Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern SpiritualismPutnam, Allen
Religion
Witchcraft of New England Explained by Modern Spiritualism
Putnam, Allen
Spiritualism; Witchcraft -- New England
1671-2. ELIZABETH KNAP'S external form was strangely convulsed and
agonized by an old man, and also spoken through by one who called himself
a pretty black boy.
1680. WILLIAM MORSE, in his home, where lived his good wife, who had been
called a witch, saw pots, andirons, tools, and household furniture
generally, seem to take on wills of their own, and rudely play many a
lively gymnastic game.
1688. JOHN GOODWIN saw four of his children subjected and tortured
immediately subsequent to the scolding of one of them by a wild Irish
woman; and the same one afterward was made to play the deuce in Cotton
Mather's own house. Mrs. Glover was hanged for bewitching; and also she
_continued to torture the same children after her spirit had left its
outer form_.
The above cases occurred prior to the holding of "The Circle" at Salem,
before the establishment of a school at which the arts of "necromancy,
magic, and spiritualism" might be learned. Generally the performers named
thus far had no visible confederates. If sole actors, their geniuses were
vast, and the fonts of malice or of benevolence in some of them were both
very capacious and copiously overflowing.
1692. TITUBA, the slave, avowed having been forced by something like a
man, and his four female spectral aids, to pinch the two little girls in
her master's family at the very time when they were first mysteriously
afflicted. She furnished strong evidence that a tall man with white hair
and serge coat, invisibly to others, frequently visited her, compelled her
aid, and kindled and long kept adding fuel to the fires of witchcraft at
Salem Village. For this she was imprisoned thirteen months, and then sold
to pay her jail fees.
SARAH GOOD was seen as a specter, was accused of hurting by occult organs
and processes; became invisible by those standing guard over her;
announced to the magistrates the great explanatory fact that none but the
accusers and the accused, that is, none but clairvoyants, could see the
actual inflictors of the pains endured. Also she fore-sensed a fact that
occurred when Mr. Noyes died in an after year. She was hanged.
DORCAS GOOD, not five years old, was big enough to have her specter seen,
to have her spirit-teeth bite, and also to see clairvoyantly. The little
witch was sent to jail.
SARAH OSBURN was sighted by the inner optics of the accused, and she heard
voices from out the unseen. This feeble one was sent to jail, and soon
died there.
MARTHA COREY was charged with afflicting; also she avowed heresy
pertaining to witchcraft. Though interiorly illumined far beyond her
accusers and judges, and enabled to smile amid their frowns, she was
executed.
GILES COREY, seen as a specter, and accused of harming many, would make no
plea to his indictment. Pressure, applied for forcing out a plea, extorted
only his call for "More weight, more weight,"--and his life went out.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account