Today in Salem: The fortuneteller Samuel Wardwell is in court. It was just a few weeks ago that his brother-in-law’s house had suspiciously caught fire, during a funeral, and with Samuel watching, no less. But now the judges are asking about other suspicious events, especially complaints from the afflicted girls that his specter has tormented them.
Samuel looks down at the table and takes a breath, then says he’s innocent. But with his reputation for telling fortunes, it seems undeniable, so he quickly changes his mind and confesses. “Why?” the judges ask. What have you done to summon the Devil?
Samuel searches his mind. He’s frustrated, he says. He has too much work to do, he says, and he’s constantly overwhelmed by it. Maybe he’d accidentally invoked Satan by saying the Devil should help him. Oh, and he’d also told someone – only once! – that he could make cattle come to him using only his mind.
That’s not enough for the judges, and they command him to tell the truth. Wardwell thinks for a minute, then tells the story of 20 years ago, when a young woman had rejected his professions of love. That night he’d seen a strange man who called himself a Prince of the Air, and promised him a more comfortable life in return for his service. So, in the throes of despair, he’d signed the Devil’s book with a black square. After 20 years of silence, the Devil had appeared and commanded him to afflict other people. So he’d done it, by pinching the buttons on his coat. But he wasn’t the only one.