In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692

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Award-winning historian Mary Beth Norton reexamines the Salem witch trials in thisstartlingly original, meticulously researched, and utterly riveting study. In 1692 the people of Massachusetts were living in fear, and not solely of satanic afflictions. Horrifyingly violent Indian attacks had all but emptied the northern frontier of settlers, and many traumatized refugees—including the main accusers of witches—had fled to communities like Salem. Meanwhile the colony’s leaders, defensive about their own failure to protect the frontier, pondered how God’s people could be suffering at the hands of savages. Struck by the similarities between what the refugees had witnessed and what the witchcraft “victims” described, many were quick to see a vast conspiracy of the Devil (in league with the French and the Indians) threatening New England on all sides. By providing this essential context to the famous events, and by casting her net well beyond the borders of Salem itself, Norton sheds new light on one of the most perplexing and fascinating periods in our history. TITLE PAGE TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION PRAISE INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE SALEM VILLAGE “SADLY AFFLICTED” THE FIRST EXAMINATIONS TORMENTED YOUNG PEOPLE AND NEIGHBORING WITCHES CHAPTER TWO THE ACCUSATIONS OF MARTHA COREY AND REBECCA NURSE THE EXAMINATION OF MARTHA COREY “A WOMAN OF YOUR PROFESSION” TWO SERMONS AND A DIABOLIC SACRAMENT THE PROCTORS, THEIR MAID, AND SARAH CLOYCE THE THIRD CONFESSION CHAPTER THREE THE FIRST INDIAN WAR THE SECOND INDIAN WAR BEGINS THE DISASTERS OF 1690 A WAR OF ATTRITION CHAPTER FOUR FOUR SUSPECTS AND ANOTHER CONFESSION “A WHEEL WITHIN A WHEEL” NINE ACCUSATIONS AND ANOTHER IMPORTANT CONFESSOR ANOTHER ACCUSER FROM MAINE AND HER FIRST TARGET SOME “USUAL SUSPECTS” A CONFEDERATE OF THE DEVIL CHAPTER FIVE TWO MALE WITCHES AND TWO MORE CONFESSORS THE SECOND CONFESSIONS OF ABIGAIL HOBBS AND MARY WARREN CONTINUED PROCEEDINGS UNDER NEW AUSPICES AN AFFLICTED FORMER CAPTIVE AND HER MISTRESS SOME USUAL AND UNUSUAL SUSPECTS CHAPTER SIX PREPARING FOR THE TRIALS THE TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF BRIDGET BISHOP QUESTIONS AND CAVEATS BEGIN THE SECOND SESSION OF THE COURT OF OYER AND TERMINER CHAPTER SEVEN THE CRISIS BROADENS THE COURT’S THIRD SESSION (1) THE COURT’S THIRD SESSION (2): THE TRIAL OF GEORGE BURROUGHS THE WONDERS OF THE INVISIBLE WORLD CHAPTER EIGHT THE FINAL SESSION OF THE COURT OF OYER AND TERMINER THE DISSOLUTION OF THE COURT THE FINAL TRIALS CONCLUSION EPILOGUE APPENDIX I APPENDIX II APPENDIX III APPENDIX IV NOTES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR ALSO BY MARY BETH NORTON COPYRIGHT PAGE