Tag: Salem

Witchcraft – Early America c. 2014

Witchcraft

Early America

by Ilil Arbel, Ph.D.

The Colonial experience was entirely different from the European one. The settlers, many of whom came from crowded cities, suddenly encountered open land, deep woods and magnificent countryside. Experiencing nature for the first time had its threatening side despite the beauty. Hostile native population, years of failed crops and starvation, diseases and pirates were always there.

In addition, many of the settlers brought their old superstitions. The fear of the supernatural did not disappear just because the people moved to a new country. They saw “signs” in any natural event such as meteorites, comets, or thunderbolts. These poor people used fasting and prayer to relieve the fear and the sense of helplessness.

Unfortunately, they believed that evil witches followed them to their new home.  They had books about sorcery, written by people who knew nothing about the Old Religion. Some they brought from Europe, some they wrote in America. But unlike the Europeans, the settlers were not interested in complicated religious discussions. They just wanted to stop the witches from harming pigs, cattle, crops, and children.

Penalties for Witchcraft were the same as in Europe. However, the hysteria and mass executions did not occur, except later in Salem. Perhaps because of the sparse population,  the settlers were more careful about destroying human lives.

The settlers saw the witches in two ways. One view assumed that the witches were isolated individuals or members of a small coven. They meant to help themselves and harm others, mostly for material gain. The second view was truly bizarre. The witches, supposedly, were heretical members of a Satanic cult, intending to destroy the Puritan outposts in America.

This demonic view was accepted in New England, where the Puritan clergy considered themselves God’s chosen people. They managed to create a serious climate of fear in the population.

The most famous clergyman to hold that view was Cotton Mather. Apparently, he was neither a monster nor a lunatic, but an intelligent, educated man, with some medical as well as  religious knowledge. And yet, he talked about an “army of devils” ready to strike New England at any moment, and encouraged the settlers to fight a holy war against the powers of Evil.

Why did such an man give in to a ridiculous superstition?  First, as an orthodox Puritan, he believed that the Puritans’ worship was closer to God’s wishes than all other sect’s. Therefore, they represented a great threat to Satan himself. Satan, supposedly, could deal with any other Christians, but the Puritans were too holy for him. He just had to get rid of them. Second, Mather believed that America, without Christianity until the arrival of the settlers, was the Devil’s homeland!  Satan wanted to defend his kingdom against the newcomers.

Here is a direct quotation from Mather: “It was a rousing alarm to the Devil, when a great company of English Protestants and Puritans came to erect evangelical churches in a corner of the world where he had reigned without any control for many ages.”  Mather continues to say that the Native Americans were sorcerers and evil magicians.

As a result, about 95 percent of all American Witch executions were in New England. In other parts of the country, the settlers were kinder. They accepted witchcraft as a reality, but did not think about it as demonic conspiracy. They viewed witches as annoying, but not as threatening to life and society.

In Maryland and Virginia, Witchcraft was a felony, but the courts, somehow, did not take accusations of sorcery too seriously. Moreover, the accused were allowed to counter-sue their accusers for defamation of character. If found guilty, the accuser had to pay the “witch” a large sum of money. Naturally, this limited the accusations to very few. The most important reason to persecute witches, throughout history, was the prospect of material gain. If there was little chance of that, why bother?

The setters of New Netherlands, East and West Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware opened their territories as safe havens. It is a great credit to them, because they never really stopped believing that Witchcraft was dangerous. However, they did not let their fears turn them into howling, savage mobs.

To the average man and woman of the seventeenth century the Devil was very much alive. Many claimed they saw him in person. To one he appeared as a short black man with cloven feet; to another he came as a well-dressed gentleman; a third saw him as a white bird which promptly turned itself into a black cat. The most surprising description, given by an accused witch at Salem, was that he came to her as a little deer. One wonders how she knew that the harmless animal was the Devil!

He promised great rewards. To one young girl he offered money, clothes, and the opportunity to travel around the world. To an old woman he promised the position of Queen of Hell. Strangely, one farm girl asked him to do the chores for her – to drive the pigs out of the field and take out the ashes. He agreed. Considering that the Devil was the Prince of Hell, one wonders why the soul of a simple farm girl mattered so much to him. Who could imagine that the Devil would stoop to deal with garbage and pig swill just to get one person!  And yet they believed, and accepted, without the need for proof.

Sometimes he had a verbal agreement with his conspirators, but at other times he acted formally. He made a new witch sign a large black book with blood. Usually the Devil committed himself to help the witch until her death, but sometimes the contract lasted for a few years only.

After signing, the final act required placing the Devil’s mark upon the body of the victim.  The marks could be anything – birthmarks, moles, scars, or skin discolorations, and had to be insensitive to pain.

The older the person was, the easier it was to find marks on her. Age spots and warts made the older women doubly suspect. Also, in a new settlement, strong resentment existed against people who could not work very hard. An old woman, worn out by years of suffering and toil, could not produce. Throwing her in jail, where she would soon die from neglect, was a good way to get rid of her. Killing her directly was even better. If she had any property that could be confiscated, no matter how little, many were ready to point at her as a witch.

Supposedly, you had to agree to the contract of your own free will, as the Devil could not force anyone to make a pact with him. Some claimed that he tortured them before they agreed, but that was no excuse. To the Puritan clergyman, any amount of pain, even death, was better than serving Satan. And why didn’t the victim go right away to her minister for help?

The Sabbats didn’t exist in America. Unlike the Europeans, the Americans believed the witch operated alone, despite the demonic plan to overthrow the Puritan settlements. No gatherings were mentioned until the Salem incidents. But even then, the gatherings were just a few witches getting together. The biggest ceremony ever described involved no more than twenty-five witches. This is because a social gathering of any nature was frowned upon by the Puritans. A result of such a lifestyle was that the people never learned to get along. Endless fights arose among the people of Salem, and the attempt to create a social gathering among the girls started the rumors about the Witchcraft.

The most feared was the “sea witch.”  Supposedly, the witch could control the winds at sea. The settlers believed that when a witch was on board,  she often caused a storm to sink the ship. For some reason, they did not wonder why the witch would not be afraid of drowning herself when the ship sank. So the torture and hanging of old women on those ship was commonplace whenever a storm happened at sea. Often it was against the captain’s wishes, but the only way to prevent a mutiny was to allow the crew to have their fun. In one well-known case, an old woman denied causing the storm. She was stripped naked, tied to the mast, and exposed to the horrible gale and huge waves for the entire night. Somehow she didn’t die. In the morning, to end the torture and humiliation, she confessed to being a witch and was immediately hanged.

Possession roused the greatest fear. The Puritans believed that witches ordered demons to enter the bodies of their victims and torture them; that demons possessed all the mentally handicapped, the physically deformed, and the insane; that suicide was caused by possessing demons, who tortured the victim beyond endurance.  It’s incredible how little investigation was made into the character of the accuser, particularly if she was a young girl. In a society where men outnumbered women, the marriageable young woman became a valuable asset. She had many years of hard work in front of her, while the old witch, as mentioned above, outlived her usefulness.

This explains why the people in Salem were so eager to believe the hysterical girls who accused the witches. These girls could have had an unknown disease – perhaps epilepsy, or Huntington disease, which causes the same contortion of the body and convulsions as cases of “possessions.”  They may have had some mental illness based on their fear of Witchcraft. Or they could have been simply lying in order to get attention – common behavior for frustrated, lonely, young persons. And yet, no one questioned their motives.

Just before the outbreak of terror, Salem had a new minister, Reverend Samuel Paris, who was disliked by many of his congregation. A Harvard dropout, he worked most of his life as a merchant in the West Indies trade. Later he entered the clergy and obtained the Salem position, because other Clergymen didn’t want it. The inhabitants were constantly fighting and squabbling, and two former ministers resigned, unable to control the people. Parris did not endear himself to the population by his immediate request for a raise in salary and a land grant.

It was in this household that a group of young girls started to meet regularly. The notion of a social gathering for girls, so obvious and normal to us, was not so under Puritan regime. The only gathering allowed was in Church. But as the circle included the Reverend Parris’ nine-year-old daughter and eleven-year-old niece, it seemed harmless enough. However, it was not restricted to this age group. Some young women were in their teens, two were twenty years of age, and one was much older. This was Tibula, a West Indian slave. She wanted to amuse the girls by playing with a bit of magic from her Island home. She put the white of one egg in a cup to simulate a crystal ball, said some charms, and supposedly could see the face of your future husband in it.

Innocent enough. But the girls, brought up with an intense fear of the supernatural, saw it as a grave sin. They had to keep it as a secret, and even the youngest told nothing to their families. As the winter progressed, they played with more magic tricks with Tibula. Eventually, the strain of hiding such a horrible sin showed, and two of the girls went into seizures. Everyone who saw them immediately assumed it was demonic possession. The doctor, William Griggs, who was the uncle of one of the afflicted girls, said that the sickness had no physical and natural explanation. He decided it was caused by the evil eye of a witch. Reverend Parris leapt into action. He started rousing the villagers against the powerful witches who, he believed, lived among them.

The first suspects were Tibula and her husband. Tibula, for some reason, admitted that she had bewitched the girls, and named other conspirators. The accused were two women, Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn. As soon as the names were mentioned to the girls, they immediately said that yes, these were the witches that tormented them. Previously they had no idea who to blame, so obviously this should have been a clue to the villagers, but this was ignored. More girls became sick with “demonic” seizures.

Other witches, Tibula insisted, were involved, but she didn’t know who they were.  Parris decided that a body of witches stood ready to destroy all the good Puritans of Salem. They could be lurking anywhere, so many arrests were made. The girls agreed with any name that was mentioned to them, and came up with some names of their own. Rebecca Nurse, a woman who opposed Reverend Parris’ appointment as minister, was charged not only with bewitching the girls, but with the murder of several children who died some time before. Martha Corey, one of the few people to wonder about the girl’s motives, was arrested immediately. Tibula now claimed that Martha and Rebecca were the missing witches.

The jails filled to capacity. Sarah Osburn died without a hearing, still in jail. Tibula was sold to someone in Virginia. Sarah Good had a baby in prison. More people started accusing their neighbors, without the slightest evidence or proof. No one dared to object, because opposition caused immediate arrest. Other villages joined the Witch hunt.

Cotton Mather, watching all of it from Boston, was requested to prepare a document explaining the position of the church on sorcery, and suggesting legal procedures. The paper was called “The Return of Several Ministers.”  It insisted that the possessed persons be treated with all consideration and support, while the guilty treated decisively and harshly. Mather suggested extreme care in the conduct of the trials and the avoidance of noise and distractions.

Most important was his decision to use “spectral evidence” in court. If the vision of a witch appeared to the suffering victim, then that witch was guilty as charged. In other words, hallucinations were admitted as court evidence, and an alibi was, therefore, useless.  You could be in jail for months, but if a girl said you came to her in a vision and bewitched her, this was as good evidence as if you came to her in person.

People argued. After all, the Devil could have taken on the image of the accused witch, particularly if she was innocent!   Possibly, agreed Mather. But very unlikely and only in extraordinary circumstances. In most cases, the “specter of the witch” was the witch.

So the courts eagerly adopted spectral evidence as valid, even allowing ghosts that came back to report who murdered them. Included were the apparitions of six children who returned to earth, supposedly, to accuse Rebecca Nurse as their killer.

Mather’s request that silence and good behavior be maintained in court, was, of course, ignored. The possessed girls shrieked, fainted, pointed out new witches, and probably enjoyed their power tremendously. They were also encouraged in the “doctrine of fascination” which claimed that the witch could harm her victims by various acts done from a distance. For example, if the witch bit her lip, the girls howled that they felt she bit them, directly. The crowd went wild.

There is no point in describing each act and every trial. It was all an exercise in ignorance, stupidity and gullibility of a deluded population, frustrated by harsh living and a religion that offered no comfort or compassion. Fortunately, some “witches” escaped, but the town hanged twenty people, including old Rebecca Nurse and the new mother, Sarah Good. One old man was pressed to death – his tormentors put heavy weights on his body to crush him and make him confess. It took him two full days to die.

Eventually, the madness stopped.  Brave people like Robert Pike, who had also objected to the Puritans’ harsh treatment of Quakers, wrote against it.  John Foster, a member of the Governor’s Councils, joined him. Twenty-four inhabitants of Andover organized a petition. Judge Nathaniel Saltonstall resigned in disgust. They questioned the motives of the girls and particularly the validity of spectral evidence. Public opinion, always volatile in America, began to change.

Other states joined in the opposition. A group of New York clergymen denounced the Salem courts, particularly the spectral evidence, and the assumption that any good, normal person could suddenly start working for the Devil. The same was done in Connecticut.

It ended with a whimper. No one took responsibility for the horrors, and a theory was put forth to pacify the population. It said that all the participants, including accusers, judges, and jurors, acted not out of malice but were controlled by the Devil. He wanted, as suspected before, to destroy Puritan settlements. Therefore, he made it seem as if witches were working in the area, while in reality there were no witches there at all.

The residents of Massachusetts accepted it. To make them even happier, Queen Anne of England, who was consulted, absolved them of all responsibility, and only requested that care and moderation should be the style of the future. And so the good residents of Massachusetts regained their clear conscience. After all, the entire nightmare was not their fault. The Devil made them do it.

Source:

Encyclopedia MYTHICA

The Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692

The Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692

The events which led to the witch trials actually occurred in what is now the town of Danvers, then  a parish of Salem Town, known as Salem Village. Launching  the hysteria was the bizarre, seemingly inexplicable behavior of two young  girls; the daughter, Betty, and the niece, Abigail Williams, of the Salem  Village minister, Reverend Samuel Parris.

In February, 1692, three accused women were brought to Salem Town and examined by Magistrates Jonathan Corwin and John Hathorne. Corwin’s home, the Witch House, still stands at the corner of North and Essex Streets in Salem, providing guided tours and tales of the first witchcraft trials. John Hathorne, an ancestor of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, is buried in the Charter Street Old Burying Point.

By the time the hysteria had spent itself, 24 people had died. Nineteen were hung on Gallows Hill in Salem Town, but some died in prison. Giles Corey pleaded not guilty to charges of witchcraft and refused trial. He was pressed to death over a two-day period during which his examiners placed stone weights on his body according to an antiquated English law allowing such interrogation.

It is remarkable that the original 552 documents recording court testimony during the witchcraft trials have been preserved and are still stored by the Peabody Essex Museum.

Eerie memorabilia associated with the trials, such as the “Witch Pins” used in the examination of witches and a small bottle supposed to contain the finger bones of the victim George Jacobs can be found there as well.

A more provoking commemoration, the Salem Witch Trials Tercentenary Memorial dedicated in 1992, can be found adjacent to the Charter Street Old Burying Point.
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Witches Today

Of course, Salem has become known as Witch City! The Salem Witch Museum and the Witch Dungeon take you back in history to 1692, yet, present-day popularization of the witchcraft hysteria doesn’t reveal anything about modern Witches living in Salem today.

In 1995, the City of Salem counts a large number of Witches in its population. Perhaps the best-known member of this group is Laurie Cabot, who was given the complimentary title of “The Official Witch of Salem, Mass.” by Gov. Michael Dukakis.

You can visit the Witches’ League for Public Awareness site to learn about this group founded by Laurie Cabot in 1986 as a “non-profit educational network dedicated to correcting misinformation about Witches”*. More information about the League’s newsletter and activities can be obtained by e-mail to the Witches’ League for Public Awareness, or writing to P.O. Box 8736, Salem, MA
01971-8736.
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*Pamphlet, The Witches’ League for Public Awareness, 1988

Good Friday Morn, My Dear Lads & Lasses! A Very Blessed One To You & All!

Book & Candle Comments
I hope I want take up much of your time this morning. I don’t know if you have noticed or not but I have been very moody and unpredictable here recently. There have been several things going on with me personally that I haven’t mentioned. I have been having horrible nightmares (which I never even dream). I have seen shadow figures in my house. I bless and protect my house continuously, I could conceive how they were getting in. Most of all I had an ache in my heart. This ache wasn’t an ache like I had ever experienced before. If this makes any sense, it seemed like an old, very old hurt, pain in my heart that was pulling from my pass. Then the other day doing some laundry, I made the comment to myself, “Why Abigail, you know not to put color clothes in with the whites?” Abigail, where on Earth did that name come from and right out of the blue.
I had been trying to dig into my past. I have had several Elders tell me I am an Old Soul. I have had flashback and even went to certain periods of time to stay a bit. I can see people and I recognize their faces. I know if I have loved them or not. But the details have always been sketchy to say the least, till this Abigail name turned up.  Yesterday I had another strange name just pop out of my mouth Faulkner. I put the two together just in case that might be one of my past life’s, Abigail Faulkner. My husband had told me about a bunch of old court documents that had never been published. That gave me the idea to look through these documents to see if I could find this name. And I did. I will let you read the rest, surprisingly enough it was a trial that was public and I found most of the detail on the net about Abigail Faulker. I do genealogy all the time so to find information about a relative is nothing new but a past life is. I always wanted to know why my soul and heart turned so black and dark at times, I believe I know. You know this one life saw horror, experienced things and witnessed to Goddess know what. It makes me wonder is all the pain worth the answers I seek. Here is Abigail’s story……(Taken from Wikipedia, List of Women & Men Found Guilty of Witchcraft) Abigail (Dane) Faulkner (October 13, 1652 – February 5, 1730) was an American woman accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials in 1692.In the frenzy that followed, Faulkner’s sister Elizabeth Johnson, her sister-in-law Deliverance Dane, two of her daughters, two of her nieces, and a nephew, would all be accused of witchcraft and arrested. Faulkner was convicted and sentenced to death, but her execution was delayed due to pregnancy. Before she gave birth, Faulkner was pardoned by the governor and released from prison. Abigail (Dane) Faulkner was born on October 13, 1652, in Andover, Massachusetts, the daughter of Reverend Francis Dane and Elizabeth Ingalls.[2][3][4] Faulkner was the sister of accused witch Elizabeth (Dane) Johnson, and sister-in-law of accused witch Deliverance (Hazeltine) Dane.[2][4] Abigail (Dane) Faulkner’s two daughters, Abigail Faulkner and Dorothy Faulkner, were also accused of witchcraft.

On October 12, 1675, Abigail married Lieutenant Francis Faulkner.[3][5] The Dane and Faulkner families were early settlers who had gained social prominence in Andover.[1][5][6]

Francis and Abigail Faulkner had at least seven children:

1. Elizabeth Faulkner born July 4, 1676 in Andover.[7] Died August 17, 1678 in Andover.[7]
2. Elizabeth Faulkner born December 7, 1678 in Andover.[7] Married to John Butrick.[8]
3. Dorothy Faulkner born February 15, 1680 in Andover.[7] Married to Samuel Nurse on November 25, 1708.[7]
4. Abigail Faulkner born August 12, 1683 in Andover.[1][7] Married to Thomas Lamson on April 6, 1708.[1][7]
5. Frances Faulkner was born on April 29, 1686 in Andover.[7] Married on May 12, 1724 to Daniel Faulkner.[7]
6. Edmund Squirrels Faulkner was born on April 2, 1688 in Andover.[7] Married first to Elizabeth Marston on February 19, 1715.[7] Married second on August 17, 1730, to Dorcas Buckston.[7] Married third to Dorothy Robinson on February 2, 1747.[3]
7. Ammi Ruhamah (which symbolically means “my people have obtained mercy”) Faulkner was born on March 20, 1693 in Andover.[7] Married to Hannah Ingalls on June 7, 1726.[7]

Faulkner’s grandson, Colonel Francis Faulkner, led a company at the Battle of Concord, and commanded the regiment that guarded General John Burgoyne while he was a prisoner of war.[6]

Prelude to prosecution

Nothing in the court records of Andover indicates that Abigail Faulkner had been accused, let alone found guilty, of any crimes or misconduct prior to 1692.[9] However, her sister, Elizabeth Johnson Sr., was something of a scarlet woman, having been tried for fornication several years before.[9]

The one feature that distinguished the Danes and the Faulkners from their neighbors was their comparative wealth.[10] In 1675, roughly twelve years before his death, Edmund Faulkner bequeathed the bulk of his estate to Francis Faulkner, his eldest son, then just twenty-four.[11] Making young Francis an influential figure in Andover, while his contemporaries were still working their parents’ land, destined to wait several more years before they could accumulate enough money to marry and become landowners.[11] In 1687, Edmund Faulkner died, and Francis inherited the remainder of his father’s estate, excepting only a very minor portion left to his sisters and brother.[9]

Not long after his father’s death, Francis Faulkner became ill, suffering from convulsions, confusion and memory loss, leaving him unable to manage his own affairs.[9] Abigail Faulkner was granted control of her husband’s estate until their sons came of age.[9] As the manager of his estate, Abigail wielded more power than most of the men in Andover, including her own brother-in-law.[11]

Another bone of contention within the community concerned Abigail Faulkner’s father. Reverend Dane had served as Andover’s minister for more than forty years when the witchcraft trials began in 1692.[12] As the frenzy in Salem progressed, Dane openly expressed doubts regarding the accusations made by Ann Putnam and others; he was disturbed by the fanatical nature of the proceedings.[12][13]

Dane was indeed to fight the plague with a heroism unequalled by any who had choice in the matter, risking not only his own life and reputation, but what must have come harder, the lives of nearly all the womenfolk in his family. And in this fight he was at first alone, deserted by his own deacons who regarded him at best as an old and failing man, too far behind the times to appreciate the methods of modern science.[14]

Reverend Dane was accused of witchcraft in 1692, but was never charged.[12][15] It is known that a decade prior to the witch trials, Dane had sued the residents of Andover for a salary increase.[16] The court found in Dane’s favor, ordering the town to raise his salary, and to provide an adequate sum to pay for an assistant to be hired.[16] Dane had also opposed a proposal by several residents that Andover be divided into two precincts.[16]

Economic tensions and her husband’s illness, in addition to the doubts her father expressed regarding the accusers, may have caused Faulkner to become an object of suspicion, envy, and resentment within her community.[17]

Salem witch trials

Things came to a head in early August 1692, when Elizabeth Johnson’s daughter and namesake was accused of witchcraft and arrested.[18] Faulkner’s niece quickly confessed, telling her examiners on August 10, that she had consorting with the devil, meeting him at a gathering of “about six score”.[19]

Faulkner was soon accused of witchcraft by neighbors who claimed she had “afflicted” their children.[20] On August 11, she was arrested and taken to Salem, where she was interrogated by Jonathan Corwin, John Hathorne and Captain John Higginson.[1][5][17]

Most of her accusers were young women from Salem, among them, Ann Putnam and Mary Warren.[1] An exception to this, was the middle-aged William Barker, Sr., who stated under examination that he had been afflicted for three years by the devil.[21] He confessed that he had signed the devil’s book, and that Satan had promised to “pay all his debts” and allow him to live in luxury. He stated that George Burroughs was the “ringleader”, but claimed that Faulkner and her sister, Elizabeth Johnson Sr., were his “enticers to this great abomination.”

When Faulkner entered the room, her accusers would fall down to the floor in hysterics.She held a handkerchief in her hands while she was examined, and whenever she would squeeze or twist the cloth, her accusers would have “grievous fitts”.[ When magistrates demanded to know why she harmed the girls, asking her to look at their distress, Faulkner told the magistrates that she was “sorry the girls were afflicted,” but that she had not afflicted them, “it is the devil [who] does it in my shape.”[1] The magistrates responded by asking, if she was innocent, why did Faulkner shed no tears over the girls’ suffering.[1] She refused to confess, insisting “God would not have her confess that [which] she was not guilty of.”

At one point during the examination, Mary Warren fell into “fitts”, and was “pulled under the table,” apparently unable to come out from under it, but after receiving “a touch of said Faulkner” she was freed.

On August 29, Faulkner’s eleven-year-old niece and fourteen year-old nephew, Abigail and Stephen Johnson, were also arrested on charges of witchcraft.

Faulkner was reexamined the next day in prison, still insisting that she had never consorted with the devil, nor signed his book, she did admit to feeling animosity toward her family’s accusers. She suggested that the devil had taken advantage of this, in essence framing her for the crime of witchcraft. She had been “angry at what folks said” when her niece was “taken up” for witchcraft.[1Neighbors had crowded round the Johnson home, laughing, taunting Faulkner, telling her that soon her sister would also be arrested for witchcraft:

“and she [Faulkner] did look with an evil eye on ye afflicted persons consenting that they should be afflicted because they were the cause of bringing her kindred out, and she did wish them ill, that her spirit being roused, she did pitch her hands together. She knew not but that the devil might take advantage, but it was the devil, not she, that afflicted them.”

On August 31, her sister and nephew confessed to witchcraft. They testified that they had attended a gathering where they were baptized by the devil, who promised them “happiness and joy”, and that at the devil’s behest, they had afflicted Martha Sprague and several people in Andover. They refused to implicate anyone else in their activities.

On September 8, Faulkner’s sister-in-law, Deliverance Dane, confessed to witchcraft under examination, though she would later recant insisting that she had “wronged the truth” by confessing. Faulkner’s nine-year-old daughter Abigail was accused of witchcraft and arrested on September 16. The next day her twelve-year-old daughter Dorothy was arrested on the same charge.Faulkner’s young daughters confessed soon after their arrest, and were persuaded to condemn their mother as a witch.

One day later, Ann Putnam testified that she had been “afflicted” by Faulkner on August 9, 1692, and that she had witnessed Faulkner or her specter tormenting two other young women.

Faulkner’s sentence read:

The Jury find Abigail Faulkner, wife of Francis Faulkner of Andover, guilty of ye felony of witchcraft, committed on ye body of Martha Sprague, also on ye body of Sarah Phelps. Sentence of death passed on Abigail Faulkner.

Faulkner was pregnant when brought to trial, and for this reason, her execution was delayed.

Aftermath and exoneration

In December 1692, four months after her arrest, Faulkner petitioned Governor Phips pleading for clemency. She explained that her husband was an invalid, and though his condition had been stable, her arrest caused him to suffer a relapse, leaving her children with no caretaker and “little or nothing to subsist on.” Governor Phips granted her request; she was pardoned and released from prison.

Though released, her name had not been cleared.[1] In 1703, Faulkner petitioned the court asking that she be legally exonerated.

“The pardon so far had its effect that I am as yet suffered to live, but this only as a malefactor, convicted upon record of ye most heinous crimes, which besides its utter ruining and defacing my reputation will certainly expose myself to imminent danger of new accusations which will be ye more readily believed, and will remain a perpetual brand of infamy upon my family. I do humbly pray that this high and honorable court will plan to take my case into serious consideration, and order the defacing of ye record against me, so that I may be freed from the evil consequences thereof.”

Faulkner petitioned the court for eleven years before they finally granted her request, reversing the bill of attainder in 1711.

Upon the humble Petition and suit of several of the said persons and of the children of others of them whose Parents were Executed. Be it Declared and Enacted by his Excellency the Governor Council and Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same That the several convictions Judgments and Attainders against the said George Burroughs, John Proctor, George Jacobs, John Willard, Giles Corey and Martha Corey, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, Elizabeth How, Mary Eastey, Sarah Wildes, Abigail Hobbs, Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker, Martha Carrier, Abigail Faulkner, Anne Foster, Rebecca Eames, Mary Post, Mary Lacey, Mary Bradbury, and Dorcas Hoar, and every of them Be and hereby are reversed made and declared to be null and void to all Intents, Constructions and purposes whatsoever, as if no such convictions Judgments, or Attainders had ever been had or given. And that no penalties or Forfeitures of Goods or Chattels be by the said Judgments and attainders or either of them had or Incurred. Any Law Usage or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding. And that no Sheriff, Constable, Jailer or other officer shall be Liable to any prosecution in the Law for anything they then Legally did in the execution of their respective offices.
Made and passed by the Great and General Court or Assembly of Her Majesty’s Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England held at Boston the 17th day of October, 1711.

Faulkner’s daughters were released from prison in October 1692, along with their cousins Stephen and Abigail Johnson, on a 500 pound bond paid by Nathaniel Dane and John Osgood.[24] Her niece, Elizabeth Johnson Jr., was found guilty of witchcraft, and sentenced to death in January 1693. Her death warrant was signed by William Stoughton. Elizabeth, like her aunt, managed to escape the gallows due to the intervention of Governor Phips. Faulkner’s sister, Elizabeth Johnson Sr., was acquitted and released in January 1693, but her attainder was never reversed. Faulkner’s sister-in-law, Deliverance Dane, was released in December 1692, when the case against her was dismissed.

Abigail (Dane) Faulkner died in Andover, Massachusetts on February 5, 1730.[ Her husband, Francis Faulkner, died in Andover two years later on September 19, 1732

Witchcraft: What it is and What it isn’t

Witchcraft: What it is and What it isn’t

by AmberSkyfire

You’ve seen “The Craft” five times, you watch “Charmed” every week, you have a black cat that you have most recently renamed “Salem” or “Kittywitch” or something like that, and you  dress all in black. You can cast any spell from your three spellbooks and a huge  pentagram adorns your neck, your (very creepy looking) book of shadows, and  numerous other items in your cache of school supplies. People look at you when  you walk down the street, your friends think you are oh-so-cool and your craft  name, Moonlight FairyWillow WolfWings, is posted at the top of your web forum in  creepy red letters. You are a witch, right?

 

Wrong. Witchcraft is not a fashion statement. It is nothing  like what you see in the movies. It is not a fad. Hollywood has created so many  false ideas about witchcraft to draw people in. Teenagers are especially  susceptible to these ideas. In an attempt to be rebellious, teens will don the  look and the catch-phrases of the neo-goth community. They are drawn in by the  glamour of Hollywood and the promise of great power. Teenagers encompass a group in society called “midriffs.” (Anyone who has  studied sociology or journalism knows what I am talking about.) Midriffs are at  a point in life when they feel the need to grow up and look to others around them  to learn how to do it. They will copy what they see: fashions, hairstyles,  makeup, slang words and behavior in an attempt to fit in with their age group.  This rebellion can have negative effects because it makes young people blind.  They will follow from one fad to the next. Style is fleeting. Often, young  people will turn to witchcraft for its glamour and seduction. Nothing is more  alluring to the inexperienced than absolute power.  The first thing that you should know about witchcraft is that it is, first and foremost, a religion. Magick is based entirely on religion and  the belief in the unknown. I don’t care who you are or what kind of powers you  claim to have; unless you have faith in something, you cannot perform magick.

 

Secondly, magick is not a fashion statement. True witches are  easy to discern from the witch-wannabes. Witches do not wear all black. Witches  do not wear huge pentagrams or black lipstick. Witches know that the power of  magick is in its secrets. When you lay it threadbare before others it loses all  its power and all you have left is a costumed wannabe with nothing to show but  the ten pounds of crystal and pewter jewelry around their neck. True witches  have learned to cast off their desires to be accepted by the “in” crowd. Real  witches are at one with themselves and their surroundings and do not seek to fit  in with any clique or to dress in a certain style. True witches look just like  everyone else. You will not ever be able to tell a true witch in a crowd of  people unless they want you to know that they are there (and I can assure you  this will not be very often.)

 

Witchcraft is not what you see on television. No such thing  exists. Many movies, television programs, and books, even some pagan books, lure  people in with fake ideas of witchcraft. You will not learn to levitate. Fire  and lightning will not shoot from your fingertips. You will never be able to  bring down the wrath of the gods or walk on water. These things are fiction –  fairy tales. They do not happen. Witchcraft is not instantaneous. Magick takes  time to happen and even longer to learn. magick is not something that you can  learn in a week or a month or even a year. Witches never stop learning. There is  too much to learn for anyone to ever be perfect or know everything. Most people  come into the craft because it is a fad and quickly leave because it is too hard  or it takes too long. Not anyone can be a witch. To practice and learn the  craft, one must be patient, curious and honest with themselves.

 

If you are interested in being a true witch, there are  numerous talents that you will learn. Witchcraft requires a love of nature. If  the sight of nature and beauty inspire you or strike awe in you then the craft  might be right for you. You will learn how to heal others, speak to plants,  animals, trees and spirits, travel on the astral plane, learn to understand  yourself and others and divine your dreams and the future. You will learn to  better yourself and open your eyes and your mind to new possibilities.  Witchcraft is very difficult but if you are one of the few who have the talent,  strength and patience for it, it can unlock hidden talents you never knew you  had and free your imagination.

This Is Halloween! Salem During The Samhain Season

This Is Halloween! Salem During The Samhain Season
By Artemisia, Nicole, Maeve, Phoenix ShadowDancer, and Roisin
Salem, MA was founded by Puritans sailing from England in 1629. The town is notorious for the witch trials that took place in the vicinity in 1692. We know that the Salem “witches” were innocent victims of mass hysteria. The first “witch” was hung in June of that year. In October, 13 executed women and 5 executed men later, the witch-trials were suspended. From then on, witches, the devil, and any vestige of the occult left Salem for over 250 years and Salem reverted to yet another boring, Puritan New England town.
Not until the 1970s did the witches return to Salem… and this time they brought T-shirts.
Salem is Halloween 365 days a year, so you can imagine what events take place during the week of Halloween! A few former-residents of Salem along with some local pagans offer an insiders’ view of Salem during this season.
Fun Things To Do In Salem by Phoenix ShadowDancer
Living close to Salem has always felt like a privilege to me. From the days when I was a child, when my dad would take me to the “witch shop” (Crow Haven Corner) to today, when I go to feel the amazing spiritual and magickal energy, I have always loved the town. There are so many things that a magickal person can do in this beautiful little town, from historical site-seeing to really amazing food. One of my favorite things to do is to walk through the “witch’s memorial” (which isn’t really a memorial to witches at all…since it is most likely that the women and man killed were probably not witches) to the old cemetery, sit on the wall, and write in my journal or just meditate. It’s a beautiful site. Another favorite is to visit all of the occult shops. Of course, many of them carry the same products, but the atmosphere when you walk into these shops creates a warm, fuzzy feeling all over.
There are millions of historical sites to see in Salem. There is the Witch’s Museum (which harbors a bunch of wax figures and tells the story of the Salem Witch Trials), the House of Seven Gables, which was once home to writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, and, of course, the Witch’s Dungeon which I have actually never been to. During the autumn season, Salem hosts a month-long festival called “Haunted Happenings”, which creates an eerie flare for visiting these sites.
Finally, there are numerous groups of pagan men and women in Salem who never feel squeamish about walking around in their cloaks, and “witchy attire”. This was my favorite part about Salem. Usually, a large pagan group called the “Temple of Nine Wells” will put on a public ritual for each pagan holiday, which are inspirational and all-together fun. For Samhain, they often gather at Gallows Hill for a large public ritual (which often consists of hundreds of people) and then process to town from there in memory of those who were executed for their beliefs. No matter what your interest, the autumn season is always a wonderful time to visit the town of Salem. During this season, everyone is a witch .
Avoiding Salem by Roisin
I have never been to Salem for Halloween. I’ve thought about it a few times, but I’ve always decided not to go. I go up to Salem a few times a year, usually on weekends in the summer to check out the Peabody Essex Museum and do a little shopping. You may wonder why, and many people I’ve met, given my religious beliefs and geographic location, are shocked to hear that I avoid Salem from October 1 through November 2. The reason for that is the same reason I avoid all Irish bars on St. Patrick’s Day. It doesn’t have a lot to do with green beer and green beer vomit (but that does count for something). No, I stay away because I celebrate my heritage 365 days a year. I don’t need to be squeezed into an overcrowded bar and have some drunk spill beer on me while singing “Danny Boy” off-key. As for Halloween in Salem, I celebrate my faith in the Goddess every day. I don’t need to freeze my ass off wandering around the streets of Salem while freaky (deliberately freaky) guys and girls try to pick me up, on the assumption that Pagan chicks are poly, easy, and like to f—- anything. I also don’t need to deal with the witchier-than-thou types in Salem, whose own brand of Goddess is the only one acceptable. I also don’t like the overly commercial nature of the holiday up there. Still, Salem is a fun town to visit, but I like to do it on my terms, not everybody else’s.
When You Can’t Get To Salem, Go To Boston!  By Nicole
I have lived in Boston all my life and since Salem on Halloween can be pretty a pretty crowded scene, I usually stay local and keep it simple. Salem is not the only spooky place in New England. A trip to some of the oldest cemeteries in America makes for a “grave” Halloween experience. Mt. Auburn Cemetery, founded in 1831, is the final resting place of thousands of distinguished people including 19th century poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and artist Winslow Homer as well as 20th century visionary Buckminster Fuller. Mt. Auburn commemorates the dead in a tranquil, natural setting “embellished” with ornamental plantings, monuments, fences, fountains and chapels that also makes it a place for the living. You can go, have a picnic on a tomb, write in your journal, and romanticize about the past. Park Street Church, the site of the old town granary (where grain was kept before the Revolution) dates back to 1809. The Church was the first location of Sunday School in 1818. On July 4th, 1829, William Lloyd Garrison gave his first public anti-slavery speech here and two years later “My Country, Tis of Thee” was sung for the first time by the church’s choir. But Park Street Church is best known for its cemetery, where at least 1,600 people are known to be buried, dating from the 1600s. Among those laid to rest are Paul Revere, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and the victims of the Boston Massacre. Elizabeth Vergoose, buried here in 1690, is believed to be the storyteller later immortalized as Mother Goose. There’s nothing more fall-feeling than crunching through fallen leaves around the Granary graveyard with the smell of roasting peanuts in the air and sipping some hot cider.
A day pensive day spent grave-hopping ends nicely with a night dancing at ManRay Nightclub, home of New England’s underground scene, catering to a variety of alternative cultures. ManRay can guarantee a spooktacular Halloween night! Dance the night away with vampires, dominatrix damsels, and sexy heathens… and those are the regulars! With an annual costume competition cannot be rivaled with awards like “best use of pvc tape in a costume” the night always promises a lot of laughs, dancing, and great people watching.
Disillusionment Of Salem by Maeve
Dis`il*lu”sion*ment, n. The act of freeing from an illusion, or the state of being freed there from. As a child growing up I always thought of Salem of being this real life mystical place. As a teenager I craved to be there on Halloween. The night that was already charged with so much meaning I felt would be that much more powerful there. A couple of years ago I was able to realize that childhood idea but it wasn’t what I expected. The only thing to compare it to is Mardi Gras: streets full of people, outrageous costumes, insane behavior, drinking and a few drugs here and there… not much in the way of mystical experiences. Salem is an old town with a lot of history but it was not the source of a lot of the history we were taught. There was a lot of energy but it was very chaotic and came from the people I was surrounded by not the environment. I think in my head I had pictured bustling activity of like-minded people or some such thing. While I can say that I have experienced Salem at Halloween and there were some positive things; it was an experience that freed me from my childhood illusions.
Living In Salem On Halloween by Artemisia
As someone who can claim to be quite familiar with Salem, once being a local and having much family who lives in the area, I feel that there is definitely something special about Salem. The energy in and around the area is very mystical; perhaps because it is surrounded by the ocean and marshland or perhaps it just cannot be explained. I can say for sure, however, that the endearing qualities of Salem are not due to the Haunted Happenings events each October, but rather, in spite of the hordes of people that go there for Halloween. There is nothing better than walking down the brick-laid streets looking up at the brick buildings, crunching along in the leaves, watching your breath puff in the cool, damp air on a sunny October day. This downtown area has something for everyone: great restaurants, cafes for the college kids, shops full of supplies for the practicing pagans, tourist traps for the visitors, local grocers, museums, unique book stores, plenty of good seafood, great bars full of local characters, antique shops, one of the oldest hotels in America, and great architecture. If you wander a little further off the path, you can walk out to the wharf and see the boats in the harbor, or go down to Winter Island and walk around on the beach, or sit on the benches at Salem Willows and enjoy the beautiful ancient trees overlooking the bay, or even hop in your car or on the bus and head towards Marblehead to visit the hidden treasure of Salem: Forest River Park and enjoy a walk on the waterfront overlooked by gorgeous, friendly trees and many seagulls. Whether you go to experience the beautiful natural sights, to window-shop downtown, or to get some great food, one thing you will be assured of: an eclectic group of people, ranging from the blue-collar “townies”, to the black-caped pagans, to the college students at Salem State, to the old Salem families, and the recently or not so recently immigrated, living and working in harmony and tolerance together in this unique city.
No matter what you do on Halloween… whether it’s to camp it up in Salem, participate in a Samhain ritual outside the beautiful autumn weather and reclaim your freedom of religion, spend a quiet day among the dead, or a loud night dancing—have fun, be safe, and be true to yourself!
About The Authors: Artemisia, Nicole, Maeve, Phoenix ShadowDancer, and Roisin are Keepers of the Moon. We meet twice a month to meet, discuss, act, and do ritual work in a safe, supportive atmosphere. Our goals are to facilitate spiritual growth, be spiritual resources to one another, and enact positive change in our lives and communities. These goals are strengthened through regular meetings, rituals, and celebrations, all which honor the Universal Feminine Divine. We are a group of women who believe in, practice, and foster an egalitarian society that is based on tolerance, wisdom, compassion and respect.

Points of Interests – Salem Witch Museum

Salem (MA) Witch Museum

Photo by Ron Cogswell

Words such as these struck terror into the hearts of Salem townspeople in the early spring of 1692 as hysterical young girls called out names.

By summer, 180 people had been accused and imprisoned – defenseless against accusations of witchcraft in a society driven by superstition and fear. The court, formed to try the victims, acted quickly. Bridget Bishop was tried on June 2 and hanged on June 10 thereby setting the precedent for a summer of executions.

The Salem Witch Museum brings you there, back to Salem 1692. Visitors are given a dramatic history lesson using stage sets with life-size figures, lighting and a narration – an overview of the Witch Trials of 1692.

Our new exhibit, Witches: Evolving Perceptions, examines the stereotypical witch, aspects of witchcraft in the 17th century, modern witchcraft and the phenomenon of witch hunts.

Question: Would you visit this Museum?

In The News……Haunted Happenings in Salem

Massachusetts town famous for its 1692 witch trials is the busiest Halloween tourist destination in North America

 
By DAVID JOHNSTON, The GazetteOctober 15, 2011
 
 

The busiest Halloween tourist destination in North America has no shortage of costumed ghosts and goblins wandering through town in the weeks before the arrival of the witching hours of Halloween night Oct. 31.

But there was nothing theatrical about the shock and the horror that gripped the seaside Massachusetts town of Salem in 1692, when 20 local residents were accused of witchcraft and put to death after the infamous Salem witch trials.

Ever since then, witch hunts in various shapes and forms have been a recurring metaphor in U.S. society. When Arthur Miller based his 1952 play The Crucible on the events of 1692, it was seen as an allegory for the anti-Communist fear and hysteria that was sweeping the United States at the time.

The historical and cultural backdrop to the Salem witch trials is a subject that is exhaustively interpreted by the many different niche museums in Salem devoted to this grim chapter in early U.S. history.

But the witch trials have also given rise, more than three centuries later, to a busy local tourist industry revolving around witchcraft in general, one that peaks in October with an annual Halloween festival, Haunted Happenings that attracts more than 200,000 people. (hauntedhappenings.org/)

The month-long celebration features parades, costume balls, various children’s events and witch-themed activities ranging from light fun to serious exploration of the world of witchcraft past and present. These activities include Ask a Witch – Make a Wand, a weekend event hosted by the local Witches Education League, where the public gets to ask questions of women and men who are self-described witches.

The Witches Education League is an outreach organization that reflects the demographic reality of Salem, a city north of Boston with a population of 38,000 where 2,000 people describe themselves as witches. Some are formally affiliated with the worldwide religious movement of Wicca, while others are known locally for their commercial profile. The commercialism is evident along the downtown Essex St. pedestrian mall where stores like Omen or Bewitched in Salem sell witch-themed products, but also conduct crystal-ball readings and seances, and give workshops in witchcraft magic.

The best way to see Salem is to start out by taking the Salem Trolley tour of the downtown area. It begins in the city’s fascinating old port district, the Salem Maritime National Historic Site, and then loops back from there into the downtown area, pointing out places of special interest relating to the Salem witch trials, and to architectural history as well.

The spiritual centre of Salem’s tourist industry is the Salem Witch Memorial, inaugurated in 1992 by Nobel Laureate Eli Wiesel. It’s a little garden bounded on three sides by a low stone wall. Embedded into the interior sides of the wall are 20 stone benches, each one bearing the name, date and method of execution of one of the 20 people put to death in 1692.

Not to be missed is the Salem Witch Museum, which tells the story of the witch trials using special sets, and life-size figures in a darkened auditorium, and then projects forward in time in connecting rooms to show how outbreaks of mass fear and intolerance have been a recurring theme in U.S. history.

The narrator of the auditorium show explains how the early Puritan settlers of Salem lived with a variety of overlapping fears that induced a form of paranoia. There was fear of their colonial charter being revoked, of Indian raids, of smallpox, of crop failure. Most of all, there was fear of the Devil, as common belief among the Puritans held that the Devil had come to New England to undo God’s new Kingdom – even creaky floors suggested the Devil’s presence.

And so when a group of local girls in Salem in 1692 started going into hysterical fits and accusing fellow citizens of having bewitched them, the underlying conditions were already in place to produce a witch hunt. Family feuds over property rights were also a contributing factor, and those forced Salem’s 550 residents to take sides during the witch trials.

Today, of course, Salem is a much different place. It is a busy northern Boston suburb, part of the metropolitan transit network. And so while Salem can be visited by commuter train as a day trip from Boston, Salem can also be used as a place to stay while visiting Boston more generally. Hotels are generally cheaper in Salem than in Boston.

The two main hotels in downtown Salem are the Hawthorne Hotel and the Salem Waterfront Hotel; there are also plenty of bed and breakfasts. The Salem Waterfront has an indoor pool and might be the better option for families with young children. The Hawthorne, built in 1925 when 1,000 local residents chipped in to buy shares to create a new “modern” hotel for the town, has a well-regarded local restaurant, Nathaniel’s (named after Nathaniel Hawthorne, a noted 19th-century Salem author), which serves up a famous apple-pumpkin bisque soup. Another renowned Salem edible delight is Gibraltar rock candy, which is sold at Ye Olde Pepper Compagnie, near Salem harbour. The store was founded in Salem in 1806 and is the oldest candy store in the U.S.

Short hops returns in mid-December with ideas for winter excursions.

IF YOU GO

To get to Salem from Montreal by car, drive as if you are going to Boston. That is to say, take Interstate 93 South. There are two ways to get to the 93 – either from Interstate 89 at the Philipsburg/ Highgate Springs, Vt., border crossing, or Interstate 91 from the Stanstead/Derby Line, Vt., crossing. As you approach Boston on the 93, take Exit 37A in order to get on Interstate 95 North. After a brief stint on the 95, take Route 128 North and Route 114 East into Salem. There are also air and bus options to Boston, but no direct rail link.