SALEM WITCH TRIALS

     

     Greetings from fall break, everyone! Today, because it's almost Halloween and I like to consider myself a spooky person, I visited Salem, Massachusetts, and, because of the unshakable grip this class has over my day-to-day observations, I couldn't help but perceive certain genocidal characteristics present in the witch hunts that swept Essex county in 1692. In particular, I noted certain similarities to Stalin's genocides, although many important differences also exist. Both events targeted largely imaginary groups (kulaks and witches, respectively) that functioned as tailor-made scapegoats for the problems threatening their societies.

      Certain trends are readily apparent among those accused of witchcraft in the hysteria: most were women, and, at least initially, came from the margins of society. As the witch hunts continued, increasingly prominent members of society began to be accused, until finally the governor’s wife was accused and the governor shut down the courts that were running the witch trials. These courts accepted spectral evidence – supposed visions of the accused spirits perpetrating acts of witchcraft- as valid.

                In my view, the Salem witch trials exhibit certain prominent characteristics of other genocides we have discussed in this course, namely the attempted destruction of a group (“witches”) and the coordinated use of government structures (the courts) to achieve this end. Could the Salem witch hunts reasonably be considered genocide? The answer to this question inevitably results from definitional questions of genocide in a broader sense: can an event in which only 20 people lost their lives be considered genocide? Can imaginary groups constitute a victim group? I do not consider the Salem witch trials to be genocide, although not for either of the reasons mentioned above. Rather, I think the Salem witch trial was too short-lived a trend to constitute genocide. The witch hunts displayed a pre-genocidal mindset on the part of the perpetrators, but, because the suspicion of witchcraft fell upon those with the power to stop the trend, it failed to develop into a full-blown genocide. It would be absurd to group the Salem witch trials into the same category as Stalin’s genocides or the Holocaust, but the similarities between these events suggest just how ubiquitous the germ of genocide truly is.