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CONTENTS:

Note to the Reader

A Note About the Images in This Book

On Spelling, Word Usage, and Dates in This Book

INTRODUCTION: Of Dark Forests and Midnight Thoughts

"The Queen of Hell"

Two Familiar Fairy Tales

Skittering Shadows

Belief or Fraud?

PROLOGUE: Boston, 1688: The Possession of the Goodwin Children

Mather vs Glover

Of Meetinghouses and the Blood of Wolves: The Puritan Journey

Testing a Witch

Exploring the Invisible World

Lessons and Warnings

CHAPTER I: Two Salem Families, 1641-1692

The Putnams and the Porters

The Theft

A Minister's Warnings

CHAPTER II: Two Mysteries

The First Mystery

The Second Mystery

The Second Mystery Deepens

CHAPTER III: The Mysteries End and the Hearings Begin

The Usual Suspects

Tituba's Confession

CHAPTER IV: The Accuser: Ann Putnam Jr.

Biting, Pinching, and Choking

Of Tests and Wishes

CHAPTER V: The One and the Many

Martha Corey

"Confess and Give Glory to God"

CHAPTER VI: From Hearings to Trials

"Alas, Alas, Alas, Witchcraft"

To Hear and Decide

One Dead: Bridget Bishop

CHAPTER VII: The Man in Black

Vengeful Ghosts

Two Men in Black

CHAPTER VIII: "Choosing Death with a Quiet Conscience"

"If I Would Confess, I Should Have My Life"

A Confused Jury

"Till the Blood Was Ready to Come Out of Their Noses"

CHAPTER IX: "That No More Innocent Blood Be Shed"

Mary Easty

"It Was All False"

"I Do Most Heartily, Fervently, and Humbly Beseech Pardon"

CHAPTER X: "A Great Delusion of Satan"

Ann Putnam Jr. Speaks

Wheels Within Wheels

EPILOGUE: Explaining Salem

Fraud, Witches, Hysterics, Hallucinators

APPENDIX: The Crucible, Witch-Hunt, and Religion: Crossing Points of Many Histories

Timeline of Milestones in Puritan History

Important Dates in Puritan History Before 1692

Chronology of Events in the Salem Witch Crisis

Notes and Comments

Bibliography

Index