New England's Other Witch-hunt

Although many teachers focus on the Salem witch-hunt of 1692, the history of witchcraft in New England provides other important perspectives from which to examine this perennially interesting topic. Salem, as the most expansive and punitive single episode of witch-hunting in colonial New England, assuredly merits, and gets, significant attention. In the past decade, more than thirty scholarly works, a dozen educational video projects, at least nine major internet websites, and over a hundred primary and secondary supplementary curriculum resources have been produced, all focusing on the Salem witch-hunt. As useful as much of this material is, concentrating exclusively on the events at Salem masks critical features of the cultural and historic importance of witchcraft as a continuous presence in New England's history. Witches, many students are surprised to learn, were an active force in New England from the early seventeenth century until well into the nineteenth century. Had the Salem witch-hunt never happened, colonial New England would still have a long and complicated history of witchcraft allegations, trials, and executions. New England Puritans accused at least one hundred people of witchcraft in the half-century before Salem. Fourteen of those people, and perhaps as many as sixteen, answered those charges with their lives. Fear of witches and belief in their magical powers was not an isolated episode in the colonial experience; it was deeply woven into early New England's culture

Archaeology · Colonialism · Dozen · Expansive · Folklore · Media studies · New england · Political science · Sociology · Witch · Witness · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · History · Law

• Burning Feathers

  Joseph Pentangelo•Folklore•2021

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• Witchcraft Beliefs and Witch Hunts

  Open Access•Niek Koning, N B J Koning•Human Nature•2013

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