History of Northampton, Massachusetts, from its settlement in 1654;

CHAPTER XVIII.
WITCHCRAFT—TRIAL OF MARY PARSONS.
Prevalence of Su- In Ngw England, the early settlers were in
perstition. j^q sense Superior to the superstitions and
delusions of the times in which they lived.
Belief in the supernatural was universal. Having implicit
faith in signs and omens, they read in the sky warnings of
coming events, and gave prophetic interpretation to any
unfamiliar phenomenon. Many occurrences, the results of
natural laws, were often ascribed to unseen or occult influ-
ences, and any extraordinary incident was sure to be attributed
to the direct interference of some higher power.
The local history of Massachusetts abounds in corrobora-
tive facts. ^ This belief was by no means confined to the
ignorant. It permeated all classes, the learned as well as
the unlearned. Scholars, professional men, clergymen, acknowledged
the existence of witches, and the common peo-
ple imputed many of the events of every day life, se-
riously affecting themselves, or neighbors, to this evil in-
fluence. None doubted its reality, and in every civilized
country the practice of witchcraft was made a capital
offence. Nor is the superstition banished by the light and
1 These omens were generally noticed just before some important event took
place. Immediately preceding the outbreak of King Philip's war, strange appearances
in the heavens were reported by Increase Mather and others: such as the " discharge
of artillery and small arms, accompanied by the beating of drums as in bat-
tle. In several places invisible troops of horse are said to have been heard riding
through the air." As the first squadron of soldiers was marching to attack King
Philip, in 1675, an eclipse of the sun t^k place, and upon it was distinctly visible to
the superstitious militia men, the outlines of an Indian scalp. Previous to the attack
on Deerfield, in 1704, Rev. Mr. Stoddard reports, according to Penhallyw, that
" a few nights before the assault was they were strangely amused [amazed] by a
trampling noise round the fort as if it were beset by Indians." Again, quoting
from the same authority, just before the attack on Pascommuok, " the people of
Springfield heard a great shooting; unto some it seemed to be at Westfleld, to others
at a village, and to some again in the woods; so that many hastened to their assistance;
but when they came all was still and quiet, the reason whereof is hard to assign,
& yet we have repeated instances in history of the like nature."