The Devil's Book at Salem

Abstract

For its witnesses, Salem witch crisis confirmed reality, and proximity, of invisible world of spirits. From late winter of 1692 onward, this other realm was made manifest in variety of ways. Witches assaulted victims with hidden blades, inflicting real wounds with ghostly weapons. Their own bodies were found to harbor intimate preternaturall Excresence[s] for suckling of familiars (Rosenthal et al. 362). stalked New England as dog, horse, and black-skinned man. Despite his obvious concern at this shake devil was giving province, Cotton Mather celebrated fact he and his people now had a thousand preternatural Things every day before our eyes (Wonders xiv). The invisible world, he preached, was becoming Incarnate (48): legions of hell had always troubled children of God, but here and now they were going about their business sensibly and visibly (28). As result, existence of spirits was no longer matter for conjecture or debate; if Testimony of Scripture should seem insufficient, empirical Experience of Mankind could now be added to it (7). Even those who cast doubt on truthfulness of Salem's accusers and confessors typically accepted episode had diabolic origin. Thomas Brattle asserted talk of witches' Sabbaths, satanic sacraments, and the Devill's was mere fancye 089). The great adversary, nevertheless, was source of these delusions, which he had deceitfully impose[d] upon [the] brains of afflicted (188). John Hale, minister for Beverly, ascribed some of their experiences to Satanic impressions upon imagination, but added it was also possible they had actually seen something supernatural: devil assuming bodily likeness of human tormentor (43). If most observers concurred devil had hand in events at Salem and Andover, they evidently disagreed about manner in which he made his presence felt. Were his manipulations restricted to thoughts and perceptions of people involved? Or could he directly influence physical world? The spectral books of Salem provide an index for measuring attitudes to this issue. Having signed their own name in devil's volume, accused witches were supposedly desperate others should join them in damnation. They would visit their peers in spiritual form, tempting, cajoling, and torturing them into making their marks on books they carried. Unsurprisingly, none of these texts have ever been recovered. As if noting weakness in her story, one confessor speculated devil must keep witches' signatures because he Carried [hers] away [w.sup.th] him (Rosenthal et al. 575). More skeptical commentators tended to draw attention to supposed materiality of these volumes, in order to underline impossibility of which accusers and confessors claimed to have witnessed. The Salem Quaker Thomas Maule suggested troubled spiritual state of these people had permitted to delude them into believing a thing, which but only is in shew had real substance (187). This, for him, was only way someone could come to accept improbable idea that Devil hath visible Book of natural paper, and with natural Blood of mens natural Bodies, they subscribe to this natural Book. Archskeptic Robert Calef mentioned physicality of spectral book as one more feature of witch's covenant with devil for which he could find no biblical evidence (67-68). For supporters of trials, book was powerful, if potentially troubling, symbol. Although Cotton Mather admitted the Delusions of Satan may have been Interwoven into some Circumstances of at Salem, he determined his readers ought to Believe main strokes wherein those Confessions all agree (Wonders xiii-xiv). He therefore took devil's volume as one of central themes of his writings on crisis, without ever directly addressing its material reality. …