#afflicted: daughters of salem

[salem-witch-history]

Specters of What's to Come: The Goodwin Witchcraft Case

Witchcraft accusations were not incredibly rare in 17th century New England, but prosecution was difficult.

By law, two credible witnesses had to testify seeing witchcraft take place for an accusation to be deemed credible. This was difficult to provide, unless an accused witch confessed to the crime. Testimony of others could include witnessing of verbal curses and the presence of "poppets," what we now call voodoo dolls. Spectral evidence, the testimony that an afflicted person saw the invisible shape of a witch, was not supposed to be considered credible. Even in a society that believed wholeheartedly in witches, Puritans knew that people could lie, and many believed that Satan had the ability to take on the form of an innocent person to bring about their downfall. In some instances, accusers and even confessed witches were charged with perjury rather than witchcraft if the evidence was lacking.

There were times, however, when accused witches did meet the death penalty. The last and most newsworthy incident prior to Salem took place in Boston in 1688.

The prosperous Goodwin family had employed an Irish indentured servant named Mary Glover as a washerwoman. Mary, being Catholic and poor, was greatly distrusted, and the Goodwin's 13 year old daughter Martha accused her of stealing clothing. Distraught, Mary told her elderly mother, Ann, of this accusation, and the older woman flew into a rage. After a screaming match in which Ann "bestow'd very bad language" at Martha, the teenager, along with three of her younger siblings, began to suffer from fits deemed to be supernatural in nature.

These fits, described in the book Memorable Providences by Cotton Mather, were identical to what would occur in Salem: the children were struck deaf, blind, and mute, contorted themselves into painful positions, and cried out pitifully or made animal sounds. The extent of the fits were deemed to be beyond what would be expected of epilepsy or other known medical conditions, and too severe to be faked. At times, Mather stated, the children's jaws would dislocate, their tongues drawn out to "prodigious length," and their joints locked with their bodies in an arch.

When Glover was brought in on witchcraft charges, it was unclear whether or not she was competent to stand trial. Glover seemed to understand some English but could not speak it; when it became known that her incomprehensible speech was not Satanic language, but Irish, multiple examiners deemed her technically sane, though she still seemed confused by the proceedings. Robert Calef, who wrote the first exposé on the witch trials, More Wonders of the Invisible World, stated that "Her behavior at her trial was like that of one distracted. They did her cruel." She testified entirely through interpreters.

During the proceedings, the interpreters struggled to contextualize Glover's testimony, seemingly due to being unfamiliar with Catholic worship. She was questioned about small figures found in her home and admitted to praying to them as "spirits," which the interpreters admitted could also have meant saints. The children reacted negatively when Glover handled her homemade statues, signs of spectral interference. She was also instructed to recite the Lord's Prayer; this was a standard test for witchcraft, as Puritans believed that Satan's power prevented witches from praying. Glover was able to recite in Irish and Latin, but not English, and this was taken as further evidence of guilt.

Ann Glover was hanged on November 16th, 1688. Mather related that, visiting her in jail, she had claimed that her death would not relieve the children's suffering, which did come to pass; Martha's bewitchment continued for some time. Although Glover supposedly claimed that someone else was bewitching the children, no other witches were prosecuted, and over time the hysteria faded.

Mather's first-hand account of the incident was published less than a year later, in 1689. It is probable that some residents of Salem owned the book, at at least had heard of the crisis.

[myhauntedsalem]

Did Tituba Practice Voodoo?

Tituba was a slave owned in the 1690s by Salem Village’s minister Samuel Parris. After his daughter Betty, her cousin Abigail Williams and other local girls began to have fits, they accused Tituba of bewitching them. Some writers, like Marion Starkey, have claimed the girls made these accusations because Tituba taught them voodoo-style magic. In particular, Starkey’s The Devil in Massachusetts claims that the guilt and conflict the adolescent girls felt about practicing Tituba’s magic was the spark that ignited the Salem witch trials.

However, there’s not much evidence that Tituba practiced any magic at all, let alone voodoo or Voudou. According to Marilynne Roach’s The Salem Witch Trials, there’s just one documented incident of Tituba performing magic.

On February 25, 1692, before she was accused of being a witch, Tituba made a cake made from the afflicted girls’ urine and fed it to a dog. This was a form of diagnostic magic. If the dog became sick after eating the cake, it would prove the girls had witchcraft-tainted urine and were indeed bewitched. Baking a witch cake is not a practice associated with Voudou or voodoo, but is part of English folk magic. Tituba was in fact instructed to make the cake by Mary Sibley, an English neighbor of the Parrises.

When Tituba did confess to being a witch, her confessions matched those of her English Puritan neighbors. She had flown through the air on a pole to the witch meetings, had been pressured by the Devil to serve him, and had been offered animal familiars. These are all part of English witchcraft belief, not Voudou. Another Salem slave named Candy was accused of witchcraft, and her confessions also matched her Puritan neighbors. I think it’s safe to assume the slaves were just telling the judges what they wanted to hear. It was the safest strategy to prolong your life during the Salem trials.

It’s also not entirely clear if Tituba was of African, or even part-African, descent. The trial records refer to her as Tituba Indian, and her husband as John Indian. It appears they had come originally from the Caribbean, and some historians have claimed they were actually Arawak Indians rather than Africans. On American Horror Story Marie Laveau does mention that Tituba was an Arawak, but any connection between Arawak religion (now extinct) and voodoo or Voudou is mostly speculative.

[a-shade-of-blue]

New Gaza fundraiser asks I've received today (6 August)

Bashaer and Intisar Abu Shamaleh (Daughter Bashaer: @bshaeromars-blog): Bashaer is the daughter of Intisar and she has six siblings. Bashaer was newly wedded and pregnant with her first child when the current genocide happened. Her husband Omar was killed in December by an airstrike when he was collecting fire wood for the family. Bashaer is now a widow and her daughter Ayla, born three months ago, will never get to meet her father. Intisar is trying to provide for Ayla, and she is raising money to evacuate them out of Gaza. (https://gofund.me/c0fb7b5f) (#231 in verified fundraiser spreadsheet vetted by el-shab-hussein and nabulsi. Also promoted by nabulsi.)

Ahmed Abuhamda (wife Fatin Abuhamda: @ahmedhamda12, @fatensama12): Ahmed lost his right hand after it had to be amputated. He used to have his own start-up specializing in technology. They have three children: Sama (6), Loai (3), and Yousef (11 months old). The children are suffering from skin diseases. They are trying to evacuate out of Gaza. (https://gofund.me/61eeff7c) (shared by 90-ghost)

Mohammed Alanqer (@mohammedalanqer): Mohammed and his wife Enas has four children (Layla, Sara, Adam and a baby born in the middle of the current genocide). Their children have been afflicted with diseases such as measles, and Adam has been diagnosed with viral hepatitis. Mohammed used to run a technology start-up company. They are now trying to evacuate out of Gaza.  (https://gofund.me/ed440408) (listed as #174 on the verified fundraiser spreadsheet vetted by el-shab-hussein and nabulsi.)

Hatem Salem (@hatemrock94): Hatem used to be an accountant of a successful restaurant in Gaza, which was bombed and destroyed with its owners killed. His daughter Zainaba was born this April during this genocide. (https://gofund.me/7abadb80) (listed as #270 on the verified fundraiser spreadsheet created by el-shab-hussein and nabulsi.)

Doaa (@free-gaza2): Doaa is a palestinian who does Palestinian hand embroidery. She has been displaced in Egypt and is raising money to buy a sewing machine so she can start working again. (https://gofund.me/fad8ced2) (shared by 90-ghost)

Click here for my Masterlist for fundraisers from 13 July - 25 July.

Click here for my Masterlist for fundraisers from 26 July -29 July.

Click here for my Masterlist for fundraisers from 30 July - 1 August.

Click here for my Masterlist for fundraisers from 2 August - 5 August.

[bobauthorman]

The Philosophy of the Rosebird

(Raven has passed out for some reason, with Zwei sniffing at her. Then…)

???: There you are, you little dickens! I’ve been looking all over for you!

(Summer Rose comes in, picks up Zwei and starts cuddling him.)

Summer: Have you been a good doggie for the bandit queen? Have you?

Raven: (Staring in shock) Suh…Summer? Is that you?

Summer: Tough to say, actually. (I don’t think they’ve been feeding you enough, Zwei. Have they?) I mean, this is obviously a dream. I’m not physically here. But I might really be the spirit of the late Summer Rose, appearing to you from beyond the grave in your sleep. Or, I'm a tiny personified piece of the magical curse afflicting you, making my influence known through the medium of dreams. Or maybe I'm just a fever-induced hallucination. Who knows?

Raven: So, is there any point to all of this?

Summer: It’s a dream, how much “point” do you really expect?

Raven: Enough to justify this dream not featuring Taiyang in a hot tub instead of your tiny butt.

Summer: Hmm, fair enough. I’m here to help.

Raven: You’re going to give me power to destroy Salem and Oz? YES!

Summer: Oh, my, no. I can't do that, I'm probably just a figment of your imagination. No, I'm going to give you some broad unsolicited advice in the hopes that it will change how you live your life.

(The women are now dressed as their respective daughters)

Summer: Plus, you're looking after my girls. If you flake out on life, Yang and Ruby will only have Tai and Qrow to depend on.

Raven: So what’ the advice? ‘Don’t obey immortal wizards’? Because I think I figured that one out on my own already.

(Summer and Raven are in a classroom. Raven is at a student’s desk, wearing a dunce cap. Summer is standing before the blackboard, wearing an academic hat. Zwei is balancing an apple on his nose)

Summer: No, the wisdom is simply this: Play the game.

(Switch to an arcade, Summer and Raven are playing the fighting game Ruby normally plays)

Raven: Uh, OK, but I thought we weren't actually representing a game campaign, we were just living in a world where the laws of— Summer: Not THIS game! Raven: Oh, whew!

(The scene switches to a the trio on the playing board of The Game of Life. Summer’s head is on a playing piece in a blue car, Raven and Zwei on playing pieces lying around outside the car.)

Summer: I mean The Game, the big one. The one that each of us plays every day when we get out of bed, put on our face, and go out into the world. Some of us play to get ahead, some of us just want to get through the day without breaking character. It's called "Civilization" No, wait, there's already a game called that... OK, it's called "Society."

(The scene switches to Raven lying on a couch eating Cheetos, with Zwei licking at her fingers. Summer is standing over her. Grey figures sit around a table in the background. All three return to their normal forms.)

Summer: Your problem is that you don't want to play the game at all, you want to sit on the couch and eat Cheetos while everyone else is playing. Raven: Well, why shouldn't I? What's the point of their Society, anyway? It never did anything for me. Summer: The point is that if you laugh and spit in their faces enough times, they'll kick you out of the house. Which in this extended metaphor means killing you.

(Raven has taken her bird form)

Raven: So, what, you're saying that the only alternative is to show up and play by everyone else's stupid rules?? Summer: Of course not, my feathery friend. You can cheat. The Tree knows that I always did.

(the three are now seated around a gambling table. Various cards, dice, and poker chips are strewn about)

Summer: Nudge die rolls, palm cards, "forget" penalties...but you have to sit down to play first. As long as the people at the table see a fellow player across from them, they'll tolerate you. A crooked player is a pain in the ass, but someone who refuses to play at all makes them start questioning their own lives and people HATE to think. They'd rather lose to a cheater, than dwell too long on why they're playing in the first place.

(Both Raven and Summer are now marching in lines full of emotionless clones of themselves.)

Raven: So, you're saying that if I can trick all of the other mindless drones into believing that I subscribe to their arbitrary moral framework, they'll just leave me alone? Summer: They all assumed I followed Ozpin’s Code, didn't they? Raven: That makes so much sense...I finally understand what it is I need to be doing! In order to make it in this world—

(The women and Zwei are normal again) 

Raven: —I need to pretend to have character growth! Summer: That "faking sincerity" bit is a pretty useful trick, too.

[skiplo-wave]

I found out that I have connections to the Salem Witch Trials through one of my 16x grandparents. They had a daughter, my 15x grandmother in 1682. She was 10 years old during the trials in 1692. They moved right before shit went down but a cousin was accused and hung for witchcraft. 10 years later in 1703 after the Salem trials ended, my 15x grandmother was 21. She was a wife at 16 and a mother at 17. She had 3 kids by time she was 21. My 15x grandmother got put away for some type of mental illness at the same time my 16x grandparents was put away for some type of illness. It was said that my 15x grandmother's symptoms had started at childhood. It started out as a sickness almost like anemia. It makes you wonder if it had something to do with the shit that was going down in Salem. I have actually seen documentaries about this where they believe maybe it was something in the food but why did it only made the girls sick? But if this is the case that it was a illness that brought this all on, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the girls pretended to be afflicted so that they wouldn't get accused of being a witch.

Sounds about right

I realized i get good number of anons that are witches/Wiccans(?)

[dptms]

EXCERPTS  FROM  APOTHECARY VICTIMS UNMASKED : HEIRESS, SPORTSMAN, BUSINESS WOMAN !

1.  “  daisy  dyer  was  the  twenty  five  year  old  daughter  of  eloise  &  richard  dyer,  and  the  heir  to  dyer  pharmecuticals.  born  and  raised  in  the  states,  miss  dyer  was  a  SALEM  WITCHES  INSTITUTE  alumnus  who  graduated  top  of  her  class  and  relocated  to  london  in  order  to  forge  connections  with  the  best  and  brightest  of  our  wixen  community.  she  was  a  valued  staff  member  at  slug  &  jiggers  apothecary,  where  she  was  working  late  on  the  night  of  the  attack  that  tragically  stole  her  young  life.  her  boss,  speaking  to  the  prophet  on  christmas  morning,  spoke  highly  of  miss  dyer’s  character  and  stressed  how  much  she  would  be  missed.  ‘  she  greeted  every  customer  with  a  smile,  ’  he  said,  ‘  never  had  a  bad  word  to  say  of  anyone.  it  makes  no  sense  why  anybody  would  wanna  hurt  her.  ’  …  our  source  within  the  auror  office  tells  us  that  miss  dyer’s  wand  was  located  in  the  staff  area  of  slug  and  jiggers,  more  than  likely  set  aside  before  her  shift  began.  she  was  found  in  the  main  office,  where  we  have  learned  that  a  number  of  widely  prohibited  potions  ingredients  were  stored,  of  which  a  handful  were  unaccounted  for.  to  date,  they  have  not  been  located.  ”

2.  “  henry  fortescue  was  the  twenty  seven  year  old  son  of  the  late  florean  fortescue  and  his  bereaved  wife,  florence.  the  eldest  of  several  children,  mr  fortescue  was  the  sole  squib  within  an  exceptionally  magical  family,  though  he  never  allowed  his  perceived  shortcoming  to  slow  him  down.  despite  a  wholly  muggle  education,  mr  fortescue  proved  a  talented  quidditch  player.  in  an  interview  following  his  being  signed  to  puddlemere  united  as  their  newest  beater,  he  was  quoted  :  our  father  instilled  old  fashioned  values  into  all  of  us.  a  long  time  resident  of  diagon  alley,  he  expected  us  to  put  our  best  foot  forward  as  representatives  of  our  family,  and  more  than  that,  for  me,  at  least  -  he  taught  me  that  a  good  sportsman  doesn’t  need  magic.  they  win  because  they  play  honestly,  and  that’s  how  i  intend  to  continue.  …  mr  fortescue  was,  on  the  night  of  the  attack,  picking  up  an  order  for  fortescue’s  ice  cream  parlour.  our  source  tells  us  that  the  aurors  now  believe  he  attempted  to  subdue  one  of  the  (  assumed  multiple  )  attackers.  on  monday,  the  prophet  reported  on  their  unusual  choice  to  use  a  ribboning  curse  in  the  apothecary  that  night,  but  we’ve  been  informed  that  mr  fortescue’s  brutal  death  was  likely  an  accident.  ”

2.  “  penelope  clearwater  was  the  thirty  two  year  old  daughter  of  selvin  and  rosario  clearwater  and  the  eldest  of  two  children.  she  attended  hogwarts  school  of  witchcraft  &  wizardry,  where  she  was  sorted  into  ravenclaw  house  and  distinguished  herself  from  other  exceptionally  minded  students  by  being  named  both  prefect  and  head  girl  over  her  seven  years  of  education.  miss  clearwater  was  a  veteran  of  the  battle  of  hogwarts,  where  we  have  learned  (  through  publicly  available  ministry  archives  )  that  she  was  attacked  by  an  unnamed  werewolf  and  afflicted  with  lycanthropy,  a  condition  that  she  was  silently  suffering  with  in  the  time  since.  she  rose  to  prominence  in  recent  years  after  she  opened  TATTERED  COVER,  a  well  known  bookstore  along  diagon  alley.  ‘  penny  put  her  heart  and  soul  into  that  store,  ’  a  close  friend  told  us,  earlier  this  week,  ‘  it  was  a  real  reflection  of  her,  and  nothing  made  her  happier  than  answering  the  questions  that  the  kids  would  toss  at  her,  or  making  someone’s  day  by  sliding  them  a  hot  cocoa  while  they  got  lost  in  one  of  her  books.  she  should  be  remembered  for  the  good  she  did  people  that  needed  that  space,  not  this  tragedy.  ’  ...  aurors  believe  that  miss  clearwater  got  caught  up  in  the  apothecary  attack  as  an  illtimed  customer  ;  she  was  found  to  be  in  possession  of  a  vial  of  pepperup  potion,  popular  amongst  werewolves  in  the  days  immediately  following  the  full  moon,  when  they’re  in  their  most  physically  weakened  state.  she  was,  our  source  informs  us,  the  last  of  the  victims  to  die.  ”

[libraflyter]

Bad history alert!

No witches were burned in Salem. None. Zero.

Twenty people were killed: 19 executed by hanging and one man pressed to death (tortured for refusing to enter a plea). 14 women were hanged as were 5 men, with additional deaths due to conditions in prison (at least 5).

And of the accused: the first three accused were all women, all with varying levels of low status in the community: Tituba (enslaved), Sarah Good (homeless and destitute), and Sarah Osborne (had not attended church in years due to illness, ongoing legal dispute with family of one accuser). Tituba was not killed (she played to expectations to save herself), Sarah Good (executed*; less than 20 years later her husband sued and received financial compensation from the court), and Sarah Osbourne died in prison.

None of these women or any of the accused considers themselves witches. They’d have largely been appalled to be seen as such.

There is one recorded instance of actual attempted magic in Salem before the accusations started - a neighbor, Mary Sibley, organized the baking of a “witch cake” in an effort to out the witches afflicting the girls who would go on to accuse those three women and the others. Her attempt at “white magic” got her a lecture from Reverend Parris but she was never accused of witchcraft. Folk magic wasn’t the problem. A family’s daughter throwing accusations at someone on her family’s shot list because she wants to feel special/stay out of trouble was.

I bring this up to emphasize a key point from some preceding posts: as nice as “the daughters of the witches you didn’t burn” sounds, it ignores how much witch hysteria was about local fears and grievances. Blanket statements like that elide how much petty small community feuds were the fuel.

*she also gave birth in prison and the infant Mercy Good is one of the prison deaths.

There are a fair few faux feminist statements I hate, but “We are the daughters of the witches you couldn’t burn” is one of them.

[wickedslip]

Just thinking about like... the way The Crucible and Salem takes place and how the witch trials and Salem was the general focus. Maybe Salem, the hysteria, and the trials themselves were a generation curse for the coven.

So basically how The SWT happened because a handful of girls between the ages of 9 and 20 were going around, accusing women and men that they didn't like of being witches, causing mass hysteria in February 1692. They had been caught fooling around with the supernatural, which was frowned upon in those days, telling fortunes. There were reports that they had been behaving strangely, having symptoms afflicted by unseen forces. You couldn't even have dolls because they were supposed instruments of the devil.

So my thought is, the Black Family has been a part of Salem and Co, since long before the Trials began. They started as a family unit venturing from Europe (specifically Paris, France) to Puritan London and finally landing in the Massachusetts Bay Colony as one of the prominent settlers that had come off of The Mayflower. Deucalion specifically has been through all of it for quite a while.

What if I said that his lineage has the power of immortality? That if he procures crystals large enough to contain his aura, and he projects enough power to contain it, that even if he appears dead he can always come back when he wants to?

Maybe Deucalion Black was the person that started the hysteria of the witch trials from the beginning. That he was the devil whispering, because the devil himself also whispered to him. And all he wanted in return was to have a coven specifically under his control and for his domain. That if he causes enough panic, the coven he created in 1692 would have nowhere to turn but to him. When the coven found out what he was intending to do, they wanted to put a stop to him. So they fled. They fled Salem Village and started over, but that wasn't quite what he had in mind. They hid the book of shadows and the original tools that belonged to that coven (that he was after), containing the spells, rituals and recipes pre-dating history and secured with a blood lock and bindings to protect its magic from unfavorable eyes.

Deucalion was a smart man, and he knew that his bullshit was catching up to him. By the time they tried to track him down, he was long gone. They couldn't figure out for the life of him how he had escaped, yet all of his belongings were still at the his house. When they relocated to Salem, the wife of Deucalion at that time had procured all of his belongings and placed them into the house at Essex and Hathorne, calling it Rosethorns Manor. And there had been the Black lineage that lived there ever since, descending the line. A house that centuries later creaks and groans with all sorts of old house sounds, keeping the sole inhabitant awake at all hours of the night. Little did she know, the Book of Shadows had been bricked up along the side of the hearth, waiting to be found, giving hints of its location to her.

When Nausicaa was born, there had already been a coven procured, a true coven full of Salem's true direct descendants. And their coven was always supposed to be a coven of twelve; seven women and five men, and that's just how it was done. Deucalion had a prophetic vision that Nausicaa would rule the coven physically, and he would rule through her as they were joined through their potent bloodline, making him the official thirteenth witch. And thirteen is a very special, very magical, very potent number in witchcraft.

So yes, while the events of the Salem Witch Trials did happen the way history had mapped it out, it left out the part of a power hungry tyrant wanting to rule Salem, and eventually, the world. If he had it his way. He was the one that brought the witch hunters by whispering in those girls' ears. A true warlock, and always the devil whispering. And Nausicaa is her father's daughter. Always meant for good, but just watch her. You never know which way she might turn. A true tempest in the midst. Because one thing one can always count on, is witches were an unpredictable phenomena. They can be the miracle you were praying about or can give your house a generational curse that transcends space and time.

And if history can repeat itself, if Deucalion was able to do all of this and come back who knows how many times, that also means that the witch hunter legacy is a thing and he has the power to point them in the direction of the coven and the witches. What would stop him then? Just food for thought.

Remember when I said that Deucalion Black would never win father of the year? I meant it.

[sporadicarbitergardener]

Patriarch Richard Barker, born in England circa 1621, was one of the original proprietors of Andover, arriving in the new world with his wife Joanna in the late 1630s. In fact, he might even be called the first settler of Andover. He was among a group from nearby Newbury and Ipswich who had petitioned for land in 1640. The first recorded business transaction in Andover, dated August 13, 1643, was Barker’s deed to land and livestock.

Barker originally owned 7 acres, then 10, and eventually, 300 contiguous acres, near “the Great Pond,” or Lake Cochichewick, in what is today North Andover. Barker was one of ten freeholders to establish the First Church of Andover in 1645. In August of 2000, Marjorie Wardwell Otten wrote in the Essex Genealogist (Vol. 20, No. 3), “There was hardly any town affair of importance for 50 years on record which does not bear Richard Barker’s name as party to or witness of, petitioner, etc.”

Between 1644 and 1663, Richard and Joanna had nine children. The families of three of their sons (John, William, and Ebenezer) and one daughter (Hannah) were directly affected by the witch hysteria that first arrived in Andover in May of 1692 with the arrest of Martha Carrier, and escalated in mid-July with ever-increasing accusations against Andover citizens. When all was said and done, more people were accused of witchcraft in Andover than in any other Essex County town.

On August 25, arrest warrants were issued for the Barkers’ second-oldest son, 47-year-old William Barker, as well as his 13-year-old niece Mary Barker (daughter of oldest Barker son John). William’s niece-by-marriage, 27-year-old Mary (Osgood) Marston, stepdaughter of youngest Barker daughter Hannah (who became Christopher Osgood’s second wife in 1680) was also named on the warrant. The complaint against all three was made by Samuel Martin of Andover and Moses Tyler of Boxford. Author Richard Hite, in his book In the Shadow of Salem: The Andover Witch Hunt of 1692, says, “This marked the beginning of the second phase of the Andover persecution.” All three were arrested by August 29, examined, and jailed in Salem.

The three Barker relations were accused of “woefully afflicting and abusing” three recently-afflicted local girls. One was Rose Foster, the teenage granddaughter of Rebecca Eames of Boxford (who had herself been accused of witchcraft earlier in August). Rose’s father was Andover constable Ephraim Foster. Another afflicted girl named in the complaint was Samuel Martin’s 16-year-old daughter Abigail. The third person, soon to be the principal accuser in Andover, was Moses Tyler’s 16-year-old stepdaughter Martha Sprague.

By this point, it was widely-thought that confessing was the only way to save one’s life. During his examination, William made a remarkable and elaborate confession, saying “he has been in the snare of the devil three years, that the devil first appeared to him like a black man and [he] perceived he had a cloven foot, that the devil demanded of him to give up himself body & soul unto him, which he promised to do…” William went on, in great detail, to explain that he had, indeed, tormented his three accusers, that he had signed the devil’s book in blood, and that the devil promised to pay all his debts. William said he previously attended a meeting of about 100 witches in Salem Village, where there was a sacrament of bread and wine, led by Reverend George Burroughs and the devil. (Burroughs had been hanged by this time, on August 19.) William even explained the devil’s intentions to “set up his own worship [and] abolish all the churches in the land.” William begged forgiveness for what he had done and promised to renounce the devil.

Thirteen-year-old Mary Barker also confessed to afflicting her three accusers, and said she had attended the witch meeting with her uncle, had been baptized by the devil in Five Mile Pond (known as Spofford Pond today), and she also accused Goody Johnson and Goody Faulkner of witchcraft (both were members of the extended Ingalls-Dane family), and added this colorful detail, “she has seen no appearance since but a fly which did speak to her, and bid her afflict these poor creatures which she did by pinching with, and clinching of her hands, for which she is sorry.”

Mary Marston’s confession was similar to that of her relatives – she confirmed that her uncle William Barker, her cousin Mary Barker, and she herself were witches, that she had afflicted her three accusers, and that she, too, had attended a witch meeting in Salem Village. When she was asked how long she had been in league with the devil, “she now saith that about the time when her mother died and she was overcome with melancholy, about three years since the black man appeared to her in the great room and told her she must serve and worship him. And so she did.”

On September 1, William’s son, 14-year-old William Barker Jr. was also arrested. He clearly had heard the details of the Barker confessions before him, as well as the news of the day, because his story was similar to his father and cousins, and he named recently-accused “witches.” Like his relatives , William Jr. was accused of tormenting Martha Sprague, Rose Foster, and Abigail Martin “which he did not deny but could not remember it.” He said he’d been a witch for six days and, “as he was going in the woods one evening to look after cows he saw the shape of a black dog which looked very fiercely upon him And he was much disturbed in his mind about it and could not sleep well that night.” He went on to describe a meeting with the devil, his own baptism in Five Mile Pond, and his mark in the devil’s book. He also named Mary Parker as a witch (she’d been accused of witchcraft in late August, along with four of her family members) as well as Samuel Wardwell, his wife Mary, and two of their daughters. The Wardwell family had been accused and arrested in late August and were examined on September 1, the same day as William Jr.

The last Barker family member to be caught up in the Andover witch hunt was Abigail (Wheeler) Barker who had married the third-oldest Barker son, Ebenezer, in 1686. On September 7, at the Andover meeting house, the infamous “touch test” took place. It was believed that an afflicted person would be “cured” if she or he touched a “witch.” The evil, it was thought, would flow back into its source. The touch test had been used in Salem examinations since May, but on this day, all of Andover’s accused and afflicted were gathered together at the meeting house. The accused “witches” were blindfolded and were led to the afflicted girls. If the afflictions ceased after touching one of the accused it was believed a witch had been identified. By the time the touch test was over, all of the accused women and men, at least seventeen people, had been confirmed as witches. Among them were Abigail Barker and Mary Osgood (wife of Richard Barker’s lifelong friend John Osgood).

Abigail Barker is particularly remembered for an account of the touch test in “an undated declaration prepared and signed by six suspects [one of whom was Abigail] just prior to the resumption of trials in January 1693,” according to author Richard Hite. All of the accused had been forced to participate, and all were found guilty. Said the remarkable declaration, “…we knowing ourselves altogether innocent of the crime, we were all exceedingly astonished and amazed, and consternated and affrighted even out of our reason; and our nearest and dearest relations, seeing us in that dreadful condition, and knowing our great danger, apprehended there was no other way to save our lives, as the case was then circumstanced, but by confessing ourselves to be such and such persons as the afflicted represented us to be, out of tenderness and pity, persuaded us to confess what we did confess.”

Although the date is uncertain, it is known that after his indictment, William Barker Sr. somehow escaped from jail and fled. As a penalty, his cattle were seized, and his brother John had to pay £2 10s to get them back. (William’s descendant George Barker has a theory that William may have hidden on an island in a nearby swamp, until it was safe to emerge after the trials.) Once the hysteria subsided, William Barker Sr. lived in Andover for the rest of his life, holding various jobs in town, including fence viewer and constable. He and his wife Mary Dix had thirteen children. William died in 1718 and is buried in the First Burial Ground in North Andover.

On October 3, 1692, John Barker and Francis Faulkner paid the bond for the release of three of the youngest accused: John’s daughter Mary Barker (aged 13), her cousin William Barker Jr. (aged 14), and Mary Lacy Jr. (aged 18). John Barker and John Osgood (whose wife Mary was also accused) later paid for the release of the rest of the jailed Andover children.

Mary Barker and William Barker Jr. were tried and acquitted by a jury in May of 1693. In 1704, the cousins, who had shared such a traumatic experience twelve years earlier, got married. The couple had eight children. They continued to live in Andover for the rest of their lives: William Jr. died in 1745 and Mary died in 1752. Both are buried in the First Burial Ground in North Andover.

Mary (Osgood) Marston and Abigail (Wheeler) Barker were both tried and acquitted in January of 1693. The former died in Andover in 1700, the latter in 1743. Abigail’s husband Ebenezer, who had waited until he was 35 years old to get married, lived to be 95, dying in 1746.

Patriarch Richard Barker died in March of 1693, and his good friend John Osgood died shortly thereafter.

Not everyone involved in the Salem witch trials is remembered in the same way. It’s important to highlight this quote from Marjorie Wardwell Otten in the Essex Genealogist, “Three men of Andover stand out in their efforts to defuse and to bring forth the falsities of the accusations: John Barker, John Osgood, and Reverend Francis Dane.” John Barker, who married Mary Stevens in 1670, was not only one of the voices of reason during the terrible events of 1692, and one of the men who paid to release the accused children, but he was a Deacon of the First Church, became a Sergeant in the militia in 1702, and a Captain in 1708. He died of smallpox in 1732, and is buried in the Mount Vernon Cemetery in Boxford.

What led to the accusations against so many members of such an upstanding and respected Andover family? Sometimes the reasons are hinted at in the records – family feuds, personality clashes, long-standing neighborly accusations. In the Barkers’ case, there is nothing in the records that explains it. Author Richard Hite speculates that there may have been some dispute between the accuser Moses Tyler and the accused William Barker Sr. Their farms were only a mile apart, possibly even abutting, so perhaps there had been previous altercations. We will likely never know.

There are two additional family connections to the witchcraft trials worth mentioning: Rebecca Eames of Boxford, and her son Daniel, were both accused and jailed. Daniel was married to Lydia Wheeler, sister of Abigail (Wheeler) Barker.

The other intriguing relationship involves Andover’s Samuel Wardwell (hanged on September 22). When Wardwell was examined after being accused of witchcraft, he spoke of a disappointment in love from twenty years earlier: “He said the reason of his discontent then was because he was in love with a maid named Barker who slighted his love.” The target of his affections was oldest Barker daughter Sarah, who chose to marry John Abbot instead of Wardwell.

Today, the Barkers remain a pillar of the North Andover community. Barker’s Farm was established in 1642, and has been run by 10 generations of the family, making it the oldest continuously owned and operated family farm in the United States. Barker’s Farmstand on Osgood Street in North Andover is one of our favorite places.

Special thanks to George and Dorothea Barker, and Karen, Laurie, Beth, Dianne and Sam, for their help and generosity researching their family history.

Barker’s Farmstand is at 1267 Osgood Street (Route 125) in North Andover.

[salem-project2023]

Salem Witch Trials 1692-1693

A brief summery of the events:

In early January of 1692 The daughter and niece of Salem's Reverend Samuel Paris began to experience strange fits of behavior. The girls, Betty Paris and Abigail Williams were diagnosed by a doctor as having been afflicted by evil and in turn would accuse three women in the village as the source of the attacks.

The first two women Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne denied the accusations but as the third women, the slave of the Reverend, Tituba was examined and interrogated, she confessed to being a witch and named not only both Sarah's as witches, but also confessed many more lurked within the village.

This beginning incident would then over the course of the year spread within Salem and its surrounding villages leading over 100 people to be accused and 19 people to be executed, with one man being pressed to death as well. Many died in prison as well but those are not accounted for as being due to the trials in some cases of documentation.

It should also be noted that though Betty and Abigail were the first, many more young girls would begin to exhibit "attacks" or "fits" and village folk would seemingly come forward as being afflicted by evil and in turn accuse their neighbors as witches or the source of their affliction.

Finally when examining the court documents, accusations were seemingly made for a variety of things, unexplained livestock death, mumbling or verbal altercations that lead to a persons bad luck afterward, attacking or afflicting another, having seen the shape of the accused being used by evil, Spectral evidence and much more.

[phantomprojects]

INTERVIEW WITH ACTRESS CARMINA GARAY PLAYING BETTY PARRIS IN AFFLICTED: DAUGHTERS OF SALEM THIS THURSDAY!

Hello! My name is Carmina Garay, I am 14 years old, and I am playing Betty Parris. I have been acting since I was 8 months old! So pretty much my whole life! My father and grandfather were actually both actors too! You could say it's in my blood. 

I would love to finally be recognized as an great actress in a project that gets a lot of exposure. I wouldn’t mind being able to have a career as an actress, and maybe be the next Meryl Streep, if it's in my cards!

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO AUDITION FOR AFFLICTED: DAUGHTERS OF SALEM? 

My mom was looking around on Phantom Projects website and saw the show. She showed the description of the show to me, and I thought that it looked like an interesting and fun project. How often do you get to play the girls of Salem! So we decided to submit and here we are! 

CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE CHARACTER YOU ARE PLAYING? 

Betty Parris, the only way I can describe her, is a brat. She always wants what she wants, and will do a lot to get it. She feels entitled, and feels like she deserves anything she desires. Though, in the end, she really just wants to be included in the group. 

HOW DID YOU PREPARE FOR THIS ROLE?

I like to develop the character during rehearsals. If I know what the director wants, then I can easier incorporate what they want into the character than if I was alone practicing at home. I also decided to read the actual play “The Crucible” to see more of a background on the rest of the story. 

WHY DO YOU LIKE LIVE THEATRE?

Live theater has always been apart of my life, and I just think it’s such a cool art form! You have to act and feel in front of everybody, right then and there, with no second chances. It is just so much fun! 

ANY OTHER PROJECTS YOU ARE CURRENTLY WORKING ON?

I am actually also doing a school production, called Arsenic and Old Lace, where I play a cop! Other then that I am still actively auditioning and looking for projects. 

CAN YOU TELL US WHAT A REGULAR WEEK FOR YOU LOOKS LIKE? 

Oh my goodness!  My week is very busy now with two plays going on at the same time! Add on homework, voice over sessions, and double rehearsals, my life is pretty packed at the moment! 

WHAT HELPS YOU RELAX? 

I love to read, draw, and watch Youtube and TV. It’s nice to not have to think about anything, and enjoy the free time I have. 

FAVORITE BOOK? 

Oh! That’s a hard question! I love all books, but one book series that really holds a dear place in my heart is the Kingdom Keepers series! I love the series because it focuses on one of my favorite things, Disney, but it also has such magic and adventure that I really want to be in the book myself!

IS THIS YOUR FIRST PRODUCTION WITH PHANTOM PROJECTS? 

I have done a production with Phantom Projects before! It was the book, The Giver, and I was one of the kids who lived in the little city. I’m so happy to be back, especially in a bigger part. I wanted to come back because I loved the atmosphere and how fun it was to do shows in front of kids, just like me! 

WHY DO YOU THINK ARTS EDUCATION IS IMPORTANT? 

I think that the arts education is important because its been lost on so many kids in the world. They think that the arts are weird and strange, but if they never get the chance to experience them, they could be really missing out! There are artists in all of us, but I think the arts education really unlocks that passion we all have. 

I am so excited and honored to be here again! I can’t wait for everyone to see this awesome play! I’m sure your going to love it!

[myhauntedsalem]

Nathaniel Saltonstall, Salem Witch Trials Judge

The most impressive monument belongs to the family of Nathaniel Saltonstall, who was one of the judges at the Salem witchcraft trials in the 1690s.

Saltonstall was born in Ipswich in 1639, attended Harvard, and eventually became Haverhill’s town clerk. He married Elizabeth Ward, who was the daughter of John Ward, the minister who founded Haverhill. In short, he was kind of a bigwig.

When the 1692 witch craze broke out in Salem Village, Saltonstall was appointed to the Court Oyer and Terminer, a group of seven judges who would oversee the witchcraft trials.

Saltonstall only heard one witchcraft case, that of Bridget Bishop, who was found guilty and hanged on Gallows Hill. After this, he removed himself from the Court Oyer and Terminer. Salem was far from his home in Haverhill, but more importantly he didn’t believe the afflicted girls were really possessed, and found the spectral evidence admitted in court unconvincing.

It wasn’t so easy for him to escape the Salem madness unscathed, though. When he returned to Haverhill he started to drink heavily, and was reprimanded for it by Samuel Sewall, one of the judges who remained on the court. Even worse, the afflicted Salem Village girls claimed they saw Nathaniel Saltonstall’s spectre with the other witches, and that he was a witch himself.

Because he was well-connected Saltonstall was never brought to trial. He weathered the witch craze, and eventually died in 1707. I don’t know if he stopped drinking.

[thevampireaesthetic]

🧛🏻‍♀️ 𝖁𝖆𝖒𝖕𝖎𝖗𝖊 𝕸𝖊𝖉𝖎𝖆 𝕸𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙 🧛🏻‍♀️

🎟 Movies 🎟

Afflicted (2014)

Bakjwi (2009)

Beverly Hills Vamp (1988)

Blade (1988)

Blade II (2002)

Bordello of Blood (1996)

Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

Byzantium (2012)

Captain Kronos – Vampire Hunter (1974)

Carmilla (2019)

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant (2009)

Countess Dracula (1971)

Cronos (1993)

Crypt of the Vampire (1964)

Dark Shadows (2012)

Daughters of Darkness (1971)

Dracula (1958)

Dracula (1979)

Dracula 2000 (2000)

Dracula Has Risen From the Grave (1969)

Fright Night (1985)

Fright Night (2011)

From Dusk ‘Til Dawn (1996)

Grave of the Vampire (1972)

Hotel Translvania 1, 2 & 3 (2012, 2015 & 2018

Incense for the Damned (1971)

Interview With the Vampire (1994)

Isle of the Dead (1945)

La Noche de Walpurgis (1971)

Le Frisson des Vampires (1971)

Lesbian Vampire Killers (2009)

Les Deux Orphelines Vampires (1997)

Let the Right One In (2008)

Lèvres de Sang (1975)

Love Bites (1993)

Lust for a Vampire (1971)

Near Dark (1987)

Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht (1979)

Nosferatu (1922)

Only Lovers Left Alive (2013)

Requiem pour un Vampire (1971)

Stake Land (2011)

Suck (2009)

The Brides of Dracula (1960)

The Hunger (1983)

The Kiss of the Vampire (1963)

The Lost Boys (1987)

The Night Stalker (1972)

The Twilight Saga (2008 - 2012)

The Vampire Lovers (1970)

Thirst (2009)

Vamp (1986)

Vampire's Kiss (1988)

Vampire (1979)

Vampire Academy (2014)

Vampire Circus (1972)

Vampire in Brooklyn (1995)

Vampires: Los Muertos (2002)

Vampires (1988)

Vampires Suck (2010)

Vampyr (1932)

Vampyros Lesbos (1971)

What We Do In the Shadows (2014)

Yakuza Apocalypse (2015)

📖 Books (Stand Alone) 📖

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King 

After Ninety Years by Milovan Glišić 

Beren and Lúthien by J.R.R Tolkien 

Bewitched by Edith Wharton.

Blood Oath by Christopher Farnsworth 

Captive by Gabrielle Estres.

Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu.

Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett 

Children of the Night by Robert E. Howard

Dracula by Bram Stoker 

Dracula in Love by Karen Essex 

Empire V by Victor Pelevin

Fangland by John Marks 

Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin

Fledgling by Octavia Butler 

For the Blood is the Life by F. Marion Crawford 

Fragment of a Novel by Lord Byron

Hematoma by Matteo Polk

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson 

Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

Knight of the Black Rose by James Lowder

Lady Christina by Mircea Eliade

La Femme Immortelle (The Immortal Woman) by Pierre Alexis de Ponson du Terrail

La Jeune Vampire by J.-H. Rosny Aîné

La Morte Amoureuse by Théophile Gautier 

La Vampire (The Vampire Countess) by Paul Féval

La Ville Vampire (Vampire City) by Paul Féval

Le Chevalier Ténèbre (Knightshade) by Paul Féval 

Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

Lilith by George MacDonald

Lost Souls by Poppy Z. Brite

Manor by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs 

Modern Marvels – Viktoriana by Wayne Reinagel 

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill 

Oil and Water by Lara Ann Dominick

Origin of the Vampyre, by P. J. Parker 

Pages from a Young Girl's Journal by Robert Aickman

Popsy by Stephen King

Renfield: Slave of Dracula by Barbara Hambly 

Revelations in Black by Carl Jacobi

Romeo and Juliet and Vampires by Claudia Gabel 

Song of The Nephilim, by D. Finica.

Stray Witch by Eva Alton

Sunshine by Robin McKinley

The Blood of the Vampire by Florence Marryat 

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter 

The Bride of Corinth by Robert Southey 

The Dark Castle by Marion Brandon

The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King 

The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower by Stephen King

The Delicate Dependency: A Novel of the Vampire Life by Michael Talbot

The Dragon Waiting by John M. Ford 

The Family of the Vourdalak by Count Alexis Tolstoy 

The Fate of Madame Cabanel by Eliza Lynn Linton 

The Girl with the Hungry Eyes by Fritz Leiber

The Hills of the Dead by Robert E. Howard

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova 

The House of the Vampire by George Sylvester Viereck 

The Hunger by Whitley Strieber 

The Journal of Edwin Underhill by Peter Tonkin 

The Keep by F. Paul Wilson 

The Lair of the White Worm by Bram Stoker 

The Light at the End by John Skipp and Craig Spector

The Little Sisters of Eluria by Stephen King

The Longest Night by Ray Russell 

The Night Flier by Stephen King

The Night Stalker by Jeff Rice 

The Pale Lady by Alexandre Dumas 

The Room in the Tower by E.F. Benson.

The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Silver Kiss by Annette Curtis Klause

The Silver Kiss by by Annette Curtis Klause

The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers

The Tomb of Sarah by F. G. Loring 

The True Story of the Vampire by Count Stanislaus Eric Stenbock 

The Vampire by Jan Neruda 

The Vampyr by John William Polidori 

The Vampyre of Gotham by Lev Raphael 

They Thirst by Robert McCammon 

Those Who Hunt the Night/Immortal Blood by Barbara Hambly

Travelling with the Dead by Barbara Hambly 

Vampire's Moon by Peter Saxon 

Vampire$ by John Steakley

Vampire by Vladimir Dal 

Vampire of the Mists by Christie Golden

Vampireology by Nicky Raven & Dugald Steer

Vampires Overhead by Alan Hyder

Varney the Vampire by James Malcolm Rymer 

Vlad, the last confession by Chris Humphreys.

Wampir ("The Vampire") by Władysław Reymont.

With the People from the Bridge by Dimitris Lyacos 

📚 Books (Series) 📚

Anno Dracula Series by Kim Newman (Book 1: Anno Dracula)

Blood Books by Tanya Huff (Book 1: Blood Price)

Dark-Hunter by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Book 1: Dark Hunters)

Eternal Night: A Vampire Romance Collection by K. L. Bone (Book 1: Forever Chosen)

Hollows Series by Kim Harrison (Book 1: Dead Witch Walking)

 House of Night by P. C. Cast (Book 1: Marked)

Scarlet Cherie: Vampire Series by Ayshen Irfan (Book 1: The Fire Within My Heart)

The Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter Series by Laurell K. Hamilton (Book 1: Guilty Pleasures)

The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (Book 1: Storm Front)

The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Claire (Book 1: City of Bones)

The Paranormal Detective Series by Lily Luchesi (Book 1: Stake-Out)

The Saga of Darren Shan by Darren Shan (Book 1: Cirque Du Freak)

The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlane Harris (Book 1: Dead Until Dark)

The Twilight Saga by Stephanie Meyer (Book 1: Twilight)

The Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (Book 1: Vampire Academy)

The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice (Book 1: Interview With the Vampire)

The Vampire Diaries by L. J. Smith (Book 1: The Awakening)

Undead by Maryjanice Davidison (Book 1: Undead and Unwed) 

Vampire Earth by E. E Knight (Book 1: Way of the Wolf) 

🎬 TV Shows 🎬

Angel

Becoming Human

Being Human

Blade: The Series

Blood Ties

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Dark Shadows

Dracula

Forever Knight

From Dusk ‘Til Dawn: The Series

Hemlock Grove

Imortal

La Luna Sangre

Lobo

Mona the Vampire

Moonlight

Penny Dreadful

Salems’ Lot

The Originals

The Vampire Detective

The Vampire Diaries

The Vampyr: A Soap Opera

True Blood

What We Do In The Shadows

Young Dracula

[dystopiandramaqueen]

17 Questions, 17 People

Tagged by: @enviousmoons @caught-in-the-filter @hiddenstitches

Nickname: don't have one

Sign: Aries

Height: 5'7"

Last thing I googled: lyrics to the song i posted yesterday

Song stuck in my head: "Without You" from Rent, the Osblaine vid is almost done it's fucking devestating but fully satisfies my need to simmer in grief and angst before moving on to hopeful projects. Should be up tonight. Just need to get the coloring a little less all over the place.

Number of followers: holy shit 516.

Amount of sleep: Ideally about 10 hours a day. Last night 4. Past few weeks have been fuckttttttt

Lucky number: not sure.

Dream job: 1. A coach/ counselor / advisor to help people with recovery from addiction, PTSD, abuse, or whatever else afflicts them. 2. Rockstar 3. Folk musician 4. Etsy Shop Mogul 5. So independently wealthy that I can just write and take care of my body and home and garden 6. Writer 7. Sex Educator (i do all these things now they just dont make me any money lol) 8. Gardener

Wearing: Actually put together this evening. Black slacks, a black shirt I got at a goth shop called the Ossuary in Salem- with cool tight wrist cuffs with a line of victorian black buttons on them, plus a black drapey cardigan, makeup, glasses, purple glitter nailpolish, bare feet, and the necklace I'm gonna wear for a full year to remind me not to do drugs and to be nice to my daughter bc she's mini-me and that's the only way to heal my inner child

Movies/books that summarize me: Die Hard, Terminator, Terminator 2, Empire Records, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, The Grinch, Zack and Miri Make A Porno, A Good Old Fashioned Orgy, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Edward Scissorhands, Groundhog's Day, 12 Monkeys

Favorite instrument: Voice and Guitar

Aesthetic: Glam Goth / Witchy / Punk / Post-Apocalyptic / Androgynous / Rock

Favorite author: Kurt Vonnegut

Favorite animal noise: this is a weird question. Odin's Ravens cawing to remind me that time is short and I need to get my shit together?

Random: I like tea. 2

Tagging: @cardimama @avengerofyourheart @splitscreen @thegreatswars

and anyone else who wants to play, I want to see your answers just tag me. :)

[what-if-nct]

Dudes I have to disagree

English is so simple, wtf

Yeah there's a lot of times, but it's not really hard and the words are simple too

You know what's the biggest bitch when it comes to learning for me?

Geography and history

Geography and History always felt like Non Fiction English and just like non fiction books you would need actual interest in it or its boring, useless, and just drones on and something you have to get through and deal with. And there's so much information to retain and you have to remember exact dates about the most boring subject and ugh. And schools do things to a test that is memorized then forgotten. Not actually learn. I remember 12 percent of the things I learned in school. But if you ask me when the first Salem witch trial began it's 1692 and it was started because of the daughters of a judge blaming their Caribbean slave Tituba for afflicting them with witchcraft, then Sarah Goode was accused of witchcraft and to get a lighter sentence Tituba affiliated herself with Sarah and another woman saying they had meetings with the devil. I learned this when I was like 9 on my own. , i believe I was convicted of witchcraft in a past life cause I'm afraid of fire as well as I hate having things around my neck one of those equal up to persecution for witchcraft, Also my childhood obsession with witchcraft. Also had a past life where I was a prostitute in Louisiana I did a past life meditation and let me tell you that explains so much about my life. But see the main way you'll retain any information is if your passionate about the subject.

[thistle-and-thorn]

no no no don't leave! I'm so intrigued. That is wild that people would accuse their friends but most especially their family, because familial shame was like a real fucking big deal so you'd think people wouldn't want any black marks next to their names. I want to learn everything about what happened.

OMG, you have opened Pandora’s Box. So, for any poor unfortunate souls who happen upon this, this is a post about why the Andover witch trials are the true weirdos of 17th-century New England and NOT Salem. I have very marginal expertise in this beyond my Feelings.

So, to start, we need to understand what the fuck was happening in MA at this time. To put it (over)simply, Massachusetts Bay Colony is a theocracy run by religious extremists. The myth we’re taught in school that the Puritans were fleeing England because the meanie Church of meanie England was mean. As an Anglican, I will say we’ve done some shit but not that. The Puritans had an extremely repressive and strict society that tolerated little to no deviation in their social and religious norms (RIP the Quakers <3). Protestants of this period also tended to be wealthier and more literate than their Catholic counterparts and so these suspicions and feuds were more frequently taken to court. ALSO, the European colonists were facing increasing pressure because the indigenous populations from the north and the west were regularly raiding and fighting with them (I’ll give you, like, three guesses as to why.) and like also climate change was happening and it sucked for crops.

So, you have this pressure cooker of a society under a lot of external stress with a long, well-recorded history (in court documents) of how much they Do Not Get Along. 1692 happens. A bunch of girls, like young people tend to do in pressure cookers of society under a lot of external stress, begin to act out. And the way they act out is, of course, to accuse people of being witches. (Haven’t we all felt the urge?) The state courts get involved and the hysteria spreads across the settlements of along the North Shore and into…ANDOVER. Now the other hysteria outbreaks tended to be smaller, shorter, and more contained than what happens in Salem. In Andover, however, more witches were accused than in any other New England town including Salem Village and Salem Town. Which is INSANE.

Now, Salem has been the focus of so much research that we have a pretty clear understanding of why it happened. In the 70s, Boyer & Nissenbaum basically solved the case in their book Salem Possessed and redefined how we think about the witch trials. The people who were being accused were in opposing parishes, in opposition with a controversial minister (father of one of the afflicted girls), or had a history of legal disputes with the people who were accusing them. How do we know this? Puritans and their love of bringing each other to court!!! Otherwise, they were outcasts. It’s terrible but logical. In Andover, it starts out this way, pressure cooker, hatred of outcasts, the kit and caboodle—the first woman who was accused brought smallpox to Andover when she first moved which made her seem cursed and then the second woman accused was a childless widow (because her daughter had been murdered). Now this is where things get whackadoodle dandy, that second woman accuses a woman named Martha Carrier of being “The Queen of Hell” and trying to build a devil’s colony in Massachusetts and says that she knows of 305 witches that Martha converted to the devil. (Where the fuck 305 comes from no one knows). Now, people are like, “Holy shit, there’s like 300 witches in Andover!” Andover is a community of 600. 50% of the people in a community are witches?!?!!?! Well, obviously, it’s Martha Carrier’s entire family and friends but then who else?

There’s tremendous pressure to accuse someone or confess or accuse someone after you’ve confessed to throw suspicion off of yourself and so the accusations fly in Andover—children, family members. There’s one notable case of a mother being accused by her pre-teen daughter. And these defy the patterns that happen in Salem—there are regional lines in Andover between the north (which after this, will become North Andover) and the south but they don’t matter here. Where in Salem, the accusations were contained to the west of the community, an equal amount of people are accused in north Andover and south Andover. It's estimated that 80% of Andover's population at some point were in court because of witch accusations. It’s also made worse, when the judges bring the Salem afflicted girls to Andover to hunt witches. Now, the girls don’t know shit about Andover and so, I think you could imagine a scenario where the accusations that they are making there are…more…random than in Salem.

What else is weird about Andover is that the people petition to end the witch hysteria. In Salem, petitions were made for individuals but in Andover, the town as a whole is like, “What the fuck is going on?” and they end it themselves instead of waiting for the governor to end it which is basically what happened in the rest of the colony. There's also a crazy minister in this, too, but I don't know much about him tbh except that he was like, *insert flailing Kermit gif* "THANK GOD A WITCH CRAZE WHAT I'VE ALWAYS WANTED."

Anyway. It’s much more interesting to me than Salem because for the three million books and movies made about Salem, Andover’s is a much more psychologically peculiar case and additionally, more significant in terms of the numbers of people imprisoned. But, I have to stop writing because my veggie burger’s burning.