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Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft

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When I was a history grad student in the mid-1980s, Salem Possessed was widely viewed as a masterpiece of the "new" social history, i.e., the history of the lives of everyday people, as opposed to major political events and cultural high points. In it, scholars Boyer and Nissenbaum take the then-standard Salem witchcraft narrative and subject it to reinterpretation on the basis of patterns and trends they see in the social history of Salem and Salem Village (now Danvers). Essentially, they argue that the witchcraft accusations and prosecutions were an unconscious (or perhaps conscious) means by which the poorer and more agrarian segment of the Salem Village population got back at the wealthier and more worldly types.

As social history of Salem and Danvers in the 17th century, much of the book is fascinating and insightful. However, as an explanation of the witchcraft crisis, the book is, in my opinion, implausible. Too often, the authors seem to be reading into the data, finding evidence of discord where little or none exists. As one example, they interpret the bare negotiating positions of Salem Village and Samuel Parris regarding the hiring of Parris as minister to evidence aggressive overreaching on Parris's part, without any comparison to the agreements typically reached by other towns and ministers. More importantly, it's simply very hard to believe that, based on the types of disagreements the authors claim to have existed, people would hate their neighbors enough to throw about accusations of capital crimes on a vast scale.

Salem Possessed stands today as another in a long line of unsatisfying attempts to make sense of the witchcraft crisis. Until the publication in 2002 of Mary Beth Norton's In the Devil's Snare (a work I found much more persuasive), Salem Possessed was perhaps the most influential scholarly interpretation of those events. (For example, its theories formed the basis of the PBS series Three Sovereigns for Sarah.) In my opinion, Salem Possessed has since been shown to be a wild goose chase.

I was actually assigned this book for an anthropology class, but I couldn't put it down. Boyer and Nissenbaum look at every possible contributing factor to the witch craze that took hold of Salem in the late 17th century. They are careful to present all of the data upon which they based their hypotheses, allowing the reader to judge the validity of their claims. Salem Possessed provides an enlightening look at the pressures (social, economic, religious) that affected all of the villagers, and manages not to vilify any particular person.

This book's strength is it's thoroughness, but it is also it's major drawback. It can be difficult to keep track of all the names, households and dates. However, it is well worth the effort, and I heartily recommend this book.

This is a wonderful book. Boyer and Neissenbaum take you to society and the time right before the witch trials took place. They give you all the information you need to feel what life was like there and to understand the underlying tensions and disputes, jealousies and arrogance. Things were changing. Some people wanted --and benefited from the changes-- others didn't want, and were antagonistic to, the changes. The ideal of the community was being tested by economic opportunity, which was fostering economic greed. An increasing stratified society was coming into being. Meanwhile, there was no mechanism available for petty disputes to be resolved via the courts or other public venues -- this is just a short list of the variety of problems that sat unresolved and which eventually broke loose in the hysteria of a witch hunting. This is an amazingly complex and fascinating story--the research and scholarship here is extraordinary. If you want to know what lead up to the witch trials this is the book you want to read.

Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum's Salem Possessed - The Social Origins of Witchcraft has long been recognized as one of several standard texts for university level classes on the subject. The authors view Salem as a specific and perhaps hyperbolic extension of the world-wide socio-economic tensions occasioned by the rise of Mercantile Capitalism (209). Specifically, they postulate that the growth of political-religious factionalism within Salem Village was due primarily to causes beyond local control; and that, when combined with the inopportune convergence of certain chance factors (such as long lasting intra-family feuds and the debate over the church) and personalities (such as Parris, Putnam and Porter), resulted in the collective abreaction of social tensions we now know as the Salem Witchcraft Episode (178, 191). Salem Possessed is a logical, extremely readable, and seemingly well researched book. However, a closer examination of both the focus and methodology may be in order.

It will be readily admitted that a definition of the term "social history" remains ambiguous. There are, however, certain basic expectations a historian expects to have fulfilled by any worked labeled so, among them: explanations concerning the broad socio-political background leading to a specific event; how the effects of this background narrow in focus and relate to the local event; how the event itself impacts various effected segments of society; and how these segments themselves view and/or react to the event. The specific focus chosen by Boyer and Nissenbaum fail to fulfill the great majority of these expectation.


It is a specific contention of the authors that the social environment of Salem accurately reflected the contemporary antagonism between larger social, political and economic forces (179-81, 209). However, the excessively narrow focus of the work would belie such an assertion. Little or no mention is made of the impact of the Restoration of the Stuarts and Britain's subsequent political-economic "Reach for Empire", or the resultant development of mercantile capitalism and the rise of the merchant group. Such omissions are all the more telling because it is the implicit ideological conflict between capitalist merchants and a declining Puritan oligarchy which provide the framework of local factionalism upon which Boyer and Nissenbaum center their research.

In addition, although it is a commonly held belief that the Salem witch trials were - at least in part - an extension of the widespread European witch hunts of 1500-1700, no mention of these precedent setting events is made. In fact, little attention is paid to contemporary perceptions of witchcraft whether European or Colonial.

A third and perhaps even more directly applicable topic passed over by the authors is the role of gender. Why, for example, are most of the postulated causes primarily, if not exclusively, male concerns, such as the payment of taxes, control of the village council, and service in the Salem Town Watch? This is especially confusing when one considers that a great majority of both afflicted and accused were female. From a broader perspective, the authors totally disregard the possible social (not to mention misognistic) complications arising from a patriarchal society which singles out and condemns a sizable percentage of their own womenfolk. These lapses alone serve to relegate the book to the less ambitious ranks of a local - rather than a truly "social" - history.

A second and equally grievous criticism concerns the authors' selective but obviously calculated use of post ipso facto psychological methods to compensate when - and wherever purely historical methods appear insufficient. Rather than admitting that perhaps we just don't know exactly why people act and react they way they do, Boyer and Nissenbaum attempt convoluted psychoanalytical explanations which the objective observer must label conjecture, at best. The inappropriate nature of such techniques when applied at a chronological distance of over 280 years becomes especially obvious in Chapter 7 where the psychological portrait provided describes Pastor Samuel Parris as an insecure (169) paranoid (170) and self-hating (177) obsessive-compulsive (167) megalomaniac who compares himself to Christ (169), yet such a characterization directly contradicts the later portrait of Parris as the "representative [i.e., typical] man of his time".

It also seems that Salem Possessed exhibits at least one consistently identifiable bias, that being the authors' rather obvious disparaging treatment of capitalism. Far from being the harbinger of modernity which supplanted an oppressive and antiquated Puritan world-view, capitalism is characterized as "the lure which menaced the village" (101), "a looming moral threat" (105), a "violation of much that is contained in the word 'Puritan'" (106), and as responsible for "many disputes and difficulties" (102). Even acquiescing the fact that total objectivity is impossible, one would assume Boyer and Nissenbaum could have at least done a better job of camouflaging their own 1960's liberal academic backgrounds.

Finally, for a work in which a large portion of the text deals with such verifiable data as demographics and family relationships, Boyer and Nissenbaum seem to depend rather excessively upon secondary sources. For example, of the fifty-seven total references cited in the first ten pages of the book, only seventeen were original records. This imbalance becomes all the more glaring when one takes into account the authors' own statements concerning the comparatively large amount of primary documentation available on the subject (x - xi).

In sum, it must be admitted that Salem Possessed does have its merits. It is well written with an easy to follow style. The extensive research and clarity of expression evidenced in sections dealing specifically with local factionalism are impressive. And Boyer and Nissenbaum's ability to translate complex relationships into readable prose is entertaining, if not always one hundred percent accurate. Unfortunately, the authors not only utilize inappropriate and unsubstantiated psychological interpretations to support their primary socio-historic focus, but they fail to place this focus within a larger world-historical framework. In fact, they seem to leave out almost as much as they cover, a trait that considerably lowers the overall quality and usefulness of the work.

Boyer and Nissesnbaum's work on Salem is a fascinating look into the social stresses which were at the root of the explosion of accusations in this small Massachusetts town. Each of the elements in this disaster, i.e. the questionable ministerial skills of Samuel Parris, property disputes between the Proctors and Putnams, the conflicts between Salem Village and Salem Town, are thoughtfully analyzed as part of a whole. I higly reccomend this book for anyone wishing to have a deeeper understanding of the true causes of the Salem trials.

Given to me as a gift by a friend who didn't think it would be interesting, this book was one of the most fascinating I've ever read. If you find sociology interesting, or if you have worked in a "groupthink" environment, you will find this book very insightful and thought-provoking.
However, this book will be most enjoyed when the reader comes without preconceived expectations and accepts the book for what it is: a comprehensively-researched presentation of the writers' perspective and hypothesis on the subject.
The language is a bit "steep" for the general population and may best be enjoyed as a leisurely read and not as required reading as in the case of a university course.

From an enormous body of surviving documents, the authors piece together a micro-historical account of life in 17th century Salem (Danvers), MA, comparable to Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's classic description of a medieval French heretic town, Montaillou: the promised land of error. Their conclusion: "the witchcraft outbreak was rooted in the prosaic, everyday lives of obscure and inarticulate men and women. ... The spark which finally set off the volatile mix [of geography, economics, politics, and the times] came with the unlikely convergence of a set of chance factors in the early 1690's." Among these chance factors were the arrival of a new minister (Samuel Parris) and his voodoo-practicing slave (Tituba), heightened interest in fortune telling and the occult, a long-standing feud over land between the Putnams and Porters, the Montague-Capulet marriage of Joseph Putnam and Elizabeth Porter, and perhaps most of all, the peculiar political and economic status of Salem Village.

One of the reasons life in Salem, even before 1692, is so well documented is because its inhabitants were a querulous, litigious bunch, frequently bringing lawsuits against each other: "What made Salem Village disputes so notorious, and ultimately so destructive, was the fact that structural defects in its organization rendered the Village almost helpless in coping with whatever disputes might arise." About fours years before the witchcraft crisis, both the King of England (to whom colonists owed allegiance, and looked to for support), and the Governor of Massachusetts were removed from office. A new governor was not in office until 1692, after the crisis had already begun.

What people in Salem most quarreled about land. Salem Village quite literally had its back up against a wall, the Ipswich River. There was no room for expansion, and average landholding size had decreased by half, from 250 acres in 1660 to 125 in 1690. (Carol F. Karlsen makes a good case in The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: witchcraft in colonial New England, that women, rather than their male counterparts, who inherited or controlled land were "at risk" of being accused witches.) When young girls resorted to fortune telling to know who their future husbands might be, they were seeking urgent, practical, economic help in a "down market."

The farming community of Salem Village was also encroached politically and economically from the more urban, coastal Salem Town to its south, and eastern Salem Village which naturally aligned itself with Salem Town. Salem Village had "no ecclesiastical apparatus." It had no church and had to travel a long distance to Town Center for communion. Salem Village balked at paying taxes without what it considered necessary services, and in 1690 requested independent township status. In the decade or so before the witch crisis, Salem Village had gone through three unordained ministers before settling on the divisive, but ordained, Samuel Parris. Those aligned with Parris, mostly farmers located in western Salem Village, "treated those who threatened them not as a political opposition but as an aggregate of morally defective individuals ... it was a perfectly normal procedure for a town to rid itself of deviant and threatening individuals - by changing them if possible, by exile or execution if necessary."

As does Richard Godbeer in Escaping Salem: the other witch hunt of 1692, Boyer and Nissenbaum ask why events in Salem went so awry. There had been many witchcraft cases tried throughout the colonies and in Salem before 1692. For two centuries, Europe had been in the midst of a "witch craze" that claimed as many as 100,000 people. (By comparison, the Spanish Inquisition only executed about 5,000.) But in previous cases - in the colonies, and in Salem - executions were rare. It's surprising to read that elsewhere, before 1692, people were accused of witchcraft and brought to trial more than once over their lifetimes, without suffering execution or significant punishment. And therein might lie some explanation.

There was an intellectual and class distinction about what constituted witchcraft. To the literate, learned community, the crime of witchcraft was making a covenant with the Devil; a kind of super-heresy that not only denied Church dogma, but actively aligned itself against the Church, and God. Among the "obscure and inarticulate men and women" of Salem Village and elsewhere, witchcraft was magic; spells, amulets, potions, and the like that gave witches advantage over someone. It was easy to show someone had advantage - their livestock did not die when others did, or their children were healthy, or they were rich, had more land, and so on - but it was more difficult to show someone made a pact with the Devil. Who could give witness but the Devil himself (who lies), and the accused, his servant? Magistrates were more likely to err on the side of the defendant, and acquit accused witches - sometimes, even reversing a jury's verdict - to the consternation, fear, and dissatisfaction of the accusers. An ideal condition for vigilantism.

(In 1933, in my hometown, mobs broke into the jail, and beat two accused kidnapper/murderers senseless, then dragged their bodies across the street to the park where they were hanged, their bodies mutilated, and set afire. One reason "obscure and inarticulate men and women" in my town took such drastic action was s string of kidnappings, most notably that of Charles Lindbergh's son, that had gone unpunished.)

What made Salem Village erupt was not just pent-up rivalries and conflicts, but what's now called lack of "adult supervision." Why didn't someone simply tell the young accusers to go to their rooms and behave themselves? Why were they taken seriously? (English law at that time, did not admit evidence from anyone younger than fourteen years old.)

It can't be overlooked that Tituba, and the original accusers were members of Reverend Parris' household. Already the target of attacks from forces aligned with Salem Town, Parris easily equated himself, as representative of the Church, with the Church and God himself under attack. "The prevailing motif of that commentary [in Parris' Sermon Book] - from 1689 to 1692 at any rate - is one ofn encircling menace: a menace which thrusts closer and closer to the heart of the Village as it becomes increasingly cosmic in origin. In this quite specific sense, Parris unconsciously helped set the scene for the climax of 1692."

Boyer and Nissenbaum make a good case that the antics of the accusers - mostly young girls, but including young women as well - had more in common with the behavior of people at revival meetings such as the "Little Awakening" in 1734 Northhampton, MA, or the "Great Awakening" and "Second Great Awakening" in 19th century Kentucky. The very use of the word "awakening" - a stage in mysticism - is significant. As medievalist Teofilo F. Ruiz points out in his UCLA course The Terror of History: Mystics, Heretics, and Witches in the Western Tradition, mysticism has always been one of the few avenues open to women to achieve equality of power and influence. Boyer and Nissenbaum conclude, "the young people of both Northhampton and Salem Village at least momentarily broke out of their `normal' subservient and deferential social role to become the de facto leaders of the town and (for many, at least) the unchallenged source of moral authority."

Reverend Parris, like Senator Joseph McCarthy, benefitted in his role as leader in this war against "the invisible world." Again referring to the similarities between Salem and later revival movements, the authors conclude: "The crucial difference between the two episodes is the interpretation which the adult leadership of each community placed upon physical states which in themselves were strikingly similar." The beleaguered Parris saw witches. Others would later see God. What was needed, and arguably, was eventually provided by Governor Phips, was someone to say "Reverend Parris. Have you no shame!"

Salem Possessed aimed at shedding new light on the Salem Witchcraft Trails of 1692 by providing new detail and insight into the social and political origins of the paranoia and fears felt by those in and around Salem Village. By using such detailed and effective primary sources, the authors were able to create a vivid image of the situation Salem Village was in, and how the emergent mercantile capitalism was mistaken by those as a threat of witchcraft. Introducing us to the two "rival clans", the Porters and the Putnams, as well as the key role of the minister Samuel Parris, the authors of Salem Possessed used statistical and empirical data to show how the clashing of these distinct people, and their distinctive ways of life, led to a crescendo in 1692 that allowed for the hanging of innocent people. The authors sum up the book by portraying the events of 1692 as an "obsession with outsiders", showing that the difference in proximity to Salem Town, financial standing, land holding, and taxable property was more than many "pro-Parris" Villagers could stand to sit idly aside and watch fluctuate sporadically. Overall, Salem Possessed is effective in erasing the stereotypes involved with the Salem Witch Trials by using concrete evidence, primary accounts, and statistical data that hint at a very evident pattern in the growing chasm between the pro-Parris, religious Puritans, and the capitalistic, wealthy Villagers who had stronger ties to Salem Town than the Village itself.

This book chronicles the interesting events that shaped Colonial history in the fall of 1692. Hundreds of people were accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts, and 19 of the accused (probably all innocent) were put to death. The mass hysteria that invoked this terrible event was brought on by a combination of communal hysteria, frustration with wealthy social classes, and the rigid interpretation of Puritannical laws. An excellent narrative for anyone interested in the development of early North America.

"Salem Possessed" is a well researched but ultimately flawed account of the Witch trials of 1692. Boyer's and Nissenbaum's main contention is that the trials were a result of the animosity borne by the increasing bifurcation between Salem Village and Salem Town.
Specifically, as the Porter family in Salem gained in wealth, land and political influence, the Putnams (the main accusers in 1692) were hemmed in. The main nexus of envy, the authors argue, lay in the second marriage of Thomas Putnam to one Mary Veren. It was ultimately Mary Veren in 1695 that willed a vast majority of her estate to the Porters. One would think then that the main accusations of witchcraft would be leveled against the Porters or those closest to them. Instead, the main accusations were made against people geographically close to the Porters in the eastern part of the village. The authors attempt to explain away this incongruity by reading into the documents and supplanting hard evidence with imagined psychological motivations. For instance, the authors argue that the Putnam's rage was directed towards outsiders rather then Mary Putnam (Veren). This begs the question: Why were the accusations not leveled against the Porters and/or Mary Veren herself? The authors argue that the Putnams would not dare touch the Porters because of their high status, but why not when the stakes were so high as the authors have argued time and time again? This cannot be explained by simply a matter of `social deference.' That, in my opinion, is the ultimate failure of the book. If the witch trials were primarily an organized campaign against encroaching land-grabbing and commercialism, as the authors would have us believe, why accuse social outcasts? Although this book may suffice at the undergraduate level, at a higher level of academia it cannot stand up to very tough scrutiny. At the end of the day, it raises far to many questions then it does answers.