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ONE NIGHT IN SALEM
THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WITCH
BY TROY TAYLOR (2023)
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Witchcraft came to America with the first European settlers. They came here and brought with them their histories and traditions, hopes, dreams, terrors, and fear of their gods. They had fled from home at a time when thousands were being accused, tortured, hanged, and burned for being witches. They came to America for a fresh start – and brought that fear of witches with them.
The belief in witches – who carried out the Devil’s evil deeds – was as real to the colonists as the constant threat of the Devil himself. They believed that witches caused livestock to sicken and die, crops to fail, and babies to be born dead or deformed. Fear and dread became hysteria when evil came to Salem Village, fueling hostility, distrust, and religious fanaticism that claimed the lives of innocents on the gallows.
But Salem was not the end of America’s obsession with witchcraft.
Join Troy Taylor on a trip back in time as he reveals the hidden history of the American witch! Discover the strange tales of what happened in America in the wake of Salem, from the persecution and murders of accused witches to the conjure folk, Appalachian folk magic, Hexes and Powwowing, Voodoo and Hoodoo, killings, curses, witchcraft manias, and more!
This is not another book about Salem, a spell book, or a how-to guide, but a haunted and historic look at how witchcraft came to America and the ways that it continues to thrive today.
MORE ABOUT “ONE NIGHT IN SALEM”
THROUGH THE AGES
The history of witchcraft from ancient times to the “Burning Times” of the Inquisition and beyond. The death, persecution, and torture in the Old World sent scores of colonists to America. They came for a fresh start but brought their fear of witches with them. They knew about witchcraft. They feared it, had experienced firsthand, and some may have even practiced it — leading to America’s own version of the “witch hunts” that had plagued Europe.
THE AMERICAN WITCH
When the Puritans began to dominate religious life in America, they forced their beliefs in witchcraft and the Devil on the people of New England. Although terrified of disease, crop failure, bad weather, and Native Americans, their greatest fear was conjuring and folk magic, which they linked to witchcraft and the Devil. The witch trials in Salem may be the most famous in American history but there were dozens and dozens that came before them.
THE DEVIL CAME TO SALEM
In 1692, an outbreak of “witchcraft” wreaked havoc on the Massachusetts village of Salem. After a group of young girls were “afflicted” by witches, they began to accuse scores of people of practicing witchcraft and making pacts with the Devil. The trials that followed would lead to the deaths of 20 innocent men and women.
AMERICAN FOLK MAGIC
While so-called “witches” were being persecuted in New England, the Cunning Folk of the Appalachians and other isolated parts of the country were practicing their own kind of magic. One of the main functions of these wise men and women was that of healer and fortune teller, as well as helping lift curses. Their advice was sought on matters of love, the crops and the harvest, poor health, finding lost treasure, and more. They might also provide herbal remedies, potions to remove warts, and good luck charms. Folk magic became an essential part of rural life — also becoming a purely American form of witchcraft.
AMERICAN WITCHCRAFT AFTER SALEM
The madness of what happened at Salem drained America of some of its fervor for the supernatural – for a time. The War for Independence ushered in a time of great cultural change in the country with new immigrants bringing their languages, cultures, customs, and beliefs to a new land. These new arrivals would bring their own ideas of magic and witchcraft into the melting pot of American culture, mixing with the conjure folk, the witches, and the magic practitioners that were already here — sometimes with terrible and violent results.
POW-WOWING & HEX MURDERS
After folk magic was brought to America by immigrants, it began to change to fit into its new home, becoming uniquely American – especially as it adapted to the various people, places, and ways of life where it was needed. Folk magic wasn’t only found in Appalachia and other rural regions. It could also be found in the streets of the big cities, among the African American people of the South, and scattered across the nation's farms, fields, and forests. It could also be found among the German farming folk of Pennsylvania. That form of folk magic took root around the same time as the witch trials in New England, but in many ways, it was more widely accepted by both ordinary people and the authorities alike. It wouldn’t be until the early twentieth century – after a series of so-called “Hex Murders” occurred – that people in the region began to look at their homegrown folk magic differently.
ROOTS AND BONES OF MAGIC
Voodoo and Hoodoo began not in America, but in Africa, when entire nations of people created a system of beliefs, lore, stories, and customs designed to help them blend into a world filled with plants, animals, elements, and an array of gods and spirits. When those same people began to be kidnapped, placed in chains, and sold into slavery, their beliefs took root in the Americas in different ways. Over time, both Louisiana-based Voodoo and Southern-based Hoodoo have become distinctly American versions of folk magic. They have often been mixed together, even though each tradition has its own unique system of beliefs and practices, but as practitioners can assure you, they are two very different things.
MODERN “WITCH HUNTS”
We had a lot on our minds in America in the 1950s — the conflict in Korea, the Russians, the Cold War, Civil Rights, and communists that seemed to be everywhere. It was at this time that Senator Joseph McCarthy was pursuing his dangerous “witch hunts” against real and imaginary communists that were burrowed into all levels of the government. And all the while, real witch hunts still took place in some parts of the country. Superstition and a belief in witches seemed like a thing of the past, but violence and murder surrounding magic were still part of American life.
REINVENTING WITCHCRAFT
Eventually, the days of witch trials and wild accusations were over. Many of those with an interest in the old religions and the pagan traditions of the past began to revive witchcraft as a faith and religion. Thanks to Gerald Gardner, the Wicca movement was born. In the years that have followed Wicca has changed and grown and has become a major force in America.