Cultural depictions of the Salem Witch Trials

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Main article: Salem witch trials

Cultural depictions of the Salem Witch Trials abound in art, literature and popular media in the United States, from the early 19th century to the present day.

Contents

[edit] The Salem witch trials in literature

  • Rachel Dyer (1820), by John Neal (1793-1876)
  • American poet John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892) wrote many poems about the episode, starting with "The Weird Gathering" (1831), and later, "Calef in Boston" (1849), about the public debates between Robert Calef and Cotton Mather in the aftermath of the trials.
  • Lois the Witch (1859), a novella by Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865), is based on the Salem witch hunts and depicts how jealousy and sexual desire can lead to hysteria. She was inspired by the story of Rebecca Nurse whose accusation, trial and execution are described in Lectures on Witchcraft, by Charles W. Upham, the Unitarian minister in Salem in the 1830s.
  • Salem: A Tale of the Seventeenth Century (1874), an historical novel by D. R. Castleton (Harper, New York) See: copy at the Internet Archive
  • The Witch of Salem, or Credulity Run Mad', by John R. Musick. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1893. Historical fiction set during the witchraft trials.
  • Ye lyttle Salem maide, a story of witchcraft (1898), a novel by Pauline Bradford Mackie (1873-?), Lamson, Wolffe and Co., Boston, 1898. See: copy at the Internet Archive
  • Dulcibel: A tale of old Salem by Henry Peterson, Philadelphia: John C. Winston, 1907. Historical fiction.
  • Various stories by H. P. Lovecraft (1890-1937) are set in the fictional town of Arkham, Massachusetts, said to have been founded by refugees from the Salem trials. For example, in The Dreams in the Witch-House, the witch Keziah Mason, whose house the title comes from, is said to have fled Salem.
  • Road to Endor (1940) by Esther Hammand
  • Acceptable Risk (1995), an adult medical thriller novel by Robin Cook (1940-living), with a plot that attributes the afflictions in Salem to an unusual mold that is rediscovered by present-day medical researchers.
  • Gallows Hill (1997) by Lois Duncan (1934-living) is young-adult fiction in which main character Sarah, and many others, turn out to be reincarnations of those accused and killed during the trials.
  • I Walk in Dread: The Diary of Deliverance Trembly, Witness to the Salem Witch Trials, Massachusetts Bay Colony 1691 (Dear America Series) (2004), by Lisa Rowe Fraustino (1961-living), is young-adult historical fiction set during the Salem Witch Trials
  • In The Last Witchfinder (2006), a historical novel by James Morrow (1947-living), the Salem Witch Trials feature prominently.
  • "Oyer and Terminer," a sci-fi short story by Joe Masdon in the collection "Time Twisters" (Jean Rabe and Martin H. Greenberg, eds, DAW, 2007), is set during the Salem witch trials

[edit] The Salem witch trials in popular culture and media

[edit] Film

[edit] Television

  • The television series Bewitched (1964-1972) includes six episodes in Season 7 (1970) that were filmed on location in Salem, with a plot that includes time travel to 1692. On June 15, 2005, the TV Land Network erected a bronze statue in Salem of Elizabeth Montgomery as the lead character, Samantha. TV Land spent $75,000 to install the sculpture in Salem's Lappin Park. It was sculpted by StudioEIS under the direction of brothers Elliott and Ivan Schwartz.[1]
  • Leonard Nimoy's television series In Search of... (1977-1982) aired Season 5, Episode 109: "Salem Witches" (1980)
  • The science-fiction TV show Voyagers! had the main characters, Bogg & Jeff, help Benjamin Franklin save his mother, Abaia Folger, from being hanged during the Salem witch trials in episode No. 4, "Agents of Satan," which first aired on October 31, 1982.
  • A television mini-series "Three Sovereigns for Sarah", starring Vanessa Redgrave, Kim Hunter, and Will Lyman, first aired on PBS on May 27, 1985.
  • In The Simpsons animated television comedy series (1989-present), a segment of the 1997 Halloween special episode "Treehouse of Horror VIII" is based on the Salem witch trials.
  • Episode 348 of Season 19 of the sketch comedy series "Saturday Night Live" (first aired October 2, 1993) contained a skit depicting the "Salem Bitch Trials" in which Abigail Wolcott, played by Shannen Doherty (who played the part of Prue, a witch on the TV series Charmed, see below), is examined by Deputy Governor Danforth, played by Phil Hartman, on charges of "bitchcraft," with testimony given that she had told a woman her dress made her hips look big and snubbed a man's proposal. The sketch ends stating that she and 19 other women were burned at the stake. [2]
  • In the television series Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2000), in Season 1, Episode 23 (1997), "The Crucible," a class field trip goes to Salem to re-enact the trials.
  • In Histeria!, an animated television series for children (1998-2001), episode 36, "When America Was Young", included a People's Court-style sketch based upon the trials. View episode: http://video.aol.com/video/tv-histeria-when-america-was-young/1813972
  • The History Channel's In Search of History (1996-2000) television series aired the episode "Salem Witch Trials" (1998).
  • In Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997 to 2003), episode 45, Buffy, Willow and Amy are considered a threat to Sunnydale and left to burn at the stake after the apparent sacrifice of two children in an occult ritual.
  • In Charmed, a television series (1998-2006), part of the fictional background is that Melinda Warren, an ancestor of the three fictional protagonists, was burned at the stake in the Salem witch trials. See Season 1, Episode 9, "The Witch Is Back" (1998) and Season 3, Episode 4, "All Halliwell's Eve" (2000)
  • PBS's television series Secrets of the Dead (2000-present) aired Season 2, Episode 1: "Witches' Curse" (2002), featuring Linnda R. Caporael
  • The History Channel aired a documentary "Witch Hunt" (2002).
  • Salem Witch Trials (2002), starring Kirstie Alley, Shirley MacLaine and Peter Ustinov, was a television mini-series, airing in the UK as 4 parts, in the US on CBS in 2 parts.
  • The Discovery Channel's Unsolved History series (2002-2005) included Episode 23, "Salem Witch Trials" (2003)

[edit] Comic Books

Unknown Worlds, September 1962, Issue No. 18, with the story "Witch Hunter of Salem"
Unknown Worlds, September 1962, Issue No. 18, with the story "Witch Hunter of Salem"
Marvel Team-Up, Vol. 1, No. 42 (1976)
Marvel Team-Up, Vol. 1, No. 42 (1976)
  • Issue No. 18 in September 1962 of Unknown Worlds, from American Comics Group, contained an 11-page story called "Witch Hunter of Salem", depicted on the cover, in which the minister who was hunting witches in Salem turned out to be one. Zev Zimmer (Script), C. C. Beck (Pencils), Pete Costanza (Inks); Cover by Ogden Whitney.
  • "Visions of Hate!" appeared in the comic-book Marvel Team-Up in 1976, as part of a serialized story-line in which Spiderman, Vision, and the Scarlet Witch travel through time to Salem, 1692, to battle an arch-nemesis, Dr. Doom -- who has enlisted the help of Cotton Mather -- get entangled in the witchcraft accusations. Pages 11-16 in particular depict the historical episode.


[edit] Music

  • The second album by the indie rock band Liars, They Were Wrong So We Drowned, is a concept album about the trials.
  • Rob Zombie's album Educated Horses (2006) contains many references to the trials, in track names to lyrics.
  • Jello Biafra had a side-project entitled The Witch Trials, and his work with the Dead Kennedys made a few references to them.
  • Neal Peterson mentions Alice Parker in his song "I wind my clocks / OneSixNineTwo". Peterson is a descendant of Parker.
  • American death metal band Ishia have a song called "Witch Hunting in Salem".

[edit] 19th Century Illustrations Depicting the Episode

The story of Salem featured prominently in many publications in the 19th century about the 17th century colonial foundations of the United States. The illustrations continue to be reproduced widely in 20th and 21st century publications, in many cases without accurate attribution or reference to the century in which the illustrations were created. This gallery includes their citations and the names, where known, of the artists who created them. Check the Wikimedia Commons for more that may not be included here.

"Witchcraft at Salem Village", in Pioneers in the Settlement of America, Vol. 1, by William A. Crafts. Vol. I Boston: Samuel Walker & Company, 1876, p. 452; illustration likely by F. O. C. Darley or Granville Perkins (not specifically attributed)

"There is a flock of yellow birds around her head." Engraved illustration by Howard Pyle, to accompany “Giles Cory, Yeoman,” a play by Mary E. Wilkins , Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Volume LXXXVI, 1893, p. 31

"Father! Father!" Engraved illustration by Howard Pyle, to accompany “Giles Cory, Yeoman,” a play by Mary E. Wilkins , Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, Volume LXXXVI, 1893, p. 33.

"Witch Hill" or "The Salem Martyr," Thomas Slatterwhite Noble, 1869. (Collection of the New York Historical Society)

"Trial of George Jacobs, August 5, 1692," Thomkins H. Matteson, painter, 1855 (Collection of the Peabody Essex Museum)

"Examination of a witch," Thomkins H. Matteson, painter, 1853 (Collection of the Peabody Essex Museum)

"Arresting a Witch" by illustrator Howard Pyle, to accompany "The Second generation of Englishmen in America," by T. W. Higginson, Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 67, (June - November), 1883, p. 221.

"Trial of Giles Corey" by illustrator Charles S. Reinhardt, in A Popular History of the United States, Vol. 2, by William Cullen Bryant, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1878, p. 459.

"Captain Alden Denounced", by illustrator Alfred Fredericks, in A Popular History of the United States, Vol. 2, by William Cullen Bryant, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1878, p. 463

"Tituba and the Children", by illustrator Alfred Fredericks, in A Popular History of the United States, Vol. 2, by William Cullen Bryant, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1878, p. 457

"Burroughs and the Sheriffs," by illustration Alfred Rudolph Waud, in A Popular History of the United States, Vol. 2, by William Cullen Bryant, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1878, p. 470

Martha Corey, illustration by John W. Ehninger, to accompany the play "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Boston, Houghton, 1902

Tituba, illustration by John W. Ehninger, to accompany the play "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Boston, Houghton, 1902

Tituba and Mary Walcott, illustration by John W. Ehninger, to accompany the play "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Boston, Houghton, 1902

Mary Walcott accusing Giles Corey, illustration by John W. Ehninger, to accompany the play "Giles Corey of the Salem Farms" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, in The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Boston, Houghton, 1902

"Court Trial of Witches", illustrator unknown, in Witchcraft Illustrated by Henrietta D. Kimball, Geo. A. Kimball, Publisher, Boston, 1892.

"Giles Corey's Punishment and Awful Death", illustrator unknown, in Witchcraft Illustrated by Henrietta D. Kimball, Geo. A. Kimball, Publisher, Boston, 1892.

"Tituba Teaching the First Act of Witchcraft", illustrator unknown, in Witchcraft Illustrated by Henrietta D. Kimball, Geo. A. Kimball, Publisher, Boston, 1892.

"Accused of Witchcraft," oil painting by Douglas Volk, 1884. (Collection of the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, DC)

"The Witches," oil painting by Walter McEwen, circa 1892. (Collection of the Dallas Museum of Art)

"The Witch, No. 1," lithograph by Joseph E. Baker, published by Geo. H. Walker & Co., c1892

"The Witch, No. 2," lithograph by Joseph E. Baker, published by Geo. H. Walker & Co., c1892

"The Witch, No. 3," lithograph by Joseph E. Baker, published by Geo. H. Walker & Co., c1892

"The Legend of Salem: The Rev. George Burroughs was accused of witchcraft on the evidence of feats of strength, tried, hung, and buried beneath the gallows," Illustration for "Some Legends of the New England Coast," Part III, by Harriet Prescott Spofford, Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, v. 31, (1871 Feb. 4), p. 345.

"The sheriff brought the witch up the broad aisle, her chains clanking as she stepped." Rebecca Nurse, as depicted by artist F.A. Carter in the historical novel, The Witch of Salem, or Credulity Run Mad, by John R. Musick. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1893. p. 275.

"She stood up serene but heroic", frontispiece, by Howard Pyle of fictional character accused of witchcraft, Dulcibel Burton, in Dulcibel: A tale of old Salem by Henry Peterson, Philadelphia: John C. Winston, 1907

"'The Lord knows that I haven't hurt them'", p. 68, illustration by Howard Pyle of Rebecca Nurse in Dulcibel: A tale of old Salem by Henry Peterson, Philadelphia: John C. Winston, 1907

"Marched from jail for the last time", p. 208, illustration by Howard Pyle of fictional character accused of witchcraft, Dulcibel Burton, in Dulcibel: A tale of old Salem by Henry Peterson, Philadelphia: John C. Winston, 1907

[edit] 19th & 20th century photographs of 17th century buildings related to the episode

Although a few of the houses that belonged to the participants in the Salem witch trials are still standing, many of these buildings have been lost. This gallery includes photographs take in the 19th century and early 20th century that preserve the visual record of these homes.

"The House Where Witchcraft Started, Now Danvers, Mass.", photographer unknown, in Witchcraft Illustrated by Henrietta D. Kimball, Geo. A. Kimball, Publisher, Boston, 1892.

"Rebecca Nurse House, Danvers, Mass.", photographer unknown, in Witchcraft Illustrated by Henrietta D. Kimball, Geo. A. Kimball, Publisher, Boston, 1892.

"Rebecca Nurse House," circa 1900-1906, Detroit Publishing Company.

George Jacobs, Sr.'s House, Danvers, MA; front, looking northwest, from an old photograph by Frank O. Branzetti; Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS, Reproduction number HABS MASS,5-DAV,7-1. Date of original unknown.

George Jacobs, Sr.'s House, Danvers, MA; front, looking northwest, Arthur C. Haskell, Photographer; Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS, Reproduction number HABS MASS,5-DAV,7-5. circa 1935.

[edit] References and Notes

  1. ^ Bewitched Elizabeth Montgomery TV Land Bronze in Lappin Park Salem Massachusetts
  2. ^ Salem Bitch Trial