在1692年之前,塞勒姆村周边的村落和其他城镇曾有过关于巫术的谣言。一个波士顿北部教堂的牧师科顿·马瑟是一个多产小册子的出版商,其中有些小册子闡述了他對於巫术的信念。在《難忘的遠慮──關於巫術與殖民地》(Memorable Providences, Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions)(1689)一书中,马瑟描述了“神谕的意见”和“伟大的巫术”是如何影响了波士顿的泥瓦匠约翰·古德温(John Goodwin)的孩子。马瑟在书中阐述了古德温家族年紀最大的孩子如何被魔鬼缠身并偷了洗衣妇安·格罗夫(英语:Ann Glover)(Ann Glover,於1688年因涉及巫術遭處以絞刑)的亚麻。[12]格罗夫是一个可怜的老妇人,她的丈夫经常被描述为一个巫师,这也许就是为什么人们认为是格罗夫对古德文斯的孩子施了巫术。在这件事发生后,古德温的六孩子中有四个孩子开始遇到类似的巧合或是被人们称为“患上了惊奇的疾病”。这种将人们的表现归因于疾病的行为很快与巫术联系起来。这些症状包括颈部和背部的疼痛、吐舌头,以及随机的大声呐喊;其他症状包括无法让自己的身体变得柔软、像鸟一样挥动手臂等。
自1693年至1697年,纺织者和布商罗伯特·卡里夫(英语:Robert Calef)[13]在波士顿收集信件法庭记录和请愿书,并且将他们和科顿·马瑟的《未知世界的困惑》作为对比。他写了一篇文章《未知世界的更多困惑》,由于无法将它在波士顿出版,卡里夫只好把它带到伦敦,在那里它于1700年被发表。研究审判的学者哈钦森,阿珀姆,伯尔,甚至普尔,在研究过程中都参考了卡里夫对于文档的整理和编译。1697年,麻薩諸塞州貝弗利(英语:Beverly, Massachusetts)的牧師約翰·黑爾完成了他的著作《略論巫術的本質》(A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft),但它直到1702年黑爾去世以前,都未經發表。也许是在响应卡里夫的书,这本书才得以发表。黑尔在書中对所发生的事情表示遗憾,他明确承认:“那是黑暗的那一天,酷刑和折磨的悲叹,和前总统的权力,使我们走在迷雾中,并不能看到我们的前路。”
直到今天,许多文学作品却仍然以此为主题。文学家、神学家和史学家给予该事件巨大的关注,甚至在事件刚刚结束时,马萨诸塞牧师科顿 ·马瑟就发表了《未知世界的困惑(英语:Wonders of the Invisible World)》一书以为反思。美国剧作家阿瑟·米勒于1953年发表了讲述这段历史的剧本《激情年代》,近半个世纪后,该剧又以电影的形式重现银幕。在当年审巫的法官中,有一个人叫约翰·霍桑。霍桑家的后代里,出了一个大作家,那就是写了《七角樓》的纳撒尼尔·霍桑。在说到他这位先祖的时候,他说,在约翰·霍桑的身上,那些受害者的血迹,是再也洗不掉的了。
^Witchcraft at Salem Village. Pioneers in the Settlement of America by William A. Crafts. Vol. I Boston: Samuel Walker & Company, 1876. Artists: F. O. C. Darley, Wm. L. Shepard, Granville Perkins, etc.
^Glanvill, Joseph. "Essay IV Against modern Sadducism in the matter of Witches and Apparitions" in Essay on several important subjects in philosophy and religion, 2nd Ed, London: (printed by Jd for John Baker and H. Mortlock, 1676, p.1-4 (in the history 201 course-pack compiled by S. McSheffrey &T.McCormick) 26
^Glanvill, Joseph. "Essay IV Against modern Sadducism in the matter of Witches and Apparitions" in Essay on several important subjects in philosophy and religion, 2nd Ed, London: (printed by Jd for John Baker and H. Mortlock, 1676, p.1-4 (in the history 201 course-pack compiled by S. McSheffrey &T.McCormick) 27
^3 Mather, Cotton. Memorable Providence, Relating to Witchcraft and Possessions. law.umkc.edu互联网档案馆的存檔,存档日期2008-12-19. (accessed June 5, 2010)
^The Glorious Revolution in Massachusetts: Selected Documents, 1689–1692 (henceforth cited as Glorious Revolution), eds. Robert Earle Moody and Richard Clive Simmons, Colonial Society of Massachusetts: Boston, 1988, p. 2.
^Massachusetts Archives Collections, Governor's Council Executive Records, Vol. 2, 1692, p. 165. Certified copy from the original records at Her Majestie's State Paper Office, London, September 16, 1846.
^Governor's Council Executive Records, Vol. 2, 1692, pp. 174–177.
^Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt, Rosenthal, et al., 2009, p. 15, n2
Adams, G. (2009), The Specter of Salem: Remembering the Witch Trials in Nineteenth-Century America, University of Chicago Press
Boyer, Paul S.; Nissenbaum, Stephen, eds. (1972), Salem-Village Witchcraft: A Documentary Record of Local Conflict in Colonial New England, Northeastern University Press, ISBN 1-55553-165-2
Breslaw, Elaine G. (1996), Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies, NYU Press, ISBN 0-8147-1307-6
Bunn, Ivan; Geiss, Gilbert (1997), Trial of Witches: A Seventeenth-Century Witchcraft Prosecution, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-17109-0
Cooke, William H. (2009), Justice at Salem: Reexamining the Witch Trials, Undertaker Press, ISBN 1-59594-322-6
Erikson, Kai T. (2005), Wayward Puritans: A Study in the Sociology of Deviance, Allyn & Bacon, ISBN 0-205-42403-1
Francis, Richard (2005), Judge Sewall's Apology, Harper-Collins
Glanvill, Joseph. “Essay IV Against modern Sadducism in the matter of Witches and Apparitions” in Essay on several important subjects in philosophy and religion, 2nd Ed, London: (printed by Jd *for John Baker and H. Mortlock, 1676, p. 1-4 (in the history 201 course-pack compiled by S. McSheffrey &T.McCormick)
Hansen, Chadwick (1969), Witchcraft at Salem, Brazillier, ISBN 0-8076-1137-9
Mather, Cotton. Memorable Providence, Relating to Witcraft and Possessions. law.umkc.edu (accessed June 5, 2010)
Trans. Montague Summer. Questions VII & XI. “Maleus Maleficarum Part I.” sacred-texts.com (June 9, 2010)
Reis, Elizabeth (1997), Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England, Cornell University Press, ISBN 0-8014-8611-4
Roach, Marilynne K. (2002), The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-To-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege, Cooper Square Press, ISBN 1-58979-132-0
Robinson, Enders A. (1991), The Devil Discovered: Salem Witchcraft 1692, Hippocrene, ISBN 1-57766-176-1
Silverman, Kenneth, ed. (1971), "Letter of Cotton Mather to Stephen Sewall, September 20, 1692", Selected Letters of Cotton Mather, University of Louisiana Press, ISBN 0-8071-0920-7
Starkey, Marion L. (1949), The Devil in Massachusetts, Alfred A. Knopf, ISBN 0-385-03509-8
Upham, Charles W. (2000) [1867], Salem Witchcraft 2, Dover Publications, ISBN 0-486-40899-X
The Examination of Bridget Bishop, April 19, 1692. “Examination and Evidence of Some Accused Witches in Salem, 1692. law.umkc.edu (accessed June 5, 2010)
The Examination of Sarah Good, March 1, 1692. “Examination and Evidence of Some the Accused Witches i Salem, 1692. law.umkc.edu (accessed June 6, 2010)
延伸阅读
Aronson, Marc. Witch-Hunt: Mysteries of the Salem Witch Trials. Atheneum: New York. 2003. ISBN 1-4169-0315-1
Boyer, Paul & Nissenbaum, Stephen. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, MA. 1974. ISBN 0-674-78526-6
Brown, David C.. A Guide to the Salem Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692. David C. Brown: Washington Crossing, PA. 1984. ISBN 0-9613415-0-5
Burns, Margo & Rosenthal, Bernard. "Examination of the Records of the Salem Witch Trials". William and Mary Quarterly, 2008, Vol. 65, No. 3, pp. 401–422.
Demos, John. Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982. ISBN 0-19-517483-6
Godbeer, Richard. The Devil's Dominion: Magic and Religion in Early New England. Cambridge University Press: New York. 1992. ISBN 0-521-46670-9
Goss, K. David (2007). The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-32095-0.
Hill, Frances. A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials. Doubleday: New York. 1995. ISBN 0-306-81159-6
Hoffer, Peter Charles. "The Salem Witchcraft Trials: A Legal History". University of Kansas: Lawrence, KS. 1997. ISBN 0-7006-0859-1
Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England. New York: Vintage, 1987. [This work provides essential background on other witchcraft accusations in 17th century New England.] ISBN 0-393-31759-5
Lasky, Kathryn. Beyond the Burning Time. Point: New York, NY 1994 ISBN 0-590-47332-8
Le Beau, Bryan, F. The Story of the Salem Witch Trials: `We Walked in Clouds and Could Not See Our Way`. Prentice-Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ. 1998. ISBN 0-13-442542-1
Mappen, Marc, ed. 'Witches & Historians: Interpretations of Salem. 2nd Edition. Keiger: Malabar, FL. 1996. ISBN 0-88275-653-2
Miller, Arthur. The Crucible — a play which compares McCarthyism to a witch-hunt. ISBN 0-14-243733-6
Norton, Mary Beth. In the Devil's Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692. New York: Random House, 2002. ISBN 0-375-70690-9
Poole, W. Scott. Monsters in America: Our Historical Obsession with the Hideous and the Haunting. Waco, Texas: Baylor, 2011. ISBN 978-1-60258-314-6.
Robbins, Rossell Hope. The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology. Crown Publishers Inc., 1959. ISBN 0-600-01183-6
Robinson, Enders A. Salem Witchcraft and Hawthorne's House of the Seven Gables. Heritage Books: Bowie, MD. 1992. ISBN 1-55613-515-7
Rosenthal, Bernard. Salem Story: Reading the Witch Trials of 1692. Cambridge University Press: New York. 1993. ISBN 0-521-55820-4
Rosenthal, Bernard, ed., et al. Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt. Cambridge University Press: New York. 2009. ISBN 0-521-66166-8
Sologuk, Sally. Diseases Can Bewitch Durum Millers. Milling Journal. Second quarter 2005.
Spanos, N. P., J. Gottlieb. "Ergots and Salem village witchcraft: A critical appraisal". Science: 194. 1390–1394:1976.
Trask, Richard B. `The Devil hath been raised`: A Documentary History of the Salem Village Witchcraft Outbreak of March 1692. Revised edition. Yeoman Press: Danvers, MA. 1997. ISBN 0-9638595-1-X
Weisman, Richard. Witchcraft, Magic, and Religion in 17th-Century Massachusetts. University of Massachusetts Press: Amherst, MA. 1984. ISBN 0-87023-494-3
Wilson, Jennifer M. Witch. Authorhouse, February 2005. ISBN 1-4208-2109-1
Wilson, Lori Lee. The Salem Witch Trials. How History Is Invented series. Lerner: Minneapolis. 1997. ISBN 0-8225-4889-5
Woolf, Alex. Investigating History Mysteries. Heinemann Library: 2004. ISBN 0-431-16022-8
Wright, John Hardy. Sorcery in Salem. Arcadia: Portsmouth, NH. 1999. ISBN 0-7385-0084-4
A documentary archive (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) including original court papers on the trials, maps, interactive maps, biographies, and internal and external links to more resources.