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Discover American History Text Text Text More Text Even More Text Text Text Text More Text SALEM WITCHES September 2016 Discover American History Meg Chorlian, Editor Debra M. Porter, Senior Art Director John Hansen, Designer Ellen Bingham, Copy Editor and Proofreader Naomi Pasachoff, Editorial Consultant, Research Associate, Williams College James M. O’Connor, Director of Editorial Jestine Ware, Assistant Editor Christine Voboril, Permissions Specialist Frances Nankin and Hope H. Pettegrew, Founders Advisory Board Eric Arnesen, Professor of History The George Washington University Diane L. Brooks, Ed.D., Director (retired) Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Office California Department of Education Ken Burns Florentine Films Beth Haverkamp Powers, Teacher age age Milford, New Hampshire p p Maryann Manning, Professor 40 45 School of Education University of Alabama at Birmingham Alexis O’Neill, Author and page Museum Education Consultant Lee Stayer, Teacher 26 Advent Episcopal Day School Birmingham, Alabama Sandra Stotsky, Professor of Education Reform 21st Century Chair in Teacher Quality University of Arkansas For customer service, please call 800-821-0115 Check out our on-line teacher’s guides at www.cricketmedia .com/teacher-resources/. NEW!2015 Parents’ Choice Magazine Gold Award Winner CONSULTING EDITOR ABOUT THE COVER 2014 Parents’ Choice Magazine Gold Award Winner Marilynne K. Roach is an illustrator, writer, and The Salem witch trials were held in a court 2013 Parents’ Choice Magazine Gold Award Winner researcher who is a life-long resident of Massachusetts before a jury, but it was impossible to defend and lives a train ride away from Salem. She has written against spectral evidence, which were claims 2012 Parents’ Choice Magazine several books on the subject of the Salem witch trials. by the accusers that they had “seen” the Gold Award Winner Having researched the 1692 trials for decades, she finds accused person’s spirit or ghost exhibiting George Washington Honor Medal that new bits and pieces of information continue to witch-like behavior. Award Winner turn up. JOIN US ON Indexed and/or Abstracted in: Children’s Magazine Guide Primary Search and Middle Search Readers’ Guide for Young People Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature www.facebook.com/cricketmedia FEATURES ACTIVITIES 2 Before Salem 38 All About Salem by Andrew Matthews Crossword Puzzle by Will Bremen 6 Stressed Out by Jennifer Raifteiri-McArdle DEPARTMENTS page 11 The Witch Scare Begins 24 1 Editor’s Note by Marilynne K. Roach 24 Did You Know? 40 Going Global 14 Young Puritans by Bryan Langdo by Jennifer Raifteiri-McArdle 42 Brain Ticklers 43 Your Letters 16 Order in the Court! 44 Just for Fun by Marjorie Rackliffe 45 Dr. D’s Mystery Hero by Dennis Denenberg 21 The “Late Troubles at Salem” 46 Spotlight On . by Marjorie Rackliffe by Ebenezer 48 Say What? 26 Never Forget 49 Cartoon Connection by Barbara Brooks Simons by K.E. Lewis page 30 Examining the Evidence: 16 An Interview with Marilynne K. Roach by Meg Chorlian 32 Modern Witch-Hunts by Marcia Amidon Lusted 34 Witchy Characters by Barbara Radcliffe Rogers and Andrew Matthews During the witch trials, the atmosphere was so frightening that family EDITOR’S NOTE members accused one another of being witches! Good thing Puritans didn’t The Salem witch trials is a topic that is hard to fathom today. To celebrate holidays. Can even begin to understand what happened, we need to forget our you imagine how awkward large family get-togethers 21st-century lives and try to imagine life in Salem in 1692. At that might have been in the time and in that place, people believed that Devil-worshipping years that followed? witches were real. As fear and hysteria spread, hundreds of people faced accusations of being witches, and 20 innocent people were killed. The more I read about the trials, the more fascinating and layered the history became. In the end, however, I kept wondering one thing: What would I have done in Salem in 1692 if I or some- one I knew was accused? How would you answer that question? Editor Beforeby Andrew Matthews Salem he word witch often brings up an image of an old woman with a hooked nose and a pointy chin wearing a Tpeaked black hat and a black dress. She spends her time stirring a brew of nasty- smelling things in a cauldron. She creates mischief, casting spells and cursing people as she flies through the night on a broomstick with her black cat. Today, people understand that this concept of a witch is not real. Yet, until a few hundred years ago, people believed that it was true. They also believed that witches were the servants of the Devil. Versions of witches evolved over many centuries. Ancient civilizations The Middle Ages was the period in believed in multiple gods and goddesses who could inspire good and evil. European history People prayed to certain gods for their aid and intervention—to help the from about sick or promote healthy crops or provide blessings. Several goddesses in A.D. 476 to 1453, between antiquity Greek myths were closely associated with darkness and moonlit nights: and the Renaissance. Artemis, goddess of the hunt, wild animals, and childbirth; Selene, Heretics are goddess of the moon; and Hecate, goddess of the spirits of the dead, witch- people who hold controversial craft, and magic. Hecate particularly shared many characteristics later opinions, especially in attributed to witches. She lived in tombs and appeared at crossroads on public opposition to clear nights, accompanied by spirits and howling dogs. She had knowledge the Roman Catholic Church. of herbs and poisonous plants. She was present when the spirit entered The Inquisition was and left the human body—at birth and at death. a court held in the Over the centuries, a shift occurred away from worshipping many Roman Catholic Church to identify gods. The rise of Judaism and Christianity introduced the idea of one and persecute God as the image of good, and the Devil or Satan as the image of evil. As heretics or church Christianity spread and became more established in Europe, religion and members who publicly dissented religious leaders held enormous influence on people’s lives. Church lead- from the Church’s ers dismissed the existence of witches as superstition and as not being in beliefs. agreement with Christian beliefs. 2 Toward the end of the Middle Ages, witchcraft and magic became Over time, practicing sorcery or closely associated with the Devil. Witches were credited with all kinds magic became connected with of powers. They were said to transform themselves or other people into witches doing the Devil’s work. animals and to enter hidden places by leaving their bodies behind. They were believed to make spells and potions capable of inspiring passion, creating delusions, and changing love to hate. They were believed capable of causing illness and bringing about storms and other disasters. To carry out their secret plans, witches met together after dark. They were said to recruit followers by getting them to sign their names in the Devil’s book. The mostly Christian Europe of the 15th century believed it was wag- ing a war against the Devil and his followers. Witchcraft became a crime so terrible and evil that sparing the innocent was not as important as punishing the guilty. Any means, including torture and false promises, was justified if it led to the discovery and punishment of the guilty. Since women were viewed as spiritually and physically weaker than men, they were considered more vulnerable to the attacks and corrupting influence of the Devil and more likely to become his followers. Witch-hunting was supported by the most powerful men of the age. In 1320, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope John XXII, declared that witches were heretics. In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued a decree FAST FACT that defined the powers of the Inquisition to be used for the suppression of While the vast majority witchcraft. Two years later, two German friars, Henry Kraemer and Jacob of accused “witches” Sprenger, published the Malleus Maleficarum, or The Hammer of Witches. over the centuries were The publication stated that acts of witchcraft were real, dangerous, and women, men were associated with the Devil. The work provided information on how to fight accused of practicing witchcraft, too. and destroy witches. It supported the use of torture and suggested that if 3 DID YOU KNOW? he most famous “witch” to be Texecuted in Europe was Joan of Arc. Joan was a French peasant girl who rallied the French army to defeat an invading English army at Orleans. She was captured in the spring of 1430, turned over to the English, accused of being a witch, and burned at the stake in 1431. She later was declared a saint. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake for being a “witch,” but her real “crime” may have been that she was a woman who stepped outside the accepted boundaries between men and women in the 15th century. the “guilty” party could not be made to confess, it might be because the Devil had power over her or him. From the 15th through the 18th centuries, tens of thousands of accused Fear and hysteria “witches” were burned at the stake in Europe. The witch-hunts reached can make people do terrible things. their height between the late 1500s to the mid-1600s. The accused came from a variety of backgrounds, but they were more likely to be women, poor, or elderly. They also often showed an independence from male authority or an outspokenness that was not considered appropriate for the time. It was not until the 18th century that witch-hunting was discredited and witches and witchcraft were proclaimed imaginary.

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