The Afflicted

As a creative nonfiction story about the Salem Witch Trials I would like to do it as the perspective of either one of the afflicted girls, like Betty Parris, or one of the accused witches like Tituba. 

It was winter in the year 1961; Betty Parris was sitting in the family kitchen with her orphaned cousin Abigail Williams. Her father, Samuel Parris was busy working on sermons for that Sunday. He was the new Pastor for Salem, Massachusetts. With many wifely tasks, Betty’s mother was often away so she and Abigail spent many nights in that kitchen. The girls had been curious about their future. Tituba, originally from Barbados decided to teach the girls a few tricks. It all started out as harmless fun. With the instruction of Tituba the girls started performing things like the “Venus glass”.  They would have a glass of water and then drop an egg inside and wait for a symbol to appear. This symbol would tell them about the future husbands and what not. They would continue for weeks playing games of fortune telling with Tituba.

After many weeks of hearing her father talk about how the whole town was against him, and wanted to kick him out Betty became ill. Soon after her cousin Abigail and other girls who had joined those in the kitchen also became ill. Many doctors came from all over to try and diagnose the girls. None were successful until the day one claimed that they were cursed by a witch. The girls were then questioned numerous times about who the evil woman was who did this to them. At first no names were said but after a while the adults started suggesting people. The girls then ended up pointing their fingers at Tituba. Tituba did have a history of performing witch craft but confessed to never wanting to harm the girls.

 

I think there are a couple of different stories in the Salem Witch Trials that I can have come to life with a creative piece. It’s just a matter of picking one. 

The First Wicked Witch

Tituba

Tituba was an Indian woman who was originally from South America and was captured into slavery as a child. She was then transported to Barbados, where she was purchased by Samuel Parris. Tituba was between the age of 12-17 when she was purchased. Parris was unwed at the time so it was just the two of them until the year 1680. During this year they were living in Boston and this is where Parris married, started a family and became a minister. As some point he also purchased another West Indian slave named John, who later became Tituba's husband. In 1689, Parris moved the family to Salem were he became the towns new minister.

Parris's wife was normally busy with duties that come along with being a ministers wife, so Tituba took care of the three children most of the time. At nights, Tituba would entertain Betty Parris and her cousin Abigail Williams by the kitchen fireplace. Thinking it was harmless fun, she would tell the stories of magic and spirits from the Caribbean and play fortune-telling games. Under the Puritan code these activities were strictly illegal. The young girls thought it was much fun and secretly spread the word among their friends. So it soon turned into a small group of girls that joined Tituba around that kitchen fire at night.
 

A couple months later in the winter of 1692, three young girls including Abigail and Betty began acting in odd behaviors. They would twitch, babble, have odd rashes, and crawl around on the floor. After the girls got ill, doctors couldn't diagnose them so they said it was the work of the devil. After the girls displayed theses symptoms, Tituba prepared a "witch cake" and fed it to the dog. This cake was supposed to reveal the identity of the afflicter. Samuel Parris was furious when he found out about the cake. Soon after the girls were pointing fingers at Tituba as being the afflicting witch.



After being beaten so many times by Samuel Parris, Tituba learned and knew exactly what the Puritans wanted to hear. She first apologized for hurting Betty because she loved her and never wanted to hurt her. Tituba also told tales of witchcraft in Salem including blood-red cats, rats, and demonic creatures. She also said that Satan came to her with a book to sign with her blood. She said that in the book she saw the red stains of eight others including Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. This is what started the craze of accusing others of being witches. The people of Salem knew that there were six other un-named witches that need to be discovered.

    

Because Tituba confessed so early she never actually had a trial. She spend 13 months in jail until after the Salem Witch Trials were over. An anonymous person paid for her and her husbands release. There are reports that she then moved to Kansas but after that there is no record of her.

It is crazy to think that the people where were actually witches and admitted to it were normally set free. Why was Tituba imprisoned for so long? Also was it all just a plan of Parris's to get back at the town for shunning him as a minister? I guess we will never know the real truth.