Category Archives: June

06/1692

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June 15: A most humiliating search

Today in Salem: While his panicked wife has abandoned his children and sold everything he owns, the minister George Burroughs stands naked before seven men, holding his head high and stretching his arms out as if he is a cross. He wills himself to breathe evenly as the men prod his armpits, pull at his ears, and examine his private parts. After what seems like forever, the men announce that they’ve found nothing, and Burroughs says a silent prayer of thanks.

The abusive George Jacobs Sr. isn’t as fortunate. The men have found three suspicious marks: a rough spot inside his right cheek, a wart on his right hip, and a growth on his right shoulder.

Do the marks have any feeling, as a natural part of his body? Or are they numb, not part of him, placed by an evil source? Jacobs gags and flinches when one of the men shoves a dirty thumb into his mouth, squeezing Jacobs’ cheek between thumb and fingers. The men agree: it’s obvious Jacobs felt pain. The rough spot is a wound of his own making.

The other two marks are different, though. “Look away,” orders the man who’d examined Jacobs’ mouth. One of the other men pushes a pin into the wart on Jacobs’ hip, but … nothing. Jacobs doesn’t even wince. The men look at each other silently, then stand up to peer at Jacobs’ shoulder. Is the small growth they’ve found a blister? a boil? a cyst? Or is it a witch’s mark? One of the men lances the growth, but no fluid oozes out. More important, Jacobs doesn’t react, even though it’s a lance. He feels nothing.

LEARN MORE: Why didn’t witch marks hurt?

It was common knowledge that the Devil placed marks on witches so their familiars could suckle. But those marks weren’t part of the witch’s body. They were foreign; attached to the skin, not growing out of it. Therefore, they wouldn’t hurt or bleed if they were pierced.

Piercing, known as “pricking,” was used throughout Europe and the colonies as one of several tests to identify a witch. There’s no record of deception in Salem, but not all examiners in Europe were honest. For example, some pricking tools had hollow wooden handles and retractable points. Push it “into” a person’s skin – even up to the hilt of the tool – and it would look like the suspected witch had been stabbed without bleeding or pain. Other tools included needles that were sharp on one end and dull on the other. A deceitful examiner could use the sharp end to cause pain and draw blood, or the dull end, to cause … nothing.

Three bodkins used for “witch pricking.” The one in the center had a retractable needle.

Tomorrow in Salem: The coroner rules and the Governor dithers

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June 14: ABANDONED: the minister George Burroughs’ children

Today in Salem: News of the witch’s hanging has reached Maine, and the minister George Burroughs’ wife is panicking. Her husband has been in prison for five weeks. Is he condemned? Is she herself in danger? What about the children?

The entire town is already on edge. French soldiers and Wabanaki Indians have been attacking what seems like all of Maine, traveling the rivers and using the storms against the settlers. Today, though, the unexpected has happened: the brutal attackers have retreated, and the town is calm. It’s the eye of the storm, she thinks, and who knows what will happen tomorrow?

With no husband there to protect her, and with very little hope of his return, she needs to escape, fast. But she has no money. She thinks about her kitchen, the bedroom, the stables. What can she sell?

A new minister has replaced her husband, and now she pounds on his door.

“Will you buy George’s library?” she asks. Bewildered, he agrees, and hands her money. But she has no books with her. “Get them when you please,” she says over her shoulder, racing to a neighbor’s house. From door to door she knocks, selling everything: plates, linens, furniture, even the cattle.

Tonight, with a fistful of money and a baby on her hip, she considers her options. Her seven stepchildren will only slow her down, and her own baby needs protection more than they do. She flees with her infant and leaves the other children to shift for themselves.

Tomorrow in Salem: A most humiliating search

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June 11: Summary: A moment of silence

Let’s start this summary with a sincere moment of silence for the once-unruly Bridget Bishop, who was hanged yesterday.

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Bridget Bishop was a real person. But what do we know about her? Was she tiny like a peckish bird? Or pleasantly round? Could she carry a tune, or whistle like a chickadee, or did she leave that foolishness to others? Was she an impatient seamstress? Who was she?

We only know what the records tell us: that she was about 60 years old, give or take. That she came to the New World when she was in her 20s, so probably spoke with a trace of a British accent. That she’d had a violently abusive marriage, and did her share of punching and shouting. That when their father disinherited them, her stepsons accused of her of witchcraft, and her neighbors disliked her enough to testify against her.

In the last ten days, Bridget was tried, physically examined in the most humiliating way, then hanged. One judge was so appalled by the proceedings that he resigned. The people of Salem, though, celebrated. Today a stunned silence has descended. Tomorrow the witchcraft hysteria will continue.

Tomorrow in Salem: ABANDONED: the minister George Burrough’s children

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June 10: ***Sensitive Content (death)*** HANGED: the once-unruly Bridget Bishop

Today in Salem: A hot wind is blowing as the Sheriff’s cart creaks to a stop under an old oak tree. A branch as big around as a man’s waist reaches out overhead and holds a noose, swaying in the empty air.

A hot sun glares down from the sky, and the horses are sweating, but the metallic smell of fear overrides all else. Hundreds of people have gathered, hungry to see the spectacle, and now they surge toward the tree. “Old witch!” someone shouts.

The once-unruly Bridget Bishop is standing in the cart, trying not to look up as a deputy ties her hands behind her back. She’s wearing her Sabbath clothes, the ones her daughter brought to her yesterday, the ones she wants to be buried in.

The deputy drops to one knee, gathers Bridget’s petticoats, and ties a rope around her legs. He yanks a sack down over her head, and then the noose, testing the knot.

Nearby, a minister is swaying on horseback, and now he raises his hand. The crowd shuffles, quiet for the moment, as he invokes the righteous fire of an angry God, and prays for Bridget’s soul. “Amen,” he says, finally, and the Sheriff’s horse jolts forward with the cart.

A giant huzzah lets loose from the crowd as Bridget leaps into the air and snaps down, hanging from the tightened rope, kicking and twisting for what seems like days before she is still.

Tomorrow in Salem: Summary: A moment of silence

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June 9: A witch’s rocky grave

Today in Salem: The two men are wincing in the heat as their shovels scrape against endless rocks. A grave shouldn’t be that difficult to dig, especially when it’s only three feet deep. But the soil is famously rocky here, and it will take the Sheriff and his deputy the better part of the afternoon to dig the trench, pull out the rocks, and replace them with soil.

A “good Christian burial” in a graveyard is out of the question for a dead witch, so the deputies have dug a grave for Bridget Bishop near the hanging tree. Tomorrow morning it will be put to good use.

As the men are digging her grave, Bridget is crying with her 25-year-old daughter, who’s come to visit her at the jail. She’s Bridget’s only child, and is here with a bundle of fresh clothes for her mother to wear tomorrow. They are Bridget’s Sabbath clothes, the ones she’s asked for, and her daughter has taken care to fold them neatly.

Will Bridget’s daughter be at the hanging tomorrow? Bridget has told her not to come. There’s nothing to be done, and it will only cause both of them pain. Besides, prayers can be said as easily at home as they can be at the hanging tree.

Tomorrow in Salem: ***Sensitive Content (death)*** HANGED: the once-unruly Bridget Bishop

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June 8: WARRANT: for the execution of the unruly Bridget Bishop

quill and paper

Today in Salem: Chief Justice Stoughton holds a candle under a block of red wax and lets it melt, dripping it onto the death warrant he’s just signed. He waits until the wax is warmly pliable, then presses his metal seal into it, hard.

He could have put his seal next to his signature, on the bottom of the document. Instead he’s chosen the middle of the wide blank margin, where no one can miss the red stain or his intent. Bridget Bishop is guilty of witchcraft, and it’s Stoughton’s duty to extinguish that evil.

The Tenth day of this instant month of June between the houres of Eight and twelve in the afternoon of the same day You [are commanded to] safely conduct the s’d Bridgett Bishop alias Olliver from their Maj’ties Gaol in Salem afores’d to the place of Execution and there cause her to be hanged by the neck untill she be de[ad] …

And this shall be [your] Sufficient Warrant Given under my hand & Seal at Boston.

Stoughton is already shuffling through other papers when the Sheriff appears. He hands him the warrant, but looks up only briefly. He’s a busy man.

William Stoughton's seal
The seal William Stoughton pressed onto Bridget Bishop’s death warrant

LEARN MORE: See Bridget Bishop’s original death warrant.

A scan of Bridget Bishop’s death warrant, with transcription, can be seen at http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/n13.html#n13.22.

Tomorrow in Salem: A witch’s rocky grave

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June 7: The doubting judge takes a stand

Today in Salem: The doubting judge has made a decision, and nothing will change his mind. He spent much of last night swimming in rum, but even dizzy with drink he was thinking more clearly than any of the other judges. And now their astonishing inability to question the church, the government, or even the defendant has sent the unruly Bridget Bishop to die.

Despite a wretched hangover and a ferociously hot day, the doubting judge has marched purposefully to Chief Justice Stoughton’s office, and declines to sit, launching into the speech he’d laid awake composing.

“Perhaps Bridget Bishop is guilty, and her hanging is just,” he says. ”But if it’s her specter that’s doing evil, does that mean that she herself, in corporeal form, has committed a crime?”

Stoughton leans back in his chair and sets his jaw.

“And is it her specter at all? Could it be the Devil, pretending to be her?” Stoughton begins to speak, but the doubting judge presses on, dangerously disrespectful. “Could Bridget Bishop be innocent? Are we about to hang an innocent person?”

Stoughton raises his right hand and stands up.

“If the Devil is using her specter, it’s with her permission,” he says, his deep voice booming. “The Court has spoken, and the jury has decided: She is guilty. I would advise you to be careful with your questions.”

The doubting judge takes a sharp breath and reaches into his coat pocket, then hands a letter to the Chief Justice. If the court is going to use spectral evidence, then he wants no part of it. After less than two weeks on the Court, he resigns.

WHO was the doubting judge?

Nathaniel Saltonstall was 53, and was considered to be one of the most principled men of his time. He’d been a judge for 30 years when he took his seat in the witchcraft trials, but he resigned in protest just before the first hanging. He remained throughout the Trials, “very much dissatisfied with the proceedings.”

He was also known, discreetly, as having a drinking problem. His friend and colleague once said he was grieved when he “heard and saw that you had drunk to excess; so that your head and hand were rendered less useful than at other times … Let me intreat you, Sir, to break off this practice (so tis rumored to be) not as the river ; but obstinately and perpetually to refuse the yoke … I write not of prejudice, but kindness; and out of a sense of duty as indeed I do. Take it in good part from him who desires your everlasting welfare.”

Tomorrow in Salem: WARRANT: for the execution of Bridget Bishop

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June 6: A judge has his doubts

Today in Salem: One of the judges sits alone in a tavern, staring into his mug of rum. He’s been a judge for 30 years and he’s never seen a trial conducted this way. It was a cacophony of noise and confusion, with the judges shouting their questions, the afflicted girls swooning and crying, and the defendant hardly able to speak a full sentence. The other judges seemed convinced that Bridget Bishop was guilty before she’d even arrived. And now she’s about to hang for it. But could she be innocent?

Witches and their craft are real, he has no doubt. But there are logical questions that should have been asked. First, are the afflicted girls really seeing specters? They do seem to be dramatically tormented. So perhaps they are.

If so, then it must be asked: Do those specters really belong to the people the girls have accused? Or are those specters the devil in disguise? The judge thinks about later tonight, when he’ll fall into a rum-soaked stupor and, if he’s lucky, sleep for several hours. It would be easy for the devil to pretend to be the judge’s specter, and the judge would never know.

He motions to the tavern owner’s wife for another mug, then asks himself the most troubling questions of all. Is Bridget Bishop’s specter actually the devil masquerading as her? Are we about to hang an innocent person?

The judge rubs his temples. His mind is muddled with rum, and the voices in the tavern sound like they’re underwater. It’s hard to think clearly. But someone has to.

Tomorrow in Salem: The doubting judge takes a stand

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June 4: Depression: A ray of hope

Today in Salem: It’s the first time in ten years that one woman can walk through her garden, or even go outside, without crying. She’s feeling better, just the tiniest bit better, since testifying at the unruly Bridget Bishop’s trial.

flowers

As hard as it was, she’d told the judges about a dark night ten years ago, when Bridget’s specter had dragged her out of bed and down to the beach, then tried to drown her. The woman had managed to ask God for help, though, and soon found herself alone, wet, and shivering at the water’s edge. Ever since then, she’s been distracted and crazed, “a vexation to herself, and all about her.”

Now, though, with Bridget contained in jail and condemned, God has saved the woman again. She brushes the tops of the early carrots and thinks about using them in a stew. It will take time to recover from 10 years of distraction, but she knows God will guide her.

LEARN MORE: What did the Puritans think about depression and mental health?

The Puritans believed that illness was brought on by sin. So if you or your family were sick or injured, it meant God was testing or punishing you.

Depression, though, wasn’t seen as an illness. Instead, depression (what the Puritans called distraction, melancholy, or being crazed in the head) was an opportunity to increase faith and trust in God. Specifically, God used depression to make a person less able to take care of themselves, or even to live, which forced them to humble themselves and ask God for help. One could even see depression as a gift, because it left a person with increased faith.

sunbeams in woods

Today we know that depression is not an opportunity or gift by any stretch. It’s an illness, and although faith in a higher power might help, other things can, too. If you or someone you care about might be depressed, talk to a doctor or another medical care provider. If that’s too hard, you can call a mental health hotline at 1-800-662-4357. And if that’s too hard, you can text “MHA” to 741741. It really is possible to feel better.

Tomorrow in Salem: A judge has his doubts

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June 3: AN ODD “EXCRESCENCE OF FLESH”: Bridget Bishop’s teat

Today in Salem: The judges are adding to their notes from yesterday’s trial. No more proof is needed to condemn Bridget Bishop, but the judges are still meticulous, recording everything.

Yesterday morning, six female prisoners were stripped naked so a group of other women and a male surgeon could examine them for witch marks. Three of the prisoners, including Bridget Bishop, were found to have abnormal outgrowths — an “odd excrescence” — of flesh in their private areas, “much like a teat.”

Witches were known to have teats, like skin tags, all over their bodies, and used them to suckle their familiars. The surgeon thought Bridget’s teat was highly suspicious, so at the end of the day they examined her again. The teat had disappeared, replaced by a bit of dry skin.

That was proof positive as far as the surgeon was concerned. But the group of women included an experienced midwife, who said the extra flesh was probably scar tissue from difficult birthing. Her opinion was in the minority, though, and the proof was duly noted.

LEARN MORE: What were Puritan doctors like?

The Puritans believed that all things were from God: good things like bountiful crops and summer rain, and bad things like disease and affliction. When bad things happened, it wasn’t necessarily because the person was sick. It was because they’d sinned and God was displeased. It could be:

  • God was testing your faith.
  • You’d sinned and made God angry.
  • If a lot of people were sick, God was wreaking revenge for the collective sins of the society.
  • Someone else was attacking you, often a “witch” in league with the Devil, or even Satan’s army of demons.

So, while a doctor tried to diagnose illness, he was also asked to find and explain the sin behind the affliction.

With that in mind, a doctor cared for the body so the minister could care for the soul. In fact, sometimes the doctors were the ministers. This could explain why doctors were so poorly trained in medical practices. There were no medical schools or programs in America. Instead, doctors practiced “feseke” (physick, or medicine) based on what they knew from British medicine, which was usually passed down through the decades and was sometimes obsolete.

Tomorrow in Salem: Depression: A ray of hope