Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft

“Cases of Conscience called attention to an obvious fact that had become blurred in the quest for empirical proof: central to the validity of any evidence was the trustworthiness of its source and the circumstances under which it was secured.” 

Even though Increase Mather wrote a treatise calling for credible witnesses in the witch trials, his advice was useless in the Salem court proceedings. Both Thomas and Ann Putnam were community leaders whose credibility would never be questioned. Their hidden resentments against east Village residents informed all their accusations. 

“Something was subtly different about the situation in Salem Village in 1692, something which no one anticipated beforehand and which no one could explain at the time. What was it? This is the problem which will be engaging us in all the pages that follow.” 

The authors posit a theory that no earlier scholars had considered. Salem was not typical of colonial America; it was an anomaly that nobody recognized. By approaching the village as an aberrant ecosystem, the authors are able to explain the perfect storm that created the witch craze of 1692. 

“In each of these communities, in other words, the behavior of groups of young people (whatever may have produced it) served as a kind of Rorschach test into which adults read their own concerns and expectations.” 

The girls of Salem demonstrated odd behavior, which was then defined by the adults around them. As the adults selectively focused on some phenomena and dismissed others, they shaped a theory of what this puzzling behavior meant. Witchcraft wasn’t a foregone conclusion, but it was the conclusion that best suited the adults of Salem.