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COTTON MATHER, MEMORABLE PROVIDENCES, RELATING TO
WITCHCRAFTS AND POSSESSIONS (1689)
Ed. note:
Cotton Mather, minister of the |
Memorable Providences, Relating to
Witchcrafts and Possessions. A Faithful Account of
many Wonderful and Surprising Things, that have
befallen several Bewitched and Possessed Persons in New-England. Particularly, A Narrative of the marvellous Trouble and Releef Experienced
by a pious Family in
Whereunto is added,
a Discourse delivered unto a Congregation in
Written by Cotton
Mather, Minister of the Gospel, and Recommended by the Ministers of
To
the Honorable Wait
Sr.
By the special Disposal and Providence of the Almighty God, there now comes
abroad into the world a little History of several very astonishing Witchcrafts and
Possessions, which partly my own Ocular Observation, and partly my undoubted
Information, hath enabled me to offer unto the publick Notice of my Neighbours.
It must be the Subject, and not the Manner or the Author of this Writing, that
has made any people desire its Publication; For there are such obvious Defects
in Both, as would render me very unreasonable, if I should wish about This or
Any Composure of mine, O That it were printed in a book! But tho there want not
Faults in this Discourse, to give me Discontent enough, my Displeasure at them
will be recompensed by the Satisfaction I take in my Dedication of it; which I
now no less properly than cheerfully make unto Your Self; whom I reckon among
the Best of my Friends, and the Ablest of my readers. Your Knowledge has Qualified You to make those Reflections on the following
Relations, which few can Think, and tis not fit that all should See. How far
the Platonic Notions of Demons which were, it may be, much more espoused by
those primitive Christians and Scholars that we call The Fathers, than they see
countenanced in the ensuing Narratives, are to be allowed by a serious man,
your Scriptural Divinity, join'd with Your most Rational Philosphy, will help
You to Judge at an uncommon rate. Had I on the Occasion before me handled the
Doctrin of Demons, or launced forth into Speculations about magical Mysteries,
I might have made some Ostentation, that I have read something and thought a
little in my time; but it would neither have been Convenient for me, nor
Profitable for those plain Folkes, whose Edification I have all along aimed at.
I have therefore here but briefly touch't every thing with an American Pen; a
Pen which your Desert likewise has further Entitled You
to the utmost Expressions of Respect and Honor from. Though I have no
Commission, yet I am sure I shall meet with no Crimination, if I here publickly
wish You all manner of Happiness, in the Name of the
great Multitudes whom you have laid under everlasting Obligations. Wherefore in
the name of the many hundred Sick people, whom your charitable and skilful
Hands have most freely dispens'd your no less generous than secret Medicines
to; and in the name of Your whole Countrey, which hath long had cause to
believe that you will succeed Your Honourable Father and Grandfather in
successful Endeavours for our Welfare; I say, In their Name, I now do wish you
all the Prosperity of them that love Jerusalem. And whereas it hath been
sometimes observed, That the Genius of an Author is commonly Discovered in the
Dedicatory Epistle, I shall be content if this Dedicatory Epistle of mine, have
now discovered me to be,
(Sir) Your sincere and very humble Servant,
C. Mather.
The Introduction
It was once the Mistake of one gone to the Congregation of the Dead, concerning
the Survivers, if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
The blessed God hath made some to come from the Damned, for the Conviction (may
it also be for the Conversion) of us that are yet alive. The Devils themselves
are by Compulsion come to confute the Atheism and Sadducism,
and to reporve the Madness of ungodly men. Those condemned prisoners of our
Atmosphere have not really sent Letthers of Thanks from Hell, to those that are
on Earth, promoting of their Interest, yet they have been forced, as of old, To
confess that Jesus was the Holy one of God, so of late, to declare that Sin and
Vice are the things which they are delighted in. But should one of those
hideous Wights appear visibly with fiery chains upon him, and utter audibly his
roarings and his warnings in one of our Congregations, it would not produce new
Hearts in those whom the Scriptures hadled in our Ministry do not effect.
However, it becomes the Embassadors of the L. Jesus to leave no stroke
untouch't that may conduce to bring men from the power of Satan unto God; and
for this cause it, that I have permitted the ensuing Histories to be published.
They contain Things of undoubted Certainty, and they suggest Things of
Importance unconceivably. Indeed they are only one Head of Collections which in
my little time of Observation I have made of Memorable Providences, with
Reflections thereupon, to be reserved among other effects of my Diversion from
my more state and more weary Studies. But I can with a Contentment beyond meer
Patience give those rescinded Sheets unto the Stationer, when I see what pains
Mr. Baxtrer, Mr. Glanvil, Dr. More, and several other Great Names have taken to
publish Histories of Witchcrafts and Possdessions unto the world. I said, Let
me also run after them; and this with the more Alacrity because, I have tidings
ready. Go then, my little Book, as a Lackey, to the more elaborate Essays of
those learned men. Go tell Mankind, that there are Devils and Witches; and that
tho those night-birds least appear where the Day-light of the Gospel comes, yet
New-Engl. has had Exemples of their Existence and Operation; and that no only
the Wigwams of Indians, where the pagan Powaws often raise their masters, in
the shapes of Bears and Snakes and Fires, but the House of Christians, wh ere
our God has had his constant Worship, have undergone the Annoyance of Evil
spirits. Go tell the world, What Prays can do beyond all Devils and Witches, and
What it is that these Monsters love to do; and through the Demons in the
Audience of several standers-by threatned much disgrace to thy Author, if he
let thee come abroad, yet venture That, and in this way seek a just Revenge on
Them for the Disturbance they have given to such as have called on the Name of
God.
Witchcrafts and Possessions.
The First Exemple.
Section I. There dwells at this time, in the south part of Boston, a sober and
pious man, whose Name is John Goodwin, whose Trade is that of a Mason, and
whose Wife (to which a Good Report gives a share with him in all the Characters
of Vertue) has made him the Father of six (now living) Children. Of these
Children, all but the Eldest, who works with his Father at his Calling, and the
Youngest, who lives yet upon the Breast of its mother, have laboured under the
direful effects of a (no less palpable than) stupendous Witchcraft. Indeed that
exempted Son had also, as was thought, some lighter touches of it, in
unaccountable stabbs and pains now and then upon him; as indeed every person in
the Family at some time or other had, except the godly Father, and the
suckiii,, Infant, who never felt any impressions of it. But these Four Children
mentioned, were handled in so sad and stran(re a manner, as has given matter of
Discourse and Wonder to all the Countrey, and of History not unworthy to be
considered by more than all the serious or the curious Readers in this
New-English World.
Sect. II. The four Children (whereof the Eldest was about Thirteen, and the
youngest was perhaps about a third part so many years of age') had enjoyed a
Religious Education, and answered it with a very towardly Ingenuity.' They had
an observable Affection unto Divine and Sacred things; and those of them that
were capable of it, seem'd to have such a Resentment,
of their eternal Concernments as is not altogether usual. Their Parents also
kept them to a continual Employnient, which did more than deliver them from the
Temptations of Idleness, and as young as they were, they took a delight in it)
it may be as much as they should have done. In a word, Such was the whole
Temper and Carriage of the Children, that there cannot easily be any thing more
unreasonable, than to imagine that a Design to Dissemble could cause them to fall
into any of their odd Fits; though there should not have happened, as there
did, a thousand Things, wherein it was perfectly impossible for any
Dissimulation of theirs to produce what scores of spectators were amazed at.
Sect. III. About Midsummer, in the year 1688, the Eldest of these Children, who
is a Daughter, saw cause to examine their Washerwoman, upon their missing of
some Linnen ' which twas fear'd she had stollen from them; and of what use this
linnen might bee to serve the Witchcraft intended, the Theef's Tempter knows!
This Laundress was the Daughter of an ignorant and a scandalous old Woman in
the Neighbourhood; whose miserable Husband before he died, had sometimes
complained of her, that she was undoubtedly a Witch, and that whenever his Head
was laid, she would quickly arrive unto the punishments due to such an one.
This Woman in her daughters Defence bestow'd very bad Language upon the Girl
that put her to the Question; immediately upon which, the poor child became
variously indisposed in her health, an visited with strange Fits, beyond those
that attend an Epilepsy or a Catalepsy, or those that they call The Diseases of
Astonishment.
Sect. IV. It was not long before one of her Sisters, an two of her Brothers, were seized, in.Order one after
another with Affects' like those that molested her. Within a fe weeks, they
were all four tortured every where in a manner s very grievous, that it would
have broke an heart of stone t have seen their Agonies. Skilful Physicians were
consulted for their Help, and particularly our worthy and prudent Friend Dr.
Thomas Oakes,' who found Iiimself so affrontcd by the Dist'empers of the
children, that he concluded nothing but an hellish Witchcraft could be the
Original of these Maladies. And that which yet more confirmed such Apprehension
was, That for one good while, the children were tormented just in the same part
of their bodies all at the same time together; and tho they saw and heard not
one anothers complaints, tho likewise their pains and sprains were swift like
Lightening, yet when (suppose) the Neck, or the Hand, or the Back of one was
Rack't, so it was at that instant with t'other too.
Sect. V. The variety of their tortures increased continually; and tho about Nine
or Ten at Night they alwaies had a Release from their miseries, and ate and
slept all night for the most part indifferently well, yet in the day time they
were handled with so many sorts of Ails, that it would require of us almost as
much time to Relate them all, as it did of them to Endure them. Sometimes they
would be Deaf, sometimes Dumb, and sometimes Blind, and often, all this at
once. One while their Tongues would be drawn down their Throats; another-while
they would be pull'd out upon their Chins, to a
prodigious length. They would have their Mouths opened unto such a Wideness,
that their Jaws went out of joint; and anon they would clap together again with
a Force like that of a strong Spring-Lock. The same would happen to their
Shoulder-Blades, and their Elbows, and Hand-wrists, and several of their
joints. They would at times ly in a benummed condition and be drawn together as
those that are ty'd Neck and Heels;' and presently be stretched out, yea, drawn
Backwards, to such a degree that it was fear'd the very skin of their Bellies
would have crack'd. They would make most pitteous out-cries, that they were cut
with Knives, and struck with Blows that they could not bear. Their Necks would
be broken, so that their Neck-bone would seem dissolved unto them that felt
after it; and yet on the sudden, it would become, again so stiff that there was
no stirring of their Heads; yea, their Heads would be twisted almost round; and
if main Force at any time obstructed a dangerous motion which they seem'd to be
upon, they would roar exceedingly. Thus they lay some weeks most pittiful
Spectacles; and this while as a further Demonstration of Witchcraft in these
horrid Effects, when I went to Praver by one of them, that was very desireous
to hear what I said, the Child utterly lost her Hearing till our Prayer was
over.
Sect. VI. It was a Religious Family that these
Afflictions happened unto; and none but a Religious Contrivance to obtain
Releef, would have been welcome to them. Many superstitious proposals were made
unto them, by persons that were I know not who, nor what, with Arguments
fetch't from I know not how much Necessity and Experience; but the distressed
Parents rejected all such counsils, with a gracious Resolution, to oppose
Devils with no other weapons but Prayers and Tears, unto Him that has the
Chaining of them; and to try first whether Graces were not the best things to
encounter Witchcrafts with. Accordingly they requested the
four Miliisters of Boston, with the Minister of Chai-Istown, to keep a Day of
Prayer at their thus haunted house; which they did in the Company of some
devout people there. Immediately upon this Day, the youngest of the four
children was delivered, and never felt any trouble as afore. But there was yet
a greater Effect of these our Applications unto our God!
Sect. VII. The Report of the Calamities of the Family for which we were thus
concerned arrived now unto the ears of the Magistrates, who presently and
prudent y apply'd themselves, with a just vigour, to enquire into the story.
The Father of the Children complained of his Neighbour, the suspected ill
woman, whose name was Glover; and she being sent for by the Justices, gave such
a wretched Account of her self, that they saw cause to commit her unto the
Gaolers Custody. Goodwin had no proof that could have done her any Hurt; but
the Hag had not power to deny her interest in the Enchantment of the Children;
and I when she was asked, Whether she believed there
was a God? her Answer was too blasphemous and horrible
for any Pen of mine to mention. An Experiment was made, Whether she could
recite the Lords Prayer; and it was found, that tho clause after clause was
most carefully repeated unto her, yet when she said it after them that prompted
her, she could not Possibly avoid making Nonsense of it, with some ridiculous
Depravations. This Experip ment I had the curiosity since to see made upon two more, and it had the same Event. Upon Commitment of this
extrordinary Woman, all the Children had some present ease,; until one (related
unto her) accidentally meeting one or two of them, entertained them with her
Blessing, that is, Railing; upon which Three of them fell ill again, as they
were before.
Sect. VIII. It was not long before the Witch thus in the Trap, was brought upon
her Tryal; at which, thro' the Efficacy of a Charm, I suppose, used upon her,
by one or some of her Cruel the Court could receive Answers from her in one but
the Irish, which was her Native Language; altho she under-stood the English
very well, and had accustomed her whole Family to none but that Language in her
former Conversation; and therefore the Communication between the Bench and the
Bar,' was now cheefly convey'd by two honest and faithful men that were
interpreters. It was long before she could with any direct Answers plead unto
her Indictment and; when she did plead, it was with Confession rather than
Denial of her Guilt. Order was given to search the old womans house, from
whence there were brought into the Court, several small Images, or Puppets, or
Babies, made of Raggs, and stuff't with Goat's hair, and other such
Ingredients. When these were produced, the vile Woman acknowledged, that her
way to torment the Objects of her malice, was by wetting of her Finger with her
Spittle, and streaking of those little Images. The abused Children were then
present, and the Woman still kept stooping and shrinking as one that was almost
prest to Death with a mighty Weight upon her. But one of the Images being
brought unto her, immediately she started up after an odd manner, and took it
into her hand; but she had no sooner taken it, than one of the Children fell
into sad Fits, before the whole Assembly. This the
Judges bad their just Apprehensions at; and carefully causing the Repetition of
the Experiment, found again the same event of it. They asked her, Whether she
had any to stand by her: She replied, She had; and looking very pertly in the
Air, she added, No, He's gone. And she then confessed, that she had One, who was her Prince, with whom she maintained, I know
not what Communion. For which cause, the night after, she was heard
expostulating with a Devil, for his thus deserting her; telling him that
Because he had served her so basely and falsly, she had confessed all. However
to make all clear, The Court appointed five or six Physicians one evening to
examine her very strictly, whether she were not craz'd in her Intellectuals,
and had not procured to her self by Folly and Madness the Reputation of a
Witch. Diverse hours did they spend with her; and in all that while no
Discourse came from her, but what was pertinent and agreeable: particularly,
when they asked her, What she thought would become of her soul? she reply'd "You ask me, a very solemn Question, and I
cannot well tell what to say to it." She own'd her self a Roman Catholick;
and could recite her Pater Noster in Latin very readily; but there was one
Clause or two alwaies too hard for her, whereof she said, "
She could not repeat it, if she might have all the world." In the
up-shot, the Doctors returned her Compos Mentis; and Sentence of Death was pass'd upon her.
Sect. IX. Diverse dayes were passed between her being
Arraigned and Condemned. In this time one of her Neighbours had been giving in
her Testimony of what another of her Neighbours had upon her Death related
concerning her. It seems one Howen about Six years before, had been cruell
bewitched to Death; but before she died, she called one Hughes unto her,
Telling her that she laid her Death to the charge of Glover; That she had seen
Glover sometimes come down her Chimney; That she should remember this, for
within this Six years she might have Occasion to declare it. This Hughes now
preparing her Testimony, immediately one of her children, a fine boy, well
grown towards Youth, was taken ill, just in the same woful and surprising
manner that Goodwins children were. One night particularly, The Boy said he saw
a Black thing with a Blue Cap in the Room, Tormenting of him; and he complained
most bitterly of a Hand put into the Bed, to pull out his Bowels. The next day
the mother of the boy went unto Glover, in the Prison, and asked her, Why she tortured her poor lad at such a wicked rate? This
Witch replied, that she did it because of wrong done
to her self and her daughter. Hughes denied (as well she might) that she had
done her any wrong. "Well then," sayes Glover, "Let me see your
child and he shall be well again." Glover went on, and told her of her own
accord, " I was at your house last night."
Sayes Hughes, "In what shape?" Sayes Glover,
"As a black thing with a blue Cap." Saye's Hughes, "What
did you do there?" SayesGIover,"with my hand in the
Bed I tryed to pull out the boyes Bowels, but I could not." They
parted; but the next day Hughes appearing at Court, had her Boy with her; and
Glover passing by the Boy, expressed her good wishes for him; tho' I suppose,
his Parent had no design of any mighty Respect unto the Hag, by having him with
her there. But the Boy had no more Indispositions after the Condemnation of the
Woman
Sect. X. While the miserable old Woman was under Condemnation, I did my self
twice give a visit unto her. She never denyed the guilt of the Witchcraft
charg'd upon her; but she confessed very little about the Circumstances of her
Confederacies with the Devils; only, she said, That she us'd to be at meetings,
which her Prince and Four more were present at. As for those Four, She told who
they were; and for her Prince, her account plainly was,
that he was the Devil. She entertained me with nothing but Irish ', which
Language I had not Learning enough to understand without an Interpreter; only
one time, when I was representing unto her That and How her Prince had cheated
her, as her self would quickly find; she reply'd, I think in English, and with
passion ioo, "If it be so, I am sorry for that!" I offer'd many
Questions unto her, unto which, after long silence, she told me, She would fain give me a full Answer, but they would not
give her leave. It was demanded, "They! Who is that They
? " and she return'd, that They were her
Spirits, or her Saints, (for they say, the same Word in Irish signifies both).
And at another time, she included her two Mistresses, as she call'd them in
that They, but when it was enquired, Who those two were, she fell into, a Rage,
and would be no more urged. I Sett before her the Necessity and Equity of her
breaking her Covenant with Hell, and giving her self to the Lord Jesus Christ,
by an everlasting Covenant; To which her Answer was, that I spoke a very
Reasonable thing, but she could not do it. I asked her whether she would
consent or desire to be pray'd for; To that she said,
If Prayer would do her any good, shee could pray for her self. And when it was
again propounded, she said, She could not unless her
spirits (or angels) would give her leave. However, against her will I pray'd
with her, which if it were a Fault it was in excess of
Pitty. When I had done, shee thank'd me with many good Words; but I was no
sooner out of her sight , than she took a stone, a long and slender stone, and
with her Finger and Spittle fell to tormenting it; though whom or what she
meant, I had the mercy never to understand.
Sect. XI. When this Witch was going to her Execution,
she said, the Children should not be relieved by her Death, for others had a
hand in it as well as she; and she named one among the rest, whom it might have
been thought Natural Affection would have advised the Concealing of. It came to
pass accordingly, That the Three children continued in
their Furnace as before, and it grew rather Seven times hotter than it was. All
their former Ails pursued them still, with an addition of (tis not easy to tell
how many) more, but such as gave more sensible Demonstrations of an Enchantment
growing very far towards a Possession by Evil spirits.
Sect. XII. The Children in their Fits would still cry out upon They and Them as
the Authors of all their Harm; but who that They and Them were, they were not
able to declare. At last, the Boy obtain'd at some times a sight of some shapes
in the room. There were Three or Four of 'em, the Names of which the child
would pretend at certain seasons to tell; only the Name of One, who was counted
a Sager Rag than the rest, he still so stammered at, that he was put upon some
Periphrasis in describing her. A Blow at the place where the Boy beheld the
Spectre was alwaies felt by the Boy himself in the part of his Body that
answered what might be stricken at; and this tho his Back were turn'd; which
was once and again so exactly tried, that there could be no Collusion in the Business.
But as a Blow at the Apparition alwaies hurt him, so it alwaies help't him too;
for after the Agonies, which a Push or Stab of That had put him to, were over,
(as in a minute or 2 they would be) the Boy would have a respite from his Fits
a considerable while ' and the Hobgoblins disappear. It is very credibly
reported that a wound was this way given to an Obnoxious woman in the town,
whose name I will not expose: for we should be tender in such Relations lest we
wrong the Reputation of the Innocent by stories not enough enquired into.
Sect. XIII. The Fits of the Children yet more arriv'd unto such Motions as were
beyond the Efficacy of any natural Distemper in the World. They would bark at
one another like Dogs, and again purr like so many Cats. They would sometimes
complain,, that they were in a Red-hot Oven, sweating
and panting at the same time unreasonably: Anon they would say, Cold water was
thrown upon them, at which they would shiver very much. They would cry out of
dismal Blowes with great Cudgels laid upon them; and tho' we saw no cudgels nor
blowes, yet we could see the Marks left by them in Red Streaks upon their
bodies afterward. And one of them would be roasted on an invisible Spit, run
into his Mouth, and out at his Foot, he lying, and rolling, and groaning as if
it had been so in the most sensible manner in the world; and then he would
shriek, that Knives were cutting of him. Sometimes also he would have his head
so forcibly, tho not visibly, nail'd unto the Floor, that
it was as much as a strong man could do to pull it up. One while they would all
be so Limber, that it was judg'd every Bone of them could be bent. Another
while they would be so stiff, that not a joint of them could be stir'd. They
would sometimes be as though they were mad, and then they would climb over high
Fences, beyond the Imagination of them that look'd after them. Yea, They would fly like Geese; and be carried with an incredible
Swiftness thro the air, having but just their Toes now and then upon the
ground, and their Arms waved like the W'ings of a Bird. One of them, in the
House of a kind Neighbour and Gentleman (Mr. Willis) flew the length of the
Room, anout 20 foot, and flew just into an Infants high armed Chair; (as tis
affirmed) none seeing her feet all the way touch the floor.
Sect. XIV. Many wayes did the Devils take to make the children do mischief both
to themselves and others; but thro the singular
Sect. XV. They were not in a constant Torture for some Weeks, but were a little
quiet, unless upon some incidental provocations; upon which the Devils would
handle them like Tigres, and wound them in a manner very horrible.
Particularly, Upon the least Reproof of their Parents
for any unfit thing they said or did, most grievous woful Heart-breaking
Agonies would they fall into. If any useful thing were to be done to them, or
by them, they would have all sorts of Troubles fall upon them. It would
sometimes cost one of them an Hour or Two to be undrest in the evenin , or drest in the morning. For if any one went to
unty a string, or undo a Button about them, or the contrary '
; they would be twisted into such postures as made the thing impossible.
And at Whiles, they would be so managed in their Beds, that no Bed-clothes
could for an hour or two be laid upon them; nor could they go to wash their
Hands, without having them clasp't so odly together, there was no doing of it.
But when their Friends were near tired with Waiting, anon they might do what
they would unto them. Whatever Work they were bid to do, they would be so
snap't in the member which was to do it, that they with grief still desisted
from it. If one ordered them to Rub a clean Table, they were able to do it
without any disturbance; if to rub a dirty Table, presently they would with
many Torrnents be made uncapable. And sometimes, tho but seldome, they were
kept from eating their meals, by having their Teeth sett when they carried any
thing unto their Mouthes.
Sect. XVI. But nothing in the World would so discompose them as a Religious
Exercise. If there were anv Discourse of God, or Christ, or any of the things
which are not seen qnd are eternal, they would be cast into intolerable
Anguishes. Once, those two Worthy Ministers Mr. Fisk' and Mr. Thatcher,2
bestowing some gracious Counsils on the Boy, whom they there found at a
Neighbours house, he immediately lost his Hearing, so that he heard not one
word, but just the last word of all they said. Much more, All Praying to God,
and Reading of His word, would occasion a very terrible Vexation to them: they
would then stop their own Ears with their own Hands; and roar, and shriek; and
holla, to drown the Voice of the Devotion. Yea, if any one in the Room took up
a Bible to look into it, tho the Children could see nothing of it, as being in
a croud of Spectators, or having their Faces another way, yet would they be in
wonderful Miseries, till the Bible were laid aside. In short, No good thing
must then be endured near those Children, Which (while they are themselves) do
love every good thing in a measure that proclaims in them the Fear of God.
Sect. XVII. My Employments were such, that I could not visit this afflicted
Family so often as I would; Wherefore,that I might
show them what kindness I could, as also that I might have a full opportunity
to observe the extraordinary Circumstances of the Children, and that I might be
furnished with Evidence and Argument as a Critical Eye-Witness to confute the
Saducism of this debauched Age; I took the Eldest of them home to my House. The
young Woman continued well at our house, for diverse dayes,
and apply'd her self to such Actions not only of Industry, but of Piety, as she
had been no stranger to. But on the Twentieth of November in the Fore-noon, she
cry'd out, "Ah, They have found me out! I thought it would be so!"
and immediately she fell into her fits again. I shall now confine my Story
cheefly to Her, from whose Case the Reader may shape
some Conjecture at the Accidents of the Rest.
Sect. XVIII. Variety of Tortures now siez'd upon the Girl; in which besides the
forementioned Ails returning upon her, she often would cough up a Ball as big
as a small Egg, into the side of her Wind-pipe, that would near choak her, till
by Stroking and by Drinking it was carried down again. At the beginning of her
Fits usually she kept odly Looking up the Chimney, but
could not say what she saw. When I bad her Cry to the Lord Jesus for Help, her
Teeth were instantly sett; upon which I added, "Yet, child, Look unto
Him," and then her Eyes were presently pulled into her head, so farr, that
one might have fear'd she should never have us'd them more. When I prayed in
the Room, first her Arms were with a strong, tho not seen Force clap't upon her
ears; and when her hands were with violence pull'd away, she crted out, "
They make such a noise, I cannot hear a word!" She likewise complain'd,
that Goody Glover's Chain was upon her- Leg, and when she essay'd to go, her
postures were exactly sluch as the chained Witch had before she died. But the
manner still was, that her Tortures in a small while would pass over, and
Frolick succeed; in which she would continue many hours, nay, whole days,
talking perhaps never wickedly, but alwaies wittily, beyond her self; and at
certain provocations, her Tortures would renew upon her, till we had left off
to give them. But she frequently told us, that if she might but steal, or be
drunk, she should be well immediately.
Sect. XIX. In her ludicrous Fits, one while she would be for Flying; and she
would be carried hither and thither, tho not long from the ground, yet so long
as to exceed the ordinary power of Nature in our Opinion of it: another-while
she would be for Diving, and use the Actions of it towards the Floor, on which,
if we had not held her, she would have throwrn her self. Being at this exercise
she told us, That They said, stie must go down to the Bottom of our Well, for
there was Plate there, and They said, They would bring her safely up again.
This did she tell us, tho she had never heard of any Plate there! and we
ourselves who had newly bought the house, hardly knew of any; but the former
Owner of the House just then coming in, told us there had been Plate for many
Years at the Bottom of the Well. She had once a great mind to have eaten a
roasted Apple, but whenever she attempted to eat it, her Teeth would be sett,
and sometimes, if she went to take it up her Arm would be made so stiff, that
she could not possibly bring heir hand to her Mouth: at last she said, "
Now They say, I shall eat it, if I eat it quickly "; and she nimbly eat it
all up. Moreover, There was one very singular passion
that frequently attended her. An Invisible Chain would be clapt about her, and
shee, in much pain and Fear, cry out, When They began
to put it on. Once I did with my own hand knock it; off as it began to be
fastned about her. But ordinarily) Wlien 'it was on, shee'd be pull'd out of
her seat with such violence towards the Fire, that it has been as much as one
or two of us could do to keep her out. Her Eyes were not brought to be
perpendicular to her feet, when she rose out of her Seat, as the Mechanism of a
Humane' Body requires in them that rise, but she was one dragg'd wholly by
other Hands: and once, When I gave a stamp on the Hearth, just between her and
the Fire, she scream'd out, (tho I think she saw me not) that I Jarr'd the
Chain, and hurt her Back.
Sect. XX. While she was in her Frolicks I was willing to try, Whether she could
read or no; and I found, not only That If she went to read the Bible her Eyes
would be strangely twisted and blinded, and her Neck presently broken, but also
that if any one else did read the Bible in the Room, tho it were wholly out of
her sight, and without the least voice or noise of it, she would be cast into
very terrible Agonies. Yet once Falling into her Maladies a little time after she bad read the 59th Psalm, I said unto the standers by,
"Poor child! she can't now read the Psalm she readd a little while
ago," she listened her self unto something that none of us could hear and
made us be silent for some few Seconds of a minute. Whereupon she said, " But I can read it, they say I shall! " So I
show'd her the Psalm, and she readd it all over to us.
Then said 1, "Child, say Amen to it:" but that she could not do. I
added, 'Read the next: " but no where else in the
Bible could she read a word. I brought her a Quakers Book; and That she could
quietly read whole pages of; only the Name of God and Christ she still skip't over,
being unable to pronounce it, except sometimes with stammering a minute or two
or more upon it. When we urged her to tell what the word was that she missed,
shee'd say, "I must not speak it; They say I must not, you know what it
is, it's G and 0 and D; " so shee'd spell the
Name unto us. I brought her again one that I thought was a Good Book; and
presently she was handled with intolerable Torments. But when I show'd her a JestBook, as, The
Sect. XXI. I was not unsensible that this Girls Capacity or incapacity to read,
was no Test for Truth to be determined by, and therefore I did not proceed much
further in this fanciful Business, not knowing What snares the Devils might lay
for us in the Tryals. A few further Tryals, I confess, I did make; but what the
event of 'em was, I shall not relate, because I would not offend. But that
which most made me to wonder was, That one bringing to her a certain
Prayer-Book, she not only could Read it very well, but also did read a large
part of it over, and calling it Her Bible, she took in it a delight and put on
it a Respect more than Ordinary. If she were going into her tortures, at the
offer of this Book, she, would come out of her fits
and read; and her Attendents were almost under a Temptation to use it as a
Charm, to make and keep her quiet. Only, When she came
to the Lords Prayer, (now and then occurring in this Book) she would have her
eyes put out, so that she must turn over a new leaf, and then she could read
again. Whereas also there are Scriptures in that Book, she could read them
there, but if I shew'd her the very same Scriptures in
the Bible, she should sooner Dy than read them. And she was likewise made
unable to read the Psalms in an ancient meeter, which this prayer-book had in
the same volumne with it. There were, I think I may say, no less than
Multitudes of Witnesses to this odd thing; and I should not have been a
faithful and honest Historian, if I had withheld from the World this part of my
History: But I make no Reflections on it. Those inconsiderable men that are
provoked at it (if any shall be of so little Sense as to be provoked) must be
angry at the Devils, and not at me; their Malice, and not my Writing, deserves
the Blame of any Aspersion which a true History may seem to cast on a Book that
some have enough manifested their Concernment for.
Sect. XXII. There was another most unaccountable Circumstance which now
attended her; and until she came to our House, I think, she never had
Experience of it. Ever now and then, an Invisible Horse would be brought unto
her, by those whom she only called, "them," and, "Her
Company": upon the Approach of Which, her eyes would be still closed up;
for (said she) "They say, I am a Tell-Tale, and therefore they will not
let me see them." Upon this would she give a Spring as one mounting an
Horse, and Settling her self in a RidingPosture-she would in her Chair be
agitated as one sometimes Ambleing, sometimes Trotting, and sometimes Galloping
very furiously. In these motions we could not perceive that she was stirred by
the stress of her feet, upon the ground; for often she touch't it not; but she
mostly continued in her Chair, though sometimes in her hard Trott we doubted
she would have been tossed over the Back of it. Once being angry at his
Dulness, When she said, she would cut off his head if
she had a knife, I gave her my Sheath, wherewith she suddenly gave her self a
stroke on the Neck, but complained, it would not cut. When she had rode a
minute or two or three, shee'd pretend to be at a Rendezvous with Them, that
were Her Company; there shee'd maintain a Discourse with them, and asking many
Questions concerning her self, (for we gave her none of ours) shee'd Listen
much, and Received Answers from them that indeed none but her self perceived.
Then would she return and inform us, how They did
intend to handle her for a day or two afterwards, besides some other things
that she enquired of them. Her Horse would sometimes throw her, with much
Violence; but she would mount again; and one of the Standers-by once imagining
them that were Her Company, to be before her (for she call'd unto them to stay
for her) he struck with his Cane in the Air where he thought they were, and tho
her eyes were wholly shutt, yet she cry'd out, that he struck her. Her
Fantastic Journeyes were mostly performed in her Chair without removing from
it; but sometimes would she ride from her Chair, and be carried odly on the
Floor, from one part of the Room to another, in the postures of a Riding Woman.
If any of us asked her, Who her Company were? She
generally replyed, I don't know. But If we were instant
in our Demand, she would with some witty Flout or other turn it off. Once I
said, "Child, if you can't tell their Names, pray tell me what Clothes
they have on;" and the Words were no sooner out of my mouth, but she was
laid for dead upon the Floor.
Sect. XXIII. One of the Spectators once ask'd her, Whether
she could not ride up stairs; unto which her Answer was, That she believe'd she
could, for her Horse could do very notable things. Accordingly, when her Horse
came to her again, to our Admiration she Rode (that is, was tossed as one that
rode) up the stairs: there then stood open the Study of one belonging to the
Family, into which entring, she stood immediately upon her Feet, and cry'd out,
"They are gone; they are gone! They say, that they cannot,-God won't let
'em come here! " She also added a Reason for it,
which the Owner of the Study thought more kind than true. And she presently and
perfectly came to her self, so that her whole Discourse and Carriage was
altered unto the greatest measure of Sobriety, and she satt Reading of the
Bible and Good Books, for a good part of the Afternoon. Her Affairs calling her
anon to go down again, the Daemons were in a quarter of a minute as bad upon
her as before, and her Horse was Waiting for her. I understanding of it,
immediately would have her up to the study of the young man where she had been
at ease before; meerly to try Whether there had not been a Fallacy in what had
newly happened: but she was now so twisted and writhen, that it gave me much trouble
to get her into my Arms, and much more to drag her up the stairs. She was
pulled out of my hands, and when I recovered my Hold, she was thrust so hard
upon me, that I had almost fallen backwards, and her own breast was sore
afterwards, by their Compressions to detain her; she seem'd heavier indeed than
three of her self. With incredible Forcing (tho she kept Screaming, "They
say I must not go in!") at length we pull'd her in; where she was no
sooner come, but she could stand on her Feet, and with an altered tone, could
thank me, saying, "now I am well." At first shee'd be somewhat faint,
and say, She felt something go out of her; but in a minute or two, she could
attend any Devotion or Business as well as ever in her Life; and both spoke and
did as became a person of good Discretion. I was loth to make a Charm of the
Room; yet some strangers that came to visit us, the Week after, desiring to see
the Experiment made, I permitted more than two or three Repetitions of it; and
it still succeded as I have declared. Once when I was assisting 'em in carrying
of her up, she was torn out of all our hands; and to my self, she cry'd out,
"Mr. M., One of them is going to push you down the stairs, have a
care." I remember not that I felt any Thrust or Blow; but I think I was
unaccountably made to step down backward two or three stairs, and within a few
hours she told me by whom it was.
Sect. XXIV. One of those that had bin concerned for her Welfare,
had newly implored the great God that the young woman might be able to declare
whom she apprehended her self troubled by. Presently upon this her Horse
returned, only it pestered her with such ugly paces, that she fell out with her Company, and threatned now to tell all, for their so
abusing her. I was going abroad, and she said unto them that were about her,
"Mr. M. is gone abroad, my horse won't come back, till he come home; and
then I believe" (said she softly,) "Ishall tell him all." I
staid abroad an hour or two,andthen Returning, When I was just come to my Gate,
before I had given the least Sign or Noise of my being there, she said,
"My Horse is come!" and intimated, that I was at the Door. When I
came in, I found her mounted after her fashion, upon her Aerial Steed; which
carried her Fancy to the Journeys end. There (or rather then) she maintained a
considerable Discourse with Her Company, Listening very attentively when she
had propounded any Question, and receiving the Answers with impressions made
upon her mind. She said; " Well what do you say?
How many Fits more am I to have?-pray, can ye tell how long it shall be before
you are hang'd for what you have done?-You are filthy Witches to my knowledge,
I shall see some of you go after your sister; You would have killd me; but you
can't, I don't fear you.-You would have thrown Mr Mather down stairs, but you
could not.-Well! How shall I be To morrow? I Pray,
What do you think of Tomorrow?Fare ye well.-You have
brought me such an ugly Horse, I am angry at you; I could find in my heart to
tell all." So she began her homeward-paces; but when she had gone a little
way, (that is a little while) she said, 'O I have forgot one Question, I must
go back again; " and back she rides. She had that day been diverse times
warning us, that they had been contriving to do some harm to 'my Wife, by a
Fall or a Blow, or the like; and when she came out of her mysterious Journeys,
she would still be careful concerning Her. Accordingly she now calls to her Company again, "Hark you, One thing more before we
part! What hurt is it you will do to Mrs. Mather? will
you do her any hurt? "Here she list'ned some
time; and then clapping her hands, cry'd out, " 0, I am glad on't, they
can do Mrs. Mather no hurt: they try, but they say they can't." So she
returns and at once, Dismissing her Horse, and opening her eyes, she call'd me
to her, "Now Sir," (said she) 'I'll tell you all. I have learn'd who
they are that are the cause of my trouble, there's three of them," (and
she named who) " if they were out of the way, I
should be well. They say, they can tell now how long I shall be troubled, But they won't. Only they seem to think, their power will be
broke this Week. They seem also to say, that I shall be very ill To morow, but they are themselves terribly afraid of to
morrow; They fear, that to morrow we shall be delivered. They say too, that
they can't hurt Mrs. Mather, which I am glad of. But they said, they would kill me to night, if I went to bed before ten a
clock, if I told a word." And other things did she say, not now to be
recited.
Sect. XXV. The Day following, which was, I think,
about the twenty seventh of November, Mr. Morton of Charlestown, and Mr. Allen,
Mr. Moody, Mr. Willard, and my self, of Boston, with some devout Neighbours,
kept another Day of Prayer, at John Goodwin's house; and we had all the
Children present with us there. The children were miserably tortured, while we
laboured in our Prayers; but our good God was nigh unto us, in what we call'd
upon Him for. From this day the power of the Enemy was broken; and the
children, though Assaults after this were made upon them, yet were not so
cruelly handled as before. The
Sect. XXVI. Within a day or two after the Fast, the young Woman had two
remarkable Attempts made upon her, by her invisible Adversaries. Once, they
were Dragging her into the Oven that was then heating,
while there was none in the Room to help her. She clap't her hands on the
Mantletree' to save her self; but they were beaten off; and she had been
burned, if at her Out-cryes one had not come in from abr6ad for her Relief.
Another time, they putt an unseen Rope with a cruel Noose about her Neck,
Whereby she was choaked, until she was black in the Face; and though it was
taken off before it had kill'd her, yet there were the red Marks of it, and of
a Finger and a Thumb near it, remaining to be seen for a while afterwards.
Sect. XXVII. This was the last Molestation that they gave her for a While; and
she dwelt at my house the rest of the Winter, having by an obliging and
vertuous Conversation, made her self enough Welcome to the Family. But within
about a Fortnight, she was visited with two dayes of
as Extraordinary Obsessions as any we had been the Spectators of. I thought it
convenient for me to entertain my Congregation with a Sermon upon the memorable
Providences which these Children had been concerned in. When I had begun to
study my Sermon, her Tormentors 'again seiz'd upon her; and all Fryday and
Saturday, did they manage her with a special Design, as was plain, to disturb
me in what I was about. In the worst of her extravacancies formerly, she was
more dutiful to my self, than I had reason to Expect, but now her whole
carriage to me was with a Sauciness that I had not been us'd to be treated
with. She would knock at my Study Door, affirming, That
some below would be glad to see me; when there was none that ask't for me. She
would call to me with multiplyed Impertinencies, and throw small things at me
wherewith she could not give me any hurt. . Shee'd Hector me at a strange rate
for the work I was at, and threaten me with I know not what mischief for it.
She got a History that I had Written of this Witchcraft, and tho she had before
this readd it over and over, yet now she could not read (I believe) one entire
Sentence of it; but she made of it the most ridiculous Travesty in the World,
with such a Patness and excess of Fancy, to supply the sense that she put upon
it, as I was amazed at. And she particularly told me, That
I should quickly come to disgrace by that History.
Sect. XXVIll. But there were many other Wonders beheld by us before these two dayes were out. Few tortures attended her, but such as were
provoked; her Frolicks being the things that had most possession of her. I was
in Latin telling some young Gentlemen of the Colledge, That if I should bid her
Look to God, her Eyes would be put out, upon which her eyes were presently
served so. I was in some surprize, When I saw that her Troublers understood
Latin, and it made me willing to try a little more of their Capacity. We
continually found, that if an English Bible were in any part of the Room
seriously look'd into, though she saw and heard nothing of it, she would
immediately be in very dismal Agonies. We now made a Tryal more than once or
twice, of the Greek New Testament, and the Hebrew Old Testament; and We still
found, That if one should go to read in it never so secretly and silently, it
would procure her that Anguish, Which there was no enduring of. But I thought,
at length, I fell upon one inferior Language which the Daemons did not seem so
well to understand.
Sect. XXIX. Devotion was now, as formerly, the terriblest of all the
provocations that could be given her. I could by no means bring her to own, That she desired the mercies of God, and the prayers of good
men. I would have obtained a Sign of such a Desire, by her Lifting up of her
hand; but she stirr'd it not: I then lifted up her hand my self, and though the
standers-by thought a more insignificant thing could not be propounded, I said,
" Child, If you desire those things, let your hand fall, when I take mine
away: " I took my hand away, and liers continued strangely and stifiy
stretched out, so that for some time, she could not take it down. During these
two dayes we had Prayers oftener in our Family than at
other times; and this was her usual Behavior at them. The man that prayed,
usually began with Reading the Word of Cod; which once as he was going to do,
she call'd to him, "Read of Mary Magdelen, out of whom the Lord cast seven
Devils." During the time of Reading, she would be laid as one fast asleep;
but when Prayer was begun, the Devils would still throw her on the Floor, at
the feet of him that prayed. There would she lye and Whistle and sing and roar,
to drown the voice of the Prayer; but that being a little too audible for Them,
they would shutt close her Mouth and her cars, and yet make such odd noises in
her Threat as that she her self could not hear our Cries to God for her. Shee'd
also fetch very terrible Blowes with her Fist, and Kicks with her Foot at the
man that prayed; but still (for he had bid that none should hinder her) hei,
Fist and Foot would alwaies recoil, when they came within a few hairs breadths
of him just as if Rebounding against a Wall; so that she touch'd him not, but
then would beg hard of other people to strike him, and particularly she
entreated them to take the Tongs and smite him; Which not being done, she cryed
out of him, "He has wounded me in the Head." But before Prayer was
out, she would be laid for Dead, wholly sensless and (unless to a severe Trial)
Breathless; with her Belly swelled like a Drum, and sometimes with croaking
Noises in it; thus would she ly, most exactly with the stiffness and posture of
one that had been two Days laid out for Dead. Once lying thus, as he that was
praying was alluding to the words of the Canaanitess, and saying, "Lord,
have mercy on a Daughter vexed with a Devil; " there came a big, but low
voice from her, saying, "There's Two or Three of them " (or us!) and the standers-by were under that Apprehension, as that they
cannot relate whether her mouth mov'd in speaking of it. When Prayer was ended,
she would Revive in a minute or two, and continue as Frolicksome as before. She
thus continued until Saturday towards the Evening; when, after this man had
been at Prayer, I charged all my Family to admit of no Diversion by her
Frolicks, from such exercises as it was proper to begin the Sabbath with. They
took the Counsel; and tho she essayed, with as witty and as nimble and as
various an Application to each of them successively as ever I saw, to make them
laugh, yet they kept close to their good Books which then called for their
Attention. When she saw that, immediately she fell asleep; and in two or three
hours, she waked perfectly her self; weeping bitterly to remember (for as one
come out of a dream she could remember) what had befallen her.
Sect. XXX. After this, we had no more such
entertainments. The Demons it may be would once or twice in a Week trouble her
for a few minutes with perhaps a twisting and a twinkling of her eyes, or a
certain Cough which did seem to be more than ordinary. Moreover, Both she at my
house, and her Sist,,,r at home, at the time which they call Christmas, were by
the Daemons made very drunk, though they had no strong Drink (as we are fully
sure) to make them so. When she began to feel her self thus drunk, she
complain'd, "O they say they will have me to keep Christmas with them!
They will disgrace me when they can do nothing else! " And immediately the
Ridiculous Behaviours of one drunk were with a wonderful exactness represented
in her Speaking, and Reeling, and Spewing, and anon Sleeping, till she was well
again. But the Vexations of the Children otherwise abated continually. They
first came to be alwaies Quiet, unless upon Provocations. Then they got
Sect. XXXI. I was not unsensible, that it might be an easie thing to be too
bold, and go too far, in making of Experiments: Nor was I so unphilosophical as
not to discern many opportunityes of Giving and Solving many Problemes which
the pneumatic Discipline' is concerned in. I confess I have Learn't much more
than I sought, and I have bin informed of some things relating to the invisible
World, which as I did not think it lawful to ask, so I do not think it proper
to tell; yet I will give a Touch upon one Problem commonly Discoursed of; that
is, Whether the Devils know our Thoughts, or no? I will not give the Reader my
Opinion of it, but only my Experiment. That they do not,
was conjectured from this: We could cheat them when we spoke one thing, and
mean't another. This was found when the Children were to be undressed. The
Devils would still in wayes beyond the Force of any Imposture, wonderfully
twist the part that was to be undress't, so that there was no coming at it.
But, if we said, untye his neckcloth, and the parties bidden, at the same time,
understood our intent to be, unty his Shooe! The Neckcloth, and not the shooe,
has been made strangely inaccessible. But on the other side, That
they do, may be conjectured from This. I called the young Woman at my House by
her Name, intending to mention unto her some Religious Expedient whereby she
might, as I thought, much relieve her self; presently her Neck was broke, and I
continued watching my Opportunity to say what I designed. I could not get her
to come out of her Fit, until I had laid aside my purpose of speaking what I
thought, and then she reviv'd immediately. Moreover a young Gentleman visiting
of me at my Study to ask my advice about curing the Atheism and Blasphemy which
he complained his Thoughts were more than ordinarily then infested with; after
some Discourse I carried him down to see this Girl who was then molested with
her unseen Fiends; but when he came, she treated him very coursly and rudely,
asking him What he came to the house for? and seemed
very ang' at his being there, urging him to be gone with a very impetuous
Importunity. Perhaps all Devils are not alike sagacious.
Sect. XXXII, The Last Fit that the young Woman had,
was very peculiar. The Daemons having once again seiz'd her, they made her
pretend to be Dying; and Dying truly we fear'd at last she was: She lay, she
tossed, she pull'd just like one Dying, and urged hard for some one to dy with
her, seeming loth to dy alone. She argued concerning Death, in strains that
quite amazed us; and concluded, That though she was loth to dy, yet if God said
she must, she must; adding something about the state of the Countrey, which we
wondred at. Anon, the Fit went over; and as I guessed it would be, it was the
last Fit she had at our House. But all my Library
never afforded me any Commentary on those Paragraphs of the Gospels, which speak
of Demoniacs, equal to that which the passions of this Child have given me.
Sect. XXXIII. This is the Story of Goodwins Children, a Story all made up of
Wonders! I have related nothing but what I judge to be true. I was my self an
Eye-witness to a large part of what I tell; and I hope my neighbours have long
thought, That I have otherwise learned Christ, than to
ly unto the World. Yea, there is, I believe, scarce any one particular, in this
Narrative, which more than one credible Witness will not be ready to make Oath
unto. The things of most Concernment in it were before many Critical
Observersand the Whole happened in the Metropolis of the English