Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts

“Yet in that final moment before wind and waves pull him under, John Howland’s fist somehow wraps around a rope. That halyard some sailor forgot to adequately secure is used to raise and lower Mayflower’s upper sail. Howland holds on to this lifeline with a. death grip and he is dragged beneath the sea. To let go is to die. Several crew members witness Howland’s plight. They immediately search the ocean for him, knowing this is not an event men survive. Suddenly, the sailors are stunned to see the young man surface, still clinging desperately to the halyard…alive. It is a miracle.”

This passage foreshadows the darker implications of Puritan theology: If survival signified divine approval, then failure, suffering, or misfortune must be evidence of sin—an idea that would later fuel the Salem Witch Trials. The dramatic sentence structure, with short, urgent phrases, mirrors the tension of the moment, keeping the reader engaged.

“In clear English, he instructs the settlers how to hunt and trap game, where the fish and eels are feeding, and the best fields to plant corn, squash, beans, potatoes, and even pumpkins. Bury dead fish in the soil, he says, to help the crops grow. Rotate seeds to keep soil healthy. He points out which wild berries and nuts are safe to eat and which plants will make them sick. When settlers explore the lands beyond Plymouth, he is their guide. When they negotiate trading agreements with other tribes, he is their interpreter”

This passage underscores how heavily the Puritans relied on Indigenous knowledge for their survival, despite later framing these same tribes as enemies and existential threats. This contradiction—receiving aid from those later demonized—shows how quickly allies became scapegoats when fear and instability set in.

“For Puritans, the purpose of law is to ensure proper morality. The legal system is set up mostly to punish sinners. It includes a ten-shilling fine for ‘those who profaned the Sabbath.’ Moral failings are often treated as harshly as larceny. Adultery, for example, is punished by public whipping, and guilty parties are required to sew the red letters AD to their upper garments.”

This quote directly connects to the theme When Faith Becomes Law: The Dangers of Theocratic Rule—the collapse of personal freedom under a government that enforces religious doctrine. The reference to the scarlet letters parallels Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, reinforcing how religious law sought not just to punish but to publicly shame and control.

“Most people accept the existence of powers they can’t see; if there is a God, there must also be a Devil. And it is witches and warlocks that do his bidding in the world.”

By positioning the Devil as a tangible force operating through human agents, Puritan leaders justified the persecution of suspected witches. The passage reflects binary thinking, where good and evil are sharply defined, leaving no room for doubt or alternative explanations.

“Indians have already attacked more than fifty New England towns. Salem, so far, has been spared. But that does not lessen the apprehension. Winter sets in. It is unusually cold. Food is becoming scarce. Salemites know who to blame. Witches. And Cotton Mathew knows how to deal with that.”

This is a clear example of how fear—whether of external threats, dwindling resources, or divine wrath—can be redirected into internal scapegoating.

“Tituba doesn’t hold back. She makes herself valuable. The authorities want to believe Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne are witches. She confirms it. She tells them that she has seen four women hurting the children…she explains that it was Osborne and Good who gave her orders to inflict harm: ‘Hurt the children or they do worse to me.’”

In a genuinely tragic episode of the witch trials, early suspicions unsurprisingly fall upon Tituba, an enslaved person and practitioner of Caribbean folk religions deemed evil by the Puritan authorities. Her status as an outsider makes her an easy target, reinforcing how marginalized figures are often the first victims of mass hysteria. As someone who has learned the hard way how to survive, Tituba secures her own survival by condemning many others, expertly playing on the beliefs of her listeners before she escapes and disappears from history entirely. This highlights how fear-driven justice incentivizes false confessions, as the accused quickly realize that the only way to avoid execution is to become accusers themselves. This mechanism ensures that hysteria escalates rather than dissipates, trapping even the most skeptical individuals in a deadly cycle.

“Back in Salem there is a new controversy. It is much easier to convict someone of witchcraft if ‘spectral evidence’ is allowed, but there is debate about this. The powerful Increase Mather is opposed to the admission of spectral evidence: ‘to take away the Life of one, merely because of a Spectre or Devil, if a bewitched or possessed person does accuse them, will bring a Guilt of Innocent Blood on the Land.’ But his son, Cotton Mather, defies his father—advocating the use of spectral evidence…for some of the accused, that decision seals their doom.”

This moment exemplifies When Faith Becomes Law: The Dangers of Theocratic Rule, as Cotton Mather’s insistence on spectral evidence illustrates how religious ideology, when fused with political authority, can override even the most basic legal safeguards.

“‘You are a liar!’ Sarah shouts loud enough to be heard by the crowd. The spectators are shocked. All the other witches have died in peace with God. But Good is furious at this injustice. ‘I am no more a witch than you are a wizard. And if you take away my life, God will give you blood to drink’…Ironically, Sarah Good’s curse will be recalled twenty-five years later, when Reverend Noyes is suddenly struck by a brain hemorrhage, causing him to cough up blood, which eventually chokes him to death.”

This is one of the first moments where the authors hint at the presence of actual supernatural forces at work. The accused witches of Salem are certainly innocent, but the injustice of their fate appears to trigger a kind of divine justice, however belatedly, to one of their chief persecutors. It is the first hint that though Sarah Good was not in league with the Devil, her plea eventually reached God. Her refusal to submit to the court’s authority highlights the dangers of a justice system driven by fear rather than evidence, reinforcing the theme Mass Hysteria and the Perils of Fear-Driven Justice.

“People are beginning to believe that John Proctor is a danger to the community. He has influence. Many consider him the leader of the movement to get rid of Reverend Parris. He is a big target. Several of the afflicted young girls claim his wife, Elizabeth, is tormenting them. The accusations are backed by Proctor’s enemies, including Reverend Parris. But John Proctor refuses to be silenced. Rather than hanging so-called witches. He tells anyone who will listen, it is the people behind this farce who should be hanged. It is a fatal mistake.”

John Proctor’s case exemplifies the intersection of personal rivalries and mass hysteria, reinforcing the theme Mass Hysteria and the Perils of Fear-Driven Justice. His outspoken resistance to the trials directly threatens the authority of those benefiting from the chaos. By labeling him a danger, the community ensures that dissent itself becomes a crime.

“The appearance of witches in New England, Increase Mather explains, is caused by a decline in religion. It is God’s way of expressing his unhappiness with the increased emphasis on commerce, possessions, and individual achievement…however, he finally delivers a sermon urging New Englanders to ‘attend to his or her own soul, which is taken as a message to focus on personal issues rather than witches. No one listens.”

The authors describe Increase Mather as a comparative moderate, one who takes the existence of witches seriously but has qualms about putting people to death. However, by doing so much to instill fear of witches into the community, he helped to unleash something he could not control, and which his ambitious son Cotton would gladly seize upon to advance his own reputation.

“Margaret Jacobs does not understand the law but realizes she is likely to be hanged if does not confess to being a witch. For her, it is lie or die. And she chooses the former.”

Jacobs—like many others—becomes a pawn in a system that demands scapegoats to sustain itself. The trials foster an atmosphere in which truth is irrelevant, and only those willing to manipulate the hysteria can hope to survive.

“The afflicted girls are the true source of the injustice. They make accusations and identify witches; they are bewitched themselves. For these nine girls, it is the most exciting time of their young lives. Their days are a continuing round of drama…Ann [Putnam] is paying a heavy price. The specter attacks on her step up. She says she is in constant pain. She fights back by identifying even more witches…it is an incredible experience for a twelve-year old.”

The passage captures the intoxicating power that the girls held, suggesting that the trials provided them with unprecedented agency in a society that otherwise denied them a voice. This ties into Demons, Justice, and the Supernatural Legacy of Salem—their accusations became a tool wielded not only by them but by the more powerful figures manipulating them.

“Chief Judge Stoughton remains defiant: his court has done only what is absolutely necessary. Either you believe witches exist and are a grave danger or you do not. When you find a witch, you don’t allow any quarter. To save the colony, the trials must continue, Stoughton insists.”

Stoughton’s insistence on pushing forward despite growing opposition underscores When Faith Becomes Law: The Dangers of Theocratic Rule. Once religious authority is intertwined with legal authority, questioning its validity is seen as an existential threat, rather than an opportunity for reform.

“The reign of terror ends abruptly for the Salem girls. After Governor Phils halts the Salem and Boston trials in September 1692, civic leaders in Gloucester ask the afflicted young women to expose witches in their village…as the girls cross a stone bridge over the Ipswich River, they pass an old woman and immediately dissolve into fits. A month earlier this might have been a death sentence for the harmless lady. Yet the elderly woman simply keeps on walking with no interference.”

The horrors in Salem come to a close with a surprising anticlimax. There is no great showdown between the governor and the prosecutors, and the last-ditch attempt to generate more accusations simply fails to make an impression. Given the immensity of the trauma the town experienced, it is remarkable how it seems as though the spell breaks, and something like an eerie normal returns.

“In the early eighteenth century, America has now become a far more secular place. However, the old ways of the Puritan theology are still widely practiced in the land. That sets up an intense historical and religious conflict that will involve the Founding Fathers, led by Benjamin Franklin, and will help to fuel the American Revolution.”

The authors draw a connective line between the witch trials and the founding fathers by setting up the conflict between religious fanaticism and liberty. The fanaticism of this period in question does result in violence and persecution, and the doctrines pushed by Franklin and others will help to make horrors less frequent, but the authors are also clear that it is not just religion, but religion wedded to power, that is the real threat to liberty.

“[Church] attendance is not always a choice. Mandatory religious services are enforced by law in many colonies. Not so in Pennsylvania. William Penn, the Quaker who founded the colony in 1681, believes in a separation of church and state. Thus, Pennsylvania becomes the most liberal part of the New World.”

Franklin’s central role in the development of religious freedom in America seems largely to have been an accident of his peripatetic youth. Bouncing around from Boston to Philadelphia to London and Back, the young exile found comfort among the tolerant Quakers, who stood in stark contrast to his own more Puritan upbringing. While not adopting their faith as his own, he found their approach to faith to be a worthy model for all, where they practice their own views while respecting those of others.

“This is a case concerned with freedom. Freedom for Virginia to govern itself. Freedom to choose who shall minister to our spiritual needs. Freedom from tyranny, in whatever form it may take…unless you wish to fasten the chains of bondage around your own neck, you must make an example…of the rights of free men to make their own law.”

The great orator Patrick Henry here ties religious liberty to political liberty—freedom to worship as one pleased secured a core of personal dignity that then deserved protection from arbitrary government. In the telling, Henry’s commitment would not be wholly consistent, as he would favor an established church under his governorship, but not that of the King or a loyal minister, but Henry’s impassioned rhetoric probably helped to undercut his own personal hypocrisy.

“Adams believes representing the British soldiers at their trial is ‘the greatest service I have ever rendered my country.’ He bases that opinion on what happened in Salem, writing, ‘judgment of death against those soldiers would have been as foul a stain upon this country as the executions of the Quakers or witches.’”

The description of the Boston Massacre and the legal drama following it may seem like another diversion into the familiar sequence of the American Revolution, but in this case the authors are able to make an explicit connection to Salem. John Adams’s brave decision to defend the hated British soldiers accused of murdering five—securing acquittals for most and sparing execution for all—is a powerful example of the fair, reasonable legal system that takes everyone’s rights seriously, and will help to repudiate the ugly legacy of Salem.

“The opinions and belief of men depend not on their own will but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed in their minds; that Almighty God hath created the mind free…no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief.”

This quotation from the Virginia Statute from Religious Freedom expresses Jefferson’s view that a person’s ability to reason on matters of faith was no less important than their ability to reason on temporal matters, and thus a church could no more coerce someone than a government. Jefferson was so proud of this accomplishment that he included it on his gravestone, along with having authored the Declaration of Independence and founded the University of Virginia (he notably left out being President).

“[Roger] Sherman, like Patrick Henry, believes that the new America should be a Christian. Nation. Sherman is a Congregationalist holding firm Calvinistic beliefs…more than 50 percent of the American population practices the same faith as Sherman. In Connecticut, where eleven alleged witches were murdered, that number is far higher. The Puritans hold on despite their violent legacy.”

Sherman was undoubtedly a descendant of the Puritans, and his religious views undoubtedly informed his politics (for example, he was a fierce abolitionist based on the belief that God had made all people equal) but here the authors engage in some terminological confusion to make him more villainous than he actually was. Sherman championed religious freedom for all Christian denominations—he never attempted to impose his own sect on the entire nation. Fortunately, the First Amendment included a broader provision to include all religions, but for an overwhelmingly Christian society, Sherman’s views on protecting Christian practice was very much within the mainstream.

“On the whole, sir, I cannot help expressing a wish, that every member of this convention, who may still have objections to it, would with me on this occasion doubt a little of his own infallibility, and to make manifest our unanimity, put his name to this instrument.”

Calling this the “final word” at the Constitutional Convention on the matter of religious liberty, the authors find Franklin at the peak of his game despite nearing the end of his life. This stirring statement on the need for humility with regard to one’s beliefs provides a fitting summation of the need for religious liberty, even if that claim would not enter the constitution for several more years (and would escape many state constitutions for decades to come).

“As Ronald lies in his bed, the doorbell rings. His partner answers. A Catholic priest stands on the porch. She is stunned. Although Ronald converted to Catholicism during his exorcism, he did not practice the faith throughout his adult life. There are no plans for a religious funeral. The engineer will instead be cremated. In addition, no one called a priest.”

The final set of chapters, on the alleged source of the novel and movie The Exorcist, contrasts from earlier chapters insofar as it strongly implies a belief in the supernatural, including the existence of demons. Where the authors are quick to proclaim the innocence of Salem’s victims, here they give strong support to the veracity of Hunkeler’s story. By the end, it becomes clear that acknowledging the existence of demons is a way of affirming the existence of the Christian God.

“You would think the legacy of Salem and the intense struggle to eliminate fanatical religious mandates from the Constitution would have fostered an indelible cautionary outlook on American society. But that is not the case. Fear has returned. It is a mirror of Salem. Many good people turn away from the cancel culture corruption rather than criticize it.”

At the end of the book, the authors attempt a direct connection between Salem and the contemporary idea of “cancel culture,” where people (often celebrities) can be subject to severe criticism online. Since they only offer this comparison so late in the book, it does receive a great deal of development, and one may not find it compelling to compare the plight of J.K. Rowling (who remains the richest woman in the UK) with a victim of capital punishment. This section does however continue the trend of the Killing books where O’Reilly connects the events he depicts with his conservative political perspective.