Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern SpiritualismPutnam, Allen
Religion
Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern Spiritualism
Putnam, Allen
Spiritualism; Witchcraft -- New England
Much more testimony was adduced to show that this woman's apparition was
very frequently seen; and not only seen, but was a source of exceeding
sufferings to many people. This argues nothing against her character, but
plainly hints that the relation of her inner to her outer form was such
that the former could be seen and felt by many persons who either
constitutionally or from sickness, or both, were very sensitive. Such
persons often saw her spirit-form, and suffered from its psychological
action. That peculiarity perhaps made her so luminous as to be observable,
and therefore accused, by "the circle," and the accusation brought her to
the gallows.
MARTHA CARRIER.
The faculties and manifestations which nearly two centuries ago were
deemed to constitute witchcraft, and the mode of eliciting proof of that
crime then, stand forth very conspicuously in the history of the wife and
children of Thomas Carrier of Andover.
_The Examination of Martha Carrier, May 31, 1692._
"_Q._ Abigail Williams, who hurts you? _A._ Goody Carrier of Andover.
"_Q._ Elizabeth Hubbard, who hurts you? _A._ Goody Carrier.
"_Q._ Susan Sheldon, who hurts you? _A._ Goody Carrier; she bites me,
pinches me, and tells me she would cut my throat if I did not sign her
book. Mary Walcott said she afflicted her, and brought the book to
her.
"_Q._ What do you say to this you are charged with? _A._ I have not
done it. Susan Sheldon cried, she looks upon the black man. Ann Putnam
complained of a pin stuck in her. _Q._ What black man is that? _A._ I
know none. Mary Warren cried out she was pricked. _Q._ What black man
did you see? _A._ I saw no black man but _your own presence_. _Q._
Can you look upon these and not knock them down? _A._ They will
dissemble if I look upon them. You see you look upon them and they
fall down. _A._ It is false; the _devil is a liar_. I looked upon none
since I came into the room. Susan Sheldon cried out _in a trance_, I
wonder what could you murder thirteen persons! Mary Walcott testified
the same: that there lay thirteen ghosts! All the afflicted fell into
intolerable outcries and agonies. Elizabeth Hubbard and Ann Putnam
testified the same: that she had killed thirteen at Andover. _A._ It
is a shameful thing that you should mind these folks, who are out of
their wits. _Q._ Do not you see them? _A._ If I do speak you will not
believe me. You do see them, said the accusers. _A._ You lie; I am
wronged. There is a black man whispering in her ear, said many of the
afflicted. Mercy Lewis in a violent fit, was well, upon the
examinant's grasping her arm. The tortures of the afflicted were so
great that there was no enduring of it, so that she was ordered away,
and to be bound hand and foot with all expedition; the afflicted in
the mean while almost killed, to the great trouble of all spectators,
magistrates, and others.
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