Ja Garo
The library might be the best place, as I don't know any sites either. But you should definitely look into going to Salem yourself! When I was there it was beautiful out, and--even though our maps were five years old and therefore useless--the trip was blast! There are a lot of places to go and you learn a ton about the Salem witch trials! I feel especially bad for the guy who was crushed by a rock.... how does squishing someone under a rock make them want to admit they're a witch... I mean, what'll they do if they know for sure that you're a witch?
whee sweatdrop
Well, people thought differently about about the concept of the flesh and the soul back then. Our society today tends to veiw the flesh and the soul as separate, that pampering the flesh will not weaken the soul to succumbing to evil, but back then that's exactly what they belived. Hence, the reverse was also true. They didn't crush people under rocks or hang them or burn them or torture them because it seemed the best way to go about matters, they did it because they were honestly trying to save people. If an innocent man died crushed by rocks, well better that his flesh die and he move on, than allow him to continue his sinful ways and end up in hell when he does die, you know? To their way of thinking, confession to beling a witch was the first step towards redeeming your soul, which was far more important than an insignificant matter like torture or death. Plus, the torture itself was seen as cleansing. People whose spirits were strong and pure would withstand it, supported by God, whereas those who were weak and corrupted by the Devil would break and confess their sins.
To our way of thinking today, the concept of torture to get someone to confess makes no sesne because, of course someone will confess to being a witch if it will get you to stop half-drowning them or cutting them or stretching them, or whatever you're doing. However, esspecially if you're planning on writing a book about it, it's very important to keep in mind that they veiwed the world very differently than we do today.
Now, that's not to say that there weren't a lot of people who took full atvantage of the hysteria to get rid of "unwanteds" and/or to claim money and property from women. If you know, one of the things they believed was that if a woman made a pact with the Devil and became a witch, there would be a spot on her body that, if pricked, would not bleed, (this was often to be found in the more intimate areas of a woman's body, surprise surprise, and you can bet plenty of the "investigators" took full advantage of that, and the fact that all witches were supposedly licentious) and many "witch hunters" specifically carried a needle with them that they could collapse into the case (think little kids pretending to give each other shots with mechanical pencils) so that to anybody else, it would look like they were pricking this woman with a needle and she wasn't bleeding. If you think you can stomach it, the
Maleus Maleficarum of "Hammer of Witchcraft" was the guide on exactly how to go about torturing the suspected witches properly. I haven't read it yet as I'm not sure I could read something like that, but someday, I'll try. Assuredly, not all at once, and I don't think I could stomach owning and having a book like that in my personal library, so only if I can find a copy to rent or borrow.
