Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Puritan ministers, influential leaders in the towns and villages of seventeenth century colonial Massachusetts, insisted on the existence of witchcraft. But when villagers began to turn on one another, labeling women and men throughout Essex County, Massachusetts as witches, these religious leaders were divided on how to rid their congregations and communities of Satan’s presence. This presentation will report on Dr. Lauren Lemley’s research into their religious rhetoric and the unique role it played in America’s most famous witch hunt — the Salem witchcraft crisis.