Pincushions Attitude

Their private parts would be searched multiple times for the devil’s mark, or they would have to go through various tests to prove themselves guilty or innocent. If witch-hunters struggled to find obvious evidence of the “devil’s marks” on a suspect’s body, they might resort to the even more horrifying practice of “pricking”. It was noted in many witch hunting books that the devil’s marks were insensitive to pain and couldn’t bleed, so examiners would use specially designed needles to repeatedly stab and prick at the accused person’s flesh until they discovered a spot that produced the desired results. In England and Scotland, the torture was performed by well-paid professional “prickers”. It is hard to believe that many of them even used dulled needlepoints to identify fake witch’s marks. Along with pricking, the unfortunate suspect might also undergo the scratching test. Victims that suffered from the witch’s curse were told that they would find relief by scratching the accused person with their fingernails until they drew blood out of the accused. If their symptoms improved after clawing at the accused’s skin, it was seen as an evidence of

The Puritans that comprised the colony of Salem, Massachusetts, were extremely religious, attributing biblical meaning to all aspects of their lives and being accustomed to personify the devil (Kocić, 2010). Specifically, church elders strongly believed that their congregation was superlatively righteous and for this reason the devil would try to target it with attacks in all forms, hence it was impressed upon the community to be vigilant against any signs of his presence. Such signs were subject to interpretation, yet they were generally concentrated on negative events which occurred unexplainably in the colony, for instance in the eventuality of a crop failure, stillborn children, or serious disease of an unknown nature. Common perception identified a witch as someone who bonded their body and

These girls did not all show “symptoms” at one time. The first girl to start experiencing symptoms was Betty Parris. She was followed by Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam Jr., Mary Walcott and Mercy Lewis (History of Massachusetts). These girls were throwing tantrums, hiding under furniture and contorting to pain. Since panic and fear set in, witchcraft was the easy choice to make. In today’s medical science, these girls would have been diagnosed with boredom or epilepsy. Although at the time the cause was unknown, these symptoms were probably brought on from eating rye infected with fungus. The three victims were not the only ones accused. There were numerous cases of scapegoating running prevalent.

Under stress, people can easily forget parts of the Lord’s Prayer or the Commandments, yet this is used as a test to determine whether or not someone is a witch. These often unsound methods of justice, which are standard in Puritan society, leads to the accusation and hanging of many people that are actually innocent.

This led to the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials, in which more and more community members were accused. Nineteen people were hung, and two dogs were killed. Giles Corey was pressed to death with stones upon refusing to testify Most people were accused using spectral evidence, which is evidence based on dreams or visions. The trials were put to an end when Governor Phips own wife was accused, and he made spectral evidence illegal. (Ushistory.com) (Wallenfeldt)

There are countless different assumptions about witches. The majority of individuals in the sixteenth and seventeenth century presumed that God and Satan were real (Lambert 1). They also assumed that “witches” were in allegiance with Satan and made a vow to bow down and serve him (Lambert 1). Furthermore, another common belief was

It was thought that witches had assistants that they used to do their spells on. “Since it was believed at that time that witches had animal familiars or helpers, that they used to do their bidding, many villagers were often on the lookout for these possessed animals, which were thought to take the form of any creature, from cats and dogs to birds, oxes, cows, or pigs” (historyofmassachusetts.com). Animals were also accused of witchcraft themselves. Some of the animals were executed or tormented. An afflicted girl in October of 1962 accused a neighbor’s dog of trying to bewitch her, and shot the dog immediately. Only after its death, the dog was declared innocent. Some reasoned that if the dog was really the devil in disguise it would not be able to kill it, therefore it was decided the dog was not bewitched. Villagers believed that witches would kidnap animals and ride them to their witch meetings at night causing the animal weakness, pain, strange behavior and eventually death of the animal. These accusations were never proven and therefore not qualified as potential

It was evident that the Puritan beliefs were strictly inflexible. They thought that their rules were too severe, and it motivated them to accuse others and use them as scapegoats. As a result, it formed a community conflict. Modern historians have noticed a repetitive pattern throughout New England in the early 1600s: community stress had a direct relationship to accusations of witchcraft (Saari, 23). Therefore, they were in great fear of being accused. The Puritans began to wonder who among them might be with the devil in disguise (Saari, 24). They thought deeply if a “local person was in a pact with the devil then that person was ultimately responsible for the community’s problems” (Saari, 24). Blaming others was becoming a constant and endless situation. “They were focused on cooperating simply to survive (Saari, 24). Innocent people often pleaded guilty to being witches to avoid torture and potential death. These accusations became madness because of the Puritans’ overly pious views on lifestyle.

The outbreak of witchcraft accusations of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts was a devastating period for those involved in the crisis. Because of the random and frequent witchcraft accusations made throughout the time of the trials, the reoccurring characteristics that were often indicative of an individual’s likelihood of being accused of witchcraft were not always consistent. In John Demos’s book Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England he includes a diagram containing nine points of what he believes to be the definitive characteristics of a “typical” witch during the Salem witchcraft trials. It is important to note that Demos’s portrait of a witch identifies the “typical” witch, not every witch. For

First off, the two most exceptional factor used were superstition and religion. When the accused appeared in court, just about all pleaded innocent. As they did so, the afflicted girls always managed to create some type of scene by using superstition. For example, when Sarah Cloyce is being prosecuted, Abigail states that she sent her spirit to bite and scratch her earlier that morning. Another example was when the afflicted girls screamed that the youngest of all of the accused, whom was only a four year old child at the time, had the spirit of a yellow dog with foam flowing through her mouth which just had to be an act of the devil. All of those accusations happened due to the trail of lies the afflicted girls had brought onto Salem, which is what leads into how religion is used as an enormous factor in the witch trials.

The first to do so was a young girl by the name of Betty Paris. These girls suffered through a series of fits, hiding under furniture, writhing in pain, screaming and crying for no apparent reason, and fevers. These girls were later called the “afflicted girls.” A local doctor examined them and found nothing physically wrong with them. There then arose the idea that they were bewitched. Many scientist have tried to explain what had happened to these girls and many theories have surfaced. Some believe that they had eaten rye infected with fungus. Others believe they had epilepsy or a mental illness. Then there is the popular theory that these girls just suffered from boredom and wanted attention. People in the community pushed them to say who was the one behind their agony and so the girls accused the first three women, Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn, and a slave named Tituba. These women were easy targets, all being somewhat social outcasts. This helped the community rally behind the girls and believe their story. There was another turn of events that occurred during questioning, Tituba confessed to being a witch and being recruited by Sarah Good and Sarah Osburn. The colonies had accused and executed witches in the past but few to none had ever confessed. This sudden knowledge sent the area into a frenzy and the witch hunts

When the group of girls were acting strange and got accused of being witches, everyone started pointing fingers. There was the paranoia that any person could be a part of a conspiracy that was created by the devil caused false accusations to be spread around. This paranoia was used to make false accusations on many innocent citizens because people were trying not to take the focus away from themselves. There was research that was done on those that were accused and what it showed was that most of the accusations were against middle-age women who had few or no children and were widowed. The accused witches “were of low social position, and because of some domestic conflicts, they were accused of other crimes and were considered abrasive” (Brinkley, 86). by other people around them. Once a person was accused of being under the influence of the devil, which is a big offence, they would start to be treated differently from the rest. It wasn’t the actual presence of Satan that caused this chaos, but the anxiety and fear of him that did.

Throughout the history of witchcraft it has been hard to establish if any of these accusations on ‘witches ' were actually true due to lack of records and proof, although it now seems certain that the vast majority of women incited were innocent. In the book "The Bewitching of Anne Gunter" we can see how these allegations can be completely fabricated for personal gain and revenge.

In January of 1692, the small village of Salem started to have troubles when young girls started to show odd behaviors. They see the doctor, and the doctor says that the girls are bewitched. The reverend tries to fix this, by using prayer and fasting but it does not help the behavior, it continues on and off for a period of time. There was no explanation for how the girls were bewitched, so people come up with many different theories about what was happening. It was said that the young girls only threw fits at specific times during the day, like when people were there to visit. But, if the girls were faking this, it was a very dangerous thing because they could’ve been tried for witchcraft and hung. As time went on, more girls started to show

Since proving that someone was or wasn’t a witch an accusation is all it took for many to believe that a person was involved with witchery. Abigail was fully aware of how hard it was to prove that one was not involved with witchery knowing this she accuses many others saying that she “saw Sarah Good with the Devil,...saw Goody Osburn with the Devil,...saw Bridget Bishop with the Devil” (Miller 48). The other girls that were previously accused of witchery named more people because that was one of the very few options that people had when they were accused of witchcraft. These false accusations ultimately set the foundation for the twisting of justice in Salem, in which good and innocent people are accused and convicted by those without integrity. Tituba, for example, was accused of witchery by Abigail and many believed this because she was an outsider of the town even though she stated that she didn’t “compact with no Devil” (Miller 44). This is how many of the accusations went because no one has a sufficient amount of evidence to prove that they weren't witches. These false accusations ended up getting out of hand with “over 200” people being accused and “20 people” that died because of this mass hysteria (Smithsonian). The ease of accusing someone of