Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern SpiritualismPutnam, Allen
Religion
Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern Spiritualism
Putnam, Allen
Spiritualism; Witchcraft -- New England
Facts are transpiring in the present age which indicate with much
distinctness that a spirit can present the semblance of a spirit-beast or
other spirit-object to the vision of many clairvoyants at the same time,
and also that he can, if he so elect, psychologize simultaneously all
clairvoyants with whom he is in rapport, and cause them all to believe
that they see any beast or object which his mind merely conceives of with
distinctness. Therefore sight of a wolf by the mediumistic Hubbard girl,
and Tituba's perception of the same proceeding from mediumistic Sarah
Good, could all be produced by the mere volition of that "something like a
man," provided only that he was then in rapport with all of those three
sensitive ones.
"_Q._ What clothes doth the man appear unto you in? _A._ Black clothes
sometimes; sometimes serge coat of other color; a tall man with white
hair, I think. _Q._ What apparel do the women wear? _A._ I don't know what
color. _Q._ What kind of clothes hath she? _A._ Black silk hood with white
silk hood under it, with top-knots; which woman I know not, but have seen
her in Boston when I lived there. _Q._ What clothes the little woman? _A._
Serge coat, with a white cap, as I think. (The children having fits at
this very time, she was asked who hurt them. She answers, Goody Good; and
the children affirmed the same. But Hubbard being taken in an extreme fit,
after [ward] she (Tituba) was asked who hurt her (Hubbard), and she said
she could not tell, but said they blinded her and would not let her see;
and after that was once or twice taken dumb herself.")
That account of the clothes described the usual costumes of the time. We
are glad to hear her say, "A tall man, with white hair, I think." That is
her description of the "something like a man," and "the man" who has been
so demonstrative. A tall man with white hair, need not be a very frightful
object, and we can readily conceive that such a mind as Tituba's might be
perfectly calm and self-possessed in his presence, and never imagine that
abler minds might confound such a one with the devil. She never calls him
the devil. The fact that she was made dumb two or three times, gives her
case some resemblance to those of Ezekiel and Zacharias. Her ears, as
before stated, had been stopped by Good, as she supposed, one evening
during prayer-time. Thus we find her organs of sense subject to just such
control as invisible intelligent operators exercised over prophetic or
mediumistic ones of old, and such as spirits exercise over many mortal
forms to-day. Her clairvoyance was obscured, perhaps, by "the man" when
she was asked who was hurting the Hubbard girl, and replied that they
blinded her now.
_Second Examination, March 2, 1692._
"_Q._ What covenant did you make with that man that came to you? What did
he tell you?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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