Witchcraft: Andover and Mathers

Other old and ill-favored women now shared with the Irish woman in the suspicion of being witches, and several of them were publicly accused and imprisoned. The "afflicted," under the influence of the witchery, professed to see the forms of their tormentors with their "inner vision," and would forthwith accuse some individual seen. At length the "afflicted" and the accused became so numerous that no person was safe from suspicion and its consequences. Even those who were active in the prosecutions became objects of suspicion. A magistrate who had presided at the condemnation of several persons, becoming convinced of the wrongfulness of the proceedings and protesting against it, was himself accused and suffered much. A constable, who had arrested many and refused to arrest any more, was accused, condemned and hanged. Neither age, sex nor condition were considered. Sir William Phipps, the governor of Massachusetts, his lieutenant-governor, the near relations of the Mathers, and learned and distinguished men who had promoted the dreadful delusion by acquiescing in the proceedings against accused persons, became objects of suspicion. The governor's wife, Lady Phipps, one of the purest and best of women, was accused of being a witch. The sons of Governor Bradstreet were compelled to fly to avoid the perils of false accusations; and near relatives of the Mathers were imprisoned on similar charges. Malice, revenge and rapacity often impelled persons to accuse others who were innocent; and when some statement of the accused would move the court and audience in favor of the prisoner, the accuser would solemnly declare that he saw the devil standing beside the victim whispering the touching words in his or her ear. And the absurd statement would be believed by the judges on the bench. Some, terrified and with the hope of saving their lives or avoiding the horrors of imprisonment, would falsely accuse their friends and kinsfolk; while others, moved by the same instinct and hopes, would falsely confess themselves to be witches.

When the magnates in church and state found themselves in danger, they thought of the golden rule, and suspected they had been acting unrighteously toward others. They cautiously expressed their doubts of the policy and justice of further proceedings against accused persons. A citizen of Andover, who was accused, wiser and more bold than governor and clergy, immediately caused the arrest of his accuser on a charge of defamation of character, and laid his damages at five thousand dollars. The effect of this act was wonderful. The public mind was in sympathy with it. The spell was instantly broken, and witchcraft was no more heard of in Andover. The impression then made quickly spread over the province, and deluded and wicked persons hastened to make amends for their errors and crimes.

The abashed clergy were compelled to take action because of the unexpected change in public opinion. At a convention held in June, 1693, they declared that it was not inconsistent with Scripture to believe that the devil might assume the shape of a good man, and that he may so have deceived the "afflicted." So his Satanic majesty as usual was conveniently made the scapegoat for the sins and follies of magistrates, clergy, and people. Many of the accusers and witnesses came forward and published solemn recantations or denials of the truth of their testimony, which had been given, they said, to save their own lives. Governor Phipps, after his wife was accused and the Andover citizen had killed the monster delusion, gave orders for the release of all persons under arrest for witchcraft. The Legislature of Massachusetts appointed a day for a general fast and solemn supplication "that God would pardon all the errors of his servants and people in a late tragedy raised among us by Satan and his instruments." And Judge Sewall, who had presided at many trials in Salem, stood up in his place in church on that fast day, and implored the prayers of the people that the errors which he had committed "might not be visited by the judgments of an avenging God on his country, his family, or himself." Mr. Paris, the parish minister in Danvers, in whose family the delusion had its rise, and who, throughout the "reign of terror," was one of the most earnest prosecutors of alleged witches, was compelled to resign his charge and leave the country.

These recantations, acknowledgments of error and pleadings for mercy, could not restore to the bereaved the spirits of those who had been hanged, nor make amends for the pains others had suffered. The delusion had prevailed in greatest vehemence more than six months, and it was not allayed for more than a year. During that time nineteen persons had been hanged, and one had been killed by the horrid process of pressing to death; fifty-five had been tortured or frightened into a confession of guilt; one hundred and fifty had been imprisoned, and full two hundred had been named as worthy of arrest. Amongst those hanged was the Rev. Mr. Burroughs, an exemplary clergyman, whose purity of character was conspicuous. Others, whose innocence and good name should have shielded them from harm, were coarsely assailed at the scaffold. One aged citizen, as was afterward proven, was falsely accused by a malignant enemy. While declaring his innocence to the multitudes, smoke from the executioner's pipe choked his utterances, when his accuser and his associates brutally shouted: "See how the devil wraps him in smoke!" A moment afterward he was hanged.