The New Puritans: How the Religion of Social Justice Captured the Western World

by Andrew Doyle

more and more witches were identified in the subsequent frenzy: As the trials went on the girls grew bolder, accusing ever more reputable local figures of being in consort with the devil. Perhaps most shocking of all were the charges against Rebecca Nurse, one of Salem’s most upstanding and pious citizens. So outraged were other villagers that they took the risk of mounting a petition to testify to Nurse’s unblemished name. When the jury found her not guilty, the girls were displeased. They erupted into ear-splitting ululations, a manic and terrifying soundscape that wouldn’t seem out of place by the shores of the River Styx. Under such unmistakable signs of demonic influence, the jury revised their verdict. Later, Governor William Phips signed a reprieve for Nurse, only to retract it once he had heard that some of the girls were on the verge of death at the hands of her malevolent spirit. The children would not be denied their prey.