POLS 4410: Salem Witch Trials

What is spectral evidence?

Testimony given by afflicted people claiming that a specter in the shape of the accused witch appeared to them, tormenting or tempting them.

What is cunning folk?

Magical experts consulted by colonists who performed services such as fortune telling. This practice placed them in an ambiguous and potentially perilous position.

What is the Parris’s Urine Cake?

An act of countermagic performed early in the crisis where Mary Sibley bake a cake using meal mixed with Walcott’s urine and feed it to a dog.

What is Witch’s Teat?

A physical mark believed by contemporaries to be a third nipple from which a witch’s assigned familiar spirit would suck blood.

Who is Tituba?

Enslaved Person in the Parris Household

Well Acquainted with Obeah, a voodoo-like practice engaged in by some transplanted Africans in the Caribbean

What is Ergotism?

Once a common condition, from eating rye bread contaminated with a fungus called ergot.

Why was Bishop a suspect?

Her bad reputation made her an easy target. She was described as being unpleasant to be around.