Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft

by John Hale

This balanced account of the Salem Village witchcraft trials, including the events leading up to them, was first printed in 1702. The book was written by Reverend John Hale, the pastor of the church in Beverly, Massachusetts. He concludes with the theory that it was Satan, not the witches, who used the manipulation of objects to afflict others. Rev. Hale had been the preacher in Salem since 1664, and was a participant in the trials, attending them and praying with the accused. This eyewitness account is one of the rarest, having been reprinted once in 1771 and again in 1973.

Genres: Nonfiction, Witchcraft, History

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1697

Reviews

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the text much more logical than I expected. The facts of witchcraft and their discovery were presented based on biblical as well as on legal texts. Some legal texts were either defended or condemned by the author.
Some of the printed text based on the printing might be illegible. University of Michigan offers a digital copy of the text for free in modern typeface online. Here’s the link for I hope easier access. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text...

[Deena · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's interesting to get into the head of Rev. Hale. His examinations of the most recent Witch trials, as well as others in the recent past, are very thorough and measured. He does not try to defend the actions but takes a logical approach when compared to his Biblical knowledge. It bogged down around 2/3 of the way in where he takes a deeper dive into the religious aspect and wanders off into the weeds. He brought it back around into the core subject matter by the end, though.

[Lance · Rating 3 out of 5]

The version I'm reading is actually online and not this paperback. The "Author" John Hale Goodreads links to is also not the author of this book. I came across it while doing research for Arther Miller's The Crucible. I was interested in playing John Hale when I first started doing the research, because he seemed a "Van Helsingesque" character. Then I found that Mr Miller wrote him as a much younger man eager to prove himself. So, not being a much younger man, I set my sights on the Reverend Samuel Parris, which, to my delight, I was offered the role. This book, written by the ancestor of Revolutionary War Hero, Nathan Hale, was produced after the Salem Witch Trials. He felt guilty about the part he'd played in getting innocent people hung and decided to write a book giving better ways to determine if someone is innocent. While reading this, I did come across a "sign of witchcraft" that Miller used in his play. I'll paraphrase for now and give better quotations a little later. But if a witch gave someone the "evil eye" venom was supposed to enter into the body of the victim, who would then fall into spasms and whatnot. The only way for this to be cured was for the witch to touch the afflicted person, drawing out the venom. See my review of The Crucible for details on how Miller used this. I'll finish this review once I've finished reading the book.

[CAW · Rating 4 out of 5]

A highly informative and surprisingly rational look at 17-18th-century colonial ideas, prejudices, and life under a vindictive, violent, yet beloved God. This volume is a good example of both the tendancy of intelligence to work within known frameworks before inventing (something I have to deal with a lot as an archaeologist is persuading people out of the persistent Victorian idea that being ignorant and/or "primitive" - that is, being specialised in Man's primary arts - does not equal stupidity) and that, in the words of Paul Lawrence Dunbar: "whatevah place you git in,/Dis hyeah Bible too'll fit."

Rev. Hale lays out his arguments with relative clarity, with fascinating anecdotal examples. This volume is in summary a review of what went wrong in the Salem Witch Trials, and a call for witchcraft to be taken as all other capital crimes rather than made a special case of, in which any jesting or malicious accusation could lead to multiple deaths and spread of hysteria (an approach the modern era would benefit from with regards to terrorisim). His objects are worthy and sensible within the bounds of Puritanism, if somewhat alarming to the modern reader. Offhand mentions of high infant mortality and the treatment of non-white residents of the colonies sketch in invaluable context.

On the other hand, he does believe that mathematicians are a kind of witch, because apparently abstractly calculated predictions are Of The Devil. I knew there was something odd about people who can deal with numbers...

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating facsimile of the 1702 publication which is not merely a contemporary history of what happened in Salem and beyond in 1692, but an attempt to explain (and using endless biblical references) the reasoning behind the apparent afflictions. Hale himself was a key player in the examinations and trials (he also features in The Crucible) and writes with necessary authority and regret. Most moving is his assertion that 'we walked in clouds and could not find our way' towards the truth of what occurred. A challenging read but a necessary one.