Goody Pope was an important figure in the Salem witch trials, which took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the late 17th century. She was accused of being a witch and became one of the first people to be arrested and put on trial during this dark period in American history. Goody Pope, whose real name was Sarah Cloyce, was the sister of Rebecca Nurse, another well-known accused witch. She, along with her sister and several other women, were accused of practicing witchcraft and causing harm to the community. These accusations were sparked by a series of unexplained illnesses and strange occurrences in the town of Salem Village. During the trials, Goody Pope maintained her innocence and vehemently denied practicing witchcraft.

Anti-Catholicism in the Salem Witch Trials

It is well known that in 1692 a hysteria of witch-hunting spread throughout the region of Salem, Massachusetts, leading the Puritan government there to put to death twenty persons and imprison about one hundred and fifty more. What is less known is that this outbreak of hysteria was initiated by the anti-Catholic bigotry of the Puritan settlers and the scandalous unjust trial and execution of a Catholic washer woman a few years prior to the famous Salem Witch Trials of 1692. In this essay we shall explore the anti-Catholic bigotry that underlay the Salem Witch Trials.

The Hard Life of Goody Glover

In 1688, Ann Glover, known as “Goody Glover”, an Irish-Catholic immigrant, was put to death in Salem on charges of witchcraft. Her condemnation had more to do with her Catholicism than any sorcery. It was the trial and death of Goody Glover that fueled the fires of the hysteria that broke out in Salem only four years later.

Life had dealt Ann “Goody” Glover a cruel hand. As a young woman in Ireland she was captured by Oliver Cromwell’s army during their ravages of that country. She and her husband were sold as slaves and sent to Barbados. The little-known practice of selling Irish as slaves was inaugurated by James I in 1612; most slaves were sent to the West Indies or South America; the Amazon Basin, too, was a popular destination. In 1625 a law was passed mandating the sale of Irish political prisoners to English planters, mostly in the West Indies. It was under this law that Cromwell sold Ann Glover and her husband to planters in Barbados. While in Barbados, Ann Glover’s husband was allegedly executed because he would not renounce the Catholic Faith.

Glover and her children eventually left Barbados; whether they were emancipated or escaped, we do not know. They migrated to North America and settled in the Boston area, where she and her daughter became the servants in the household of a Mr. John Goodwin. In 1688, one of the Goodwin girls, 13-year old Martha, accused the daughter of Ann Glover of stealing fabric and ran her out of the house in tears. This prompted Ann Glover to come over and have words with Martha. Allegedly the encounter was fierce and Ann Glover shouted at Martha so vehemently that Martha took ill.

In the days following the incident the children of the Goodwins began to fall ill. John Goodwin brought in a physician to attend to the children, but when he could neither heal them nor even diagnose their illness, he told the father that evil spirits were at work. Suspicion immediately fell on Ann Glover, a foreigner who could not speak English and was generally disliked by the Puritans.

The famous minister Cotton Mather was summoned to pray for the Goodwin children, but much to his irritation the illness continued. A few days later, five ministers came from the surrounding towns to pray for the Goodwin children, and after this prayer session there seemed to be some marked improvement in a few of them.

In the meantime, the Salem magistrates had found out about the experiences of the children, and upon questioning Mr. Goodwin were told that he believed Ann Glover to be responsible. Ann Glover was summoned before the magistrates and ordered to repeat the Lord’s Prayer. Being that she was not a native English speaker, she stated that she could only recite it in Gaelic or Latin. This alarmed the judges, who began to question whether the woman were a Christian at all. Her answer to the question “Do you believe in God” was unintelligible and the magistrates became convinced of her guilt. She was sent away to jail to await trial while more evidence was sought against her. After her imprisonment, the condition of the Goodwin children continued to improve, leading some to conclude that Glover was in fact connected with their illness.

Catholicism on Trial

During the investigation it was discovered that Ann Glover was in fact a Roman Catholic, who Cotton Mather referred to as “a scandalous old Irishwoman, very poor, a Roman Catholic and obstinate in idolatry”, and in another place she is called “and ignorant and a scandalous old Woman” (1). She was asked again to recite the Our Father, for it was commonly believed that the Our Father could not be recited by a witch. She could not do it in English, of course, but she did do it in Latin. This irked Mather, but it did not help Glover, as Mather noted that though she could say most of the prayer, she could not complete it. Recall that Protestants end the Our Father with the phrase “For the kingdom, the power and the glory is yours, now and forever”, while Catholics do not. Thus, when Ann Glover could not say the ending of the prayer, it was due to the simple fact that she was reciting the Catholic form, which ironically is the form as taught by Christ, since the doxology appended by Protestants is not found in the Bible.

Glover’s inability to complete the Lord’s Prayer confirmed her guilt. A search of her house turned up what Mather referred to as several “small images” that were apparently stuffed (2). She was interrogated about what the purpose of these dolls was an allegedly claimed that they were for purposes of witchcraft.

At this point we must pause and recall that Glover could not speak English. Mather and her accusers could not speak with her directly. Two Puritan men who claimed to know Gaelic, “honest and faithful men”, as Cotton Mather said, were used as interpreters (3). Subsequent events have led later generations of historians to wonder to what degree these fellows really knew Gaelic at all or if there was not some intentional misrepresentation of Mrs. Glover’s defense.

“Spectral Evidence”

At any rate, Ann Glover “confessed” to using the dolls for purpose of witchcraft. Once it was known she had been accused, others came forward making accusations against her based on hearsay and “spectral evidence” (evidence of witchcraft based on dreams and visions and legally admissible in English courts at the time). Goody Glover’s responses to her accusers were bizarre and contradictory, leading some to think she may have in fact been mentally ill and not at all guilty of witchcraft. Mather himself admits this as a possibility and says that six physicians were ordered to examine her: “The Court appointed five or six Physicians one evening to examine her very strictly, whether she were not craz’d in her Intellectuals, and had not procured to her self by Folly and Madness the Reputation of a Witch.” [4]

The doctors found her competent and Ann Glover was pronounced guilty and sentenced to death. Mather went to visit her in prison, during which time Glover allegedly confessed that she had engaged in nighttime trysts with the devil and other evil spirits. This confession is certainly questionable, as Mather goes on to say “She entertained me with nothing but Irish, which Language I had not Learning enough to understand” (5).

Praying to Spirits

Throughout Glover’s ordeal, anti-Catholic prejudice and language barriers worked against her. For example, when Mather was interrogating her on the question of whether or not she worshiped the devil, Ann allegedly told Mather that she prayed to a host of spirits, which Mather took to be demons. However, knowing that Glover spoke Gaelic, that Mather could not understand Gaelic, that the integrity of her translators was questionable, and that the Puritans were predisposed to condemn her because of their hatred of Catholicism, let us look at her statement about praying to “spirits” in light of a stunning statement Mather makes next.

After describing the conversation in which Ann Glover admits to praying to “Catholic spirits” (demons to Mather), Cotton Mather himself says, “They were her Spirits, or her Saints, (for they say, the same Word in Irish signifies both)”(6). It is not known where in Ireland Ann Glover was from or what dialect or slang she was using, but here Mather plainly admits that what the Puritans took to be demon worship could have been nothing other than the Catholic invocation of the saints. If Glover was invoking the saints, could not the “images” the Puritans found be crude representations of the saints, images of the “spirits” that Mather accused her of worshiping? It may be so, given the Puritan hatred of the Catholic Communion of Saints and Mather’s accusation of Glover as “idolatrous.”

The Enigmatic Last Words of Goody Glover

When Glover was taken out to be hanged, she stated that her death would not relieve the children of their malady. Her final words were enigmatic; according to some, she said that the children would continue to suffer because there were other witches besides her who had been involved in their affliction. When asked to name these others, she steadfastly refused. Another account says that Glover said that killing her would be useless because it must have been someone else, not her, who was responsible. When asked who, she said she did not know. Clearly one version of her last words incriminates her, while the other is quite in keeping with the disposition of one who knows they are being put to death unjustly. We may again presume the language barrier to be responsible for the ambiguity of her last words.

In either case, her words were taken to mean that there must be other witches operating in the Salem area. The enigmatic words from the lips of a condemned papist-witch fueled the anxiety and suspicion that would burst upon Salem four years later.

The mob of Salem surrounded Ann Glover and jeered her as she was put to death. A witness described the scene: “There was a great concourse of people to see if the Papist would relent, her one cat was there, fearsome to see…Before her executioners she was bold and impudent, making to forgive her accusers and those who put her off” (7).

“They did her cruel…she died a Catholic”

The general consensus today is that Goody Glover was a faithful Catholic who may have been suffering from an onset of dementia. Even in her own day, not everyone was convinced of her guilt. Sir Robert Calef, a Boston author and historian who condemned the witchcraft hysteria, recalled: “In the times of sir Edmond Andros’s government, Goody Glover, a despised, crazy, ill-conditioned old woman, an Irish Roman Catholic, was tried for afflicting Goodwin’s children; by the account of which trial, taken in short hand for the use of the jury, it may appear that the generality of her answers were nonsense, and her behaviour like that of one distracted. They did her cruel. The proof against her was wholly deficient. The jury brought her guilty. She was hung. She died a Catholic” (8).

Anti-Catholic bias was evident throughout her trial. Her “inability” to “finish” the Our Father; the “Catholic spirits” (or saints?) Glover prayed to which Mather said were demons; at one point, Mather held up as evidence the fact that Ann Glover would consent “to read popish books” but refused “to read books against popery” (9). Recall also the “images” found in her house. During her trial she was shown one of these “images” and asked if she were a papist. She grabbed the “image”, clutched it to her heart and said, “I die a Catholic!” (10) From beginning to end anti-Catholicism was evident in Glover’s condemnation, for in New England at the time, “witch”, “devil” and “Catholic” were three words that described the same reality. A sermon preached some years prior to Glover’s death affirms this supposition: “Because of witchcraft we have divers mischiefs and disorders; and witches they be so long as there be papists, drabs of the strumpet pope” (11). Ralph Hoven, an Anglican theologian of the period, also stated that “All papists be not witches, but commonly all witches be the spawn of the pope” (12).

Goody Glover may have been unpopular, she may have suffered from mild dementia, she might have been ill-tempered, but she was certainly not a witch. She had the misfortune to be Catholic in a place and time where Catholicism and devil worship were synonymous. Her tragic death by hanging in 1688 was the first killing in what would evolve into the Salem Witch Trials, as scores of individuals were accused, tried and either imprisoned or hanged based on the fear that was fed by the unjust condemnation of Ann Glover.

(1) Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, 1702; Cotton Mather, Memorable Providences , Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions (1689), Sec. III
(2) Cotton Mather, Memorable Providences, Sec. VIII.
(3) ibid.
(4) ibid.
(5) ibid., Sec. X
(6) ibid.
(7) Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Volume 5 (1905), pg. 21
(8) Robert Calef, More Wonders of the Invisible World or The Wonders of the Invisible World Displayed (Printed in London, 1700, reprinted in Salem by John D. & T.C. Cushing, Jr. for Cushing and Appleton: 1823), p 299
(9) Journal of the American-Irish Historical Society, Volume 5 (1905), pg. 20
(10) ibid.
(11) ibid., 16
(12) ibid.

For a balanced general overview of the Salem Witch Trials, see Leo Bonfanti, “The Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692”, New England Historical Series, Volume I (Wakefield, Mass: Pride Publications, 1971)

Phillip Campbell, “Anti-Catholicism in the Salem Witch Trials,” Unam Sanctam Catholicam, January 19, 2013. Available online at: www.unamsanctamcatholicam.com/anti-catholicism-in-the-salem-witch-trials

During the trials, Goody Pope maintained her innocence and vehemently denied practicing witchcraft. She argued that the accusations were baseless and that she was being wrongly accused. However, the court, which was dominated by Puritan authorities, did not believe her and she was ultimately convicted.

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Age of Witch Hunts: Salem Trials and the American Experience

Tucked away in a corner of the Peabody Essex Museum in the City of Salem sits one of the great artefacts of early American history: a small oak valuables cabinet.

Its elaborate carvings, turnings and geometric shapes speak to its beauty and craftsmanship. The centre panel features a sunburst that surrounds the inscription “I&BP 79.”

The initials refer to its owners, Joseph and Bathsheba Pope (the letter J was not yet utilized in the seventeenth-century, so the I did double duty for it). The Popes were married in 1679, and the cabinet, presumably a wedding gift, was likely made by James Symonds, a master furniture maker.

It was passed down in the family until the museum acquired it at auction in 2000. The Popes were Quakers who lived in Salem Village, members of a small but significant minority of religious dissenters who had been persecuted by the Bay Colony.

In 1692 the Popes turned the tables. Like some of her neighbours, Bathsheba said she was afflicted by witches, explicitly claiming that the spectres of John Procter, Martha Cory, and Rebecca Nurse tormented her. Joseph Pope added his testimony against Procter. The court convicted and executed all three of the accused.

A rare early piece of locally made seventeenth-century furniture with an impeccable history of ownership and a strong tie to the Salem witch trials, the cabinet is a remarkable relic — a status reflected in the formidable $2.4 million that the museum had to pay to win it at auction in 2000.

Yet what makes the cabinet truly a treasure is rarely noted: the Popes’ nephew was Benjamin Franklin. Specifically, Bathsheba’s youngest sister, Abiah, was Franklin’s mother.

In one generation, one Massachusetts family would go from victims of witchcraft to producing one of the leaders of the American Enlightenment. While his aunt and uncle would join the frenzied call for witch executions, Ben Franklin would make the reasoned case for a new nation, dedicated to liberty and freedom.

The Pope cabinet shows just how soon after Salem that the American colonies would turn their back on the Age of Witch Hunts and embrace the Age of Reason.

The story of the Popes and their cabinet also reveals the complexities behind witch trials in Salem and elsewhere in New England, as well as some of the inaccuracies in how these events are often portrayed.

Traditional textbooks and popular tales make the trials sound like a Puritan affair, yet the Popes were Quakers.

The afflicted in Salem were almost all female and are usually referred to as “girls,” yet Bathsheba was forty when she made her accusations. Furthermore, men had made up the majority of accusers in New England witchcraft cases before 1692.

Bathsheba and her cohorts suffered “spectral attack” — that is, they were assaulted by a spirit that was invisible to everyone except the afflicted. This, too, was rare before Salem. Typically a witch was accused of maleficium, or harmful witchcraft. Maleficium could cause injury to livestock and crops, destruction of property, or even illness or death, but a witch need not employ a spectre to cause such evil.

Though what happened in 1692 is often portrayed as a local affair, Bathsheba Folger Pope was born and raised on distant Nantucket Island.

As the circle of accusation grew in Salem Village, the afflicted would even point the finger at people they had never seen in person. These are but a few of the contradictions behind what happened in 1692 during a witch hunt that in many ways was an aberration from earlier proceedings.

The striking design motifs of the Pope cabinet provide some insights into life in 1692 as well. The decorations are an interplay of classical elements, geometry, and S-curves. Like the chest, early Salem was a rich mosaic of ideas and influences. Its settlers came from different regions and backgrounds and held a range of beliefs.

Darkened with age, the cabinet now appears sombre and drab — just as the Puritans are all too often depicted. Yet, constructed from different types of wood with contrasting colours and highlighted with black and red paint, in 1679 the cabinet, as well as the people of Salem, were far from dull. Instead, they were complicated, vibrant, and bright.

Like the Pope cabinet, the story of the Salem witch trials is both a relic and a living piece of history.

Little wonder that it has drawn many to it. In 1970, John Demos began an article on witchcraft in the American Historical Review with this statement: “It is faintly embarrassing for a historian to summon his colleagues to still another consideration of early New England witchcraft. Here, surely, is a topic that previous generations of writers have sufficiently worked.”

Since then authors have published more than thirty books on the subject, including two outstanding ones from Demos himself. Scholars have explored the Salem story as well as many smaller episodes in early New England through a variety of perspectives.

There is an equally impressive output of scholarship on witchcraft in England and Europe. In the words of Nathaniel Hawthorne, a native son of Salem who was preoccupied by the trials, it is the ultimate twice-told tale.

New books comes out regularly, each with their explanations of what happened: it was a religious crisis, an outbreak of ergot poisoning (or encephalitis or Lyme disease), the result of a land squabble in Salem Village, an outbreak of frontier war hysteria, a misogynist statement of patriarchy.

So it is not without considerable humility that I now offer this book. It would be impossible to do so without drawing up on this deep well of knowledge and inspiration by these historians, as much of my work builds upon and synthesizes their labors.

While each book puts forward its own theories, most historians agree that there was no single cause for the witchcraft that started in Salem and spread across the region.

To borrow a phrase from another tragic chapter of Essex County history, Salem offered “a perfect storm,” a unique convergence of conditions and events that produced what was by far the largest and most lethal witchcraft episode in American history.

Seventeenth-century observers themselves often likened what happened to a storm. Cotton Mather described the Salem phenomenon as an “inextricable storm” as well as “inexplicable storms from the invisible world.”

He was right on both counts, for it has seemed almost impossible either to disentangle all of its component parts or to fully explain what happened. What we can do is synthesize the many interpretations and explanations and put Salem’s “storm” into its broader context as both a turning point and part of an ongoing narrative.

Were the Salem witch trials a pivotal moment in American history? The great scholar of American Puritanism Perry Miller called them a non-event. “It had no effect on the ecclesiastical or political situation, it does not figure in the institutional or ideological development.”

Few scholars have challenged him. Instead, most have focused more on the cause than on the long-term consequences. They stress the fact that Salem was a small part of a much larger pattern.

Although England and her colonies saw fewer cases of witchcraft accusations than on the Continent, they were still common and long-standing.

Between 1645 and 1647, at the height of the English Civil Wars, more than 250 people were accused of witchcraft in East Anglia (the area to the north and east of London known for its commercial farming of wheat and other grains), and more than one hundred were executed — fifteen in one day.

In Salem, a total of twenty-five people lost their lives. Nineteen were executed, one was pressed to death, and five died in prison. The great age of witch hunts in Europe and America spanned roughly the period from 1400 to 1775. From Russia to Bermuda, from Scotland to Brazil, witch hunts took place throughout the European world.

During that time about a hundred thousand people were prosecuted for witchcraft and at least fifty thousand people were sentenced to death. In fact, while many Americans still feel a sense of shame about the Salem witch trials — because of their large size and particularly their late date — a European perspective eases some of the angst.

By European standards Salem was not even a large witch hunt, nor was it the last. In terms of size, a series of witch hunts in the German Electorate of Cologne that started in 1626 and continued for a decade resulted in approximately two thousand people being executed. And in terms of date, some persecutions continued in “enlightened” eighteenth-century Europe.

In Hungary, about eight hundred people were executed for witchcraft between 1710 and 1750. The Szeged trials of 1728–1729 claimed twenty-one victims.

Three of the accused drowned during the swimming test (people who floated were witches, while those who sank — and often drowned — were innocent). Three more of the accused died in prison, apparently during torture, and sixteen people were convicted and burned at the stake.

The more scholars study witchcraft accusations, the more they realize that witchcraft accusations seem nearly universal and have occurred throughout recorded history. There were major witch hunts in fourteen nations on three continents in the second half of the twentieth-century, resulting in the death of hundreds of people. Yet no place has acquired such infamy as the Witch City. Why is it that only Salem is synonymous with witchcraft, and not such places as Cologne or Szeged? Clearly, some unique factors were at work to give the trials and the community such a lasting reputation.

The fact that there is only one Witch City suggests that the Salem trials had significance far greater than Perry Miller recognized. Indeed, even he acknowledged that immediately after the trials, the word witchcraft itself “almost vanished from public discourse” and that “this silence speaks volumes.”

There is no arguing that what happened in Salem and throughout New England in 1692 and the following years has haunted us ever since. Most histories of Salem stop once the trials and executions end, however, and in the process, they miss its lasting significance.

One reason that witchcraft disappeared from the public record was that the government of Massachusetts Bay insisted upon it. Engaging in one of the first cover-ups in American history, Governor Sir William Phips banned the publication of any account of the witch trials.

Even before the trials ended, people realized that something had gone horribly wrong and that some innocent people had died.

According to Puritan theology, someone who committed a sin had to confess it before God. The state failed to acknowledge publicly the sin of arresting, trying, and executing people who were innocent of any crime. Failure to do so jeopardized the Puritans’ covenant with God and the very foundation of their belief.

Goody pope salem witch trials

T he seeds of the hysteria that afflicted Salem Village, Massachusetts were sown in January 1692 when a group of young girls began to display bizarre behavior. The tight-knit community was at a loss to explain the convulsive seizures, blasphemous screaming, and trance-like states that afflicted the youngsters. The physicians called in to examine the girls could find no natural cause of the disturbing behavior. If the source of the affliction

was not attributable to a physical malady, the community reasoned that it must be the work of Satan. Witches had invaded Salem.

In February the village began praying and fasting in order to rid itself of the devil's influence. The girls were pressured to reveal who in the community controlled their behavior. Three women were identified and examined. One, Tituba (a slave), confessed to seeing the devil who appeared to her "sometimes like a hog and sometimes like a great dog." Even more troubling, Tituba confessed that a conspiracy of witches permeated Salem Village.

In March the afflicted girls accused Martha Corey. The three women previously denounced as colluding with the devil were marginal to the community. Martha Corey was different; she was an upstanding member of the Puritan congregation - her revelation as a witch demonstrated that Satan's influence reached to the very core of the community. Events snowballed as the accusatory atmosphere intensified and reached a fever pitch. During the period from March into the fall many were charged, examined, tried and condemned to death. The hangings started in June with the death of Bridget Bishop and continued through September. As winter approached, the hysteria played itself out as criticism of the procedures grew. In October, the colonial governor dissolved the local Court of inquiry. The convictions and condemnations for witchery stopped. Nineteen victims of the witch-hunt had been hanged, one crushed to death under the weight of stones and at least four died in prison awaiting trial.

Friday March 11, 1692 was a day of fasting and prayer in Salem. During the day the community's minister, the Rev. Samuel Parris, asked the girls to reveal another witch. They did, and the accusation shocked those who heard it for it implicated Martha Corey (Goodwife Corey) a new but upstanding member of the congregation. Immediately a delegation was sent to the Corey farm to interview the accused in the hope of clearing up this discrepancy. Martha Corey's sarcastic response to the accusation disheartened the delegation who immediately called for her arrest. Her trial was the scene of much agitation. In the courtroom Martha's accusers writhed in agony as they were forced by an unseen power to mimic the witch's every movement. When Martha shifted her feet the girls did also, when Martha bit her lip the girls were compelled to bit their own lips, crying out in pain. They saw the specter of a black man bending over the accused and heard the drum beat calling the witches to convene on the meetinghouse lawn. Deodat Lawson, a visiting minister, describes the scene:

"On, Monday, the 21st. of March, the magistrates of Salem appointed to come to examination of Goodwife Corey. And about twelve of the clock they went into the meeting house, which was thronged with spectators. Mr. Noyes began with a very pertinent and pathetic prayer, and Goodwife Corey being called to answer to what was alleged against her, she desired to go to prayer, which was much wondered at, in the presence of so many hundred people. The magistrates told her they would not admit it; they came not there to hear her pray, but to examine her in what was alleged against her. The worshipful Mr. Hathorne asked her why she afflicted those children. She said she did not afflict them. He asked her, 'Who did then?' She said, 'I do not know; how should I know?'

The number of the afflicted persons were about that time ten, viz. four married women: Mrs. Pope, Mrs. Putnam, Goodwife Bibber, and an ancient woman named Goodall; three maids-. Mary Walcut, Mercy Lewes, at Thomas Putnam's, and a maid at Dr. Griggs's; there were three girls from nine to twelve years of age, each of them, or thereabouts, viz. Elizabeth Parris, Abigail Williams, and Ann Putnam.

These were most of them at Goodwife Corey's examination, and did vehemently accuse her in the assembly of afflicting them, by biting, pinching, strangling, etc.; and that they did in their fit see her likeness coming to them, and bringing a book to them. She said she had no book. They affirmed she had a yellow bird that used to suck betwixt her fingers; and being asked about it, if the had any familiar spirit that attended her, she said she had no familiarity with any such thing, she was a gospel woman, which title she called herself by. And the afflicted persons told her ah, she was a gospel witch. Ann Putnam did there affirm that one day when Lieutenant Fuller was at prayer at her father's house she saw the shape of Goodwife Corey and she thought Goodwife N, praying at the same time to the Devil. She was not sure it was Goodwife N., she thought it was, but very sure she saw the shape, of Goodwife Corey. The said Corey said they were poor, distracted children, and no heed to be given to what they said. Mr. Hathorne and Mr. Noyes replied it was the judgment of all present they were bewitched, and only she, the accused person, said they were distracted.

It was observed several times that if she did but bite her underlip in time of examination, the persons afflicted were bitten on their arms and wrists and produced the marks before the magistrates, ministers, and others. And being watched for that, if she did but pinch her fingers, or grasp one hand hard in another, they were pinched, and produced the marks before the magistrates and spectators. After that, it was observed that if she did but lean her breast against the seat in the meeting house (being the bar at which she stood), they were afflicted. Particularly Mrs. Pope complained of grievous torment in her bowels as if they were, torn out. She vehemently accused said Corey as the instrument, and first threw her muff at her, but that not flying home, she got off her shoe, and hit Goodwife Corey on the head with it. After these postures were watched, if said Corey did but stir her feet, they were afflicted in their feet, and stamped fearfully.

The afflicted persons asked her why she did not go to the company of witches which were before the meeting house mustering. Did she not hear the drum beat? They accused her of having familiarity with the Devil, in the time of examination, in the shape of a black man whispering in her ear; they affirmed that her yellow bird sucked betwixt her fingers in the assembly; and, order being given to see if there were any sign, the, girl that saw it said it was too late now; she had removed a pin, and put it on her head, which was found there sticking upright.

. she denied all that was charged upon her, and said they could not prove her a witch. She was that afternoon committed to Salem prison; and after she was in custody, she did not so appear to them and afflict them as before."

References:
Lawson, Deodat, A Brief and True Narrative of Some Remarkable Passages Relating to Sundry Persons Afflicted by Witchcraft at Salem Village(1692) [reprinted in Commager, Henry Steele, The Heritage of America (1949)]; Starkey, Marion, The Devil in Massachusetts (1989); Trask, Richard, "The Devil Hath Been Risen" (1997).

How To Cite This Article:
"The Salem Witch Trials, 1692," EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2000).

Bathsheba (Folger) Pope (abt. 1652 - abt. 1726)

Bathshua was born about 1653. She is the daughter of Peter Folger and Mary Morrell. She passed away about 1726. In her husband's 1712 will, he notes that his eldest daughter "was infirm of mind. as probably had been her mother-- at least she was much afflicted in the witchcraft days. " Bathshua (aka Bathsheba) was mentioned in many of the witchcraft trials.

"History of Witchcraft Haunts Old Saw Mill" [1] PEABODY - Was it witchcraft that stopped the steady rhythm of the waterwheel at Pope's saw mill on Norris Brook in West Peabody? That's what the miller told the court during the witch hunt of 1692, when the area around Crystal Lake was owned by two families intimately involved in the witch hysteria - one, an accuser, and the other, the accused.

"The miller here in 1692 was afflicted by the prevailing witchcraft," wrote John Wells in The Peabody Story. The miller testified that his mill wheel was "unaccountably stopped and would not go, and no reason could be assigned except the demonical malice and power of some witch."

The haunted mill may have been owned by the family of one of the persons who claimed to have been afflicted by witchcraft, 42-year old Bathshua Pope. She married Joseph Pope, Jr. in 1649 and was living with her widowed mother-in-law, Gertrude Pope, within the immediate vicinity of the farm of victims and martyrs, Martha and Giles Corey.

Bathshua Pope, a member of the Folger family from Nantucket, was the aunt of American patriot Benjamin Franklin. She and Joseph had eight children. According to the New England Historical and Genealogical Register, when Joseph died in 1712, he named all his children in his will, except for the first two, "and notes that the eldest daughter was infirm of mind, as probably had been her mother; at least, she was much afflicted in the witchcraft days."

The localized witchcraft outbreak took on hysterical proportions by the fall of 1692, with more than 150 people examined and sent to prison. Nearly 50 people falsely confessed to being witches who had made a covenant with the devil to assist in assaulting people in the area. Nineteen persons who maintained their innocence, including the three accused by Bathshua Pope, were tried, found guilty and hanged.

"Mrs. Pope" accused Martha Corey, as well as Rebecca Nurse and John Proctor, of inflicting pain upon her body through witchcraft. At the trial of Martha Corey in March 1693, she joined with other afflicted women in calling Martha "a gospel witch".

Marion Starkey, author of The Devil in Massachusetts, wrote, "Even while Martha proclaimed her innocence her devils had not been able to resist devising new tortures for the girls. What Martha did, now they all did. If she bit her lips, they yelled that she had bitten theirs, and came running up to the magistrates to show how they bled."

The following month Rebecca Nurse was arrested and tried. During the examination, several afflicted persons reported seeing "a black man" whispering in Nurse's ear. The judge stated, "What a sad thing it is that a church member here and now…should be thus accused and charged." At which point, "Mrs. Pope fell into a grievous fit and cryed out a sad thing sure enough; And then many more fell into lamentable fits."

Also in April, Elizabeth Proctor, the pregnant wife of John was accused. At her trial, John Proctor's specter attacking Mrs. Pope. Chadwick Hansen in Witchcraft in Salem reported that "immediately Goodwife Pope fell into a fit."

Earlier in this century, two postcards depicting the "haunted mill" were published. A color postcard prepared by D.F. Bresnahan of Peabody shows two wood-frame structures, 2 1/2 stories each, located on either side of a 10- to 12-foot-wide stream with a catwalk bridge connecting the two buildings.

One card also includes the following statement, "Site of Giles Coveys [sic] Mill who was pressed to death for refusing to plead in his trial for Witchcraft in1692." Today at Crystal Lake, a conservation area, there are two stones which were placed in remembrance of Martha and Giles Corey during the witchcraft hysteria tercentenary in 1992.

City planner Judy Otto researched the history of Crystal Lake. She does not think the Pope sawmill was the haunted mill. She wrote, "At the head of Crystal Lake, at Goodale Street, on the west side, lived Captain Thomas Flint. The house was contained on the farm of Giles Corey, according to boundaries shown on the map. Giles himself lived further away on the other side of the property, on what is now Johnson Street, near Oak Grove cemetery. These two (Flint and Pope) were the only dwellings shown in the vicinity of Crystal Lake.

Flint's mill was built after the Pope mill by Thomas Flint on the opposite side of Lowell Street and closer to the pond. This mill, which existed until the 20th century, is the mill Otto believes is the haunted mill pictured in the black-and-white post card that was printed by the Peabody Historical Society in 1905. It is titled "Haunted Mill near Phelps Station, Lowell Street, West Peabody, Mass." Interestingly, Joseph Pope Jr.'s sister Gertrude married Eben Flint, a son of Thomas Flint."

Sara Stevens Patton note: Jerusha, another daughter of Joseph Pope, married George Flint, a nephew of the above mentioned Thomas Flint.

Another story added to Ancestry by jppbmp. "Living in the western precincts of Salem Village, Joseph and Bathsheba Pope were situated in the epicenter of the witchcraft outbreak of 1692. While theories abound concerning the motivations of the accusers, scholars have noted that the hysteria surrounding the trials was in part due to underlying tensions between Salem Town, the center of commerce, and the outlying community in Salem Village and the Pope's rural address may partly explain their limited but decidedly persecutorial roles in the witchcraft trials. [Sara Patton note: Many of the Pope's rural neighbors defended those who were accused as "witches."

"During the trials of John Procter (popularized as the leading role in Arthur Miller's The Crucible), Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse, the Popes are recorded as "accusers." Supporting suspicions of Procter's affinity with the Devil, Joseph testified that he "heard John Proctor Say that if mr Parish would let him have his Indian hee the s'd Procter would soone Drive the Divell out of him and farther Saith not" [2]

"Although she never formally testified, Bathsheba Pope claimed to be afflicted by the defendants and was a key witness to their alleged demonic powers. During the proceedings of Procter, her feet inexplicably lifted--an act that was immediately interpreted as evidence of Procter's unnatural powers [3] . In a more theatrical display, Bathsheba cried out during the trial of Martha Corey and, believing to be under Corey's spell, attacked Corey. First she threw her muff, but after it missed its target, she removed her shoe and successfully struck Corey in the head. The transcript of Rebecca Nurse's trial also mentions Bathsheba's suffering of "afflictions" and upon the examiner's noting that it was a "sad thing" for Nurse to be charged, Bathsheba "fell into a grievious fit, & cryed out a sad thing sure enough" [4]

Following added by Sara Stevens Patton: "Joseph Pope, baptized 1650, 27.(day) 8 (month-Oct ie Oct 27, 1650), a farmer, lived at "The Village;" (Salem Village aka Danvers) m. Bethseda Folger, daughter of Peter Folger, of Nantucket, one of the first settlers on that island, and in consequence of his valuable services at that period, his name was always held in high esteem. Abiah, the sister of Bethseda, mar. Josiah Franklin, and was the mother of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, a name that stands high in the annals of science." See an account of the Folger family in [5]

Joseph Pope died in 1712, having had the following children: Nathaniel b. Nov 20, 1679.
Joseph, b. ; d. young.
Bethseda, b. Ap. 9, 1683; d. unm(arried).
Gertrude, b. Aug. 27, 1685; m. Ebenezer, third son of Thomas Flint, a farmer, lived in North Reading, born April 6, 1683, and died 1767; had six children, Nathaniel, Ebenezer, Lois, Nathan, Amos, Eunice. See "Flint Genealogy" p. 13);
Joseph, b. June 16, 1687
Enos, b. June 6, 1690
Eleazer b Dec 4, 1693
Jerusha, b. April 1, 1695; m. July 9, 1713, George Flint, son of George and Elizabeth (Putnam) Flint, b. April 1, 1686; she died June 29, 1781; had seven children, namely, Susanna, Jerusha, Elizabeth, Abigail, George, Eliezer, Hannah. [6]

[Following from James Savage, Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England] (I filled in abbreviations) Joseph, Salem, son of the preceding, lived at the village which was made Danvers, (became) a freeman 1690, m. Bathshua Folger, had

Nathaniel, b. 20 Nov. 1679;
Joseph, who died young;
Bathshua, 9 Apr. 1683;
Gertrude, 27 Aug. 1685;
Joseph, again, 16 June 1687;
Enos, 6 June 1690;
Eleazer, 4 Dec. 1693; and
Jerusha, 1 Apr. 1695;

Joseph, (their father) died 1712. His will of 25 Jan. proved 3 Mar. of that year (1712) names all the children but the first two, and notes that the eldest daughter was infirm of mind. as probably had been her mother-- at least she was much afflicted in the witchcraft days; also names Mary, and Sarah, children of his son Nathaniel, deceased before 1711. [7]

Massachusetts Remediation

1. 17 October 1710, Convictions Reversed, The General Court of Massachusetts Bay, An act, the several convictions, judgments, and attainders be, and hereby are, reversed, and declared to be null and void.[8]
2. 17 Dec 1711, Compensation to Survivors, Governor Dudley, GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS BAY, approved compensation to such persons as are living, and to those that legally represent them that are dead
3. 28 Aug 1957, No Disgrace to Descendants, General Court of Massachusetts, . such proceedings, were and are shocking, and the result of a wave of popular hysterical fear of the Devil in the community, and further declares that, as all the laws under which said proceedings. have been long since abandoned and superseded by our more civilized laws, no disgrace or cause for distress attaches to the said descendants or any of them by reason of said proceedings.[9]
4. 31 Oct 2001, Additional Victims Included, Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives in General Court, AN ACT RELATIVE TO THE WITCHCRAFT TRIAL OF 1692, chapter 145 is hereby further amended by adding Bridget Bishop, Susannah Martin, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott and Wilmot Redd.[10]

Goody Pope, along with her sister and several others, was sentenced to death. However, their sentences were later commuted and they were released from prison. This was due, in part, to a growing skepticism and doubt surrounding the validity of the witchcraft accusations. The Salem witch trials were a dark chapter in American history, characterized by fear, hysteria, and the persecution of innocent individuals. Goody Pope's story serves as a reminder of the dangers of mass hysteria and the importance of due process and the presumption of innocence. In later years, Goody Pope and her sister Rebecca Nurse were both exonerated posthumously and their reputations were restored. However, the scars of the Salem witch trials continued to linger and the lessons learned from this tragic event still resonate today..

Reviews for "Goody Pope's Legacy: How Her Story Shaped the Narrative of the Salem Witch Trials"

1. John - 2 stars - I was really disappointed with "Goody Pope Salem Witch Trials". The acting was wooden and the plot was slow and confusing. I felt like the characters lacked depth and the storyline was not engaging. Overall, it was a letdown and I wouldn't recommend it.

2. Sarah - 1 star -

I couldn't stand "Goody Pope Salem Witch Trials". The dialogue was awkward and the delivery from the actors was cringe-worthy. It felt like amateur hour and I was bored throughout the entire film. The historical events could have been depicted in a much more interesting and compelling way. Save your time and skip this one.

3. Michael - 2 stars - "Goody Pope Salem Witch Trials" was a missed opportunity. The historical subject matter had so much potential, but the execution fell flat. The pacing was off, with long stretches of slow dialogue and little action. It lacked the suspense and tension that such a captivating period in history deserves. Overall, it was a disappointing film that didn't live up to its potential.

4. Emily - 1 star - I regret watching "Goody Pope Salem Witch Trials". The acting was subpar and the storyline was disjointed. It was difficult to follow the plot and understand the motivations of the characters. I found myself losing interest halfway through and had to force myself to finish it. I would not recommend this film to anyone looking for a well-made historical drama.

Goody Pope and the Salem Witch Trials: A Historic Perspective