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This chapter provides a description of the witch trials centered in Salem Village, MA, in 1692–1693 and overviews the main strands of interpretation of the causes of the witch craze. The focus of the chapter is on the primary sources of our knowledge of the trials, including the trial records as well as the contemporaneous eyewitness accounts and commentaries. The chapter argues that while these writings have been studied closely by historians, they have yet to receive careful attention from literary, rhetorical, and text‐historical perspectives.

Even more dangerous were \"devils in the guise of saints\" who masquerade as pious believers. Such people, [Samuel Parris] argued, had caused the \"dreadful Witchcraft\" afflicting the village. They had sold their souls in exchange for demonic powers to advance their interests and torment their enemies. \"If ever there were witches - men and women in covenant with the devil,\" Parris insisted, \"here are multitudes in New England.\" The danger was great. Whenever the devil and his allies gain power, they \"make war\" on all who oppose them. The Evil One need only \"hold up his finger\" and \"his servants and slaves will obey.\" And Parris knew just who they might be: the ambitious, over- reaching people, grasping for power and wealth. New England's devils included those who \"prefer farms and merchandise above (Christ) and his ordinances.\" Yet [Hugo Chavez] might also take heart from the hopeful notes in Parris' 1692 sermons. Convinced of God's sovereignty, Parris took the long view - the very long view. The devil and his minions will make war \"as long as they can,\" he conceded, but \"(i)t will not be forever. There will be a time when they shall war no longer.\" Despite powerful evidence to the contrary, they are ultimately \"the weakest side.\" When God so wills, the devil will be \"chained up, so that he cannot ... form an army ... against the saints.\" Seemingly omnipotent today, he will someday \"be cast into the lowest and fiercest flames of misery.\"

The trials, which spread to communities all over New England, did not happen in a vacuum, [Frances Hill] said. Settlers brought with them the beliefs of old Europe, where people had been accused of being witches for centuries. Those supernatural beliefs were personified by the constant threat of aboriginals, who were thought of as devils. Hill hopes the section of the book that examines the trials in popular culture will clarify myths, in particular, one that the [Samuel Parris] family's slave, Tituba, was black. Colour Photo: Bob Osgood sits in period costume after giving a tour in the reproduction 1672 Salem Village Meeting House on the Rebecca Nurse Homestead in Danvers, Mass. Nurse was one of 20 people executed during the witchcraft hysteria of 1692. The tragic reality of the trials is 180 degrees from what many tourists perceive, and understanding the trials requires an understanding of the times in which they happened, according to Frances Hill, author of The Salem Witch Trials Reader. ;

[Frances Hill] writes that the trials were a turning point in U.S. history, making a \"transition from Puritanism, with its values of community, simplicity and piety, to the new Yankee world of individualism, urbanity and freedom of conscience.\" The trials, which spread to communities all over New England, did not happen in a vacuum, Hill said. Settlers brought with them the beliefs of old Europe, where people had been accused of being witches for centuries. Those supernatural beliefs were personified by the constant threat of aboriginals, who were thought of as devils. Hill hopes the section of the book that examines the trials in popular culture will clarify myths, in particular, one that the [Samuel Parris] family's slave, Tituba, was black.

British author Frances Hill has written a book that provides a genuine historical perspective on the witch hunt by using first- person accounts from the infamous 17th century trials that led to 20 people being executed and hundreds of others sent to prison. Hill hopes the section of the book that examines the trials in popular culture will clarify myths, in particular, one that the [Samuel Parris] family's slave, Tituba, was black. The witchcraft scare began after Tituba told voodoo tales to young girls. The girls became excited and a physician said they were bewitched. Tituba was sentenced to death for witchcraft. Before the hysteria ended a year later, 19 people were hanged and one person pressed to death. Scholars have long known Tituba was aboriginal -- and considering the colonists' views of Indians, it was easy to make her a scapegoat, Hill says. \"The myth she was African was racist, and formed in the 19th and early 20th centuries,\" Hill said.

[Frances Hill] writes that the trials were a turning point in the nation's history, making a \"transition from Puritanism, with its values of community, simplicity and piety, to the new Yankee world of individualism, urbanity and freedom of conscience.\"

Also in \"The Salem Witch Trials Reader,\" [Frances Hill] discusses the fears of white settlers in the Massachusetts Bay colony that led to the trials, and she examines their impact on pop culture. The trials, which spread to communities all over New England, did not happen in a vacuum, Hill said. Settlers brought with them the beliefs of old Europe, where people had been accused of being witches for centuries. Those supernatural beliefs were personified by the constant threat of Native Americans, thought of as devils. Hill hopes the section of the book that examines the trials in popular culture will clarify myths, in particular a popular one that the [Samuel Parris] family's slave, Tituba, was black.

The trials, which spread to communities all over New England, did not happen in a vacuum, [Frances Hill] said. Settlers brought with them the beliefs of old Europe, where people had been accused of being witches for centuries. Those supernatural beliefs were personified by the constant threat of aboriginals, who were thought of as devils. Hill hopes the section of the book that examines the trials in popular culture will clarify myths, in particular, one that the [Samuel Parris] family's slave, Tituba, was black. Photo: Associated Press / Harry Smith of Danvers, Mass. takes photos of old gravestones on the Rebecca Nurse Homestead in Danvers, Mass. Nurse was one of 20 people executed during the witchcraft hysteria of 1692. The tragic reality of the trials is 180 degrees from what many tourists perceive, and understanding the trials requires an understanding of the times in which they happened, according to Frances Hill, author of The Salem Witch Trials Reader. ;

BOSTON - The voices behind the Salem witch trials have come alive, but they aren't meant to conjure up a Halloween haunting. British author Frances Hill has written a book that provides a genuine historical perspective on the witch hunt by using first-person accounts from the infamous 17th century trials that led to 20 people being executed and hundreds of others sent to prison.

[Frances Hill] writes that the trials were a turning point in U.S. history, making a \"transition from Puritanism, with its values of community, simplicity and piety, to the new Yankee world of individualism, urbanity and freedom of conscience.\" The trials, which spread to communities all over New England, did not happen in a vacuum, Hill said. Settlers brought with them the beliefs of old Europe, where people had been accused of being witches for centuries. Those supernatural beliefs were personified by the constant threat of aboriginals, who were thought of as devils. Hill hopes the section of the book that examines the trials in popular culture will clarify myths, in particular, one that the [Samuel Parris] family's slave, Tituba, was black.