My Ancestor, the Witch

Last week a distant cousin, who found me through Ancestry.com, sent me an account of our common ancestor, my ninth great-grandmother. Her name was Margaret Scott (née Stevenson). She was hanged as a witch along with seven others on September 22, 1692. These were the last executions of the Salem Witch trials.

Widowed in the summer of 1671 at age 56, Margaret had little to live on. She was reduced to begging, which made her very unpopular. She was the perfect target for a proverbial “witch hunt.” Twenty-one years later, when in her seventies, she was indicted for witchcraft.

The indictment read: “that Margaret Scott of Rowley in the county of Essex, widow, about the end of July or the beginning of August hath wickedly, maliciously, and feloniously used certain detestable arts called Witchcraft and Sorceries in the town of Rowley, against one Mary Daniell. By these wicked acts the said Mary Daniell was tortured, afflicted, consumed, pined, wasted, and tormented.”

Mary Daniell, age nineteen, testified as follows: “On the 2nd day of the week last past, towards night, I was suddenly taken very ill and went to lie down on a bed, soon after which there appeared to me the shape of some woman, who seemed to look and speak most fiercely and angrily, and beat, pinched, and afflicted me. I saw the first fit the next night after. I was taken very ill again, and felt a great pricking in the soles of my feet, and then I saw apparently the shape of Margret Scott, who, as I was sitting in a chair by the fire, pulled me with the chair down backward to the ground, and tormented and pinched me very much and I saw her go away at the door.”

Other “spectral evidence” was provided by eleven other witnesses of her witchcraft. Based on this evidence she was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging.  When the executions were over and while the bodies were still hanging on the gallows, the Reverend Nicholas Noyes, who was the official minister at the trials, remarked, “What a sad thing it is to see eight firebrands of hell hanging there.”

During the Salem Witch Trials women were accused of being in league with the devil. It was believed that witches signed a book, presented to them by the devil, and were baptized by him in a ceremony, in which the devil said: "Thou art mine, and I have a full power over thee!" Afterwards, supposedly, they partook of a hellish bread and wine communion, administered by the devil. This was called a "witch sacrament."

One would think that such accusations would be ancient history, but they are not. Two weeks ago I received the following comment on a YouTube video, in which I presented the mystical dimension of Jesus’ message. The commentator remarked, “Marshall Davis, you are bringing in the teachings of the pagans and satanist devil-worshiper & through them the devil.”  Sadly this is not the only time I have received such comments from Christians. “Witch hunts” are still going on.

I take comfort in the knowledge that Jesus was accused of the same thing and warned his followers to expect the same type of treatment that he received. The scribes and Pharisees said of Jesus, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” “He has an unclean spirit,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 

Jesus explained to his followers, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!” Self-righteous religious folks of every generation accuse those who disagree with them of cavorting with the devil.

I gladly stand with my ancestor, Margaret Scott, and against those who persecute people like her – both then and now. I stand with the religious minorities of the world who are persecuted today for their faith. I stand with religious and unreligious minorities in our nation where Christian nationalists (like the Puritans of Salem) seek to make our country into a “Christian nation” and Christianity into the state religion.

Heinrich Heine famously said, "Those who burn books will in the end burn people." History has shown that to be true. It is also true that those who ban books will in the end ban people. We are seeing that happening today. Racial, ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, and religious minorities are being erased from history books and school curricula. It has been over three hundred years since the Salem Witch Trials, but not enough has changed.