And for the researcher, I've compiled my own tips for those who are interested in dabbling in Non, Historic Fiction or Genealogy. So my tutorial is below:
As for your question (assuming it's one but with the poor grammar, hard to tell), I need specific, detailed questions. What you've asked is far too broad. Sorry. But if you think of one, post here or PM me.
Okay, I have an essay I wrote a long time ago about the Salem Witch Trials. Honestly, it's not the greatest essay I've ever written, but I had it sitting around so I thought, why not share it?
The Salem Witch Trials and Malleus Maleficarum
The Salem Witch Trials were the result of mass paranoia over a period of 25 years. For nearly a quarter of a century, a phobia of all things supernatural ravaged New England. Over 25 people were burned, drowned, and hanged for their so-called “covenanting with evil spirits”. However, the testimonies that led to the execution of said individuals were quite dubious. In one case, a man was put to death because a young girl said she thought she saw someone who looked like him fly up into a tree and call out to her. In another case, the mass hysteria of middle aged gossipers led to an elderly woman, wife of 50 years and active churchgoer, being executed. Why was this old woman killed? Because several woman said they had apparitions of her that would appear from thin air and harass them. One of the prosecuting women said the old woman was bewitching her and making her unable to have her period.
To comprehend how this could have happened, one needs to look at the documents presiding over the trials. The guidelines that were followed to deal with came from the document, Malleus Maleficarum, literally, “The Witch Hammer”, written in 1486. This paranoid and hearsay ridden article claimed to explain the devastation that witches could cause. It contained so-called evidence for the witches’ existence and ranted about their involvement with all things sexual. Clearly, the author never got “the talk” and associated anything that had to do with the plumbing with witches. According to the author of Malleus Maleficarum, a sacred pact with evil could be made by copulating with Satan. It went on from here to “prove” the existence of demons known as Succubus and Incubus. These were demons said to have sexual powers of humans. Copulating with these demons in one’s dreams was said to give them their energy while taking it away from you. Throughout the land, Incubus and Succubus were seen as the cause of wet dreams. But! Malleus Maleficarum goes on to explain that witches copulate with Incubi for fun! Almost seeming outraged, Malleus Maleficarum explained that these witches did it willingly. And the book goes on to reason that the way witches managed to disappear and reappear somewhere else instantly was with these sex-demons. He claimed they were carried wherever they wished by their patron succubus/incubus.
Thus, any problems that occurred were immediately blamed on witches. If someone was unable to have children, they blamed whatever enemies they might have of using witchcraft to cause their problem. If someone got sick, blame the witches. If someone had chronic aches and pains, then there must have been a witch tormenting them. Any time someone saw something out of the ordinary, the witch-hunting brigade got together and found someone with long fingers to burn. Since the church was granted the power to combat witches by the Pope circa AD 1500, the local parish became responsible for the banishment of witches. However, the government court system quickly took control and stomped on the problem with atypical efficiency.
That’s how 25 people were executed for “witchcraft and the covenanting with evil spirits“.
As I said, it's not the greatest paper I've ever written, but it's at least something.
... to add to Scotty's outstanding article, the descriptions given, are the Puritan's mindset, which carried on to the mid 1700's. The Puritans were supremely religious; dedicated to God's Word, and some of the most famous names ever to rise, such as Cotton Mather, actively pounded these beliefs into the mind's the the listeners in Church.
Mather was one of the judges that condemed several people to death in August of 1692 by way of hanging. Giles Corey was the only man to be pressed to death. Corey's wife was hung in August as well.
Cotton Mather, circa 1700
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Samuel Sewell, appointed judge, he assumed his role next to the "hang judge," John Hathorne (Hawthorne's Great Grandfather who was a poet, and later changed his name to not be affliated with his ancestor). Sewell is the regarded as the only judge to publically admit, on the Sabbath (Sunday), that he felt exceedingly great remorse for his role earlier in life. Because a loved one of Sewell died young, he thought the Devil was working His evil ways and punishing him. Thus Sewell, hoping to find solace and wash out his sin, Sewell wrote later, just before his death, also the grief he still felt in partaking in the 1692 hysteria.
To this day, Sewell's diary still exists and is an invaluable source to the lives of the late 17th Century.
If you're interested in The Salem Witch Trials and you fancy some reading material then you should check out Arthur Miller's play The Crucible. It's not really research but it's great to read if you are interested in the trials.
Oh my gosh I am going to hug you and give you a million thank yous for asking this question!
I am a self proclaimed expert on this after doing a year of hard core research on it for NHD (evil history competition). I know so much info that I can't put it all here so PM me some specific questions and I'll answer them to the best of my knowledge!
Alainna- The Cruciable is great but unfortunately, it is a complete work of fiction. It's a great play, though!
"Old times" never come back and I suppose it's just as well. What comes back is a new morning every day in the year, and that's better.
-George E. Woodberry
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