A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience
eginning in January 1692, Salem Village in colonial Massachusetts witnessed the largest and most lethal outbreak of witchcraft in early America. Villagers - mainly young women - suffered from unseen torments that caused them to writhe, shriek, and contort their bodies, complaining of pins stuck into their flesh and of being haunted by specters. Believing that they suffered from assaults by an invisible spirit, the community began a hunt to track down those responsible for the demonic work. The resulting Salem Witch Trials, culminating in the execution of 19 villagers, persists as one of the most mysterious and fascinating events in American history.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Cleopatra, the #1 national bestseller, unpacks the mystery of the Salem Witch Trials. It began in 1692, over an exceptionally raw Massachusetts winter, when a minister's daughter began to scream and convulse. It ended less than a year later, but not before 19 men and women had been hanged and an elderly man crushed to death.
The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 are a case study in hysteria and group psychology, and the cultural effects still linger centuries later. This critical study examines original trial transcripts, historical accounts, fiction and drama, film and television shows, and tourist sites in contemporary Salem, challenging the process of how history is collected and recorded. Drawing from literary and historical theory, as well as from performance studies, the book offers a new definition of history and uses Salem as a tool for rethinking the relationships between the truth and the stories people tell about the past.
When Dr. Alix Hendry purchases an old historic home in need of renovation, she had no idea how much her life is going to change. A divorced mother of two, she moves her teenage son and young daughter into a home known in the area as "Evenshade". The home is one of the first built in Salem and has a dark history linked to the Salem Witch Trials, something that fascinated Alix. But that fascination soon grows to terror.
An Old Salem Christmas, 1840, tells the story of Christmas celebration in historic Salem, North Carolina, as seen through the eyes of a young Moravian girl. Salem was founded in 1766 by the Moravians - that began in what is now known as the Czech Republic. The historic town is now a living history museum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
