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Eric KellerAmer. Church History

Mass Hysteria and the Salem Witch CrazeA Recipe for Disaster

INTRODUCTION

Salem Village, late 1691, four girls, Betty Parris, age nine, her cousin Abigail Williams,

eleven, Ann Putnam, twelve and Elizabeth Hubbard, seventeen, regularly gathered at Betty's

home. Curious about their future and what type of men they would eventually marry, they lent

themselves to playing fortune-telling games. Of course such practices were forbidden in the

Salem Village community. They knew that what they were doing was forbidden. Betty's father

was the Rev. Samuel Parris of the local parish in Salem Village who often gave sermons on the

necessities of Godly living. If Samuel Parris knew the girls were meeting under his own roof, the

girls could have been severely punished for dabbling in such occultic practices. Yet, unaware of

the activities in his own home, the experiments continued.

One of the girls' experiments was to take the white of an egg and drop it into a glass.

They believed the egg white would take on a shape which may reveal to them something about

their future. The divination practice was an of an old folklore and they may have learned a few

other spells from Parris' Native American slave woman Tituba, who was understood to know the

ways of magic simply for being of a “savage” race. During one fortune telling experiment, it

frightened the girls to see the white of an egg appear to take shape of a coffin. Perhaps it was an

omen of the sins they had been committing.

Betty, always considered to be the most sensitive one, afterwards began to display

strange signs. She was unable to concentrate, became forgetful and sometimes threw fits of

screaming. Abigail began to show strange symptoms as well. However, hers appeared worse as

she sometimes fell into convulsions or got down on all fours barking like a dog. Soon after, the

other two girls began to display symptoms. As word of their maladies spread, so did the number

of girls in Salem Village that were showing similar signs.

There was suspicion of witchcraft and soon after an investigation was launched to find

the source of the girls' torments. When asked who had done this to them, the girls accused

Sarah Osborne and Sarah Goode, both older women in the community. The widow Sarah

Osborne had a poor reputation among the community as she had allowed another man to live in

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Eric KellerAmer. Church History

Mass Hysteria and the Salem Witch CrazeA Recipe for Disaster

her house and had not attended the meeting house in 14 months. Sarah Osborne was also

considered to be an undesirable element of the community. Her husband was a laborer and

whoever hired his services had the obligation of housing her and their children. The third woman

accused of bewitching the girls was Samuel Parris' slave woman Tituba. When she was

interrogated she reluctantly revealed the names of Sarah Goode and Sarah Osborne in a colorful

story of witchcraft and the tormenting of the afflicted girls.

Salem Village had a crisis on its hands. The Devil was loose and claiming the souls of

women and children. Although the two Sarah's proclaimed their innocence, each of the four girls

continued to have visions of the women persecuting them. Soon after more women were indicted

for being witches and the Salem Witch Craze of 1692 had begun...

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When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God.

-Deuteronomy 18:9-13

Mass Hysteria and the Salem Witch Craze:A Recipe for Disaster

THE RECIPE

At first glance, it appears as if the bewitchment of the original victims of the events at

Salem Village spurred what became the Salem witch trials of 1692. However, closer examination

of this occurrence reveals an incident that was in the making for hundreds of years. It began with

the European witch hunts in the 14th century extending to about the 1650's. There was the defeat

of the Spanish Armada and the accompanying belief of the Puritans as the New Israel. Mix in the

idea of covenant theology and the practice of visible saints plus add to that the fact that Satan

was believed to be active north of Salem in the town of Boston. Finally, blend in a poison called

ergot, the coerced confession of a slave named Tituba, and the use of spectral evidence as valid

testimony. Each of these ingredients lent themselves to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The pot

was full, it just needed to be stirred. It is my thesis that while there were many elements which

lent themselves to the intensity of the Salem witch trials, mass hysteria was the force that stirred

the pot of ingredients causing the tragedy of the Salem witch trials to boil over.

INGREDIENT 1: THE EUROPEAN WITCH TRIALS

As early as the 1400’s, the onslaught of possibly millions of people began the birth of the

witch-hunts in Europe. So intense was the issue of heresy and witchcraft that some Popes called

for the continuation of the witch-hunts. In 1437 and again in 1445, Pope Eugene IV “urged the

inquisitors to be more relentless in their pursuit of ‘weather makers’.”1 Pope Innocent VII on

December 7, 1484, inspired by the Scripture, Exodus 22:18, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,”

issued the BULL Summis Desiderantes encouraging the clergy of Germany to do anything

possible to detect men and women who were suspected of making covenants with the devil. In

1486 the German inquisitors Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, with Pope Innocent IV’s

approval, prepared a manual titled The Hammer of Witches

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(Malleus maleficarum) which was intended as an expose of witchcraft and provided a procedure

for detecting and punishing witches. By 1520 there were a dozen reprints. Even Protestants,

including Calvin and the Lutherans supported the Pope, following in their zeal against witchcraft.

In fact, John Wesley stated that, "the giving up of witchcraft is in effect the giving up of the Bible."2

People at an alarming rate were being accused of witchcraft. Some German cities saw as

many as 600 executions annually. The main reason why the European witch trials produced so

many victims was the fact that once a person was suspected of witchcraft or heresy, they were

tortured until they confessed and gave names of other people involved in witchcraft as well.

Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of women were tortured into confessing themselves to

be witches. According to The Story of the Inquisition:

"In the witch "trials" the victim must not only incriminate herself but her

accomplices, or all whom she "knew" to be in partnership with the devil. She was bound

to be tortured until she had given the names or descried the persons of those she had

seen at the "witches' sabbaths." Then they would be tortured and the process

repeated...soon the leading questions of the inquisitors would be answered as they

wanted them answered".3

Finally, according to author Larry Gragg, the "most extensive prosecutions took place in French-

and German- speaking regions between 1550 and 1650"4.

When the Puritans left for the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1628, the witch hunts of

Europe were drawing to a close. The witch hunts had made it abundantly clear to the Puritans

that the Devil was always after their souls. The Puritans were fully aware of what the Devil was

doing in their land. Surely there was the risk of demonic powers in the New World as well for it

had just begun to be settled and was surrounded by savage races.

INGREDIENT 2: THE SPANISH ARMADA AND THE ELECT NATION

In the latter part of the 16th century, King Phillip planned a two pronged attack against

Queen Elizabeth I and Protestant England in an effort to put an end to the rising power of

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Protestantism and maintain Spain as the world’s greatest power. In 1558, the year of destiny,

Phillip sent the "Invincible Armada", a fleet of 125 ships and over 30,000 men into the English

Channel where it would link up with the Duke of Parma in the Spanish Netherlands at Calais. The

goal of this attack was to combine the forces of the Armada and the Duke of Parma, march on

London, seize the Queen, and proceed to conquer the entire country. The Spanish Armada was

the largest naval fleet in the history of mankind and defeat of the English seemed imminent.

Unfortunately, Spain discovered that the English were better prepared for a war at sea.

Lord Howard and Francis Drake, commanders of the English fleet proved to be worthy

adversaries of the Armada. Although they commanded a fleet of fewer ships, they were smaller

and therefore more maneuverable than those of Spain and, as a result, were able to harass the

Armada quite effectively. Having received heavy damage to some of their ships, the Armada

anchored at Calais where the Duke of Parma failed to show. On July 28, 1588 the English saw an

opportunity to attack the Spanish fleet as they waited in the harbor for their allies. They used fire-

ships to scatter the Spanish ships, and in the process of the 8-hour struggle at the Battle of

Gravelines, the English eliminated a significant portion of their enemy’s fleet.

The remaining Armada found itself pursued by the English as they attempted a return to

Spain via the North of Scotland and Ireland. The English continued its chase for three days until

they ran out of ammunition and returned home. Just when it seemed things couldn’t get any

worse for the Armada, unexpected winds wrecked many of its ships off the coast of Scotland.

The remaining ships, returned to Spain defeated and humiliated.

The failure of the Spanish Armada forever changed the way that Protestants viewed

themselves. After all, they had defeated the most powerful and feared Catholic naval force in the

world. It was apparent, in the minds of the English, that God was now on their side. What else

could explain such a miraculous victory? It became apparent that God called the Protestants to

be the new chosen people. England and the Protestants were now part of the “Elect Nation.”

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Forty years later, when the Puritans first settled in Salem, they were convinced that they

were a part of this Elect Nation. They had a new covenant with God. One which must be upheld

if they were to survive in the New World. Breaking their covenant with the Lord surely meant

suffering for the people.

INGREDIENT III: COVENANT THEOLOGY AND VISIBLE SAINTS

The Puritans who settled in Salem believed they were a part of the Elect Nation of God.

As the Elect Nation, they thought of themselves as the New Israel. The Puritans maintained their

status as the New Israel through the practice of the covenant theology. They believed that if they

did what God wanted them to do, they would be blessed. However, if they disobeyed God, they

would be punished. This covenant was displayed through the model of visible saints.

Covenant theology included the covenant of grace and the covenant of works. The

covenant of grace defined how one became reconciled to God. All humans are sinners, and

though all may confess to believe in Christ, not all humans will be saved. Reconciliation came to

those whom God chose. No one would choose to seek reconciliation with God unless God first

interceded and moved the person to seek salvation. The covenant of grace, "is a mutual

agreement, made possible by Christ's intercession, in which God pledges to be a gracious father

and to give eternal life and men in turn promise to accept these blessings by faith and glorify God

forever" 5 If a person was called by God to be one of the Elect (those chosen by God to be

saved) he or she would experience a desire to fulfil their obligation of their covenant

with God through a covenant of works. The covenant of works is mankind's unalterable obligation

to fulfill his part of God's covenant with His people. Although man is saved by grace, it is this

same grace that will invoke within man the desire to fulfill his obligation. Therefore, the covenant

of grace and the covenant of works are intertwined working together to maintain God and man's

covenant with each other.

Regardless of a person’s behavior and willingness to follow God, no one could know for

sure who was saved for God had called some to be Elect before he had even created the world

and others He simply had not.6 Never mind the good deeds a person did in their lifetime. If they

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were not called by God to be one of the elect, they would never experience salvation. However,

for those who had been called by God to be the Elect, nothing they could do would prevent them

from receiving God’s grace. Despite, the fact that no one could know for sure whether or not they

were of the Elect, each person had an obligation to maintain the colonies' covenant with God.

This was done by living as a visible saint.

Living as a visible saint simply meant that one lived their life as if they knew they were

part of God's Elect. If a Puritan believed that they were a part of God's covenant of grace, then

they had a type of contractual agreement to fulfill their end of the bargain with the covenant of

works. Living their lives as visible saints was a visual way of demonstrating their evidence that

they had not broken their bond with God. Furthermore, if everybody lived as a visible saint, the

colonies' blessings from God would be demonstrated through the success and orderliness of

each community.

The threat of falling from God's covenant was true and feared. Although referred to as a

covenant, this was considered a contractual agreement and it could be broken if the people did

not live up to their obligations. God had fulfilled His obligation Christ. It was only the community

that could break the contract. Therefore, anyone who posed a threat could face banishment or

worse, death. One example of the perceived threat to the colonies’ covenant can be found in

one woman, Anne Hutchinson, who challenged the practice of visible saints declaring that you

can

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not know the spiritual condition of a man or woman by how they act in public. She was charged

with antinomianism.7 and later banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 16388

INGREDIENT IV: COTTON MATHER

Cotton Mather was a first generation Puritan minister in the Salem community. He was

called to Boston three and a half years before the events at Salem Village to treat the daughter of

John Goodwin, a mason, who suspected his daughter was suffering from the spells of a witch.

The afflictions of Goodwin’s eldest daughter, Martha, began after she had accused a

laundress of stealing family linens. After being questioned, the washerwoman’s mother, Goody

Glover, “bestow’d very bad Language”9 on the Goodwin girl. Immediately, the 13 year old girl

was seized by fits which soon after affected three other daughters of Goodwin. Glover, was tried

and sentenced to die for bewitching the Goodwin children.

Mather, hoping to learn more about witchcraft and verify the credibility of her confession,

visited Goody Glover in jail twice before she was hanged. She never denied the practice of

witchcraft and even admitted to him that she had attended meetings with five others including

“her Prince.”10 Glover did state that, “because others cooperated in the witchcraft her execution

would not relieve the Goodwin children.”11 Her words rang true for, “After her hanging their

torments multiplied. They barked like dogs, purred like cats, fluttered like geese”12. It is not known

whether or not Mather shared Goody Glover’s claim with Goodwin or his daughter for the mere

thought of other witches involved in their curses may have provoked their symptoms.

Cotton Mather desired to help the girls and continue to gather evidence in order to refute

skeptics. He took the eldest Goodwin child to stay at his home with himself and his daughter

Abigail. Martha continued to display signs of bewitching while at the Mather home. In the five to

six weeks that she stayed with them, Mather was able to gather enough evidence for his first

publication, Memorable Providence, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possession. It was published

less than two years before the Salem Witch craze. The work was successful enough to be

reprinted in London in 1691 and again in Edinburgh in 1697. Furthermore, in the time between

the Goodwin case and the Salem trials (about 18 months), Mather focused a great deal of his

Eric Keller American Church History 9

sermons on witchcraft. Needless to say, “given the size of his congregation and the frequency of

his preaching, he did much to keep alive in Massachusetts a sense of the malice of the Invisible

World.”13 No doubt, Cotton Mather’s publication and preaching of his experience in Boston added

to the intensity of the incident at Salem.

INGREDIENT V: ERGOT

In more recent times, a new theory has been developed to explain the behavior of the

bewitched girls in Salem. In 1982 a study published in the American Scientist13 suggests the

hysteria of witchcraft at Salem may have been prompted by an outbreak of convulsive ergotism, a

type of food poisoning.

Ergot, a fungus which can grow on cereal grains especially rye, when ingested, can

cause convulsive ergotism. The symptoms of convulsive ergotism are very similar to the

symptoms of the bewitched girls. Symptoms from ingesting this type of food poisoning can

include:

“…a slight giddiness, a feeling of frontal pressure in the head, fatigue,

depression, nausea with or without vomiting, and pains in the limbs and lumbar region

that make walking difficult…In more severe cases the symptoms are formication (a

feeling that ants are crawling under the skin), coldness of the extremities, muscle

twitching, and tonic spasms of the limbs, tongue, and facial muscles. In the most severe

cases the patient has epileptiform convulsions and, between fits, a ravenous appetite.

He may lie as if dead for six to eight hours and afterward suffer from anesthesia of the

skin, paralysis of the lower limbs, jerking arms, delirium, and loss of speech.”15

Furthermore, Ergot is the source of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). According to one study,

“People under the influence of this compound [LSD] tend to be highly suggestible. They may see

formed images - for instance, if people, animals, or religious scenes- whether their eyes are open

or closed”.16

Today, the problem of Ergot is still something that the agricultural industry keeps a close

eye on. In 1985 a study, Ergot Alkaloids in Grain Foods Sold in Canada, 1992, was launched “to

acquire knowledge of the prevalence and concentrations of ergot alkaloids in the Canadian food


supply”. This study came to the conclusion that rye flour contained the highest concentrations of

ergot alkaloids of all the foods it surveyed including: rye flour, rye bread, wheat flour, wheat bran,

bran cereal , tritical flour, 5-Grain Granola, and crisp bread. Furthermore, Matossian informs us in

her study that due to the growth population in Salem Village, farmers may have been likely to use

their swampy, sandy land which would have been more suitable to rye than any other cereal crop.

Yet it was just these conditions that were likely to produce ergot in the rye.17 Even more

intriguing is the fact that “all 22 of the Salem households affected were located on or at the edge

of soils ideally suited to rye cultivation.”18

It is highly likely that ergot caused the symptoms which the Puritans mistook for

witchcraft. However, while ergot may have created the symptoms misconstrued for witchcraft, it

can not explain the behavior of those not bewitched. For example, just a year later there was a

revival in the Boston and Salem area in which many people had visions.19 Again, the presence of

ergot poisoning could explain this behavior. Yet there was apparently no fear of witchcraft. If

there were similar behaviors between the victims of bewitchment and participants in a revival,

why would one group fear a satanic conspiracy and the other rejoice in Christ? The answer lies

in the events leading up to the incident and the mindset of the people involved.

INGREDIENT VI: TITUBA

Tituba was the slave of the Rev. Samuel Parris and served him as his housekeeper.

When the four girls practiced divination to see what the future may hold for them in the way of

husbands, it is probable that they had acquired their methods from her. While history has very

little information on Tituba and her direct involvement with the girls, the mere fact that she lived in

the Parris home would have given her unlimited opportunities to influence them.

Within days of the girls’ first symptoms, witchcraft was already suspected and Mary

Sibley, a neighbor and member of the church, took it upon herself to uncover who in Salem

Village was the witch causing this condition. She sought the aid of Tituba and her husband John

Indian. Tituba’s resulting actions would lead to the first arrests of the Salem witch trials.


INGREDIENT VII: SPECTRAL EVIDENCE

Spectral evidence was the premise that the Devil could not take the shape of an innocent

person. Therefore, if a person was accused of having made a spiritual appearance to someone,

that testimony would be accepted as evidence. Furthermore, "hallucinations, dreams, and mere

fancies would be accepted in court as factual proof not of the psychological condition of the

accuser but of the behavior of the accused."20 There was practically no defense against this

accusation. Spectral evidence was by far the most damaging testimony against an accused

witch. So damning, that were it barred from the trial of accused witch, Bridget Bishop, her

conviction and hanging would have been based on wearing scarlet, allowing young people to

loiter at her tavern playing games, and being on the tail end of gossip. Even a Puritan would find

it difficult to sentence one to death on these charges.

Later, it was acceoted that the Devil could also take on the shape of an innocent person.

This having been determined, people reasoned that Satan could harm two people by tormenting

one person and having another person receive the blame for it. This challenged the reliability of

spectral evidence. Logic eventually won the Puritans over and spectral evidence was no longer

accepted as valid evidence.

MIX USING: MASS HYSTERIA

Now that we have all the ingredients together: Knowledge of the European witch trials,

status and responsibility of being the Elect Nation, the social pressures of covenant theology, the

radical messages of Cotton Mather, Ergot food poisoning, the confessions of Tituba and Spectral

Evidence, we need to mix them all together to create a witch craze. However, these ingredients

can not mix themselves. They need a force to blend them together. Much like one can put the

ingredients of bread into a bowl, the egg and water cannot mix with the flour unless someone

combines them with a spoon. Mass Hysteria is the spoon which stirred together all of the

ingredients forming the Salem Witch Craze. Without hysteria, the ingredients would not have

blended and the trials, as mentioned earlier, probably would have ended with Tituba.


Let us begin by first taking a closer look, through the eyes of mass hysteria, at the

original four girls: Abigail, Betty, Elizabeth, and Ann. It is highly likely that when the original four

girls began having symptoms of bewitchment, it was an adverse reaction to Ergot food poisoning.

Rye was a common cereal grain of the Puritans at Salem Village and it would not be out of the

question for the girls to have eaten rye bread when they gathered together. However, it is

probable their reaction to the fungus was inflamed by a sense of guilt or fear for having dabbled in

occultic practices and exposing themselves to the power of Satan. After all, one of the girls saw

what appeared to be the shape of a coffin in her glass. Was this a symbol that she had broken

her covenant with God? Or worse yet, was it an omen of things to come for her community

through her disloyalty and refusal to live as a visible saint?

When Abigail fell ill it must have terrorized the girls. They had toyed with Godless games

and now she was being punished. Surely they had to believe that they would be punished as

well. After all, they had performed the same actions as Abigail. It would seem logical to them that

bewitchment would come upon themselves as well. As a result, they may have inadvertently

induced their own problems. This form of mass hysteria has been labeled mass psychogenic

illness or MPI.21

In 1982, a case of mass psychogenic illness was documented in which adolescent school

girls became ill at a high school football game.22 Multiple students and adults had eaten at a

cafeteria before attending the game their opponent’s home field. After the halftime show, one

member of the visiting school’s pep squad became ill and collapsed. (It was later discovered that

she had been suffering chills, a fever and diarrhea due to a virus for several days before the

game.) After his comment, two other pep squad girls became ill with abdominal pains. Before

being taken away in an ambulance, paramedics suggested that they might have a case of food

poisoning on their hands. Shortly after, the symptoms started to spread. However, it was only

the girls on the pep squad and not those of other groups, i.e. band, drill team, or adults that

suffered maladies. It was later determined that the original girl did have a reaction to food but it

was probably due to her preexisting condition. However, of the 29 other students complaining of

illness, none of their physical symptoms were indicative of food poisoning. On the contrary, it was


determined that their symptoms were a result of mass hysteria in the fear that they would share

the same fate (food poisoning) as their friend.

There are many similarities between the girls of Salem Village and the girls of Texas. To

begin, they are each a cohesive group of girls and, mass psychogenic illness is more consistent

with women and adolescent girls.23 Secondly, each group of girls was expected to dress and act

alike. Due to the social responsibility of visible sainthood, the girls of Salem were likely to dress

and act similarly while the prep squad girls were expected to look the same (their uniforms) and

act in unison (their drills and cheers). Furthermore, the four girls of Salem were in a New World

believing they surrounded by the devil and his many demons. They were God’s people (the New

Israel) in the Devil’s land. Whereas the prep squad did not feel they were surrounded by

demons, they were in a foreign area (a different high school) and surrounded by people who by

all means were their opponents (enemies). Finally, both groups of girls were under social

pressure. The Salem girls felt a responsibility to appease God whereas the high school girls felt

the strain of encouraging school spirit with their team significantly behind the other at the end of

the first half.

Further studies indicate that, for children, there is a relationship between childhood loss

and susceptibility to mass hysteria.24 In 1979 Drs Gary Small and Armand Nicholi investigated

an outbreak of illness among elementary school students in Norwood, ironically a Boston suburb.

During a play by six graders commemorating their graduation, a sixth grade boy, experiencing

dizziness, fell from the bleachers and sliced his chin, which bled profusely. As he was attended

by teachers, several other students became ill. The symptoms spread so rapidly and to so many

students that emergency crews were brought in to settle the chaos. The fire department,

suspecting an environmental contaminant, evacuated the auditorium while ambulances

transported children to the hospital. Soon, the number of victims exceeded the emergency crews’

resources. Thirty-four students had been hospitalized and almost fifty more were being treated

by physicians at the school. Rumors spread as quickly as the symptoms prompting two priests to

arrive on the word that twelve children had died as a result of food poisoning. The truth however,

is that most children felt better after being reassured that their symptoms would soon pass.


Within four hours the entire epidemic had ended. It was discovered through investigation of this

event that those children who had suffered a previous loss were more likely to suffer from these

type of symptoms of mass hysteria.

Like the pep squad girls from Texas, the children from Norwood shared similarities with

the children at Salem. For one, each group had members which suffered a previous loss before

being overcome with hysteria. Ann Putnam, aged 12, experienced the loss of a younger sibling

and the death of her aunt’s children.25 Both Elizabeth and Abigail were separated from their

parents and living in the home of a relative. Based on the results of the 1979 study, these three

girls, due to their losses, were likely to be more susceptible to mass hysteria. Likewise, Small and

Nicholi’s study discovered that the rate of divorce and death (previous losses) within the family far

exceeded in the hospitalized children verses the non-hospitalized children.26

Small and Nicholi’s study also revealed that anticipatory loss and recent environmental

accidents may have lead to a higher susceptibility of the students to mass hysteria. The sixth

graders had anticipated the loss of their principle who would be transferred to another school and

the separation from their parents due to a weeklong camping trip following graduation. (It should

also be noted that many of the sixth graders had never been away from home for an extended

period of time.) The girls from Salem on the other hand, faced a much greater loss. They feared

the loss of their covenant with the community and with it, God. If they were already susceptible to

hysterical behavior, such a fear would no doubt have opened the doors wide open to a bewitched

behavior. Furthermore, recent events such as the Three Mile Island meltdown and news of water

contamination had families in the Norwood community sensitive to environmental hazards.

Meanwhile, the four Salem children had surely heard the news of Cotton Mather’s dealing with

witchcraft in Boston and his warnings of the Devil’s growing strength in the New World.27

Adults, as well as children, are also susceptible to bouts of hysteria. In Europe during the

Middle Ages, fear of deadly diseases lead to mass psychogenic illness. One such illness, known

as “dancing mania,” usually took, “the form of jumping, dancing, or having convulsions or

seizures.” 28 An example of dancing mania is described by the medical historian, H.E. Sigerist:


The disease occurred at the height of the summer heat. People asleep or awake would

suddenly jump up, feeling an acute pain, like the sting of a bee. Some saw the spider,

others did not, but the knew it must be a tarantula. They ran our of the house into the

street t the marketplace, dancing in great excitement. Soon they were joined by others

who like them had been bitten… this, groups of patients would gather, dancing wildly.29

Furthermore, in 1914 during World War I, an undoubtedly stressful time for communities,

thousands of British South Africans claimed to have seen a German monoplane.30 Rumor had it

the German plane was on a spy or bombing mission. It was later determined however that no

German monoplane was available at the time due to being either disabled or out of commission.31

Bartholomew concluded that, “In the case of mass hysteria, an hysterical belief is composed of an

ambiguous situation, anxiety, and the redefinition of the situation31

We have seen here a few examples of how children, especially girls, can be susceptible

to mass hysteria and the effects which it can have upon them. We have also noted that adults

are not immune to hysterical thought either nor is their resulting behavior. Furthermore, while we

have explained the behavior of the children, we must now take a closer look at why the adult

population of the Massachusetts Bay Colony would have such a radical reaction to the four girls’

behaviors.

What would cause the adults of early Salem to overreact to the events in 1692? While

ergot poisoning accentuated by mass psychogenic illness as well as previous and anticipated

loss may account for the behavior of the four girls of Salem, it does not explain the behavior of

those who sought out witches as the cause. However, when we take a closer look at each of our

ingredients, we see how each of them, in their own way add flavor to what might have ordinarily

been a tasteless event.

We will start with the first ingredient: the European witch hunts. Even though the trials

were left behind in Europe when the Puritans came to the New World, the belief in witchcraft

came with them. It was not a stretch for the Puritans to believe that witchcraft would be in the

New World as well. They did believe after all, that they were surrounded by aborigines who were

not a part of God’s chosen people. It was important for the Puritans to protect themselves from

these dark powers. Once it was believed that witchcraft was loose in Salem Village, community


leaders may have feared that the Devil’s work which had been spreading in Europe was now

infiltrating their safe haven in an unsafe world. If that was true, then swift, aggressive action had

to be taken to prevent Satan from trying to take over the New World as he had tried to take over

Europe.

The second addition to the recipe was the New Englanders’ belief that they were the New

Israel. After all, they had defeated an invasion of Catholic Spain, the world’s greatest

superpower. What else could explain their great success against such an “invincible fleet?” They

had to be God’s new chosen people. Nothing else could explain such a victory at sea or the

infamous “Protestant Winds” which unexpectedly blew the Spanish Armada off course destroying

a good portion of its ships. Now that there were witches among them, they may upset God as

perhaps did Spain. If God could let such a mighty force like Spain be defeated, what could

happen to them in a world which was still wild and untamed? The Puritans didn’t have an

English fleet to protect them. Besides, their war wasn’t at sea. It was in their community and

homes. Again, action to stop Satan had to be immediate and at any cost.

One of the most important ingredients in the stew was the covenant theology and the act

of visible saints of the New Englanders. Covenant theology declared that the Puritans had a

covenant with God. God would remain their God as long as they remained His people. If any

one strayed from God, they risked pulling the rest of the community down with them. A few

people becoming witches could only bring harm to the entire community. Therefore it was

imperative that people lived as visible saints.

Puritan notion of covenant theology was taken very seriously. After all, their very

survival in the New World depended on it. People like Anne Hutchinson who challenged the

conformity of the Puritans, risked chaos within the community and with it the people’s covenant

with God. When it was believed that people within the community had not only challenged the

notion of visible sainthood but broke their covenant with God altogether by becoming witches, the

colonists feared for their physical safety. After all, whenever the Jews of the Old Testament or

the Christians of Jerusalem failed to maintain their covenant with God, they were punished.33

Since the Puritans were God’s new people, what would happen to them now that some of them


had obviously freely chosen to break their personal responsibility to God and their fellow man?

Would God send in the savages to kill them off as he had sent in men to kill off the Jews who

worshipped the Golden Calf? This must have been a terrifying thought to the deeply religious

and the governing bodies. If challenging the rules as Anne Hutchinson had done was sufficient

cause to banish her, then surely breaking them altogether was reason for death.

However, the covenant theology allowed for a person who had fallen from their

contractual obligations to avoid punishment if they recanted their ways and asked forgiveness for

their sins. If this occurred, then the colony had a moral obligation to forgive its sinful members

and welcome them back into the community.34 For many of the accused, this was a way out of

banishment or death if they were being questioned for witchcraft. As a result, when a woman was

accused of consorting with the Devil and tormenting young girls of the community, she could

spare her life by providing a false confession. Unfortunately, this procedure agitated the situation

at an extreme rate. For one, when a suspect confessed, they were expected to give up the

names of other women whom they either had consorted with or they knew were also involved

with the Devil's work.35 Usually, those on trial would give up the names of other women for which

neither they nor the community gave high regards.36 As a result, the trial was divided by two

classes of people, the higher, respectable people being bewitched, and the socially outcast being

accused. But worst of all, for every woman who made up a story for her own self-preservation,

more women were being accused and the witchcraft "spread." This viscous cycle fed into the

hysteria of the community as every time people thought another witch was found, her testimony

would reveal that there were even more.

Fourthly, we have the actions of Cotton Mather and Tituba. Mather must have felt he was

doing the Puritans a favor by sharing his experiences in Boston and warning them of the threat of

Satan’s demons among them. However, he had inadvertently been planting seeds that would

blossom when the colonists came face to face with the threat he had warned them. If there was

anyone who doubted Mather’s message two years prior, they would certainly be more likely to

believe it now. No longer was Satan coming to Salem and Salem Village, he had arrived! For

two years Mather had been warning the people to strengthen their faith or God would punish


them and now it looked like he just might be right. Their only chance would be to separate

themselves from those women who had a pact with the Devil in the hopes that God would focus

his rage on the suspects and overlook the rest. One could say that the blood of the accused

served as the lambs’ blood on the doorjamb of the Jews.

If Cotton Mather had planted seeds of Satanism among the colonies, then Tituba had

watered them. Instructed by Mary Sibley37 Tituba utilized countermagic to find the witch. Tituba

prepared a witchcake - “a concoction of rye meal and the girls’ urine, which was baked in ashes

and fed to a dog.38 The dog, assumed to be a familiar (an animal form of a witch), would then

itself become bewitched revealing the name of the witch causing the problems. 39 In doing so,

Tituba revealed to Mary Sibley and the covenant community her experience with witchcraft.

While it was likely the Puritans suspected that Tituba, being of a savage race descent, had

knowledge of witchcraft, she had now opened up a Pandora’s Box by demonstrating her ability to

apply it.

Eventually Tituba became one of the three women (Sarah Goode Sarah Osborne were

the other two) suspected of tormenting the girls. Samuel Parris, a minister and father of one of the

bewitched girls and Tituba’s master, was determined to prove Tituba’s guilt and bring her to trial.

It would seem that he had a motivation for this as well. After all, he was a minister in the Salem

Village community. It must have been a great embarrassment for him to have had witchcraft

practiced in his own house, yet alone having his own daughter involved. How much time would

pass before fingers would begin pointing at him? As a result, a great deal of pressure was placed

by him on Tituba to confess to a crime which she did not commit. It would have been acceptable

for Parris to punish his children and Tituba for participating in occult practices but, “by blaming

Tituba for the misfortune of his family, he was able to uphold the stereotype of the Indian as Devil

worshiper while distancing himself from the taint of association with the evil forces she

represented.”40

On March 1, 1692 Tituba, most likely in an effort to remove the pressures placed upon

her by the court and Samuel Parris, confessed to a relationship with the devil and blamed Sarah

Goode and Sarah Osborne for forcing her to hurt the children.41 While her confession included 4


women, a man, and various animals which spoke to her, she could only identify two of the women

as the Sarah’s already in question. It is not unlikely that Tituba simply built her confession upon

the accusations of the four girls. After all, the Goode and Osborne had already been implicated.

Tituba may have also reasoned that if she confessed, the Puritans would forgive her. Having

worked for a minister she may have noticed that due to the covenant theology of the Puritans,

“those accused of other crimes and who demonstrated penitence by humbly confessing to their

sins were treated sympathetically.42 Of course, when questioned, both Goode and Osborne

repeatedly denied the accusations but to no avail. Tituba had earned credibility by repeating her

story without forgetting any of the details.

Tituba’s forced testimony was a key element to the start of the witch trials. Had only

Sarah Goode and Sarah Osborne been questioned, the trials may have ended with them.

After all, they had maintained their innocence and no other information could be drawn from

them. However, Tituba had confirmed fears that the Devil was not only in the New World, but

among the Puritans as well. As Breslaw stated, “She supplied the essential legal evidence

required to begin the process of communal exorcism, to purge the community of its collective

sin.”43

Finally, we have the power of Spectral Evidence. If there is one ingredient that is

analogous to spectral evidence, it would have to be yeast. It is possible to bake bread without

yeast. But lacking this one ingredient, bread will not rise and its baker would have created no

more than a flat cake. So it was with Spectral evidence and the Witch Trials. As long as spectral

evidence was allowed as valid testimony, accused witches were being convicted. There was

simply no defense against this form of evidence. The hysterical mindset of the Puritans allowed

them to accept the unreliable testimony of spectral evidence. Not only were people being

accused of witchcraft, but they were also being found guilty of it in a court of law. Small and

Nicholi had discovered that an extreme situation can lead to stories which the public accepts as

truth. Bartholomew also noted in his study that, “growth and the spread of generalized belief,

occurs when individuals view the strain within a similar context.”44 No wonder the British South

Africans suspected seeing a German monoplane during World War I. And no wonder why a


group of frightened people, far away from the safety of England, sharing the belief of a darkened

force would accept spectral evidence, unreliable as a rumor, in a court of law. But when the

accused were convicted, the general public had, without dispute, another proven witch on their

hands. Hysteria led people to accept spectral evidence, and spectral evidence gave the power to

convict, which fed right back into the people’s hysteria.

CONCLUSION

The Salem Witch Trials lasted for ten long months. It began with 4 girls playing with

magic and 23 people put to death for associating with the Devil (22 found guilty of witchcraft and

1 man, Giles Cory for refusing to testify against his wife).

It is my opinion that had any of the ingredients discussed in this paper been missing, the

accusations of witchcraft would still have occurred. But each ingredient added an element which

instilled a sense of hysteria at an exponential rate. Once mass hysteria took over, there was no

stopping the situation. Not only had the pot been stirred, it had boiled over.

However, once certain ingredients were taken away, the recipe changed and the witch

craze could no longer be prepared. The main ingredient, when removed, that significantly

changed the course of the trials was spectral evidence. After it was deemed unacceptable

testimony, there was little or nothing left to convict people with. Tangible evidence and facts

simply could not prove that a person a witch. As Starkey put it:

Of the 52 witches who trials were opened in Salem on January 3, the cases

against forty-nine melted like moonshine at daybreak once the new touchstone was

applied. Rule out the visions of the girls and their friends, the tales of airy travels, of

meetings behind Parris' orchard, the testimony of being pinched and choked and being

presented the book45 - and there was nothing left, nothing tangible, nothing provable.46

When spectral evidence was removed, the convictions stopped. When the convictions stopped,

suddenly it seemed that the Puritans had fewer witches on their hands and the threat, none to

soon, came to a close.


PROLOGE

While twenty-three people (including Giles Cory) were killed for being found guilty of

witchcraft, over 150 people were arrested and jailed. The reason that these 150 people were not

executed (although some died while awaiting their sentencing in jail) was for the simple fact that

they lied to save their lives. Although they would have to live with the stigma of having once

having a pact with the Devil they would at least be able to live with their shame. However, history

should note that twenty people were willing to give their lives to maintain the truth of their

innocence. May history and the Church remember their example and strive to honor their

memories by living according to the truth to which the Lord has called us.


Footnotes

1. The Story of the Inquisition, 383.

2. Ibid., 381

3. Ibid., 384

4. Gragg, 10.

5. Stoever, 82.

6. See Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion 3.21.1.John Calvin, The Library of the Christian Classics, Vol. XXI, Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion; John T. McNeill ed., Ford Lewis Battles, trans. (Westminster Press, Philadelphia. 1960), 1476.

7. Antinomianism: (Greek anti, “against,” nomos, “law” Doctrine that faith in Christ frees the Christian from obligation to observe the moral law as set forth in the Old Testament.

8. Noll, 60-62.

9. Silverman, 948

10. Ibid., 948.

11. Ibid., 949.

12. Ibid., 949.

13. Ibid., 953.

14. Matossian, May K., “Ergot and the Salem Witchcraft Affair.” American Scientist, Vol. 70(4). July/Aug, 1982. 355-357.

15. Ibid.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid.

18. Ibid.

19. Ibid.

20. Starkey, 38.

21. Mass psychogenic Illness (MPI) is defined by Elkins, et. al. as, “the occurrence of contagious physical symptomatology in a group of people in which no organic cause for the illness can be identified”: Elkins, Gary, Gamino, Louis A., Rynearson, Robert R., Mass Psychogenic Illness, Trance States, and Suggestion. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. Vol. 30, 4, April 1988.

22. Elkins, Gary, Gamino, Louis A., Rynearson, Robert R., Mass Psychogenic Illness, Trance States, and Suggestion. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. Vol. 30, 4, April 1988.


23. Small and Borus, Outbreak of Illness in a School Chorus: Toxic Poisoning or Mass Hysteria?, in Elkins, Gary, Gamino, Louis A., Rynearson, Robert R., Mass Psychogenic Illness, Trance States, and Suggestion. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. Vol. 30, 4, April 1988.

24. Small, Gary W and Nicholi, Jr., Armand. Mass Hysteria Among School Children. Archives of General Psychiatry. Vol. 39. June 1982.

25. Breslaw, 89.

26. The rate of parental divorce for the hospitalized children was 47% compared with 10% for those not hospitalized. Death within the family occurred in 74% of the hospitalized group compared with 39% of the non-hospitalized group.

27. Remember that Betty and Abigail wre related to Rev. Samuel Parris who would have certainly kept them informed of all the spiritual events of the area.

28. Elkins, Gary, Gamino, Louis A., Rynearson, Robert R., Mass Psychogenic Illness, Trance States, and Suggestion. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. Vol. 30, 4, April 1988.

29. Sigerist, H. E., Civilization and Disease, in Elkins, Gary, Gamino, Louis A., Rynearson, Robert R., Mass Psychogenic Illness, Trance States, and Suggestion. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis. Vol. 30, 4, April 1988.

30. Bartholomew, Robert E. The South African Monoplane Hysteria: An Evaluation of the Usefulness of Smelser’s Theory of Historical Beliefs. Sociological Inquiry. Vol. 59. No. 3. August 1989.

31. Natal Advertiser, August 29, 1914. P. 7 In Bartholomew, Robert E. The South African Monoplane Hysteria: An Evaluation of the Usefulness of Smelser’s Theory of Historical Beliefs. Sociological Inquiry. Vol. 59. No. 3. August 1989.

32. Bartholomew, 289.

33. See the story of the Golden Calf in Exodus 32 paying close attention to verses 27 and 28. The Levites, under the command of God, killed about 3000 people in one day for breaking their covenant with the Lord.

34. Feldmeth, Nathan. Lecture Two: Rise of the Puritans. American Church History at Fuller Theological Seminary Spring Quarter 2000.

35. This was a practice that was derived from the European Witch Hunts. See note 3.

35. Abigail Williams and Betty Parris may have started this practice by being the first to name lower class women from Salem Village.

36. See Ingredient VI: Tituba.

37. Breslaw, 96.

38. Ibid., 96. 39. Ibid., 112.

40. Below is a portion of the transcripts from Tituba’s examination.


Transcript is from Pual Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, eds., Salem Witchcraft Papers: Verbatim Transcripts of the Legal Documents, 3 vols. New York: DeCap, 1977 In Breslaw, Elaine G. Tituba Reluctant Witch of Salem. New York University Press, New York. 1996.

Tituba the Ind'n Woem'ns Examn March. 1. 1691/2 [March 1,1692] Why doe you hurt these poor Children? whatt harme have thay done ont you?

Tituba: thay doe noe harme to me I noe hurt them att all.

Why have you done itt?

T:I have done nothing; I Can‘t tell when the Devill works

what doe the Devill tell you that he hurts them?

T:noe he tells me nothing

doe you never see Something appeare in Some shape?

T:noe never See any thing

what familiarity have you w'th the devill, or w't is itt if you Converse q'th all? Tell the truth whoe itt

is that hurts them

T: the Devill for ought I know

w't appearanc or how dothe he appeare when the hurts them, w'th w't shape or what is he like

that hurts them

T: like a man I think yesterday I being in the Lentoe Chamber I saw a thing like a man, that tould

me Searve him & I tould him noe I would nott doe Such thing. [Recorder's note: she charges

Goody Osborne & Sarah Good as those that hurt the Children, and would have had hir done itt,

she sayth she Seen foure two of w'ch she knew nott she saw them last night as she was washing

the Roome] thay tould me hurt the Children & would have had me if I woud nott goe & hurt them

they would doe soe to mee att first I did agree w'th them butt afterward I tould them I doe soe noe

more.

would they have had you hurt the Children the Last Night

41. Breslaw, 115.

42. Ibid, 108-109.

43. Bartholomew, 239.

44. The “Book“ was a book of Death that victims claimed the spirits of the Witches were making them write their names in.

45. Starkey, 235.

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