Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft

A very clear division existed between the Village and the Town of Salem. The Town represented the merchant class of the region, while the Village was primarily agricultural. The authors narrow their focus beyond this simple geographic divide to one even more subtle. Within the Village itself lay distinctions. Its eastern and southern borders touched the Town proper. As a result, Village inhabitants who lived closest to this area benefited by the connection. They could market their farm produce to Town inhabitants and could easily participate in Town politics, thus securing more power and wealth for themselves.

In contrast, the farmers who lived in the northern and western region of the Village had no such advantages. They weren’t near enough to roads to transport their produce to town. The farmland they held was generally swampier and less arable than that of the southeast corner. To add to their frustration, this group of farmers could not expand their border holdings westward or southward because of the Village’s annexation to the Town.

The frustration felt by the western farmers because of these geographical constraints was to play out in an unexpected way during the witch trials. Maps within the book display the geographic location of the accusers versus the accused. The nexus of the witch hysteria began in the household of Thomas Putnam, a prominent northwest Village farmer. The majority of accusations came from people residing in the western section of the village. Conversely, the accused witches tended to reside in the southeast section of the Village. This area enjoyed greater prosperity than the northwest Village and, presumably, drew the jealousy and ire of the western residents.