Charles Wentworth Upham - The True Story of Salem - Book 1-7

Cotton Mather, Increase Mather, Charles Wentworth Upham, M. V. B. Perley, James Thacher, William P. Upham, Samuel Roberts Wells

The Wonders of the Invisible World, The Salem Witchcraft, House of John Procter, A Short History of the Salem Village Witchcraft Trials…

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The Wonders of the Invisible World by Cotton Mather and Increase Mather

Salem Witchcraft by Charles Wentworth Upham

Salem Witchcraft and Cotton Mather by Charles Wentworth Upham

A Short History of the Salem Village Witchcraft Trials by M. V. B. Perley

An Account of the Witchcraft Delusion at Salem in 1682 by James Thacher

House of John Procter, Witchcraft Martyr, 1692 by William P. Upham

The Salem Witchcraft by Samuel Roberts Wells

Table of Contents

Introduction

The Author's Defence

Enchantments Encountered

An Abstract of Mr. Perkins's Way for the Discovery of Witches

A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World

An Hortatory and Necessary Address, to a Country Now Extraordinarily Alarum'd by the Wrath of the Devil

A Narrative of an Apparition which a Gentleman in Boston, had of His Brother, Just Then Murthered in London

A Modern Instance of Witches, Discovered and Condemned in a Tryal, Before that Celebrated Judge, Sir Matthew Hale

The Tryal of G. B. at a Court of Oyer and Terminer, Held in Salem, 1692

The Tryal of Bridget Bishop, Alias Oliver, at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Held at Salem, June 2. 1692

The Tryal of Susanna Martin, at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Held by Adjournment at Salem, June 29. 1692

The Tryal of Elizabeth How, at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Held by Adjournment at Salem, June 30. 1692

The Trial of Martha Carrier, at the Court of Oyer and Terminer, Held by Adjournment at Salem, August 2. 1692

Matter Omitted in the Trials

The Devil Discovered

A Further Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches.

A True Narrative of some Remarkable Passages relating to sundry Persons afflicted by Witchcraft at Salem Village in New-England, which happened from the 19th. of March to the 5th. of April, 1692.

Remarks of things more than ordinary about the Afflicted Persons

Remarks concerning the Accused

A Further Account of the Tryals of the New-England Witches, Sent in a Letter from Thence, to a Gentleman in London

Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits Personating Men; Witchcrafts, Infallible Proofs of Guilt in such as are Accused with that Crime

Christian Reader

Cases of Conscience Concerning Witchcrafts

Postscript

Table of Contents

The two very rare works reprinted in the present volume, written by two of the most celebrated of the early American divines, relate to one of the most extraordinary cases of popular delusion that modern times have witnessed. It was a delusion, moreover, to which men of learning and piety lent themselves, and thus became the means of increasing it. The scene of this affair was the puritanical colony of New England, since better known as Massachusetts, the colonists of which appear to have carried with them, in an exaggerated form, the superstitious feelings with regard to witchcraft which then prevailed in the mother country. In the spring of 1692 an alarm of witchcraft was raised in the family of the minister of Salem, and some black servants were charged with the supposed crime. Once started, the alarm spread rapidly, and in a very short time a great number of people fell under suspicion, and many were thrown into prison on very frivolous grounds, supported, as such charges usually were, by very unworthy witnesses. The new governor of the colony, Sir William Phipps, arrived from England in the middle of May, and he seems to have been carried away by the excitement, and authorized judicial prosecutions. The trials began at the commencement of June; and the first victim, a woman named Bridget Bishop, was hanged. Governor Phipps, embarrassed by this extraordinary state of things, called in the assistance of the clergy of Boston.

There was at this time in Boston a distinguished family of puritanical ministers of the name of Mather. Richard Mather, an English non-conformist divine, had emigrated to America in 1636, and settled at Dorchester, where, in 1639, he had a son born, who was named, in accordance with the peculiar nomenclature of the puritans, Increase Mather. This son distinguished himself much by his acquirements as a scholar and a theologian, became established as a minister in Boston, and in 1685 was elected president of Harvard College. His son, born at Boston in 1663, and called from the name of his mother's family, Cotton Mather, became more remarkable than his father for his scholarship, gained also a distinguished position in Harvard College, and was also, at the time of which we are speaking, a minister of the gospel in Boston. Cotton Mather had adopted all the most extreme notions of the puritanical party with regard to witchcraft, and he had recently had an opportunity of displaying them. In the summer of the year 1688, the children of a mason of Boston named John Goodwin were suddenly seized with fits and strange afflictions, which were at once ascribed to witchcraft, and an Irish washerwoman named Glover, employed by the family, was suspected of being the witch. Cotton Mather was called in to witness the sufferings of Goodwin's children; and he took home with him one of them, a little girl, who had first displayed these symptoms, in order to examine her with more care. The result was, that the Irish woman was brought to a trial, found guilty, and hanged; and Cotton Mather published next year an account of the case, under the title of "Late Memorable Providences, relating to Witchcraft and Possession," which displays a very extraordinary amount of credulity, and an equally great want of anything like sound judgment. This work, no doubt, spread the alarm of witchcraft through the whole colony, and had some influence on the events which followed. It may be supposed that the panic which had now arisen in Salem was not likely to be appeased by the interference of Cotton Mather and his father.

The execution of the washerwoman, Bridget Bishop, had greatly increased the excitement; and people in a more respectable position began to be accused. On the 19th of July five more persons were executed, and five more experienced the same fate on the 19th of August. Among the latter was Mr. George Borroughs, a minister of the gospel, whose principal crime appears to have been a disbelief in witchcraft itself. His fate excited considerable sympathy, which, however, was checked by Cotton Mather, who was present at the place of execution on horseback, and addressed the crowd, assuring them that Borroughs was an impostor. Many people, however, had now become alarmed at the proceedings of the prosecutors, and among those executed with Borroughs was a man named John Willard, who had been employed to arrest the persons charged by the accusers, and who had been accused himself, because, from conscientious motives, he refused to arrest any more. He attempted to save himself by flight; but he was pursued and overtaken. Eight more of the unfortunate victims of this delusion were hanged on the 22nd of September, making in all nineteen who had thus suffered, besides one who, in accordance with the old criminal law practice, had been pressed to death for refusing to plead. The excitement had indeed risen to such a pitch that two dogs accused of witchcraft were put to death.