Welcome to the Devil’s Mark Newsletter

Dear Salem Oracle Members,

WELCOME to the Devil’s Mark Newsletter, a monthly exploration of the Salem Witch Trials! Thank you so much for becoming a member and joining me for this in-depth journey into the dark heart of these infamous trials. Each month we’ll check in to see how everyone is faring back in 1692, review a secondary source and analyze a primary source related to the trials, and have fun with a pop culture highlight. I’m also excited to share special Salem Oracle playlists on Spotify each month that tap into our current Salem vibes. You will also have access to exclusive discounts on upcoming virtual events. 

I’m writing this greeting from a warm office space in Mid-Coast Maine. Outside, the sky is gray and the air is cold, but here I sit cozy and warm, in a room filled with light, supported in an ergonomic chair, sipping on a breve, and typing away at an incredibly advanced piece of technology that the Puritans of 1692 never would have dreamed of. The everyday details of our lives today are so different from what they experienced in 17th-century New England, and yet here in the Salem Oracle community we somehow find ourselves turning back to gaze upon their lives, stories, and ordeals. What draws us together? What makes us look to the past to the little village of Salem? Where do we see ourselves reflected? 

Our journey into the Salem Witch Trials over the next 17 months from January 1692 to May 1693 is not just a journey of dates, names, and details. It is a journey into more deeply understanding the past and shedding light on who we are in the present. It is a journey into the heart of humanity and into the darkness that can spread within communities. What will we discover along the way?

This microcosm of hysteria, misunderstandings, torture, accusations, attacks, and executions might help us better understand how such atrocities occur on a larger scale as with warfare and genocide. It might help us see how the same energies manifest on a small scale with minor interactions between even just two people. It might help us make sense of our own confusions in the present day. It might help us to learn and accept what it means to be human, in all the beauty and joy and struggles and suffering that comes with it.

Wherever it takes us, I’m excited to be on this journey with you all. Thank you so much for your support of this project. Let’s join hands, jump fearlessly into the void that is the past, and see what we discover together.

~Maya

January 14, 2022

EACH MONTH we will explore a different secondary source on the Salem Witch Trials. We are incredibly lucky that scholars have written so much on this event, but where do we begin? For me it seemed natural to start with Marilynne K. Roach’s The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege (first published in 2004) because this book is like the Bible for Salem Oracle. While I rely on a variety of primary and secondary sources for our daily journey into the past, Roach’s work provides perhaps the most detailed account of everything that happened before, during, and after the Salem Witch Trials in chronological format. 

According to Roach, a free-lance writer, illustrator, researcher, and speaker, it took her “twenty-seven years to research, write, re-write, and send [this book] out to publishers.” When you read this book, you will understand why this undertaking took so long. It is completely packed with information and insights.

Roach begins this chronological approach by providing a narrative history of what Salem was like prior to the trials, bringing the reader from 1661 to 1691. This part of the story is often forgotten when people talk about Salem because they want to get to the juicy, tantalizing parts about grevious afflictions and mass hysteria and stories of women consorting with the devil in the darkness of night. But this foundation is critical if we are truly to understand what happened during the trials because it provides us the larger historical context from which all of the events of 1692 arose. Roach reminds the reader of the significance of the founding of the village, the conflicts between the congregation and ministers, and the reality of warfare with the tribes of indigenous people of New England. The hysteria did not just begin with two girls suffering from fits; it began from the political, social, and religious turmoil of the era.

After setting the stage, Roach then reconstructs daily life from the beginning of the trials all the way to the end. She utilizes not only the work of other scholars but also court proceedings, arrest warrants, supposed confessions, diaries, letters, sermons, and almanacs to paint a picture of what life was like on a day-to-day basis in incredible detail. 

Her account also carries on for several years following the trials. Again, this provides the reader a larger historical context in which to place the Salem Witch Trials. It wasn’t just a little blip. It was a significant event hat continued to impact the people of Salem and the surrounding areas and beyond as they tried to make sense of the hysteria that overtook them in 1692. 

Sitting down to read this book cover to cover may prove difficult as it is very dense and detailed. I have found it a much more useful source to read it slowly in a day-by-day approach in order to really absorb the information and watch the story of Salem build over time. 

For more serious researchers, I recommend spending some time with the footnotes and bibliography. While this work may be missing scholarship published between 2004 to the present, what it does contain is a goldmine of secondary and primary sources. These sources might spark your curiosity and provide new paths for you to go down in your own investigations.

You might wonder, with such a wonderful source are there any drawbacks? Yes, but they are few and far between. I used this book a lot during the first year of Salem Oracle and it was incredibly helpful. It provided a lot of detail and filled in the gaps from other sources. However, in my detailed reading I noticed some inconsistencies and errors. But honestly, that is to be expected with a book of this scale. All of these issues I noticed were minor and infrequent. For example, the wrong date was used for the description of one person’s report of a spectral attack. I only noticed this because I looked up the court record and noticed the inconsistency. Is this a big deal? Not really. Overall, it is incredibly accurate and a very trustworthy source for your Salem research needs.

The level of detail that I am able to provide through Salem Oracle would not be possible without the incredible work of Marilynne K. Roach’s The Salem Witch Trials to help us along the way. Order a copy today or check one out from your local library, and enjoy!

Roach, Marilynne K. The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege. Lanham, MD: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2004.

FOR OUR PRIMARY SOURCE this month, let’s take a look back at prominent Boston minister Cotton Mather’s 1689 best seller Memorable Providences, which had a great influence on the Salem Witch Trials just a few years later. 

The full title is a doozy: Memorable providences relating to witchcrafts and possessions a faithful account of many wonderful and surprising things that have befallen several bewitched and possesed person in New-England, particularly a narrative of the marvellous trouble and releef experienced by a pious family in Boston, very lately and sadly molested with evil spirits: whereunto is added a discourse delivered unto a congregation in Boston on the occasion of that illustrious providence: as also a discourse delivered unto the same congregation on the occasion of an horrible self-murder committed in the town: with an appendix in vindication of a chapter in a late book of remarkable providences from the calumnies of a Quaker at Pen-silvania.

Ok, Mather, let’s try to distill this down a little bit! One thing I can say about 17th-century New England is that they love long and rambling titles. 

This source is a good reminder that to the people of the 17th century, belief in witchcraft wasn’t some backwards delusion. It was very real and people took it seriously. Texts like this one “proved” its existence. It’s easy to look back and think people of the past were naive. But even today we are constantly discovering that what we thought was true one day is easily proved false on another. What did our society take as fact twenty years ago that no longer holds in the present? What did we believe with certainty when the covid pandemic began that has shifted multiple times over the past two years and will likely shift again in a matter of weeks or even days? 

I think one of the best ways to read this source is to try and rid yourself of any snarkiness and instead put yourself in Mather’s shoes as he wrote it. Better yet, considering that this was a best seller, put yourself in the shoes of the people who bought, read, and discussed it with others. What does it tell us about their understanding of society and religion and witchcraft in 17th-century New England?

In his introductory letter to readers, Mather acknowledges that it would be “folly to impute every dubious Accident, or unwonted Effect of Providence, to Witchcraft; yet there are some things which cannot be excepted against, but must be ascribed hither.” No, he tells us, we cannot blame witchcraft for every little thing that goes wrong. But yes, we can blame it for some things.

We are also informed right away of an important part of Puritan theology  – the belief that God actually allowed the Devil to use others as his “instruments.” And while we might not understand why, we can trust that it is all part of his divine judgment. Keep this in mind as we embark on our own journey into the Salem Witch Trials as this belief will inform the worldview of the people of Salem Village and beyond.

The book goes on to provide a detailed account of the afflictions of the Goodwin children of Boston. Mather describes how beginning in the summer of 1688 four of the six Goodwin children were “tortured every where in a manner so very grievous, that it would have broke an heart of stone to have seen their Agonies. Skilful Physicians were consulted for their Help… [who] concluded nothing but an hellish Witchcraft could be the Original of these Maladies.” They would bark and howl, describe intense burning heat followed by frigid cold, and complain of being beaten by invisible, spectral forces. Mather reported that “one of them would be roasted on an invisible Spit, run into his Mouth, and out at his Foot, he lying, and rolling, and groaning as if it had been so in the most sensible manner in the world; and then he would shriek, that Knives were cutting of him.” He recounted stories of these grievous fits in great detail, filling pages with the horrors that these children experienced.

Interestingly, this book would later appear in the library of Reverend Samuel Parris, whose home was the site of the beginning of the afflictions leading to the Salem Witch Trials. Could his niece Abigail Williams and daughter Betty Parris have been familiar with the descriptions of fits contained within these pages?

The Goodwin children soon accused Catholic Irish washerwoman Ann Glover for their bewitchment. According to Mather, Glover was a “hag” and a “witch” and a “miserable old woman.” She had gotten into an argument with the Goodwin children just prior to their afflictions. After her arrest, Glover was asked to recite the Lord’s Prayer, which she could only perform in her native tongue, not in English. It was believed that a witch could not properly recite the Lord’s Prayer so this was considered clear evidence against her. Poppets were found in her home, and the court allowed spectral evidence during her trial as the Goodwin children made claims that her specter attacked them. The trials of Salem would later follow a similar trajectory.

Glover confessed to the crime of witchcraft and was put to death on November 16, 1688. However, the afflictions of the children did not cease. Mather believed this was evidence that there were “more [witches] belonging to that hellish Knot.” Mather’s account laid out in this book “proved” that the Devil was lurking in New England and more witches may be present to do his bidding. A fear, perhaps, that would carry over into the impending hysteria of Salem Village in 1692, just a few years later. 

If you are curious about how Mather defines a witch and describes the act of witchcraft, be sure to read the section “Discourse on Witchcraft.” You will notice many parallels with descriptions of witches and their magic that arise during the Salem Witch Trials.

While it can be challenging to read through a 17th-century text, you can check it out for yourself here. If you are new to reading books from this era, I recommend taking it slow with just a few paragraphs at a time. Let it sink in and allow yourself to grow accustomed to the language. It may also be worth it to read it through two or more times so you can fully absorb the meaning behind Mather’s words and let the significance reveal itself to you in the process.

Mather, Cotton. Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions. Boston: R.P., 1689.

OK, THAT’S ENOUGH slogging through a 17th-century text. Let’s have some fun with pop culture! I love exploring popular culture as a means to gain new perspectives on a past event. While pop culture interpretations often contain some historical inaccuracies, they also provide a unique window into the past with a gaze from the present. When we examine something like Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, we learn just as much (if not more) about 1953 when it was first performed as we do about 1692, which it purports to bring to life. 

But let’s save Miller’s play for another day and instead celebrate Sabrina the Teenage Witch’s episode by the same name, which aired in 1997.

My love for Sabrina the Teenage Witch runs deep. This show was launched in September 1996. I had just started sixth grade, and like many middle-school girls, I thought witches were very cool. Sabrina Spellman, played by the wonderful Melissa Joan Hart, discovers on her sixteenth birthday that she is a witch. Well, she is part witch, part mortal, so she must navigate not only the realm of high school and adolescence but also her emerging supernatural powers. Sabrina lives in a female-dominated household with her aunts Hilda and Zelda. The only male presence in the home? A warlock who is sentenced to spend 100 years as a cat as punishment for trying to take over the world, aptly named Salem. 

In Season 1, Episode 23, Sabrina goes on a class trip to historic Salem, with instructions from their teacher to pack lightly as they will receive period clothes when they arrive. “The idea,” Mrs. Hecht tells the class, “is for us to fully immerse ourselves in the repressive culture of the time.”

But Sabrina is apprehensive about the trip, telling her aunts, “Salem sounds like a dangerous place for a witch.” They calm her fears, letting her know “the Salem witch trials had nothing to do with real witches” and that “there’s nothing to worry about now except for overpriced souvenirs.” Truth.

When the class arrives in Salem, each student is given a card that informs them whether they are a “townsperson” or a “witch” with instructions not to reveal their identity to anyone else. The show carries on, complete with a 17th-century montage of everyone performing chores like drawing water, chopping wood, and making candles. But the peace doesn’t last for long. Soon the popular girl Libby has taken it upon herself to accuse Sabrina’s best friend Jenny of being a witch, blaming her specter for making her hair look “dorky” and throwing her shoes out the window.

A mock trial follows, and just like the Salem Witch Trials, spectral evidence takes center stage in the accusations against Jenny, who has lost her “townsperson” card and cannot prove her innocence. Sabrina is soon accused as well. Rather than fighting against it, Sabrina confesses to the crime of witchcraft. 

Harvey, her boyfriend, is aghast at her “false” confession and comes forward stating that Sabrina couldn't possibly be a witch – “witches are horrible, ugly things and they melt when you throw water on them.”

“Thanks Harvey, but what you just described is a stereotype,” counters Sabrina, “I mean how do you know witches are ugly, have you ever seen one? …Maybe you fear witches because you’ve never met any. Yes, witches are different from mortals but different isn’t bad. I mean maybe there are witches among us right now, but we’re so close minded, they can’t tell us who they are and we’re the ones missing out because if we just accepted witches maybe there’d be a big pizza party right now.”

After the trials wind down, the class gathers together to return home. Mrs. Hecht offers some closing remarks: “I hope you enjoyed your stay at Salem but before we get on the bus I wanna let you in a secret. What we’ve been studying is not just seventeenth century life but human nature. The persecution, the hysteria of three hundred years ago arose again today and all it took was an idea planted in your head. The idea that someone different was among you… No one had the witch card. Every single card said ‘townsperson.’ I didn’t create the witches, you did.”

While the show is fun and silly and filled with goofy puns and sparkly magic, these final thoughts offer some depth into this glimpse of the reality of the Salem Witch Trials and how one idea can grow into something much larger. How just one thought, when planted in certain minds, can consume an entire society in the throws of hysteria.

You can currently watch this episode on Hulu, Paramount+, or for free (with ads) on PlutoTV.