Witnesses and testimonies played a crucial role in the witchcraft trials of the past. During this period, individuals who were accused of practicing witchcraft often faced intense scrutiny and were subjected to examinations in order to determine their guilt or innocence. Witnesses were called upon to provide testimonies, which were considered as evidence to support or refute the charges against the accused. In many cases, the credibility of the witnesses was heavily relied upon. The testimonies given by these witnesses were often based on their personal experiences or observations of alleged supernatural activities. These experiences would be recounted in detail, with the witnesses explaining the actions and behaviors they believed to be indicative of witchcraft.
These experiences would be recounted in detail, with the witnesses explaining the actions and behaviors they believed to be indicative of witchcraft. The witnesses themselves came from a variety of backgrounds, including neighbors, family members, and even fellow accused witches. It is important to note that the majority of these witnesses were often women, as they were more frequently suspected and targeted in these trials.
Witnesses and testimonies in the witchcraft trials
This guest post was written by Marguerite Most, Reference Librarian and Senior Lecturing Fellow.
People were accused and executed for witchcraft throughout the colonies during the seventeenth century, but especially in Massachusetts. Today dressing in a witch's costume on Halloween is a way to make merry. But in the 17th-century Massachusetts Bay Colony, Puritans, who followed strict religious rules in their daily lives, lived in a pre-science era. Witches were real, and their doings explained what could not be otherwise explained. In the years preceding the Salem witchcraft trials Puritans ministers warned from the pulpit about demonic possessions and visits from Satan. Everyday reality mingled with an invisible world inhabited by these spirits, and religious values permeated every aspect of society. Satan was said to appear as a “black rogue,” or an Indian or an animal called a witch's familiar. For the Puritans, the devil and his witches affected the world in very serious ways.
Within a four-month trial period in the spring of 1692, 156 people from 24 Massachusetts villages were prosecuted as witches. Nineteen were hanged and one was pressed to death after refusing to confess. The trials began and were concentrated in Salem town. The evidence presented in the Salem witchcraft trials included confessions under torture, supposed eyewitness testimony, and physical inspections of the accused for moles and other blemishes, said to be marks of the devil. However, the scarcity of eyewitnesses and direct physical evidence made proving witchcraft difficult, and the most damning proof came from the admission of spectral evidence based on visions of the accusers.
Specters or spirits were visible to alleged victims of witchcraft, but only to the victims. The accusers, all young girls, alleged that some Salem residents had contracted with the devil and afflicted them. "The afflicted," as they were called, testified that a specter or ghostly apparition of the accused had appeared in the shape and likeness of the accused and tormented them. Since Puritans believed that the physical body of a witch could appear in one place while the witch's specter was in another, and since the devil could not assume the specter of an innocent person, the accused witch had no defense against this kind of proof.
Judge Samuel Sewall, a judge at the trials, is said to have reported the death of Giles Corey in this way: "About noon, at Salem, Giles Corey was press'd to death for standing mute."
I will not plead
If I deny, I am condemned already,
In courts where ghosts appear as witnesses
And swear men's lives away. If I confess,
Then I confess a lie, to buy a life,
Which is not life, but only death in life.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
According to several accounts, the events leading to the trials began with fortune-telling sessions by two girls ages nine and eleven, one of whom was badly frightened by the sessions. The girls began to exhibit strange symptoms and to claim they were being bitten and pricked. When doctors could find no other explanation, one doctor concluded the girls were "under an Evil Hand." They insisted they saw the accused witch's specter tormenting them or others. In a deposition of April 11, 1692, one of the girls testified that the apparition of Elizabeth Proctor '. most grievously afflicted me by biting, pinching, and almost choking me. . .' Her evidence was accepted as valid.
A defendant who confessed and named other witches was allowed to live. And so, the accusations spread. For over seven months the jails filled with more and more accused. By September the witch hunt was slowing as respected citizens were executed, and the well-connected, including the wife of Massachusetts Governor William Phips, were accused of witchcraft. The educated elite of Boston began questioning the reliability of specter evidence. In October Harvard President Cotton Mather delivered a sermon to clergymen titled Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits Personating Men. Speaking of spectral evidence Mather said "It were better that ten suspected witches should escape, than one innocent person be condemned."
The use of spectral evidence in the Salem trials has drawn the attention of scholars interested in how evidentiary standards have evolved over time and in the use of expert testimony, as well as the attention of social scientists interested in crowd memory and mass hysteria. The Salem trials were conducted by lay magistrates with no legal training. Guilt was assumed. If a guilty verdict was not delivered, the jury was instructed to reconsider – and a guilty verdict would be forthcoming.
By the time of the Salem witchcraft trials, witches were no longer hanged in England. Nevertheless, magistrates in Salem found precedent for the admission of spectral evidence in the writings of Sir Matthew Hale, the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales. Thirty years before the Salem trials, Hale presided at a 1662 witchcraft trial in Bury St. Edmonds, England, and his record of the trial, A Tryal of Witches at the Assizes, was cited by Massachusetts magistrates as a model for allowing spectrum evidence in the Salem trials. At the same time magistrates did look for other kinds of evidence, and the court did follow set courtroom procedures. In Judge Sewall's Apology, a biography of the only one of the nine witch trial judges to apologize for harm to innocent victims, Sewall is noted as explaining that the specter of the defendant would attack the accusers during the preliminary examination in front of those at the hearing, thereby guaranteeing the two witnesses required for a guilty verdict at trial.
Historians today have several explanations for the hysterical outbreak in 1692 Salem including class conflict in the Salem congregation, and the First and Second Indian Wars on the frontier of the New England settlement. Many of the accused were women from the "lower classes," and several scholars have suggested that charges of witchcraft were a way to control women who threatened the existing economic and social orders.
Probably the best known twentieth-century dramatization of the trials is Arthur Miller's 1953 play The Crucible, which Miller is said to have written as an allegory of McCarthyism, when the excesses of the House Un-American Activities Committee and Senator Joseph McCarthy's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations blacklisted accused communists. Cold War, Cool Medium: Television, McCarthyism, and American Culture is one of many books in the Duke libraries that examines McCarthy and his witch hunting crusade. At least one writer has suggested that the Salem witchcraft trials have "disquieting the resonances in a post-9/11 world of extraordinary rendition and practices such as waterboarding."
Stop by the Riddick Room display cabinet on the main floor of the Goodson Law Library to learn more about the Salem witch trials and their English precedent.
--Marguerite Most, Reference Librarian and Senior Lecturing Fellow
According to several accounts, the events leading to the trials began with fortune-telling sessions by two girls ages nine and eleven, one of whom was badly frightened by the sessions. The girls began to exhibit strange symptoms and to claim they were being bitten and pricked. When doctors could find no other explanation, one doctor concluded the girls were "under an Evil Hand." They insisted they saw the accused witch's specter tormenting them or others. In a deposition of April 11, 1692, one of the girls testified that the apparition of Elizabeth Proctor '. most grievously afflicted me by biting, pinching, and almost choking me. . .' Her evidence was accepted as valid.
Nevertheless, men were also called upon to testify, and their accounts were given equal consideration. The testimonies of the witnesses were considered to be substantial evidence in proving the existence of witchcraft and the guilt of those accused. These witnesses would often provide graphic and detailed descriptions of alleged acts of witchcraft, such as bewitching livestock or causing harm to individuals through supernatural means. Based on these testimonies, a pattern of behavior would be established, and the accused would be judged accordingly. However, there were also instances where witnesses would retract or alter their testimonies, casting doubt on the validity of their claims. Some witnesses may have been coerced or manipulated into providing false testimonies, while others may have changed their stories due to fear of repercussion or guilt. Overall, witnesses and testimonies played a significant role in the witchcraft trials, as they were used to establish guilt or innocence. The credibility and reliability of the witnesses and their testimonies were closely examined, and the outcome of the trial often hinged on their accounts. While these testimonies provided the basis for many convictions, they also highlight the potential for manipulation and false accusations during this dark period in history..
Reviews for "Silence as Testimony: The Absence of Witnesses in Witchcraft Trials"
1. Jane - 2 stars review: I was really disappointed with "Witnesses and testimonies in the witchcraft trials". While I appreciate the effort to delve into the historical records and present a comprehensive view of the witchcraft trials, the book lacked a cohesive structure. It felt disjointed and confusing at times, making it difficult to follow the arguments and the testimonies presented. I also found the writing style to be dry and lacking in emotion, which made it hard to empathize with the individuals involved in these trials. Overall, I was left with a sense of dissatisfaction and a desire for more clarity and engagement.
2. Mike - 1 star review: I cannot express enough how much I disliked "Witnesses and testimonies in the witchcraft trials". The book was overly academic and seemed more focused on displaying the author's knowledge rather than engaging the reader. The content felt repetitive, with constant references to documentation and legal proceedings that only served to confuse me further. Additionally, the author's bias was evident in the way certain testimonies were given more weight than others, which undermined the credibility of the book. Overall, I found this book to be a tedious and uninformative read, and I would not recommend it to anyone seeking a comprehensive understanding of witchcraft trials.
3. Sarah - 2 stars review: I was really looking forward to reading "Witnesses and testimonies in the witchcraft trials", but it ultimately fell short of my expectations. The book seemed to lack a clear focus, jumping from one aspect of the trials to another without providing sufficient context or analysis. The author's writing style was dry and impersonal, making it difficult to connect with the individuals whose testimonies were presented. I also found the book to be overly reliant on legal jargon, which made it less accessible to readers who are not familiar with legal terminology. Overall, I felt that this book had the potential to be an insightful exploration of witchcraft trials, but it failed to deliver a compelling narrative or a clear argument.