University of Virginia Library

CONTENTS

NARRATIVES OF THE WITCHCRAFT CASES

Edited by George L. Burr

PAGE

• From “An Essay for the Recording of Illustrious Providences” (better known as “Remarkable Providences”), by Increase Mather, 1684 1
• Introduction 3
• The Preface 8
• Chapter V: Preternatural Happenings in New England 17
• Case of Ann Cole, of Hartford, 1662 18
• Case of Elizabeth Knap, of Groton, 1671 21
• Case of the Morses, at Newbury, 1679-1681 23
• The Tedworth Case, in England, 1661-1663 32
• Case of Nicholas Desborough, of Hartford, 1683 33
• Case of George Walton, at Portsmouth, 1682 34
• Case of the Hortados, at Salmon Falls, 1682-1683 37

• The New York Cases of Hall and Harrison, 1665, 1670 39
• Introduction 41
• Case of Ralph and Mary Hall, of Setauket, 1665 44
• Case of Katharine Harrison, 1670 48

• “Lithobolia, or the Stone-throwing Devil,” by Richard Chamberlain, 1698 53
• Introduction 55
• Dedicatory Letter and Verses 58
• Why the Author relates this Stone throwing and why he believes it Witchcraft 60
• The Quaker George Walton and his Neighbors at Great Island (Ports-mouth) 61
• The Beginning of the Stone throwing (June, 1682) 62
• The Author himself a Victim 64
• His Serenade and its Sequel; the Black Cat 66
• The Deviltries at Great Bay 67
• Notable Witnesses 69
• The Author again an Object of Attack 70
• Injuries to Others, in House and Field 72
• The Lull in August; the Final Stone throwing in September 76
• The Author's Conclusions 76

• The Pennsylvania Cases of Mattson, Hendrickson, and Guard, 1684, 1701 79
• Introduction 81
• Case of Margaret Mattson and Gertrude Hendrickson, 1684 85
• Case of Robert Guard and his Wife, 1701 88

• “Memorable Providences, relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions,” by Cotton Mather, 1689 89
• Introduction 91
• Dedicatory Epistle to the Hon. Wait Winthrop 93
• The Boston Ministers “to the Reader” 95
• The Introduction 97
• Case of the Goodwin Children, at Boston, 1688-1689 99
• The Goodwin Family 99
• The Trouble with the Laundress and her Mother 100
• The Strange Malady of the Children 101
• The Appeal to the Ministers and to the Magistrates; Arrest and Trial of Goody Glover 103
• Her Condemnation and Execution 105
• The Continued Fits of the Children 107
• Efforts of the Ministers to help them 109
• The Author takes the Eldest Girl to his Home; her Behavior 110
• His Experiments with her 112
• Her Imaginary Journeys 114
• Strange Power over her of the Author's Study 115
• The Ministers' Day of Prayer and its Effect 118
• The Author tests the Linguistic Powers of the Demons 119
• And the Power of Scripture and Prayer to quell them 120
• Their Gradual Departure 121
• What the Author has learned from it all 122
• Postscript: the Devils return, but are again dispelled by Prayer 124
• Goodwin's Account of his Children's Bewitchment 126
• Case of Deacon Philip Smith, of Hadley, 1684 131
• Case of Mary Johnson, of Hartford, 1648 135
• Case of the Boy at Tocutt (Branford) 136
• Other Bewitchments 141

• “A Brief and True Narrative of Witchcraft at Salem Village,” by Deodat Lawson, 1692 145
• Introduction . . . 147
• “The Bookseller to the Reader” . . . 152
• The Author's Visit to Salem Village . . . 152
• The Antics of “the Afflicted” . . . 153
• Examination of Goodwife Corey . . . 154
• Goodwife Putnam's Afflictions . . . 157
• Examination of Goodwife Nurse . . . 158
• Tales told by Elizabeth Parris, Dorcas Good, Abigail Williams, Mercy Lewis . . . 160

• Goodwife Cloyse slams the Meeting-house Door . . . 161
• Extraordinary Things about the Afflicted . . . 161
• About the Accused . . . 162

• Letter of Thomas Brattle, F.R.S., 1692 . . . 165
• Introduction . . . 167
• His Reasons for writing frankly . . . 169
• The Procedure at Salem; the “Afflicted” and their Evidence . . . 170
• The “Confessors” . . . 173
• Indictment and Trial . . . 174
• “Spectre Evidence” . . . 176
• The Executions . . . 177
• Things to wonder at . . . 177
• The Troubles at Andover . . . 180
• Zeal of the Judges . . . 182
• The Doubters and their Reasons . . . 184
• Extent of the Convictions; Hope from the impending General Court . . . 185
• Efforts of certain Ministers to check the Matter . . . 186
• Further Reasons for Hesitation . . . 187
• Why the Confessions cannot be trusted . . . 189

• Letters of Governor Phips to the Home Government, 1692, 1693 . . . 191
• Introduction . . . 193
• Letter of October 12, 1692: the Witch Panic as he found it, and what he did about it . . . 196
• Letter of February 21, 1693: Recapitulation of his Earlier Report; how the Panic was brought to an End . . . 198

• From “The Wonders of the Invisible World,” by Cotton Mather, 1693 . . . 203
• Introduction . . . 205
• The Author's Defence . . . 210
• His Relation to the Salem Trials . . . 213
• The Trial of George Burroughs . . . 215
• The Trial of Bridget Bishop . . . 223
• The Trial of Susanna Martin . . . 229
• The Trial of Elizabeth How . . . 237
• The Trial of Martha Carrier . . . 241
• “Curiosities”: I. The Devil's Imitation of Divine Things . . . 245
• II. The Witches' making themselves and their Tools invisible . . . 246
• III. The Bewitched delivered by the Execution of the Witches . . . 248
• IV. Apparitions reveal Old Murders by the Witches . . . 249
• Certificate of the Judges to the Truth of this Account . . . 250

• “A Brand pluck'd out of the Burning,” by Cotton Mather, 1693 253
• Introduction 255
• The Story of Mercy Short 259
• Her Bewitchment 260
• How the Devil and his Spectres appeared to her 261

• How they tormented her 263
• Her Discourses to them 267
• How her Tortures were turned into Frolics 271
• The Shapes worn by the Spectres 274
• Her Remarkable Answers and Strange Knowledge of Scripture 275
• The Methods used for her Deliverance 276
• Her Deliverance on New Year's Eve 277
• The Renewal of her Troubles after Seven Weeks 278
• The Strange Books brought by the Spectres for her signing 280
• The Books used at their Witch-meetings 282
• The Helpful Spirit, and how he aided her against the Others 283
• The Prayer-meetings and her Final Deliverance 285

• From “More Wonders of the Invisible World,” by Robert Calef . . . 289
• Introduction . . . 291
• The Epistle to the Reader: the Author's Reasons for his Book . . . 296
• His Materials . . . 306
• Cotton Mather's Letter of Enclosure . . . 307
• His Another Brand pluckt out of the Burning (the Story of Margaret Rule) . . . 308
• Introductory Anecdote of the Devil's Appearance to an Indian . . . 308
• Who Margaret Rule was; the Beginning of her Bewitchment . . . 310
• How she was tortured by Spectres . . . 311
• And by the Devil . . . 312
• Her Remarkable Fastings; how she was further tormented . . . 313
• Her Strange Revelations as to the Spectres . . . 314
• The White Spirit and his Comfortings . . . 316
• Her Pastor's Efforts for her . . . 317
• Her Tormentors' Attempt with Poppets . . . 318
• The Author's Reply to his Revilers . . . 320
• The Good that has come of the Affair . . . 322
• Part II: Calef's Correspondence with Mather . . . 324
• His Letter of Jan. 11, 1694, enclosing his Journal of his Visit to Margaret Rule on Sept. 13 . . . 324
• And on Sept. 19 . . . 327
• And rehearsing his earlier Letters of Sept. 29 and Nov. 24 . . . 329
• Mather's Reply (Jan. 15) . . . 333
• Enclosed Certificates of Witnesses to Margaret Rule's Levitation . . . 337
• Calef's Rejoinder (Jan. 18) . . . 338
• Part V: The Salem Witchcraft . . . 341
• The Rev. Mr. Parris and the Divisions at Salem Village . . . 341
• The Strange Behavior of Divers Young Persons and its Ascription to Witchcraft . . . 342
• Mr. Lawson's Visit and his Account; the Examinations of the Accused . . . 343
• Mr. Lawson's Sermon; the Solemn Fast at Salem . . . 345
• The “White Man”; Goodwife Cloyse and the Slammed Door; the Public Examination of April 11 . . . 346
• The Lord's Prayer as an Ordeal; Specimen of a Mittimus . . . 347

• Arrival of Governor Phips; the Political Events leading to it . . . 348
• Mrs. Cary's Commitment and Escape . . . 349
• Captain John Alden's Narrative . . . 353
• Opening of the Special Court at Salem (June 2) . . . 355
• Bridget Bishop's Fate; Advice of the Boston Ministers . . . 356
• The Trials of June 30; Fate of Sarah Good; of Rebecca Nurse . . . 357
• The August Trials and Executions; George Burroughs, John Willard, the Procters . . . 360
• Procter's Letter to the Ministers . . . 362
• Old Jacobs and his Grand-daughter; her Confession and Retraction . . . 364
• The September Trials . . . 366
• The Coreys; Wardwell; Mary Esty and her Letter . . . 367
• Mrs. Hale accused; Mr. Hale's Change of View 369
• Seizure of the Property of Fugitives . . . 370
• Flight of George Jacobs and Fate of his Family . . . 371
• The Andover Witchcraft . . . 371
• The Gloucester Witchcraft . . . 373
• End of the Special Court; Summary of its Work . . . 373
• How the Accused were brought to confess; Protestation of the Andover Women . . . 374
• Criticism of Cotton Mather's Account of the Trials . . . 378
• The Laws in Force against Witchcraft . . . 381
• The new Superior Court and how it dealt with the Witch Cases (Jan.-April, 1693) . . . 382
• Governor Phips's General Pardon . . . 384
• The Benham Case in Connecticut (1697); the Massachusetts Proclamation of a General Fast (Dec., 1696) . . . 385
• Judge Sewall's Public Penitence . . . 386
• The Penitence of the Jurors . . . 387
• Criticism of Cotton Mather's Life of Phips (1697) . . . 388
• And of its Author's Teaching as to Witchcraft . . . 389
• Calef's own Convictions as to the Matter . . . 391

• From “A Modest Inquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft,” by John Hale, 1702 . . . 395
• Introduction . . . 397
• An Epistle to the Reader, by John Higginson . . . 399
• Mr. Hale's “Preface to the Christian Reader” . . . 402
• The Origin and Nature of Devils . . . 406
• Summary of New England Witch Cases, 1648-1692 . . . 408
• Margaret Jones; Mrs. Lake . . . 408
• Mrs. Kendal . . . 409
• Mrs. Hibbins; Mary Johnson . . . 410
• The Principles acted on in these Convictions . . . 411
• Mrs. Morse; Goody Glover . . . 412
• The Salem Witchcraft; its Beginnings . . . 413
• Tituba's Confession . . . 415
• Conscientiousness of the Judges; the Authorities used by them . . . 415

• Influence of the Confessions; their Agreement with the Accusations and with each other; their Circumstantiality . . . 416
• Specimen Confessions: Deliverance Hobbs's . . . 417
• Ann Foster's; Mary Lacy's . . . 418
• William Barker's . . . 419
• Their Testimony against themselves and against each other . . . 420
• How Doubt at last was stirred . . . 421
• Wherein lay the Error . . . 422
• Like Mistakes in Other Places . . . 424
• The Application of the Whole . . . 425

• The Virginia Case of Grace Sherwood, 1706 . . . 433
• Introduction 435
• Her First Trial; the Jury of Women 438
• The Appeal to the Governor and Council; the County Court instructed to make Further Inquiry 439
• Her Second Trial; the Ducking 441
• The Verdict; her Detention for Trial by the General Court 442

• Index 443