For a century between 1793-1892, there was a Vampire Panic in New England, not to mention the Ipswitch Witch Trial (near Salem) in 1878. Panic and accusation is a common theme in America to the point that political bullying is called “Witch Trials.” Here a woman is being examined by the community, let’s see how the students viewed it.
The Examination of a Witch by Penelope Vickers
The art piece, “The Examination of a Witch” depicts an example of how men in power in the time period would accuse women of witchcraft. The painting is set in Salem Massachusetts, which is where the most famous witch trials took place. The notion of witchcraft originated due to numerous young girls often having seizures and strange outbursts, and the local doctor blamed witches as the cause. This theory eventually evolved into the mania that was the Salem Witch Trials. In the painting, there are numerous men inspecting the woman, whose back is exposed.
Her body is being searched for birthmarks, moles, or any unique marks on her body that could indicate her being a witch. It was said that Satan gave a secret mark to his witches, hence the search for marks on the skin. On the lower right side of the painting, there is a woman who looks to be fainting dramatically out of fear.
Due to Puritans being devoted to their faith, the terror centered around witchcraft was extreme. If anybody was associated with the devil or some type of witchcraft, they would be put on trial, and often found guilty. Those that were guilty were publicly hung to instill fear in the rest of the village. The convicted who were not hanged were imprisoned in Salem Village.
People went to various lengths to avoid these awful fates, such as accusing others to divert suspicion. A form of this was called spectral evidence, where a witness would testify seeing the accused harm them in a vision or dream. In other cases, bad luck was the cause of these accusations. During a tactic called the “touch test”, a line would form and each person in line would touch one of the young girls on her shoulder while she was having a seizure. Whoever was touching the girl when her seizure stopped, was accused of giving her the seizure in the first place and therefore being able to stop it.
There are some theories from historians on why the people back then took the witch accusations so seriously back then. One popular theory is that the use of the hallucinogenic mushroom, ergot, caused people to see these apparitions. A second theory was that some of these apparitions were due to sleep paralysis, which is a state of being temporarily paralyzed and some may even hallucinate“sleep demons”. These people who were having constant worries and fear towards dealing with witchcraft, were most likely bound to have images of witches and satanic visions.
While these theories might give a small amount of reasoning behind the witch trials, it is very clear that they never should have been taken as far as killing 19 innocent people. There was never any tangible evidence found to support any claims or accusations, and this is an example of how much of a low point America was in at the time.
Examination of a Witch by T. H. Matteson by Maeve Donahue
The painting of the Examination of a Witch by T. H. Matteson is a good example of how many ordinary men and women were accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts. The Witch Trials of the 1690s controlled the minds of others, as they all believed that other colonists could be possessed by the devil. It all started with the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts between 1692-1693. This is when over 200 people were accused of being possessed by the devil and other spirits which made them classified as “witches.” In order to test their theory, the people of Massachusetts would do many different tests on possible witches to determine whether or not they were witches. These tests included the Witch Cake, The Touch Test, and The Spectral Test. Many people were executed at that time, later the colony of Massachusetts realized they made a mistake and most of these symptoms were from common diseases back in the 1690s and today.
The Examination of a Witch presents a girl during the Salem Witch Trials while other observers inspect her skin for marks of the devil. She is in a room that looks like a court with many different people surrounding her. Before viewing this art piece, it is important to keep in mind that any small marks such as pimples or birthmarks were considered to be marks from the devil. On the left is the judge who is trying to get a better look at what they are pointing to on her back. It is also important to notice the nun who seems distressed that the girl is barely covered up by her clothes. Being this unclothed was not allowed as a Puritan, especially with all the men touching and staring at her. Many people were shocked when they realized that people whom they had known for years were “possessed” by the devil. This is illustrated in the other men surrounding the girl, and the one passed out on the floor from shock. This painting portrays many different emotions about the Salem Witch Trials and helps illustrate what many people in Massachusetts thought about these trials.
Historians believe that Ergot poisoning was a main cause of the Salem Witch Trials. Ergot was a common drug during this time causing people to hallucinate and “see” witches. Many of the symptoms seen from the Witch Trials were actually symptoms Of diseases such as Epilepsy, Lyme disease, and other common illnesses.Many colonists of Massachusetts were executed during the 1690s with no thought or care.
