Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft

Putnam Junior was the leader of a clan of wealthy farmers living in the western region of the Village. He struggled to maintain the prestige of his family in the face of shrinking financial opportunities. Putnam and his wife had both suffered disinheritance through the machinations of unscrupulous relatives and felt a bitter resentment toward the Porter family, whom they believed were responsible for their reduced circumstances.

Putnam’s daughter was the first to experience hallucinations and fits that were later attributed to local witches. Putnam’s wife soon developed similar symptoms and became a principal accuser as well. The entire Putnam family were staunch supporters of Reverend Parris. Deeply resentful of the commercial interests of the Town, they wanted independence for Salem Village.

Israel Porter was the head of the prosperous Porter family whose lands lay in close proximity to Salem Town. The Porters used this geographic advantage to engage in Town trade more than agriculture and distanced themselves from the interests of the Village. Israel preferred to work behind the scenes to secure ever-increasing wealth and power for his clan.

He was instrumental in arranging a marriage between his own daughter and Putnam’s half-brother. He also may have orchestrated the deathbed will of Putnam’s wealthy stepmother to favor the Porters. Because his interests aligned so closely with the Town, Porter headed the anti-Parris faction and opposed independence for Salem Village.  

The witch craze of 1692 was started by a group of adolescent girls who met at the house of Thomas Putnam to learn divination rituals from an enslaved black woman. No one considered these fortune-telling episodes to be harmful until the girls began to experience hallucinations and physical fits. The first to be afflicted was Putnam’s daughter and, later, his wife. After much prompting by the authorities, the victims began to divulge names of women whose apparitions who were tormenting them. Most of these accused witches came from the eastern commercial region of the Village, while the accusers lived in the western agricultural region. Not surprisingly, the accusers also focused on citizens who were part of the anti-Parris faction and would have been enemies of the Putnam family.