Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II

Charles W. Upham's two-volume history reconstructs the witchcraft prosecutions of 1692 in Salem Village and the town of Salem, Massachusetts. It began as lectures published in 1831, and this fuller work first appeared in 1867, after the author had the time to go back to the original records.

The first volume builds the background: a long account of Salem Village, then a history of opinions on witchcraft and kindred subjects, including the colonists' fear of attacks on their settlements. The second sets out the events in order, drawing on sworn depositions kept in the Essex County files. One passage follows the examination of Rebecca Nurse before the magistrate Hathorne, with the accusers' outcries and her plain denial.

Upham also treats the affair as a question of how belief, the senses and the imagination can blur together. Readers of American colonial history, or anyone who wants the documents behind a famous episode, will find a detailed, source-heavy account that doubles as a study of a community under fear.