an introduction to the Salem witch trials by a literal banana
Why do humans and bananas alike get seduced into obsession with the events in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692? It’s not the mystery of why twenty people were executed, and hundreds imprisoned, for a supernatural crime. It’s not the mystery of why everyone suddenly got tired of hanging witches in a matter of months. It’s not the mystery of why it was the last witch trial of its scale in the Western world. And it’s not the play written by a communist that everyone had to read in high school, which functions as a curiosity repellant.
In fact, as you will quickly learn if you begin to study Salem, the fascination lies in an ancient dispute between two men of Boston, one of whom had no involvement in the Salem witch trials at all. The first, the politically connected minister Cotton Mather, wrote the first history of the Salem witch trials in the immediate aftermath of the event, Wonders of the Invisible World, attempting to whitewash the affair and justify the executions. The second, the humble but successful weaver and merchant Robert Calef, did not much like this, and wrote the second history of the trials a few years later, More Wonders of the Invisible World. They came to very different conclusions.
Ever since, it has been a tradition for Salemheads to take a side in this dispute. The side you choose is important, because it informs all the decisions you will arrive at about the import of each piece of evidence. Your judgments about every question arising from the tragedy will have curious relevance to the matter of which man you back in this antique beef.
Continue reading “Antique Beef”
Carcinisation 