Samantha
asked
Stacy Schiff:
What did you find between the real story of the witch trials and some of the myths and misconceptions?
Stacy Schiff
On every level we've mangled the history. Partly I think the myths have grown up because no one wanted to talk about the trials for so long; partly I think the myths have grown up because we can't separate a Halloween witch from a 17th century witch; partly I think the myths are there to assure us that this happened in a far-away place very little like our America. Which of course isn't true. In short: Witches didn't burn, they hanged. They were not misfits, old women, midwives. Men hanged, as did young women. (And no midwives.) We have entirely forgotten the heroes. The most enlightened men in Massachusetts actively encouraged the witchcraft crisis.
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