Before Salem: Witch Hunting in the Connecticut River Valley, 1647-1663 - Softcover

Ross III, Richard S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1476666482 ISBN 13: 9781476666488

Publisher: McFarland & Company, 2017

Synopsis

Decades before the Salem Witch trials, 11 people were hanged as witches in the Connecticut River Valley. The advent of witch hunting in New England was directly influenced by the English Civil War and the witch trials in England led by Matthew Hopkins, who pioneered "techniques" for examining witches.

This history examines the outbreak of witch hysteria in the Valley, focusing on accusations of demonic possession, apotropaic magic and the role of the clergy.

Although the hysteria was eventually quelled by a progressive magistrate unwilling to try witches, accounts of the trials later influenced contemporary writers during the Salem witch hunts. The source of the document "Grounds for Examination of a Witch" is identified.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Richard S. Ross III is a retired college librarian and professor emeritus from Trinity College. His scholarly interests include 19th- and 20th-century German history, New England witch trials and the social history of medicine. He is the author of the well received Contagion in Prussia, 1831 The Cholera Epidemic and the Threat of the Polish Uprising. His second book Before Salem Witch Hunting in the Connecticut River Valley 1647-1663 was recently acknowledged as a critical resource for the recent exoneration by the Connecticut Legislature of the victims of the witchcraft trials in the Connecticut Colony. His most recent book is American Body Snatchers Merchanding the Dead in 19th Century New England  and Washington D.C.  He lives in Broad Brook (East Windsor), Connecticut.

Edition details

• Publisher: McFarland & Company
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1476666482
• ISBN 13: 9781476666488
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 344