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![Text Box: The Accusers
(Also known as the Afflicted)
The following list of afflicted persons or accusers is not complete, but it does include the most prominent or significant ones:
Ann Putnam
Ann Putnam was born in 1680 to Thomas and Ann Putnam. Thomas was the chief filer of complaints in Salem Village. Salem was divided into two sections: Salem Town, the prosperous commercial center on the harbor and Salem Village, the larger, but less populated farming area inland called Salem Village. There existed at the time a natural rivalry or tension between the two parts. Ann was well educated for the time and bright. She was 12 years old when the Witch Trials began. She was a close friend some of the other afflicted girls including Mary Walcott and Mercy Lewis. Mercy Lewis was 17 and a servant in the Putnam household. Ann and several other girls had gathered at the home of Rev. Parris to listen to stories of Voodoo and other supernatural phenomena spun by Tituba, the Indian servant woman in the Parris home. Betty Parris, the daughter of Rev. Parris and Abigail Williams, the niece of Parris were part of this group. Soon the girls were exhibiting strange symptoms and complaining of pain. They sat in strange contorted positions, complain of seeing specters, and accused numerous people in the community of afflicting them. Ann’s mother, Ann Sr., also claimed to be afflicted and she, too, testified in court that some of her neighbors had afflicted her. In 1706, Ann Jr., made a public apology for her part in the witch trials. She was the only one of the accusers to make such an apology. When both of her parents died in 1699, Ann then 19 took care of her nine siblings who ranged in age from seven months to 18 years. Ann herself died in 1716 at the age of 37.
Abigail Williams
Abigail Williams was 11 or 12 at the time of the Salem Witch Trials. She was a principal character in this tragic event, being one of the first young girls to claim to see apparitions and to be afflicted by others in the community. Abigail lived with her uncle, the Reverend Samuel Parris in Salem Village. It is believed that Abigail and her friends were interested in fortune telling because they hoped to learn the identity of their future husbands. When Tituba, the Indian slave Reverend Parris had brought north from Barbados, began mesmerizing Abigail and her friends with tales of Voodoo and the supernatural, their imaginations took on a life of their own and the girls began to report that they “were bitten and pinched by invisible agents; their arms, necks and backs turned this way and that way and returned back again so as it was impossible for them to do of themselves and beyond the power of any Epileptic Fits or natural Disease to effects."
A Dr. Griggs was brought in by Rev. Parris and he determined that the girls were being influenced by an “Evil Hand.” The girls were questioned about who was afflicting them and Abigail and the others named Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne at first. Abigail later accused Martha Corey, George Burroughs, Mary Eastey, John Willard, Elizabeth and John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse. Eventually Abigail Williams named 41 different people.
Mercy Lewis
Mercy Lewis was born in Falmouth, Maine, in 1675. Both of her parents were killed in Indian attacks. Mercy witnessed their deaths. She was then sent to live with the Reverend George Burroughs in Maine to act as his servant. She later was sent to serve as a servant in the Thomas Putnam home in Salem Village. Thomas was the father of Ann Putnam, one of the most vocal of the so-called afflicted accusers. Mercy befriended Ann and her cousin Mary Walcott. It wasn’t long before Mercy Lewis became one of the active accusers, joining the other girls in their verbal accusations against various members of the community. They reinforced their accusations by displaying bizarre behavior such as writhing in strange contortions and claiming to see apparitions of the people they accused. In accusing Giles Corey she said in court, "I veryly believe in my heart," began 19 -year-old Mercy Lewis on April 19, 1692, "that Giles Corey is a dreadful wizzard."
Sarah Bibber (Sometimes spelled Vibber)
Sarah Bibber was about 36 at the time of the Salem Witch Trials. Sarah was described as a “loose-tongued creature, addicted to fits.” She quarreled frequently with her husband and would throw fits when people disagreed with her. Some claimed she was not a good neighbor. She testified against 15 people at the Salem Witch Trials: Mary Eastey, Sarah Good, Mary Bradbury, George Burroughs, Giles Corey, Dorcas Hoar, Elizabeth How, George Jacobs, Sr., Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, Alice Parker, John Proctor, Ann Pudeator, Job Tookey, and John Willard. There is no evidence that her husband John Bibber testified against anyone.
Elizabeth Booth
Elizabeth Booth was 18 at the time of the Salem Witch Trials. She along with Ann Putnam, Indian John (a slave of the Rev. Samuel Parris), and Abigail Williams testified against John Proctor. Elizabeth said that ghosts had come to her. She accused Proctor of being a serial killer. Elizabeth was also one of the accusers who claimed that Job Tuckey appeared to them in an apparition and afflicted them. She and the others further claimed that Tuckey could raise the Devil when he pleased. In her deposition against John Willard she claimed that, “…severall times sence the later end of June 1692 I have ben most greviously afflected and tormented by John willard or his Apperans by pinching pricking and almost choaking me to death: also I have often seen John willard or his apperance most greviously tormenting and afflecting my Brother George Booth almost Redy to kill him.”
Sarah Churchill
Sarah Churchill came from Saco, Maine. Her parents, like those of Mercy Lewis, another “afflicted” accuser, were killed by Indians in Maine. They had been well off and roots back to the English gentry. Sarah was 20 at the time of the Salem Witch Trials. She found herself reduced to the position of servant in the household of George Jacobs, Sr. of Salem. When the witch hysteria was underway she became one of the afflicted. Jacobs labeled the afflicted girls “bitch witches,” and no longer showed Sarah any respect. Sarah was a witness against Jacobs, who became one of the victims later executed. Ironically, soon after she accused her master, Sarah herself was accused and sent to the Salem gaol or jail. Sarah had incurred the wrath of the establishment because she wanted to repent and tell the truth. Sarah Ingersoll of the Ingersoll Tavern gave the following deposition:
Sarah Churchill after her examination came to me crying. She said she had lied in saying that she set her hand t the Devil’s book. She lied because they threatened her and told her they would put her into the dungeon, along with the Rev. Burroughs.
The above account is in part based on material in The Salem Witch Trials Reader
Elizabeth Hubbard
Elizabeth Hubbard was one of the first girls to make accusations of witchcraft against people in the Salem community. Like many of the “afflicted” girls in the Salem Witch Trials, Elizabeth Hubbard was removed from her parents. She was sent to Salem to live with Dr. William Griggs and his wife, Rachel Hubbard Griggs, her great aunt. Dr. Griggs was the physician who diagnosed some of the girls as being under the power of the “Evil Hand.” At the time of the trials, Elizabeth was 17. She was known because of her trances and violent fits and active role in accusing others of witchcraft. By the end of the trials she had accused 29 people. In one deposition she testified against Elizabeth Proctor saying, “I saw the Apperishtion of Elizabeth procktor the wife of john procktor sen'r and she immediately tortor me most greviously all most redy to choak me to death....and so she continewed afflecting of me by times till the day of hir examination being the IIth of April and then also I was tortured most greviously during the time of hir examination I could not spake a word and also severall times sence the Apperishtion of Elizabeth procktor has tortured me most greviously by biting pinching and allmost choaking me to death urging me dreadfully to writ in hir [devil's] book"
In another testimony against Ann Pudeator, she said, “Sarah Churchel: affirmd: to: the Jury of inquest: that Ann Puddeatee: has: greatly afflicted her s'd Churchel by: choaking her pinching her & sticking pinse into her: & by pressing of her: &: making her sett her hand to: the book upon: the oath she hath: taken Sept: 6: 1692.”
The above account is in part based on material written by Amy Nichols as part of the Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archives and Transcription Project, University of Virginia.
Elizabeth Parris
Elizabeth Parris was only nine when the Salem Witch hysteria broke out. She was the daughter of the Reverend Samuel Parris, who had recently come to Salem from the Barbados in the Caribbean. In the winter of 1691 Elizabeth and her cousin Abigail Williams began experimenting with the occult. They would suspend an egg white in water in a glass and attempt to tell their fortunes from the shapes they saw in the water. One time an egg white appeared to take the shape of a coffin and from this the girls concluded that molestation and afflictions were in their midst. These fears were compounded by the tales of the occult and Voodoo told by Tituba, the Caribbean Indian slave brought to Salem by Rev. Parris. She and Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam and Elizabeth Hubbard accused Sarah Good of afflicting them. Other girls in their circle soon joined in. As Historian Peter Hoffer say, the girls, "turned themselves from a circle of friends into a gang of juvenile delinquents." While Elizabeth Parris was one of the first to become afflicted, her role in the accusations lessened quickly as in March of 1692 she was sent to live with the Rev. Parris’ cousin Stephen Sewell, a relative of magistrate Samuel Sewell. After moving most of her symptoms stopped.
Elizabeth (Betty) Parris later married Benjamin Baron in Sudbury, Massachusetts. They had four children. They moved to Concord, Massachusetts. Elizabeth died March 21, 1760.
Mary Warren
Mary Warren was age 20 at the time of the Salem Witch Trials. She was an orphan and servant to John and Elizabeth Proctor, both of who opposed the trials, believing that the accusers should be punished. The Proctors did not want Mary to participate in the trials. John Proctor threatened to whip her if she persisted in involving herself in the trials.
In her accusation against Alice Parker, Mary said that, "she [Alice Parker] also told me she: bewiched my mother & was a caus of her death: also that: she bewiched my sister: Eliz: that is both deaf & dumb."
As the trials went on Mary, herself, was accused of being a witch. During her trial she became so afflicted by apparitions that tortured her that she had to be removed from the courtroom. While in the Salem gaol or jail, she gradually changed her story from that of being afflicted by others to herself being a witch. After her confession she stopped having fits and she now actively accused the Proctors. As with others who confessed to being witches, Mary Warren was spared the gallows. She clearly had learned that cooperation with the judges could work in her favor.
The above account is in part inspired by an essay written by Devan Kirk.
Mary Walcott
Eighteen-year-old Mary Walcott was the daughter of Jonathan Walcott, commander of the Salem militia and brother-in-law of Thomas Putnam. Her aunt was Ann Putnam, Sr. and her cousin, Ann Putnam, Jr. It was Mary’s aunt, Mary Sibley who talked Tituba and Indian John, two slaves of Reverend Samuel Parris, to make the witch cake to discover witches. A witch cake was made from rye meal mixed with urine from the afflicted children. It is fed to a dog. If the dog exhibits bewitched symptoms then the girls would be considered truly afflicted. There is no record of how the dog behaved, but it is recorded that the Rev. Parris considered the very act of baking the cake evidence of the Devil’s influence on the girls.
Mary Walcott’s mother died when Mary was quite young. Mary is considered by historians to be one of the afflicted “regulars,” though she wasn’t as dramatic in her behavior as some of the other accusers.
Susannah Sheldon
There is not much in the records about 18-year-old Susannah Sheldon. We do know that she testified in court that one night Goody Oliver, Mrs. English, Giles Corey and a large black man with a high crowned hat appeared to her and tried to get her to take an oath on the Devil’s book. She further claimed that Goody Oliver had told her that she’d been a witch for 20years.
The court records of Susannah Sheldon testifying against Bridget Bishop include the following:
The Deposistion of susannah shelldin aged about 18 years who testifieth and said that on this 2 June 1692 I saw the Apperishtion of Bridgit Bishop.and Immediatly appeared to little children and said that they ware Thomas Greens two twins and tould Bridget Bishop to hir face that she had murthered them in setting them into fits
wher of they dyed
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