Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II: With an Account of Salem Village and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred SubjectsUpham, Charles Wentworth
History
Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II: With an Account of Salem Village and a History of Opinions on Witchcraft and Kindred Subjects
Upham, Charles Wentworth
Salem (Mass.) -- History -- Colonial period, ca. 1600-1775; Witchcraft -- Massachusetts -- Salem -- History -- 17th century
Another report of Tituba's examination has been preserved, and may be
found in the second volume of the collection edited by Samuel G. Drake,
entitled the "Witchcraft Delusion in New England." It is in the
handwriting of Jonathan Corwin, very full and minute, and shows that
the Indian woman was familiar with all the ridiculous and monstrous
fancies then prevalent. The details of her statement cover nearly the
whole ground of them. While indicating, in most respects, a mind at the
lowest level of general intelligence, they give evidence of cunning and
wariness in the highest degree. This document is also valuable, as it
affords information about particulars, incidentally mentioned and thus
rescued from oblivion, which[ii.27] serve to bring back the life of the
past. Tituba describes the dresses of some of the witches: "A black
silk hood, with a white silk hood under it, with top-knots." One of
them wore "a serge coat, with a white cap." The Devil appeared "in
black clothes sometimes, sometimes serge coat of other color." She
speaks of the "lean-to chamber" in the parsonage, and describes an
aërial night ride "up" to Thomas Putnam's. "How did you go? What did
you ride upon?" asked the wondering magistrate. "I ride upon a stick,
or pole, and Good and Osburn behind me: we ride taking hold of one
another; don't know how we go, for I saw no trees nor path, but was
presently there when we were up." In both reports, Tituba describes,
quite graphically, the likenesses in which the Devil appeared to his
confederates; but Corwin gives the details more fully than Cheever.
What the latter reports of the appearances in which the Devil
accompanied Osburn, the former amplifies. "The thing with two legs and
wings, and a face like a woman," "turns" into a full woman. The "hairy
thing" becomes "a thing all over hairy, all the face hairy, and a long
nose, and I don't know how to tell how the face looks; is about two or
three feet high, and goeth upright like a man; and, last night, it
stood before the fire in Mr. Parris's hall."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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