Rosalyn Schanzer - Witches - The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem

THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE TALE OF DISASTER IN SALEM

Washington, D.C.

Copyright © 2011 Rosalyn Schanzer.

Published by the National Geographic Society. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission from the publisher is prohibited.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Schanzer, Rosalyn.

Witches!: the absolutely true tale of disaster in Salem / by Roaslyn Schanzer.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p.) and index. ISBN 978-1-4263-0869-7 (hardcover)--ISBN 978-1-4263-0870-3 (library edition)--ISBN 978-1-4263-0888-8 (e-book)

1. Witchcraft--Massachusetts--Salem--History. 2. Salem (Mass.)--Church history. 3. Puritans--Massachusetts--Salem--History.

I. Title.

BF1576.S33 2011

133.4’3097445--dc22

2011012989

Version: 2017-07-05

A Few Accused Witches in Order of Appearance

Some Afflicted Accusers & Other Witch Hunters

Preface

Chapter 1: WHEREIN THE STAGE IS SET

Chapter 2: A DIRE DIAGNOSIS

Chapter 3: LET THE GRILLING BEGIN

Chapter 4: WITCH HUNT!

Chapter 5: A TORRENT OF EVIL

Chapter 6: THE KING OF HELL

Chapter 7: OYER & TERMINER

Chapter 8: THE END IS NEAR

Chapter 9: THE END IS HERE

Chapter 10: WHAT HAPPENED NEXT

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Note From the Author

TITUBA

Slave of Salem Village’s Reverend Samuel Parris

SARAH GOOD

Homeless beggar with two young children

DORCAS GOOD

Sarah Good’s 4-year-old daughter

SARAH OSBORN

A bedridden old woman

MARTHA & GILES CORY

Woman who has an illegitimate son and her 80-year-old husband, a farmer

ELIZABETH & JOHN PROCTOR

A successful tavern keeper and his wife

REBECCA NURSE

Well-loved 71-year-old grandmother

GEORGE JACOBS SR.

80-year-old farmer with rheumatism

THREE DOGS

Accused of belonging to the Devil

SARAH CLOYSE & MARY EASTY

Rebecca Nurse’s highly respectable sisters

REVEREND GEORGE BURROUGHS

Former minister of Salem Village who lives in Wells, Maine

BRIDGET BISHOP

Tavern keeper from Salem Town, wears a red bodice, married 3 times

PHILIP & MARY ENGLISH

Extremely wealthy merchant and his pregnant wife

REVEREND SAMUEL PARRIS

Salem Village’s controversial minister

INCREASE & COTTON MATHER

Father and son ministers from Boston who write terrifying books about witchcraft

BETTY PARRIS

Afflicted accuser, 9-year-old daughter of Reverend Parris

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS

Afflicted accuser, 11-year-old orphaned niece of Reverend Parris

ANN PUTNAM JR.

Afflicted accuser, 12-year-old friend of Betty and Abigail

THOMAS PUTNAM

Accuser, strongest supporter of Reverend Samuel Parris, father of Ann Putnam Jr.

ELIZABETH HUBBARD

Afflicted accuser, 17-year-old niece of a physician who blames witches for the afflictions

JOHN HATHORN

Interrogator during the preliminary witchcraft investigations

MARY WARREN

Afflicted accuser, 20-year-old servant of Elizabeth and John Proctor

MARGARET JACOBS

Confessed witch who accused her grandfather, George Jacobs Sr.

SUSANNA SHELDON

Afflicted accuser, 18-year-old refugee from the Indian wars

MERCY LEWIS

Afflicted accuser, 19-year-old servant of Ann Putnam Jr., and Indian attack survivor

WILLIAM PHIPS

Royal Governor of Massachusetts

WILLIAM STOUGHTON