By Sorcery, Charm, or Enchantment

Salem, Page 2

While there was some common ground in the way that Puritan men and their wives saw sin and Satan, there were also significant differences between the two sexes in their perspective of damnation and heresy. From an intellectual standpoint, all Puritans accepted the concept of God’s grace, which could neither be denied nor earned; it simply was. All of them feared hell and hoped for salvation, but women tended to believe that it was their own nature, as women, that would condemn them in the end. They saw themselves as having little worth due to the curse of woman’s natural sin, and thus they could never be truly redeemed. Men, on the other hand, saw their sins in terms of physical and mental actions they had committed, rather than as some inherent defect of the soul. Men determined their spiritual value by what they did, while women based it upon what they were.[7]

New England colonists generally expected the appearance of Satan into their daily lives. Ministers warned their flocks of his tricks and deceit on a regular basis, even when no witchcraft accusations were taking place, and it was understood that he could appear in a number of forms. In particular, he enjoyed tempting women with offers of silks, fine clothing, and – perhaps the most appealing of all – an easier life than the hardworking Puritan women were accustomed to.[8]

Belief in witchcraft, and by extension, the power of Satan, often influenced how New Englanders viewed their neighbors. A witch, who might easily harm her neighbors or destroy their crops or livestock, was a destructive being with supernatural abilities, and this meant she was an enemy of not only God but also of society as a whole. Everyday citizens were concerned about the economic and physical well being of their community, while ministers argued that a covenant with Satan was the equivalent of heresy. Regardless, these two often-converging viewpoints came to a head during the Salem trials, in which a number of the accused confessed to not only signing the Devil’s book, but also allowing him to perform their daily chores for them, and indulging in sexual intercourse with him.[9]

Residents of colonial New England believed themselves at a significant disadvantage in their struggle against the Devil. After all, he was a cunning strategist and, more importantly, was able to hide from those he wished to subdue. Fortunately for the Puritans, every once in a while Satan’s moves were obvious; there were certain afflictions that they attributed to demonic possession, which made his attacks easy to diagnose. His human victims, who were often adolescent girls, regularly exhibited “fits,” abrupt changes in personality, and defiant behavior towards anything remotely related to scripture or authority. These characteristics were more than just signs of puberty to the Puritans; physicians and ministers alike ruled that the root cause of such affliction was not natural at all, but supernatural.[10]

This supernatural element played a crucial role in the trial of the accused witches in Salem. Bridget Bishop and others were found guilty primarily upon the merits of supernatural, or spectral evidence. This refers to testimony that a court witness saw the accused’s spirit, apparition, or spectral shape at a time when the defendant’s physical body was known to be at another location.[11]

The hysteria in Salem began fairly quietly, in a single household, in January 1692, when two girls, Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, started exhibiting odd behavior. They complained of blinding headaches, claimed to have terrifying visions, and fell to the floor shrieking in pain. After a month of this, a doctor diagnosed them as being possessed. Soon, two more girls who lived nearby began to experience similar symptoms. By the end of February, the accusations of witchcraft had been leveled at three local women. Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne, and the Parris’ family slave, Tituba, were the first to be charged.

Over the next several months, 185 people were accused of the crime of witchcraft, with 156 being formally charged. Nineteen were hanged, and one was pressed to death under heavy stones. Bridget Bishop, the first to be convicted and executed, was formally charged at the end of April 1692 and hanged in June.

To the magistrates of Salem, Bishop must have seemed an ideal candidate for accusations of witchcraft. She had a reputation for sowing discord, was known for being physically aggressive, and had turned the home she shared with her husband into a party house. Apples from the Bishops’ orchard were turned into cider, and guests entertained into the wee hours of the night, drinking, gaming, and playing shuffleboard. Neighbors had some concerns about these activities, especially since the unlicensed farmhouse-turned-tavern became a rendezvous point for young people, and there were often whispers that Bishop was corrupting Salem’s youth.

Of note, Bridget Bishop was from Salem Town. The Salem of 1692 was a remote frontier settlement divided into two clearly distinct parts. Salem Town, the port city, was full of wealthy middle-class merchants, who engaged in commerce and other worldly pursuits. Meanwhile, Salem Village, several miles away, was more rural, populated mostly by farmers, and clung to more rigid Puritan values. Salem Village’s pastor, the Rev. Samuel Parris, whose daughter Betty was one of the afflicted girls, sermonized against the secular behavior of Village residents who lived nearer to Salem Town. When the allegations began in the spring, most of those claiming to be victimized were farm-dwelling Puritans, while the accused were generally those from the part of the Village which was full of shops, businesses, inns, and other commercial ventures.[12]

Although accused of practicing witchcraft there, Bishop never visited Salem Village proper. She was an outsider, both literally and figuratively.[13]