Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern SpiritualismPutnam, Allen
Religion
Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern Spiritualism
Putnam, Allen
Spiritualism; Witchcraft -- New England
And how was it with the others? "They returned to their ordinary behavior,
lived to adult age, and made profession of religion." Look at the case.
Four guileless, bright little sisters and brothers, residing together
under their father's watch, in the twinkling of an eye, flash upon the
gaze of the town in which they lived, seemingly as adroit and proficient
tricksters as were ever known, and all of them alike competent to their
several parts. They remain the town's wonder for months, and then all
return to their former behavior, grow up and live Christian lives among
the witnesses of their strange doings, and never make confession of fraud.
Was there any _fraud_? Only the over-credulous in self-powers of
divination backward will believe that there was.
In the process of watching these children, and the annoyances and
sufferings they endured, it was discovered that when absent from home they
were in great measure exempt from the special evils; therefore
arrangements were made for their abode elsewhere; and probably not for all
of them together in any one family. We find that the girl Martha became a
resident in Cotton Mather's family not many weeks after the commencement
of the great consternation. And it is stated that for a time none of her
extraordinary demeanor was manifested there; yet subsequently the fits and
antics revealed themselves abundantly, even under the roof of the
devil-fighting clergyman. Some sayings and doings while she was residing
there, manifested more frolicsome and quizzical motives than prompted the
manifestations described by Hutchinson.
Turning to a much later historian, we quote from Upham as follows:--
"One of the children seems to have had a genius scarcely inferior to that
of Master Burke himself; there was no part nor passion she could not
enact. She would complain that the old Irish woman had tied an invisible
noose round her neck, and was choking her; and her complexion and features
would instantly assume the various hues and violent distortions natural to
a person in such a predicament. She would declare that an invisible chain
was fastened to one of her limbs, and would limp about precisely as though
it were really the case. She would say that she was in an oven; the
perspiration would drop from her face, and she would produce every
appearance of being roasted; then she would cry out that cold water was
being thrown upon her, and her whole frame would shiver and shake. She
pretended that the evil spirit came to her in the shape of an invisible
horse; and she would canter, gallop, trot, and amble round the rooms and
entries in such admirable imitation, that an observer could hardly believe
that a horse was not beneath her, and bearing her about. She would go up
stairs with exactly such a toss and bound as a person on horseback would
exhibit."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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