In the Shadow of Salem: The Andover Witch Hunt of 1692

by Richard Hite

The First Complete Account of the Largest Supernatural Crisis in American history, and How Ordinary Citizens Brought It to a Close
By July 1692, the witch hunt surrounding the town of Salem and Salem Village had been raging for four months. The Massachusetts Bay colony’s new governor, William Phips, had established a special court to try the suspected witches and the trials were well under way. No new arrests had taken place for nearly six weeks and residents had every reason to believe the crisis soon would be over. However, a middle-aged woman in nearby Andover lay gravely ill. Her husband suspected witchcraft as the cause and invited some of the afflicted girls from Salem Village to the town, thinking they could determine whether his suspicions were valid. Not surprisingly, they confirmed his supposition. The first person these girls accused in Andover—a frail and elderly widow bereaved by a series of family tragedies over the pre­vious three years—not only confessed, but stated that there were more than three hundred witches in the region, five times more than the number of suspects already in jail. This touched off a new wave of accusations, confessions, and formal charges. Before the witchcraft crisis ended, forty-five residents of Andover found themselves jailed on suspicion of witchcraft—more than the combined total of suspects from Salem Village and the town of Salem. Of these, three were hanged and one died while awaiting execution.
Based on extensive primary source research, In the Shadow of The Andover Witch Hunt of 1692 , by historian and archivist Richard Hite, tells for the first time the fascinating story of this long overlooked phase of the largest witch hunt in American history. Untangling a net of rivalries and ties between families and neighbors, the author explains the actions of the accusers, the reactions of the accused, and their ultimate fates. In the process, he shows how the Andover arrests prompted a large segment of the town’s population to openly oppose the entire witch hunt and how their actions played a crucial role in finally bringing the 1692 witchcraft crisis to a close. 

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Witches

304 pages, Hardcover

Published June 14, 2018

Reviews

[Heidi Quinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m giving up out of irritation. The writer’s descriptions of familial relationships requires diagrams he doesn’t provide. He makes laughable assumptions to support his theories. And he psycho-analyzes the mental health of the residents of Salem to such a degree that I turned to the back leaf of the book looking for his qualifications, and found none. In short, the logic was too weak for me to want to ride along any further. Too bad.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a horrible story. This book may not be the most compelling writing style, but the facts make for important study on psychology and justice. Some of the issues that come out:
1. Severe political divide between two town factions existed prior to the witch scare that carried into the trials. People were more likely to believe the worst of their political opponents.
2. Poorly designed legal system: Leading questions, presumption of guilt, medieval evidentiary rules, a court specifically dedicated to the witch investigations and trials
3. Crowd pressure. People who doubted were afraid to speak publicly, and when they did were careful to take a "moderate" tone rather than condemn the whole spectacle.

What's fascinating is the number of people who made bizarre confessions - flying around on brooms and such. Hite does a lot of work delving into the psychological pressure that creates a false confession. There's also the issue of the psychosomatic symptoms experienced by the teenage girls who did the accusing, and then the spread of town residents insisting they saw "spectres" of their neighbors in their homes.

Finally the tide turns as the witchcraft court sweeps up more and more town citizens, and when influential clergy from Boston, like Increase Mather, step in to advocate against the witch court. There is a lot to unpack in all of this. I was not anticipating that this story would be so relevant to now. Sure, we aren't worried about spells and brooms today, but as a society we do seem increasingly vulnerable to crowd pressures, extreme political fracturing, and irrational thinking. We need strong due process protections today as much as ever.

"It were better that ten suspected witches should escape, then that one innocent person should be condemned." Increase Mather, 1692.

[Travis Ray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fabulously written, and tells the tale of the surrounding area of Massachusetts during the similar Salem witch trials that are so well documented in other books and so much more often in the public eye. Without spoilers, the connections of the accusers and the accused are a complicated tapestry of game of thrones level confusing lineages and drama, but my, the tea, the tea, girl. It’s all brought together nicely with some reasoning and deduction on the part of Hite. They make sensible conclusions as to the behaviors of the victims and the accused and there is some discussion of the psychology that went into the goings on of the trials. Overall a fascinating read, informative, and intriguing. If you have even a passing interest in American history, witchcraft, or even just good old drama, it’s a lovely read. It can be a little confusing at times, but that is no fault of the writer or storylines - simply a product of the time(remarried widows and many large family names) and the amount of characters. There are helpful appendices at the end to clarify the discombobulated family trees.

[Judi Easley]

I simply can't sit and read this right now. It's too much like reading a court report crossed with some nasty little girl's spiteful report on other girls on the playground. Maybe another time, but not now. DNF.