"While interpersonal, local, and regional contexts are critical to the analysis of witch-hunting in early New England, this book shows that a full understanding of the Puritan colonies' battle against black magic can only be achieved by placing it in a trans-Atlantic perspective"--

In Detestable and Wicked Arts, Paul B. Moyer places early New England's battle against black magic in a transatlantic perspective. Moyer provides an accessible and comprehensive examination of witch prosecutions in the Puritan colonies that discusses how their English inhabitants understood the crime of witchcraft, why some people ran a greater risk of being accused of occult misdeeds, and how gender intersected with witch-hunting. Focusing on witchcraft cases in New England between roughly 1640 and 1670, Detestable and Wicked Arts highlights ties between witch-hunting in the New and Old Worlds. Informed by studies on witchcraft in early modern Europe, Moyer presents a useful synthesis of scholarship on occult crime in New England and makes new and valuable contributions to the field.

Chilling real-life accounts of witches, from medieval Europe through colonial America, compiled by the New York Times bestselling author of The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane and The Daughters of Temperance Hobbs From a manual for witch hunters written by King James himself in 1597, to court documents from the Salem witch trials of 1692, to newspaper coverage of a woman stoned to death on the streets of Philadelphia while the Continental Congress met, The Penguin Book of Witches is a treasury of historical accounts of accused witches that sheds light on the reality behind the legends. Bringing to life stories like that of Eunice Cole, tried for attacking a teenage girl with a rock and buried with a stake through her heart; Jane Jacobs, a Bostonian so often accused of witchcraft that she took her tormentors to court on charges of slander; and Increase Mather, an exorcism-performing minister famed for his knowledge of witches, this volume provides a unique tour through the darkest history of English and North American witchcraft. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

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The history of infamous witch trials and witchcraft accusations is deeper than just those most often discussed at Salem. The Empire State has had numerous moments of pandemonium over the potential existence of witches. From Native Americans viewing European colonists as witches in the Mohawk Valley to witchcraft hysteria among early Long Island colonial settlements, the history of New York state's witchcraft accusations encompases all regions and communities in the state. Join author Scott R. Ferrara as he presents harrowing narratives of those who were accused of witchcraft, the feverish community dramas that resulted and the lives of those who faced their community as an outsider.

A collection of riveting stories about preternatural revenge. Discover the riveting stories about Queen Esther and the Iroquois Slaughter, The Curse of Mamie O’Rourke, The Rangers, the Stanley Cup and the Curse of 1940, The Death of a President and the City that Fails to Thrive, and many more. Some stories will be regionally well known. Others are nearly forgotten. All are cursed.

In this enthralling new book, Richard Panchyk has compiled a collection of true stories from Long Islands history sure to befuddle, baffle and bemuse even lifelong residents. Who knew that Plum Island was bought with a barrel of biscuits and a few fishhooks? Or that an Oyster Bay woman accused of being a witch was instead found guilty of being a Quaker? Little-known tales of snake-eyed horses, naked ghosts, swamp serpents and cats riding horses offer a fresh look at Long Islands past. Culled from numerous period sources, including newspapers, books and historical records, these little stories are notable both as entertaining anecdotes and as forgotten history.