The Beginning Part Two: Puritanism in America

The idea of witchcraft, like many other traditions and beliefs, had migrated to America alongside its various European settlers. However, it was greatly associated with the British. In 1629, King Charles I of England provided a "religious splinter group called Puritans, a charter to settle and govern an English colony in the Massachusetts Bay (2)." This way, they could create a Theocracy (a "perfect religious settlement that is created from the principals of the Bible (4)." Carol Karlsen, a visiting professor from Harvard Divinities School, states that they thought of their city as "a model community... to create a light for people all over the world."

Witchcraft was a large part of the Puritan religion. It is best put by David Goss, an executive director from Beverly Historical Society. Goss says that the Puritans believed, "Satan was real. Satan and his forces were around us in an invisible world, and were always watching, always looking for an opportunity to have an effect for evil upon the godly community (3).”

It is believed that the stresses of the Puritans are what made them experience mass hysteria and paranoia. The Puritans believed that a person’s fate was determined even before birth. A person was either one of the elected in to heaven or of those bound by the chains of the devil. Anxiety was aroused by the Puritan’s beliefs because there is no true way to determine who God’s children were and who Satan’s were. The justification of witches allowed people to determine who was predestined for heaven or hell.

At the core of Puritanism was the ideal that women were meant to be submissive to their husbands, to work with in the household, and for women to remain in private while men in public (). Puritans thought that since women were not allowed to be ministers they were resentful and became the devil’s advocates. They were also believed of wanting more knowledge, such as Eve did in the Bible when she ate the fruit of the forbidden tree. With this belief came many witch hunts and executions.

Margaret Jones Trial (History Feed. Salem Witch Trials)

Another belief that the Puritans had was that you are what your neighbor says you are. The first witch hunt execution, against mid-wife and healer Margaret Jones, was a great example of this belief. Jones was seen arguing with neighbors before her accusation of being a witch. It was the fact that soon after this dispute her neighbor’s animals fell ill or died, that colonists started believing that she was in fact a witch. Before long, people claimed that Jones had in fact a malignant touch. Whenever she nursed others, they would shortly after begin to fill nausea or even become deceased. She was also said to be able to foresee the future and even had the infamous "devil's mark." Jones was tried and hung in 1648. An interesting fact however, is that the trial of Margaret Jones was not in Salem, but in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

The first witch hunt there was another major witch hunt in 1688. It was said that four Boston children were possessed by Glover, the mother of the children’s family servant. The children were possessed because thirteen-year-old Martha Goodwin “noticed that some of her family linens were missing” (Aronson, Witch-Hunt Mysteries, 3). Martha confronted their servant, who told her mother that the children thought that she had stolen it. Furious, mother Glover had shouted at Martha with obscenely terrible words. Soon after the terrible words had been hollered at Martha, she and the three younger Goodwin children began to have “fits.” Thomas Oakes, a “respected physician” (Aronson, Witch-Hunt Mysteries, 5) was called in. He could only offer one plausible explanation: witchcraft.

The religious views had a great impact on the Puritan colonists. It caused them paranoia and hysteria. It allowed anger and revenge to take over. Next week I will learn more about Cotton Mather, the priest famous for healing and researching the Goodwin children, and the story of Pastor Samuel Paris, the home of which the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 began.



 

The Beginning of Witchcraft

The year was 1692; the place Salem Massachusetts. A time of fear and distrust. Paranoia filled the air; its intoxcation impossible to escape. It pinned neighbor against neighbor and child against mother. Incredible accusations were made, causing innocent people to die.

Imagine being accused by a neighbor for something that you simply could not have done. This simple accusation has turned the whole town against you. They no longer trust you and think that you are an accomplice to the Devil. Before they can get rid of you they have to determine if you have indeed committed the crime punishable by death: witchcraft. They strip you down and shave every hair that you have on your body. They try to drown you, believing that if you float to the surface of the water you are in fact, a witch. They twist your arm until you confess to witchcraft. You are innocent, but are condemned because your community believes that they have proven you guilty. The next day you are sent to Gallow Hill to face your ultimate fate: death by hanging.

During 1692, in Salem Massachusetts, this scenario was a real fear for many. A stranger, a neighbor, a friend, a family member, or even a child could accuse a person of witchcraft, and a town that was filled with paranoia, would most likely believe them. America was not the first to suffer through these times of paranoia and false accusations. As a matter of fact the ideas of witchcraft most likely migrated to the Americas alongside the colonists.




Finding the Devil's Mark (Histoy Feed. Salem Witch Trials)

France, Italy, Germany, and England had conducted witch hunts about three hundred years before the tragedy of this paranoia struck America. Between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries 40,000 to 50,000 people were executed for witchcraft. Why? How did the idea that a person could have made a deal with the Devil come about? It is said that the idea of the executions of witch craft originated from the Bible itself. The book of Exodus, chapter twenty-two, and verse eighteen says, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" (King James, Cambridge Ed.).
 

However, early Christians were tolerant of witches. It was not until the Roman Catholic Church had gained power that the witches were considered enemies. It was not until 1231 when Pope Gregory the ninth punished those who practiced witch craft with violence. In 1484, Pope Innocent the eighth had announced witchcraft a heresy that was punishable by death. The reason being, witchcraft was considered turning ones back on God. If they turned their back on God, it was as though they turned their back on the religion of the church. If they turned their backs on the Church they were turning their backs on the King, because he ran the churches.

Once a person was accused of witchcraft, it was required to find "credible" evidence. In order to find evidence they used the Mallei Maleficarvm, published in 1486 as a guidebook to find witches and conduct trials. The book stated that one sure sign of a witch was the "Devil's Mark(1)." In order to find the mark, the body of the accused was cleanly shaven and carefully examined. The "Devil's Mark" could look like a cyst. If the mark was found it was commonly tested. They tested the mark by piercing it, and if the accused felt no pain, or the mark did not draw a single drop of blood, they were proven to be a witch. Another common way of finding evidence was to drown the accused. It is said that since water is pure, it would reject an evil spirit allowing the witch to float to the surface of the water. Accused witches were also tortured by various means until they confessed to a crime they could not have possibly done.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be on a mission to try and find the history behind the Salem Witch Trials. I have found its roots hidden in European culture before it migrated to the Americas with the European colonists. I learned of the threats witchcraft held to European church and government, and found the various means that were taken in order to cease these threats. This journey has just begun, and I encourage you to follow me as I learn more about various trials and the effect that witchcraft had on Salem.