearance [apparition] that said to kill the children and if I would not go on hurting the children they would do worse to me.
H: What is this appearance you see?
T: Sometimes he is like a hog and sometimes like a great dog.
H: What did it say to you?
T: The black dog said, “Serve me,” but I said, “I am afraid.” He said if I did not he would do worse to me.
H: What did you say to it?
T: I will serve you no longer. Then he said he would hurt me, and then he looked like a man. This man had a yellow bird that he kept with him, and he told me he had more pretty things that he would give me if I would serve him....
H: Did you not pinch Elizabeth Hubbard this morning?
T: The man brought her to me and made me pinch her.
H: Why did you go to Thomas Putnam’s last night and hurt his child?
T: They pull and haul me and make me go....
H: How did you go?
T: We ride upon sticks and are there presently.
H: Why did you not tell your master?
T: I was afraid. They said they would cut off my head if I told....
H: Did not you hurt Mr. Corwin’s child?
T: Goody [Mrs.] Good and Goody Osburne told me that they did hurt Mr. Corwin’s child and would have had me hurt him too, but I did not....
H: Do you see who it is that torments these children now?
T: Yes, it is Goody Good. She hurts them now in her own shape.
And so the testimony went. Tituba’s story was even more sensational when she described the “tall man of Boston,” who was supposed to be a wizard in charge of all the local witches. The court adjourned for the day, convinced that the devil had chosen Salem as a special point of attack. Soon, other people in the village began imagining that they, too, were being pursued by witches. Neighbor began accusing neighbor until the whole community was swept up by the hysteria.
Throughout the summer of 1692, Salem was gripped by the witch hunt. Twenty persons were executed for witchcraft; 55 were frightened or tortured into confessing their guilt; 150 were jailed; more than 200 were denounced by former friends and neighbors. For a time it looked as if Massachusetts had gone mad. But when the denunciations began to include some of the most prominent members of the community, such as the acting president of Harvard College, the authorities knew the hysteria had to stop or it would destroy the colony. In September the trials were halted and the jails emptied. In succeeding years many people repented their part in the tragic business, and the state even restored some of the property confiscated from the so-called witches.
Samuel Sewall’s Confession of Error
Five years after the unhappy episode ended, one of the judges, Samuel Sewall, courageously made public confession of error. As the minister read aloud Sewall’s confession of shame, the judge stood in his pew with head bowed.