Chapter 6 Five Dinner with Vamps

6. Five Origins 1: The Salem Witches

Unless you live under the rock, you must have heard about the infamous Salem of Oregon, American history. No witch doesn't know about this day, it was a few centuries ago where, one of the most tragic events happened in the history of witches. This story has been passed down generation to generation, I will pass it to my children as well, if I happen to have any but for now, I will tell it you!

The events that happened in Salem, in the sixteenth century, were the biggest chapter in a very long story of witch hunts which began in Europe in 1300 and 1330 years. Finally ending in the late eighteenth century (with last known being the execution for witchcraft taking place in Switzerland in 1782, well that was just the desert, if we are comparing it to the Salem witch hunt!

The Salem trials occurred late in the sequence, after the reduction of European witch-hunt fervour, which peaked from the 1580s to 1630s. Seventy-five percent of those European witch hunts took place in western Germany, the low countries, France, northern Italy, and Switzerland. The number of trials and executions varied according to place and time, but we believe that about 110 000 people were tried for witchcraft and between 40 000 to 60 000 were executed.

The "hunts" were efforts to identify witches rather than pursuits of individuals who were already thought to be witches. Witches were considered to be followers of Satan who had traded their souls for his assistance. They believed that we employed demons to accomplish magical deeds, that we changed from human to animal form or from one human form to another, well I second that! I haven't really seen my other form, I heard it was the form that come only to save you, unless you shift as desired. The reason why I hadn't seen my beast/animal form is because I hadn't reached that level yet, but I was on my up there.

They also believed that we rode the night to secret meetings and orgies. Yeah, we could fly, even in day light but the secret meetings, I'm not sure about that, maybe when we celebrate the Full Moon Fest or other festivals. But Orgies? Not in Queen Jezebel's castles, in fact not in the entire kingdoms! The orgies, this is the definition of the vampires and wolves on the Full Moon Fest!

The process of identifying witches began with suspicions or rumours. Accusation followed, often escalating to convictions and execution. The Salem witch trials and executable came about as a result of a combination of family feuds and hysterical children, all of which unfolded in a vacuum of political authority.

How it all began,

A man came to Salem from Barbados, he had bought a very big land and the villagers there were not pleased. He brought his wife, teenage son, daughter, niece and two slaves, that had the African heritage some believed they were from the native Caribbean.

The female slave, Atika used to tell the children tales about voodoo. The master's daughter, niece and their friend began indulging in fortune telling. The following daughter the master realized that her daughter had a strange behaviour that came escalating as time when on. It was odd, they thought, she was screaming, kicking, throwing things, making odd sounds, and even complained of biting and pinching sensation.

Looking back with the perspective provided by the doctors, they believed that the strange behaviour maybe a resulted from some combination of asthma, Lyme diseases, epilepsy and child abuse. This odd behaviour was also mirrored to that of the children of a Boston who were believed to have been bewitched. Still, the master was not sure what was wrong with his daughter, in failure to diagnosis this illness, doctors blamed it on supernatural. As one of the suggestions from the neighbours, a witch cake (read authors note) was baked by Atika to try and ferret out the supernatural perpetrator of the girl's illness. However, the master wasn't pleased by this and saw it as witchcraft.

Three Witches

The master pressured, her daughter to identify their tormentor, they claimed to be bewitched by Atika and two other community members, neither of whom attended church regularly; Sarah Gold a short-tempered beggar, and Jane Osborne an elderly bed ridden woman who was scorned for her romantic involvement with a servant.

The following month two detectives form Salem town went to the village to conduct a public inquiry. Both Gold and Osborne protested their innocence, although Gold accused Osborne. Initially Atika claimed to be blameless but after being repeatedly badgered and being threatened to be demoted to an nonpaid slave, she ended giving them what they wanted to hear.

She told them the devil had visited her at night in form of a tall dark man, this matched the description of a man in Boston. However, she did not sign the devil's book. (as she was a good witch, she did not tell them any of that) She mentioned that, in the book, there were names of other community members like Gold, and Osborne members she could not read.

The trials began the following week. After of weeks of informal hearings accompanied by imprisonments, The accused were forced to defend themselves without aid of a council, most damning was the evidence and the testimonies from the victims that claimed to have been, attacked them.

And the most damning moment occurred for Atika, the master's daughter accused her of bewitching her brother as well.

"Yes... That is the night were all this started happening to me. I saw my brother sleepwalking into Atika's bedroom. I wondered what he wanted in there but now that I know she is a witch it makes sense to me, she had used the power of voodoo to control him." She gave her statement.

"Miss Edwards. What did you do when you saw him into the witch's bedroom?" The prosecutor asked.

"I didn't know she was witch, I always thought she was my friend. I once considered her my family. I walked to my room. I intended to ask her in the morning, why my brother was in her bed." The little girl added her statement. The courtroom was quiet like cemetery, people were shocked, well a lot was to be revealed that day.

"Please explain further." The prosecutor requested. "Did you peep into her room? How did you he was in her bed?" Asked the prosecutor, everyone was quiet as they were also curious.

"I had the squeaky sounds that were made by brother Irvine's old bed which was given to the slave."

"Thank you, Miss Edwards," The little girl left the witness box as it was time for them to question Atika who was called to the witness box. "Miss Peters, according to the child, Irvine was in your bed. Did you perform any sinister rituals on your master's son?" The prosecutor asked.

"No, it was not a ritual, and neither was Irvine sleepwalking." She lowered her gaze and cleared her throat, the poor woman, she had no lawyer to defend her! "It was consensual," she added.

"In other words, you mean you were indulging in sexual intercourse with a minor?" The prosecutor asked pushing her in some corner, that's what they did to get confessions out of the defendants' mouths.

Witch cake, made of the victim's urine.