Today in Salem: While his panicked wife has abandoned his children and sold everything he owns, the minister George Burroughs stands naked before seven men, holding his head high and stretching his arms out as if he is a cross. He wills himself to breathe evenly as the men prod his armpits, pull at his ears, and examine his private parts. After what seems like forever, the men announce that they’ve found nothing, and Burroughs says a silent prayer of thanks.
The abusive George Jacobs Sr. isn’t as fortunate. The men have found three suspicious marks: a rough spot inside his right cheek, a wart on his right hip, and a growth on his right shoulder.
Do the marks have any feeling, as a natural part of his body? Or are they numb, not part of him, placed by an evil source? Jacobs gags and flinches when one of the men shoves a dirty thumb into his mouth, squeezing Jacobs’ cheek between thumb and fingers. The men agree: it’s obvious Jacobs felt pain. The rough spot is a wound of his own making.
The other two marks are different, though. “Look away,” orders the man who’d examined Jacobs’ mouth. One of the other men pushes a pin into the wart on Jacobs’ hip, but … nothing. Jacobs doesn’t even wince. The men look at each other silently, then stand up to peer at Jacobs’ shoulder. Is the small growth they’ve found a blister? a boil? a cyst? Or is it a witch’s mark? One of the men lances the growth, but no fluid oozes out. More important, Jacobs doesn’t react, even though it’s a lance. He feels nothing.
LEARN MORE: Why didn’t witch marks hurt?
It was common knowledge that the Devil placed marks on witches so their familiars could suckle. But those marks weren’t part of the witch’s body. They were foreign; attached to the skin, not growing out of it. Therefore, they wouldn’t hurt or bleed if they were pierced.
Piercing, known as “pricking,” was used throughout Europe and the colonies as one of several tests to identify a witch. There’s no record of deception in Salem, but not all examiners in Europe were honest. For example, some pricking tools had hollow wooden handles and retractable points. Push it “into” a person’s skin – even up to the hilt of the tool – and it would look like the suspected witch had been stabbed without bleeding or pain. Other tools included needles that were sharp on one end and dull on the other. A deceitful examiner could use the sharp end to cause pain and draw blood, or the dull end, to cause … nothing.
Tomorrow in Salem: The coroner rules and the Governor dithers