Colonial Witchcraft: The Road to the Salem Witch Trials

It wasn't long ago that most Americans believed in demons and witches, and demonic manifestations. If something was going wrong in your society - drought, plague, disease, crop failure, war - how much easier it was to blame it on the devil, rather than taking any responsibility as an individual or a society. And if one was going to track down witches, one didn't really want them to be able to mount a defense. Thus, "spectral evidence" became useful, since there was no defense against it, and it was solely at the initiative of the accuser. There were witch trials in Connecticut, Virginia, and Massachusetts - and in Spanish New Mexico, for good measure. Most of the trials ended up in executions. This book takes a brief look at "Witchcraft in Colonial America", the persecution of which didn't end until the 18th century. The primary focus is on the Salem Witch Trials of 1692/93, which was the greatest - and essentially last - example of witch trials. The book contains 37 illustrations.