61 pages • 2 hours read
Mary Beth NortonIn the Devil's Snare
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2002A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 4-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “The Dreadfull Apparition of a Minister: April 19-May 9, 1692”
When Abigail Hobbs confessed that she had been recruited by the devil in Maine in 1688, she connected the spectral assaults on Essex County with the Wabanaki attacks on the northeastern frontier. This linkage had a “dramatic impact” (113). Those earlier suspected of witchcraft or fitting the stereotype, such as Bridget Bishop, were quickly accused. Hobbs’s confession caused people to connect their fears of their neighbors with those of the war. It also gave validation to accusations outside of Salem Village while keeping the early accusers at the center of the crisis. Hobbs lived in Falmouth for six years and undoubtedly knew Mercy Lewis, who would have highlighted her “irreverent behavior” to others. On April 20, four more joined the nine who were already in prison. The examinations were driven by the fits of the afflicted in the presence of the accused. Those who were skeptical or indifferent to the sufferings of the afflicted were automatically considered guilty.
Ann Putnam, Jr., then had a vision of the Reverend George Burroughs as a witch. This spectral encounter elevated the scope of the crisis to unprecedented levels. This accusation against Burroughs became critical in linking Salem Village to Falmouth—in other words, it linked the spectral attacks to the Wabanaki attacks. Norton notes that Lewis had certainly discussed Burroughs in front of Ann, Jr., and that this accusation highlights the enormous influence Lewis had on the unfolding crisis. From May 2 to July 6, 39 more people were accused of witchcraft. Those with frontier ties or past accusations of witchcraft became obvious targets.
Burroughs was never formally ordained as a minister; he moved to Casco in the early 1670s. He had an “uncanny ability to survive the attacks on Falmouth in August 1676 and September 1689” (130), and he left Casco Bay before Falmouth fell to the Wabanakis in May 1690. His ability to survive these raids made him a suspect. Lewis would have resented his survival given that her family was killed in the attacks on Falmouth. Soon, Burroughs was repeatedly named by several accusers as the leader of the witches; it was considered both “dreadfull” and suitable that a clergyman would have this role.
In April 21, a big group of accused faced examination together with a large crowd in attendance. Going forward, this would become the pattern. Accusers were now seeing witches “infesting Salem Village” (132). Like the common sightings of the “black man,” the afflicted regularly claimed that they were being torn to pieces. Norton explains that the threat of torture and dismemberment from the war fueled these visions, which were not prominent before 1692. Deliverance Hobbs, who confessed to witchcraft, claimed to see Burroughs as “the celebrant of the diabolic sacrament” (139). Since Burroughs was not ordained, he could not administer sacraments in the visible world, so the accusers claimed he did so in the invisible one. Norton points out that the dates of the spectral meetings from the various accusers did not match, but the magistrates overlooked this fact.
Susannah Sheldon, who was from Maine, accused the wealthy merchant Philip English of afflicting her. Since English was French speaking and traded on the Maine coast, he aroused suspicion. The Massachusetts General Court had passed legislation forbidding any French person from residing on the frontier and engaging in trade without permission. Once English was accused, William Beale accused him of causing his son’s death because Beale had testified against him in an older property claim. Norton argues that English was accused of witchcraft solely because of the war against the French and Wabanakis. With charges filed, English fled to Boston. However, Burroughs was still in Wells, Maine. On April 30, the governor and council ordered the arrest of Burroughs.
Several accusers claimed to see Burroughs’s specter, and there were claims that he murdered his wives. From April 20 onward, specters even began confessing to crimes, such as murder. Ann, Jr., claimed to have seen the ghosts of Burroughs’s former wives, who accused Burroughs of murder. While the magistrates had failed to get many people to confess to witchcraft, the accusers now extracted confessions in the invisible world. They had supplanted the magistrates who had “ceased all attempts to conduct meaningful examinations” (154). When Burroughs appeared for examination, many accusers claimed to be tortured; much of the testimony against him pertained to how he survived the attacks in Maine.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Many Offenders in Custody: April 30-May 31, 1692”
In late April and early May, the accusations of witchcraft increased in the aftermath of Burroughs being identified as the witches’ leader. Those accused typically had links to the war on the Maine frontier, and they included prominent men and women. Sarah Churchwell, who became a maidservant after her wealthy family was killed in Maine, claimed that her master, George Jacobs, Sr., had afflicted her. However, she, too, was accused of witchcraft, with Abigail Williams claiming that Jacobs had recruited six witches, including Churchwell. Churchwell, who clearly had an axe to grind, took an active part in her master’s interrogation. Margaret Jacobs, the granddaughter of Jacobs, confessed to witchcraft under the threat of death. Magistrates Hathorne and Corwin encouraged this tactic of allowing the confessors to live while they prosecuted those who would not admit guilt.
On May 12, Abigail Hobbs testified against Burroughs, claiming that he told her to afflict the residents of Falmouth, but she denied knowledge of his murdering his second wife or bewitching the colonial troops. Mary Warren, however, said that Burroughs’s specter had confessed to killing his wife. Warren additionally accused Abigail Soames, who became the first accused to be subjected to a touch test that would soon be commonly invoked. When Soames took Warren by the hand, Warren’s fits stopped, but Warren could not touch Soames.
The magistrates ordered eight more arrests and seven more accused to be jailed in Boston, where Sarah Osborne had died in custody. The new governor, Sir William Phips, arrived in Boston on May 14. To address the witchcraft crisis, he ordered a Special Commission of Oyer and Terminer (a court to hear and determine) and named nine judges to serve on it. Since the afflicted were still suffering from the specters of those who were in jail, Phips ordered that the accused must be chained. The last two weeks of May saw a “rapidly expanding crisis” (174). People “[sensed] a menacing invisible world all around them” (174). Even the well-connected or those with high status could not escape accusation and imprisonment.
Norton highlights the central role that Mercy Lewis played in the crisis by describing her role in the case of Mary Easty, who had previously been released and cleared. Within a day of her release, Lewis experienced horrendous fits and attributed them to Easty. Others then complained of Easty afflicting them, and Easty was rearrested.
In the last two weeks of May, Mercy Short—a servant who was once a captive of the Wabanakis and witnessed the torture and death of others—went to the Boston jail. There, she encountered Good and had fits. There were many similarities between Short’s supposed visions and her experiences as a captive. She identified the devil as an Indigenous person, and Norton, based on historical detective work, assumes that she also made allegations against her mistress, Thacher. However, Thacher, a pious woman and Magistrate Corwin’s mother-in-law, was never formally charged; there was a line that prevented those associated with the government from being the subject of allegations. Norton argues that they were nevertheless the most responsible for the failure to defend the frontier.
On May 31, several high-status individuals were questioned, including Martha Carrier, who would later become a critical figure in the crisis and was dubbed the “Queen of Hell” by Cotton Mather (182). She was accused of killing 13 people by the afflicted, who claimed they had seen their ghosts. Carrier had possibly brought smallpox to Andover when she moved there from Billerica. The afflicted claimed that Carrier had confessed to witchcraft in the invisible world. While the magistrates were failing to extract confessions in the visible world, the afflicted were doing their work for them. Carrier, claiming innocence, chastised the magistrates for believing people who were “out of their wits” (183).
Chapters 4-5 Analysis
The first three women who were accused in the witch crisis fit the profile of usual suspects: Two were considered outcasts or had been suspected of witchcraft before, and Tituba, an Indigenous enslaved woman, was especially vulnerable to such charges. The accusation against her provided additional evidence of The Connection Between the Wabanaki Attacks and the Witch Crisis. Yet, as the crisis continued, young girls, some of whom were servants, made accusations against wealthy and respectable members of the church and community. Rebecca Nurse is one such example. The accusation against George Burroughs, a minister, was explosive and reinforced the connection between the Wabanaki wars and witch crisis; Burroughs had ministered in a few communities in Maine and escaped from harm in the Wabanaki raids. Mercy Lewis, who most likely resented his survival given her own family’s deaths, identified him as a witch, and then several others claimed to see him in spectral visions as the leader of the witches. Given that he was not ordained and could not administer sacraments in the visible world, they claimed he was doing so in the invisible world at the devil’s behest.
The allegations against Burroughs demonstrate the interesting shifts in Gender and Power Dynamics During the Witch Crisis. While most of those who were accused of witchcraft were women, their leader was supposedly male, in keeping with gender assumptions. Yet the words of servant girls were believed and took down a man of the cloth. Once Burroughs was identified as the leader, others with connections to Maine were also accused. Susannah Sheldon, who witnessed her uncle’s death at the hands of the Wabanakis, accused a prosperous French-speaking trader of witchcraft, and her testimony was believed over his. Indeed, those men who were skeptical of the afflictions and accusations of their maids, such as Edward Bishop and John Proctor, were themselves charged with witchcraft. Gender and power dynamics were turned upside down.
The young accusers were soon making allegations about the past crimes of the accused. The specters of those accused were allegedly confessing to them. What is more, the ghosts of their victims supposedly appeared to the accusers, lending credence to the confessions. Norton notes the irony of the young girls obtaining confessions in their visions while the magistrates were failing to obtain confessions from the accused in the real world. The girls had taken over the magistrates’ jobs. Their antics, with fits common during the examinations and trials, dominated the legal processes. The accusers, not the magistrates or judges, were often directing the court’s agenda. Even when an accused person was released, Mercy Lewis, a young accuser, was able to get the authorities to change their minds and rearrest the person. Given their worldview, the men believed the accusations and assumed that those who were charged were guilty. Yet there was a line that the authorities would not allow the accusers to cross. Although unusual suspects, such as Nurse and Burroughs, were assumed guilty and charged, the elite would not touch their own. Thacher, for example, was never charged given that she was the mother-in-law of one of the magistrates.
