tranger or more
tragical and affecting scenes than that known as Salem Witchcraft, and
few matters of authentic history remain so deeply shrouded in mystery at
the present day. The delusion has never been satisfactorily explained,
and time seems to obscure rather than throw light upon the subject.

At this period, the belief in witchcraft was general throughout
Christendom, as is evinced by the existence of laws for the punishment
of witches and sorcerers in almost every kingdom, state, province and
colony. Persons suspected of being witches, or wizards, were tried,
condemned and put to death by the authority of the most enlightened
tribunals in Europe. Only a few years before the occurrences in New
England, Sir Matthew Hale, a judge highly and justly renowned for the
strength of his understanding, the variety of his knowledge and the
eminent Christian graces which adorned his character, had, after a long
and anxious investigation, adjudged a number of men and women to die for
this offence.

Only a few rare minds, such as Charles Stevens, living far in advance of
the age, were skeptical on the subject of witchcraft. These bold
spirits placed themselves in great danger of being "cried out upon" as
witches themselves.

This delusion had its fountain-head in Salem; but it was by no means
confined to this locality. It spread all over the American colonies and,
like most superstitions, hovered along the frontier, where it was
fostered in the shadow of ignorance and grew in the dark halls of
superstition. The author will not deny that there are many, to this day,
who attribute what they do not in the light of reason understand, to
supernatural agencies. In Virginia, in Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois and
Missouri there existed, in their early days, strange stories of
witchcraft.

If the butter did not form from the milk, some witch was in the churn.
If the cattle died of an epidemic, or a disease unknown to the poor
science of the day, it was the result of witchcraft. If a child or grown
person was afflicted with some strange disease, such as epilepsy, the
"jerks," "St. Vitus' dance," "rickets" or other strange nervous
complaints, which they could not understand, they at once attributed it
to witchcraft.

There sprang up a class of people called "witch-doctors" who, it was
claimed, had power to dispel the charm and bring the witch to grief. The
only way a witch could relieve herself and reestablish her power was to
go to the