“The More Women, the More Witches”

This chapter details how witch fears intersected with gender constructs. It refers to John Bradstreet, who came before a Massachusetts court in 1652 on suspicion of having familiarity with the Devil after stating that he had consulted a book of magic in order to invoke a demonic spirit. It also talks about Margaret and Thomas Jones who stood accused of occult crime in 1648, but only Margaret was hanged for it. The chapter illustrates how the treatment of witch suspects in the Puritan colonies often varied according to sex, and women bore a greater risk of accusation, trial, and execution. It elaborates how female suspects outnumbered male ones by more than two to one, emphasizing that of the fifteen people sent to the gallows for witchcraft, thirteen were women.

Introduction

This chapter traces the long-standing interpretations of witchcraft in New England. It takes advantage of studies on occult crime in early modern Europe that has enriched the understanding of how concerns over magical mischief intersected with gender, class, religion, and the law. It also identifies historians that stressed the divergence of elite and folk views on the occult and tended to see witch-hunting as a process imposed from above. The chapter looks at newer studies on European witchcraft that have broken down dichotomous views. It reveals a greater level of give and take between common folk and elites when it came to witch beliefs and shared responsibility for witch-hunting.

“Hanged for a Witch”

This chapter presents a narrative of witch-hunting in New England between the late 1630s and 1670 and begins the process of placing it in the broader context of the English Atlantic. It examines the process by which cases of occult crime took shape. It also illuminates the transatlantic dimensions of witch prosecutions in the Puritan colonies and addresses questions essential to understanding the phenomenon of witch-hunting in the early modern period. The chapter mentions Alice Young of Windsor, Connecticut who appears to have been the first person executed for witchcraft in New England. It investigates how Young's execution marked the beginning of an intense period of witch-hunting in New England.

Conclusion

This chapter looks at factors that shaped alleged cases of occult crime in New England, the broader English Atlantic, and Europe during the early modern era. It talks about a widow residing in Lynn, Massachusetts, by the name of Ann Burt, who came under suspicion for witchcraft in 1669 and was believed to have been acquitted as she died of natural causes in 1673. It also details the malefic affliction of five victims as the main charge laid against Widow Burt, including other witnesses that claimed she could read minds and move with preternatural speed. The chapter describes the forces operating on a local, regional, and transatlantic level that shaped the episode of Widow Burt coming under suspicion for witchcraft in 1669. It discusses how the case of Ann Burt was linked to a larger campaign of witch-hunting that stretched across the seventeenth-century English Atlantic.

“Very Awful and Amazing”

This chapter brings into focus witch panics that stood apart in terms of their scale and intensity from more ordinary instances of occult crime. It sheds light on a variety of accusers who often helped trigger episodes of witch panics. It also analyses supposedly bewitched individuals whose distinct social profile and startling symptoms of supernatural affliction distinguished them from other victims of black magic. The chapter talks about Elizabeth Kelly who died in 1662 at the age of eight after being pinched, pricked, and choked by an assailant only she could see and who she identified as a near neighbor, Judith Ayers. It emphasizes how Elizabeth Kelly's death helped trigger an epidemic of fear and suspicion that led to the largest witch hunt in New England before the Salem crisis of 1692.

“There Was Some Mischief in It”

This chapter delves into the dynamics of accusation and investigates what motivated people to denounce others as witches. It recounts how William Meaker of New Haven initiated a slander suit against his neighbor, Thomas Mullenner, for claiming that the defendant had called him a witch in 1657. It also explains how Meaker's case illustrates the important link between witchcraft and interpersonal conflict in early New England. The chapter explains the social context of witchcraft and examines the social situations that gave birth to fears of malefic attack as well as the motives that drove one person to accuse another of black magic. It examines how Puritan colonies closely match dynamics of witch-hunting across the early modern English Atlantic.

“According to God’s Law”

This chapter explains why some witch suspects went free while others went to the gallows, by dissecting the terminal phase of many witchcraft cases. It reviews the judicial process that transformed informal suspicions against the accused into formal, criminal prosecutions. It also mentions Elizabeth Seager, who was set free after being acquitted of occult crimes three times. The chapter elaborates how Seager's experience is considered a reminder that court proceedings were a critical component of witch-hunting. It reviews Seager's odyssey through the legal system that involved the arrest warrants, indictments, and trials familiar to any criminal prosecution and notes it as one of the longest and most complex judicial process among most witch suspects.

“Being Instigated by the Devil”

This chapter discusses the identification of occult mischief as a crime by exploring what is witchcraft and the various ways New Englanders envisioned it. It cites Elizabeth Garlick, who travelled from her home in Easthampton, Long Island to stand trial in Hartford for witchcraft. It also mentions that John Godfrey was prosecuted for occult crime in Massachusetts in March 1666, but he eventually went free. The chapter uses the stories of Elizabeth Garlick and John Godfrey to illustrate New Englanders' understandings of witchcraft, viewing it as a crime rooted in English law and culture. It describes witchcraft as maleficium, a Latin term referring to injury or harm committed through magical means, which dominated the views of ordinary folk who tended to be most concerned with the immediate threat that witches posed to their lives and livelihood.

“A Forward, Discontented Frame of Spirit”

This chapter outlines the traits that characterized the accused and explores why New Englanders associated them with occult crime. It talks about Mary Parsons (née Lewis) and Mary Parsons (née Bliss), who coincidentally had the same name and were accused as witch suspects, who came to the attention of New England authorities in the 1650s. It also stresses the lack of theological or legal stipulations limiting who could be accused of witchcraft, in which people in New England and across the English Atlantic did not equally share the risk of denunciation. The chapter investigates why certain individuals were more vulnerable to suspicion and, once accused, more apt to suffer arrest, trial, and conviction of witchcraft. It refers to Reverend John Davenport's sermon in 1965, which stated that a person with a forward-discontented frame of spirit was a subject fit for the Devil.