TAMUC历史教授打破了关于塞勒姆女巫审判的神话
Part 3 of the Spooky Stories Series
When we think about the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, 我们可能会在脑海中浮现出可怕的画面:女人被绑在火刑柱上烧死，或者被绳子捆起来扔进水里. 但我们对美国历史上那段离奇时期发生的事情的假设可能是错误的, 我们的心理形象可能只不过是误解.
Dr. John Howard Smith, a history professor at Texas A&m.s University-Commerce，专攻17世纪早期美国宗教史th and 18th centuries. 作为清教主义的专家，他研究并讲授了塞勒姆女巫审判案. Contributing to October's Spooky Story Series, 史密斯坐下来打破了一些神话，并分享了对这一奇怪历史事件的迷人见解.
First up…Myth Busting!
Myth 1: Witches were burned at the stake.
When we think about the witch trials, 我们可以想象一个可怜的女人被绑在木桩上，脚边有一堆燃烧的木头. However, this is not accurate. 史密斯解释说，焚烧女巫主要是在中世纪的欧洲. 塞勒姆被指控的女巫被绞死，而不是烧死，但绞刑同样可怕.
“绞刑也不像你在电影中看到的那样——有一个平台和一个活板门，”他说. “他们把受害者从梯子上推下去，让他们慢慢被勒死. 他们没有像后来的绞刑那样摔断脖子，“熄灯”.”
There was, however, 有一个例外:一个名叫贾尔斯·科里的人在被指控使用巫术时，因为拒绝认罪而被用石头砸死.
误解二:猎杀女巫在美国早期历史上很常见.
许多人认为，发生在塞勒姆的事情并不是那么独特，清教徒在各地的城镇和村庄都经常举行猎巫活动. This is inaccurate.
Although very strict and devoutly religious, 清教徒通常不像我们在媒体上看到的那样是猎巫人. 史密斯解释说，虽然巫术是非法的，一个人可以被指控和审判, 有一个适当的和预期的程序必须遵循. 这个程序的一个重要部分是必须提供合法的实物证据.
“In general, 法庭应该分别仔细审查原告和被告, 所以很容易看出原告是在撒谎，或者是受到正在进行的争议的驱使.”
However, when the hysteria ensued in Salem, the citizens of Salem threw out the rule book, including standard courtroom functions. Rather than conducting an orderly, organized court, 塞勒姆的官员允许所有人同时聚集在法庭上提出指控, which then fed into the chaotic hysteria.
“有几个当法官的人甚至没有接受过法律培训. And there was no such thing as defense attorneys at the time. There was usually a prosecutor, 但他们甚至没有检察官来审判被指控的女巫. 他们只是有一个法庭，由人来听取所谓的证据，然后做出判决,” Smith explained.
Because Salem broke the rules and procedures, 发生的猎巫(与流行的看法相反)是普通清教徒文化中的一种反常现象.
“猎巫在新英格兰清教徒的历史中占的比重并不大，”史密斯确认道. “Salem is an outlier. It's unusual.”
误解3:浮动测试可以判定某人有罪或无罪.
Stories circulate about Salem's witch tests, 其中包括把一个被怀疑是女巫的人扔进水里. If they floated, they were proven to be a witch; if they drowned, too bad, but at least they weren't a witch.
However, according to Smith, 这种测试也是早期欧洲历史上流传下来的神话, just like burning at the stake. It wasn't happening in 17th-century New England. However, two standard witch tests were still being performed. The first was to see if the accused witch could recite the Lord's Prayer; however, there were some doubts as to the accuracy of this test. 另一个被广泛接受的测试是寻找女巫身体上的生理迹象.
“塞勒姆的人们相信，如果一个人与魔鬼有契约, there would be physical marks, and someone could find them,” Smith said.
So, 塞勒姆的女巫测试主要包括对“女巫乳头”的身体检查,清教徒认为这是女巫的魔宠用来吸血的第三个乳头.
“有皮赘或奇怪痣的女人有祸了，”史密斯悲哀地说.
谣言4:腐烂的小麦会产生大量的幻觉，导致了塞勒姆的歇斯底里.
有一种普遍的理论认为，在塞勒姆发生的事情是由“痉挛性麦角主义”造成的,当有人吃了用腐烂的小麦做的面包时，就会出现这种情况. Symptoms include convulsions, delusions, hallucinations, 甚至感觉有什么东西在你的皮肤下面爬. 这些都是许多被“蛊惑”的指控者所经历的症状, 所以一些历史学家推测，也许在塞勒姆发生的事情是由每个人都吃的黑麦面包引起的大规模错觉. Smith disagrees with this theory.
“塞勒姆歇斯底里症与痉挛性麦角主义无关!史密斯笑着说，“这个理论是在20世纪60年代提出的，这并不奇怪。. They thought everyone was tripping back then!”
史密斯认为麦角主义在中世纪是一个问题, by the 1690s, Massachusetts wouldn't have that problem. 农民和磨坊主应该知道如何发现和避免坏黑麦.
On to the Fact Finding…
史密斯不仅澄清了一些关于塞勒姆女巫审判的神话, but he also brought to light many fascinating facts. 这些鲜为人知的真相甚至可能比虚构的神话更有趣!
事实1:真正造成塞勒姆歇斯底里的是战争创伤的混合, political instability, and a massive family feud.
“What caused the hysteria is complicated,” Smith explained. In fact, he called it “the perfect storm.”
Traumatized children were one little-known factor in the Salem hysteria. It all started with King Philip's War, 这是1670年代殖民者和土著人之间的重大冲突. 战争的暴力迫使许多流离失所的定居者到塞勒姆寻求庇护. 许多难民都是目睹了极端暴力的儿童, 那些受创伤的孩子长大后会指控很多人使用巫术.
Religious and political persecution were another cause. In 1685, King James II became ruler, and, as Smith phrased it, “he hated Puritans with a most violent passion,” so he targeted Puritan communities like Salem. King James II was suddenly dethroned, 威廉三世国王和玛丽二世女王代替他加冕. 新国王和王后有希望恢复清教徒殖民地原有的权力, but it never came to pass.
“So the nasty dominion regime was gone, 但是仍然有很多政治上的不稳定和不确定性,” Smith said.
这让清教徒们感到紧张、不确定，并处于一种怀疑的心态.
The third and most significant factor was a family feud in Salem. Salem was split into two areas: Salem Village, a poorer, rural farming area, and Salem Town, a wealthier, 较发达地区，靠近大型进出口港口. 这个村庄想要从城镇中分离出来，要求自治，但遭到了城镇的反对.
每个地区都有一个显赫的家族:来自塞勒姆村的普特南和来自塞勒姆镇的波特.
普特南家族非常支持从塞勒姆镇分离出来，波特家族则与之抗争. So even though they were from different parts of town, there was major competition for land and seats in government,” Smith said.
这导致了两个家族之间的宿怨，并蔓延到整个塞勒姆. When the witch trials began to surface, 这种竞争在谁受到折磨和谁被指控方面发挥了重要作用.
“大约60%或65%的指控来自居住在伦敦西区的人们, 其中绝大多数都与普特南家族有关. 大部分被指控的人都来自村庄的东端, 要么属于波特家族，要么与波特家族有联系,” Smith explained.
So all three of these factors—traumatized children, an unsteady government, 普特南家族和波特家族之间的恩怨相互助长，最终导致了歇斯底里的局面，也就是后来的塞勒姆女巫审判.
Fact 2: The trials mainly targeted women.
我们经常看到女性是塞勒姆女巫审判的目标. Smith said that this idea is historically accurate.
“The default assumption arrived at by male theologians, male ministers, even male scientists, 女人更有可能是女巫，因为夏娃(出自《皇冠体育365赌博》).”
然而，史密斯很快补充说，这种观点并不完全排除男性.
“They didn't discount the possibility of men being witches, 但他们认为这种可能性较小，因为男性应该更情绪化, spiritually, and intellectually mature. 所以在近300名被指控的人中，绝大多数是女性。.
Fact 3: The trials only lasted one year.
审判开始于1692年夏末，结束于1693年早春.
During that one year, 20 people were executed as witches, 史密斯认为这“表明了某种程度的克制?, considering that nearly 300 people were accused.”
So, what officially ended the year-long hysteria? According to Smith, it was old-fashioned nepotism.
“The thing gets shut down by the Massachusetts governor, Governor William Phipps, 自从他妻子被认为是女巫之后,” Smith explained. “他对法庭说，‘把你们的案卷上的东西弄清楚，然后我们就结束了.每次他们发现有人有罪并判处绞刑时，他就开始减刑. So, the hangings stopped before 1693.”
事实4:马萨诸塞州在250多年的时间里基本上把这些审判隐藏起来了.
Despite executing 20 innocent people, 塞勒姆镇和马萨诸塞州都没有为受害者和他们的家人伸张正义. 任何参与塞勒姆女巫审判的人都没有受到惩罚. 两个多世纪以来，甚至没有官方承认这些错误. In the early 1700s, 马萨诸塞殖民地开始悄悄地向被处决的幸存者和家属支付赔偿金, but there was no public apology or response until 1957.
“从来没有一项决议或马萨诸塞州的立法说, ‘Oh, this was wrong, it should have never happened' until much, much later. After the trials, Salem Village quickly got its independence from Salem Town, renamed itself Danvers, and did everything it could to say ‘Nope, nothing happened here, let's move on,'” Smith said.
In current-day Salem, however, it's a very different story. Now, Salem, Massachusetts, embraces its witchy heritage, 那里有玄学的商店和节日，甚至还有一个骑着扫帚的伊丽莎白·蒙哥马利的巨大雕像, 她曾在20世纪60年代的情景喜剧《皇冠体育365赌博》中担任主角.每年10月，成千上万的游客涌向这座城市，感受“女巫”的氛围.
Smith has mixed feelings about Salem's Halloween antics. “很多地方都很俗气，”他说，“但同时，这是一个美丽的小镇! There are some lovely houses. On one level, I would love to live there. 但在另一个层面上，如果我这样做了，我会在每年10月休假.”
A Clearer Picture
史密斯对塞勒姆女巫审判的专业知识有助于更清晰地描绘美国历史上的黑暗时期, separating fact from fiction. Some things we assumed were truths we now know are myths. Other things that were fuzzy are now clear. And to think—we didn't even need a crystal ball!
If this article interested you, check out Smith's featured courses, especially his special studies course, “HIST 497:塞勒姆女巫审判”将在2024年春季学期提供!
特色图片:托马斯·萨特怀特1869年创作的一幅名为“塞勒姆烈士”的画作
