The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials

(In the picture above, the girl on the right side is found guilty of witchcraft and is praying/pleading towards heaven. The jury sits at the table in the back. And on the left you can see one girl's fearful face as she is pointing to the accused woman. The girl is probably Elizabeth Parris and the other pointing hands are more girls who follow Elizabeth in accusing people of witchcraft, the Devil's magic.)

The Witch Trials took place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. This event caused 200 innocent people to be accused of witchcraft, and 20 of them were hanged. It all started with two girls, Abigail and Elizabeth Parris (ages 9 and 11), who started having screaming fits and made strange noises. They were diagnosed with side effects of supernatural witchcraft. The two girls blamed their fits on three women in Salem. After those women were arrested and accused more girls joined Abigail and Elizabeth, and more and more innocent people of Salem were blamed for witchcraft. This event went on until the Governor William Phipps and his court got orders from England to stop the witch trials immediately and release those who were accused. 

I think the reason this event is still talked about and studied to this day is because we want to believe that the Parris girls were acting, but we aren't 100% convinced. There have been many studies on why this activity occurred. Some think the girls were simply looking for attention, and once they realized the power they had they took great advantage of it and were fully aware of what they were doing. Another theory is that the girls may have been exposed to fungus ergot, which is found in rye and wheat and can cause muscle spasms, vomiting, and hallucinations. These actions would make the girls' testimonies very convincing.

Examination of the witch

By: Matteson, Tompkins H.

Still, I have a hard time understanding how the adults trusted these young girls. Were the Puritans so afraid of being unfaithful that they would believe anyone was guilty of doing the Devil's magic? Or did they see children as the most innocent beings that no one could prove the Parris girls wrong? 

I have included this event in my blog about New England gravestones because I believe it was a crucial event in colonial America that was based upon Puritan religion, death, and death practices. The witch trials occurred right after the English Bill of Rights was passed and about 20 years before The Great Awakening, or spiritual revival, took place.

Sources: 

Blumberg, Jess. A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials. Smithsonian Magazine. Published Oct 4 2007. Retrieved Oct 27 2013. Web.

The Substance of the Stone

The New England gravestones are an example of the Puritans' finest craftsmen, and are the one unchanging record of their dedication to death. Although many other artifacts (furniture, houses, pewter, and churches) from their time are handsome works of art, the most artistic detail was always put into the gravestones.

Materials:

Gravestones were made from many different types of stones including: slate, quartzite, clay stones, greenstones, schists, and freestones (Forbes, 7). Many of the stones were found in the wild with slate being the most commonly used because of the quarries in Massachusetts (before the marble quarries were discovered in western Massachusetts and Vermont). Below you can see the difference between two different types of slate used to make the gravestones. The first is a green and gray mix and the second is a gray and orange cameo look.

Quartzite is another stone used to make gravestones. It is usually solid gray, but on occasion it creates some cool effects on the gravestone. Although rare, quartzite gravestones will be a white translucent color (I couldn't find a good picture of one). They can also have streaks of red, yellow, and purple like the one pictured below. This gravestone is found in Warren, Massachusetts.

Schist was a stone that was preferred by stonecutters because it has so man varieties. It is harder to make out the inscriptions on schist stones, but they are unique and beautiful in their own way. I couldn't find a good picture that shows the shimmering qualities of a schist gravestone but here is a close up of a piece of schist. Imagine a cemetery of schist gravestones at dusk reflecting the sunset!

Source(s):

Forbes, Harriette Merrifield. Gravestones And the Men Who Made Them. Da Capo Press. New York. 1967. Retrieved Oct 13, 2013.

The Stonecutter

THE STONECUTTER

(google images: www.hypnotica.org)

This week I would like to take a break from decoding gravestone symbols and focus more on the carvers, or stonecutters, who created the gravestones. Stonecutters in the New England region usually had a full time job in addition to stone carving, because stone cutting alone wouldn’t provide enough income in the late 16^th century. This makes it difficult to identify who the stonecutters were because they were not employed to just one title. Many stonecutters doubled as masons, bricklayers, cordwainers (making leather goods), tuckers, and braziers (Forbes, 17).

Puritan stonecutters were very detail-oriented, artistic, and compassionate towards the families who lost their loved ones. New England gravestones represent some of the best artwork to come out of early colonial America. Gravestones were so important to the New England Puritans because their lives revolved around God and the afterlife.

Many colonists could not speak English, but they could interpret symbols. That is where the idea for the gravestone carvings came in. However, some gravestones did have poems and phrases written in English or Latin that had to do with the deceased and afterlife. One of the most interesting poems I’ve found so far is this:

 AS YOU ARE NOW,

SO ONCE WAS I;

AS I AM NOW,

SO YOU MUST BE.

SO PREPARE FOR DEATH

AND FOLLOW ME.

(Gillon, ix)

How were gravestones purchased:

The gravestone and the cost of carving the gravestone were separate. The stone cutter would usually purchase the gravestone from a merchant or have it imported from England (although importing gravestone was quite rare). Then he would charge for his labor and the cost of the stone. In some other cases, the family would purchase the stone and then pay the stone cutter to carve it. There aren't many records showing how much the gravestones cost or when they were purchased because they did not make itemized receipts back then. Everything was filed under "Debts due to/from the estate" (Forbes, 12). 

Sources:

Forbes, Harriette Merrifield. Gravestones of Early New England and the Men Who Made Them. Da Capo Press. New York 1967. Received Oct 5 2013. 

Gillon, Edmund Vincent Jr. Early New England Gravestone Rubbings. Dover Publications, Inc. New York 1966. Received Oct 2 2013.