A 1692 town meeting inside a rustic hall, where a prominent figure passionately condemns the witch trials, the audience of townsfolk showing mixed reactions ranging from relief to outrage, candles flickering and casting shadows on the walls.
“Massachusetts was not the only colony that treated witchcraft as a crime. Maryland, New Jersey and Virginia possessed similar enactments. Witchcraft was considered and treated as a capital offense by the laws of both Pennsylvania and New York, trials taking place in both colonies not long before the Salem tragedy......... Virginia, Delaware, Maryland, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts and New York, eight of the thirteen colonies recognized witchcraft as a capital crime.”
~ Matilda Joslyn Gage : ‘Church, Woman and State’, New York, 1893. reprinted by Voice of India, New Delhi, 1997 pp. 289-90
Here is an Excellent Supplement by S. Purdy titled ‘Conjuring History: The Many Interpretations of The Salem Witchcraft Trials.’ It thoroughly examines what sundry historiographers feel about Salem’s Witchcraft Trials, & the ensuing aftermath.
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