Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Review: “The Penguin Book of Witches,” Katherine Howe

History review of The Penguin Book of Witches, edited by Katherine Howe

By Paul Carrier

Katherine Howe knows a thing or two about witchcraft. The direct descendant of three accused Salem witches, she is the best-selling author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, a novel partially set during the 17th-century trials in Massachusetts. Conversion, her recent young-adult novel, explores similar territory. And Howe hosted Salem: Unmasking the Devil for the National Geographic Channel.

Who better, then, to edit The Penguin Book of Witches? This annotated collection of period material includes primary sources on the history of witchcraft before, during and after that most infamous of all such episodes in America, which swept through Salem in the late 1600s. Close to 50 pages of generally helpful notes explain archaic terms, unusual concepts and the like.

Even in the 21st century, Americans remain fascinated by witches. The problem is that we view the topic through a kaleidoscope of fractured, often misleading, images, as any tourist who visits Salem can attest. Among other attractions, “The Witch City” boasts a bronze statue of Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha (complete with broom) from the 1960s sitcom Bewitched.

How’s that for silliness?

What Howe has done is to ignore useless abstractions, ghoulish tourist attractions and goofy Hollywood creations so readers can examine real-life accounts of alleged witchcraft, as documented by contemporary observers or people who were directly involved in such cases, including accused witches testifying in their own defense.

Following a brief look at what the Bible says on the subject (not much, as it happens), Howe explores a series of incidents, almost all of which are from England, Scotland or what is now the United States. Justifiably, she devotes much of this slim volume to what happened in Salem in 1692.

With the obvious exception of the supposed conspiracy of witches in Salem, The Penguin Book of Witches focuses on the cases of individual witches who often came under attack from several people. Many of the documents show that the accused, almost all of them women, tended to be poor, middle-aged, marginalized and unpopular, perhaps because they were quarrelsome, unattractive or even mentally ill.

The accusers come across as far more frightening than their victims, because their fanciful complaints featured animals bearing the heads of witches, as well as assorted cats and other malevolent creatures behaving in devilish ways. Clearly, the accusers were either delusional or bold-faced liars.

The understanding of cause and effect, as displayed in these proceedings, was virtually nonexistent. If an illness or a death followed an argument with a supposed witch, the thinking went, then the witch was the cause, whether she admitted or denied it. And the rules of evidence were bizarre. The word of a confessed witch was almost enough to condemn an accused witch.

The confusion surrounding the mechanics of witchcraft would be comical if it hadn’t contributed to the deaths of so many innocent people. In the 17th century, for example, experts agreed that witchcraft involved “familiars,” but they couldn’t agree on whether all familiars were imps who assisted witches, or if witches became familiars by transforming themselves into other creatures. Also unclear was whether the Devil could assume the appearance of an innocent person. Yet there were exceptions to such absurdities. In at least some cases, officials had enough sense to try to determine if accused witches were insane.

Some of the most compelling documents are those from the Salem witch trials, which Howe describes as “the largest and most fatal North American witch crisis.”  As she notes, experts have offered various explanations for that mania, including a rivalry over land, resentment toward women who challenged the male power structure, and hysteria created by Indian attacks along the Maine frontier. Puritans viewed such attacks by Indians and their French Catholic allies as the work of the Devil.

The Salem documents show that officials were prejudicial from the outset, even during the initial questioning of some of the accused. Knowing what is to come, the reader feels a chill while reading arrest warrants and interrogation transcripts. The power of the state — in this case, a theocracy — was easily manipulated by hysterical (or theatrical) teenagers throwing fits in court, and hateful bystanders out for blood, without regard for the rights of the victims. In the ultimate legal perversion, confessed Salem witches were not executed, but those who denied practicing witchcraft were killed.

The Penguin Book of Witches also takes a look at conflicting attitudes toward witchcraft during the late 16th and early 17th centuries.
Some entries are more compelling than others. Reginald Scot, a skeptic writing in 1584, made a clear case that those who believed in witchcraft were blasphemers who assumed humans have powers that are reserved to God. King James I tried to counter Scot’s dismissive arguments in a 1597 text, but his contribution is turgid and dense, at least to this 21st-century reader.