Escaping salem - Grade: A PDF

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Book analysis of Escaping Salem by Richard Godbeer...

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James Brager-Hegger Amercian History 1301 24 September 21, 2017 Escaping Salem: Book Analysis Is witchcraft real? Are there such thing called hexes and potions with incantations? Everybody heard of the infamous tale of the Salem Witch Trials and how mainly, but not limited to, women were easily accused of witchcraft and involved with the devil. But how what if the story is told in a different pair of shoes, looked at in a different pair of eyes, told by a different pair of lips? The novel, " Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692', written by Richard Godbeer, is a different outtake of seventeenth century witch trials in New England colonies. The author's focus on that particular witchcraft incident in Stamford, Connecticut helps the reader better understand the ways Puritan society was structured, functioned, and perceived of the supernatural. Okay so in the beginning there was roughly about six people accused of either witchcraft or being a servant of the devil, yet not as huge as the 150 men and women that were accused in the Salem Witch Trials, but still significant. Out of that six people, two women forwarded on being formally accused: Elizabeth Clawson from Stamford, Connecticut and Mercy Disborough from Fairfield. Clawson, in comparison with many of Salem's cases, had personal tides with her accuser. Branch knew the family she worked for, and for several years she had been in a feud with the Wescot family. Evidently, in Salem, twenty witches were executed, while in the book both women's cases were acquitted. The villagers did not just simply assume that the women were guilty simply because Branch was accusing them of witchcraft, like how it was interpreted

as in Salem, they actually carried out many of experiments to fathom why could these women might have been suspected. Even though history illustrates Puritan societies as dramatically overruled by superstitions and spatial evidences, the people of Stamford, Connecticut were actually quite very skeptical of Branch's claims. I personally feel that Godbeer did a terrific job on piecing together stories of townsmen like Thomas Asten. Asten was so interested in the matter that he even tested that a person who is under the influence of a witch or witchcraft would laugh to death in the face of a person holding a sword over their head. So, when he held a sword over Branch's head, and saw that she started to laugh, a neighbor stated that Branch may have laugh because she knew that the sword was held over her. However, that did not stop Asten from trying again and Godbeer wrote in the book, "This time neither laughed nor changed her expression in any way." Meanwhile, during the experiment, a seventeenth century theory stated that witches –if dropped into water—would float while their hands and feet were tired. So, those who were not witches (which was everybody) would make their deathbeds there in the waters as they drowned. Of course, it was a type of trial that showed to be way more dangerous for the innocent, in the book, Clawson, who Marcus mentioned lived roughly in the modern-day Washington Boulevard and Main Street, was dumped into the waters of a Fairfield pond. And yet in a good and bad way, she floated, allowing her to survive the unreasonably dangerous test and be perceived as a witch now. Thankfully, overlooking the failure of this test, a large number of neighbors decided on that Clawson was innocent and resumed to challenging Branch's accusation. Furthering that, the signing of an affidavit by the people of Stamford in June, 1676, stating that Clawson never used threatening words or was evil to her neighbors. Made its way through the courts in nearby

Fairfield, showing that there was never any sufficient evidence to incriminate Her of witchcraft —in other words it was a capital crime. Most of the perceptions of the seventeenth century New England witchcraft is typically referred to or as the Salem witch hunt. Yes, New Englanders have an uncontroversial history of being known to be "trigger-happy", understanding that being accused is just as saying they are found guilty and executed. Godbeer puts focus on this particular witchcraft incident in Stamford, Connecticut, aids his audience further enable to fathom the ways Puritan societies was formatted, worked, and perception of the supernatural. To be frank the villagers were, in my opinion, way more intellectual than the people of Salem. The fact that they actually used common sense and critical thinking to not only to go off of what one believes but to think for themselves and actually challenge one another's theories. Many of Branch's fits can be explained by modern day science. For example, her mother could had also suffered from those types of fits. In other words, could further the discussion on a theory that it might have been a medical issue. Maybe witchcraft exists, maybe Branch was faking or maybe epileptic event? Was it epilepsy? Who knows really though?

WORK CITED Godbeer R. Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt Of 1692 [e-book]. New York: Oxford University Press; 2005. Available from: eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost), Ipswich, MA. Accessed September 22, 2017....