Alexis Peck Blog

When reading about Rebecca Nurse’s execution, I thought it was notable that the location of where the execution took place was inaccurate for many years. With a well-documented trial for the 1600s, it is expected that the execution would also be well documented, but this thought ultimately was wrong. With roughly fifteen of A Salem Witch: The Trial, Execution, and and Exoneration of Rebecca Nurse , dedicated to Rebbeca Nurse’s arrest and examination, the short three paged execution lacks many details. This short of an execution documentation, combined with many other short and un-detailed accounts of the executions that took place during Salem Witch Trials, leaves many questions unanswered. The book, A Salem Witch: The Trial, Execution, and and Exoneration of Rebecca Nurse, highlights some of these including the location where individuals were hanged, the method of hanging, and even where most of the executed were buried.  Many of these questions were answered recently in 2016 ...

Throughout the semester we have talked about several plants used by witches and seen throughout various films and different books about witchcraft. With this blog I wanted to research two specific plants: the mandrake root and belladonna to discuss their history, features, and appearances in various movies and media over the years. They both have been brought up over and over again many times in class and in the readings which is why I wanted to do more research.  The mandrake root is described in “A History of Magic, Witchcraft, and the Occult,” as a plant with one of the largest reputations for magic. Its humanlike shape was the reason for many of its magical powers due to the ancient Greek idea that plants affected what they resemble.  Research also shows that the mandrake was found drawn inside Egyptian tombs used for good luck on the dead. There also is a myth explaining that the mandrake root had magical powers for witches to fly and that it was inhabited by a demon and ...

After discussing the Salem Witch Trials over the last several weeks, and the many characters involved, both accusers and the accused, I wanted to do a little more research regarding Reverend Samuel Parris due to his large role in the witch trials. We learned in class that he was born in London, England, then immigrated to Boston. After obtaining a college education he moved to Barbados in the Caribbean and used his inheritance to maintain a sugar plantation where he bought Tituba. He moved back to Boston after a hurricane in Barbados (bringing Tituba along with him) and became the minister of Salem. Parris’s role in the Salem community as minister played a large part in what occurred during the witch trials and I believe that without him the witch trials would not have killed as many individuals.  Parris decided he wanted to be the minister of Salem due to a desire to switch vocations and preach instead. His new vocation let him down quickly as he provided unsatisfactory sermo...