The Monthly EnquirerThe Monthly Enquirer

Cover Story: Witch Trials

Weather

Ask Helpful Sarah

Revolt!

The weather lately has become quite stormy. Dark thunder clouds have descended upon our land and it rains continuously. It has been a dry year though, so I hope our crops will do well. Some are blaming the witches for this morbid weather. But weather it’s the Devil himself or simply nature more storms are coming this week.

Weather

Witch TrialsA series of trials were

started in Salem. The whole affair started when two town girls were taken ill in the night. They could not speak or eat and lay still and tormented all day. As the sickness progressed, bits of information began to come out. Reverend Paris said that he saw the children dancing and chanting. He even said that he saw one of the girls naked, dancing through the woods. The ill girls and some other servant girls in the village had been with an indentured servant named Tituba. She had come from Barbados and talked of curses and the devil. The girls were confronted and confessed to their crimes along with naming those who walked with the devil. The trials have escalated and have turned to chaos. Evidence is little more than hearsay and upstanding members of society are being accused. We can only say how lucky we are that we have no witches, real or otherwise, in our town.

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Dear Helpful Sarah,

My Servant acts quite strange. She sits and mumbles and I am afraid to catch her eye as I walk past. I don’t know what to do. With all this talk of witches I fear I might have one in my house now. Oh I don’t know she frightens me intensely. Sometimes as I lie awake at night I hear the floorboards creak outside my door. Last week I saw something in the woodshed. I only hope that I will last until you can reply.

Sincerely, 

Confused and Afraid

Well, Confused and Afraid, I hope that you are sure of your charges, because if you are not you are messing about with deadly business. Just because your servant is a little different does not mean that she is into the dark arts. Imagine if you were her: taken away from your family, maybe on a different continent, taken into basic slavery for a family you may not like. Instead be a good Christian and sympathize don’t judge. Only God shall judge us.

Helpful Sarah

Ask Helpful Sarah

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At first the court held him in contempt but as the trials continued a few honorable men began to talk of how unreasonable the court was being. These “conspirators” questioned the court when they arrested a local midwife who was a pillar of the community. By that time many families had been affected by the trials and only a few had seen it in a good light. The town came together and drove the judges and the accusers out of town. 

Revolt!

The Nearby town of Andover has thrown out the court. They grew tired and annoyed at the courts blatant dismissal of reason in their proceedings with witches. The court had abandoned true evidence and fairness for the shallow accusations of little girls. So the court was overthrown in an uproar. It began with a defendant who, when pressured, questioned how he could confess if either way his soul would be damned.

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