Books: The Witchcraft of Salem Village

Salem, Massachusetts has really leaned into its historical association with the witch trials, so much so that almost every business in the downtown area caters to tourists looking for kitschy, witchy souvenirs (my understanding is that the place is absolutely bustling during the Halloween season).

After my friends and I digested about a dozen witch and goth-related shops, though, I felt it was time to learn some of the real history behind the tragic trials that led to the execution of 19 people (with more dying in prison or rendered paupers in the end). There are a lot of accounts of the trials, some scholarly and some less so, but a good middle ground is The Witchcraft of Salem Village by Shirley Jackson, author of The Haunting of Hill House.

The book is written for kids, so Jackson relates the events like a sad fable.  In her telling, the hysteria was caused by the lies of children, the pride and paranoia of adults, and the rigid doctrines of the Puritan faith.  There was also an absence of the basic tenets of the American justice system, such as the presumption of innocence and the confrontation of witnesses. My hope is that as long as we follow those procedural safeguards, nothing like the Salem witch trials could ever happen again.