Salem Witch Trials in History and Literature
An Undergraduate Course, University of Virginia
Spring Semester 2001
Elizabeth Hubbard was one of the original girls to begin the witchcraft
accusations, and she continued to be a leading accuser throughout the
summer and fall of 1692. Although little is known about Elizabeth, her
name has stood out through history due to her violent fits under the
affliction of the "witches" and her active role as an accuser.
Elizabeth, like most of the other afflicted girls, was detached from
her parents and family of birth. She went to Salem to live with her
great-aunt Rachel Hubbard Griggs and her husband, the town physician
Dr. William Griggs who diagnosed the original girls as being under the
affliction of an "Evil Hand". As a physician Dr. Griggs and his wife
were viewed as a family of social standing. But Elizabeth was known
as a servant to the household and not as an adopted daughter.
In 1692 Elizabeth was around 17 years old, making her one of the oldest
of the original set of afflicted girls. Along with Elizabeth Parris,
Abby Williams and Anne Putnam, Elizabeth started the accusations with
claims of being tortured by specters of certain members of the community.
The reasons behind the start of the accusations are somewhat unclear.
There are many theories of why the young girls accused people of witchcraft
ranging from the hysteria to the social and economic set up of the village
of the time. In The Devil in the Shape of a Woman, Carol Karlsen
researched some of the accusing girls and suggests that they may have
behaved as they did due to the fact that many of them felt that their
future was uncertain. As orphans, society looked at them in a different
light. Most of the girls had no monetary or emotional support from direct
family members. As Karlsen states, that the frontier wars, "had left
their father's estates considerably diminished, if not virtually destroyed.
Little if anything remained for their dowries. With few men interested
in women without dowries, the marriage prospects of these women, and
thus their long-term material well being, looked especially grim (227)".
Elizabeth Hubbard, like most of the other accusing girls, was a servant
with very dismal if any prospects for the future. Karlsen goes on to
suggest the afflicted were able to use their dramatic possession performances
to "focus the communities' concern on their difficulties". This was
the one situation in which Elizabeth Hubbard and the others accusing
girls had the respect and attention of the community. Karlsen thinks
that this was the girls way of dealing with the oppression they felt
as orphans within Puritan society (226-230). We can never know exactly
why Elizabeth Hubbard accused so many people of witchcraft but from
the documents we can read some of her testimony and draw conclusions
about the kind of girl she was.
By the end of the trial Elizabeth Hubbard had testified against twenty-nine
people, seventeen of whom were arrested, thirteen of those were hanged
and two died in jail. As a strong force behind the trials, she was able
to manipulate both people and the court into believing her. One way
she and the other girls did this was through their outrageous fits in
the courtroom. The fits, they would claim, were brought on by the accused.
Elizabeth was especially known for her trances. She spent the whole
of Elizabeth Procter's trial in a deep trance and was unable to speak.
The original documents state that Elizabeth testified that in April
1692 "I saw the Apperishtion of Elizabeth procktor the wife of john
procktor sen'r and she immediately tortor me most greviously all most
redy to choak me to death....and so she continewed afflecting of me
by times till the day of hir examination being the IIth of April and
then also I was tortured most greviously during the time of hir examination
I could not spake a word and also severall times sence the Apperishtion
of Elizabeth procktor has tortured me most greviously by biting pinching
and allmost choaking me to death urging me dreadfully to writ in hir
[devil's] book" (Salem Witchcraft Papers). At the trials in which she
was able to speak, she usually charged the accused with pretty much
the same thing. An example is the case of Sarah Good. She testified
"I saw the apprehension of Sarah Good who did most greviously afflect
me by pinching and pricking me and so she continuewed and then she did
also most greviously afflecct and tortor me also during the time of
her examination and also severall times sence hath afflected me and
urged me to writ in her book." This type of spectral accusation was
typical of all the girls. Elizabeth's used it against the twenty-nine
people.
However, some witnesses came forward and testified against the character
of aggressive Elizabeth. She was not charged as a witch but James Kettle
and Clement Coldum both took the stand and attempted to show that Elizabeth
was religiously deviant. Coldum stated that one night when he was taking
Elizabeth home form church on his horse "she desired me to ride faster,
I asked why; she said the woods were full of Devils, & said ther & there
they be, but I could se none; then I put on my horse, & after I had
rid a while, she told me I might ride softer, for we had out rid them.
I asked her is she was not afraid of the Devil, she answered me no,
she could discourse with the Devil as well as with me, & further saith
not; this I am ready to testifie on Oath if called thereto, as witness
my hand." Elizabeth was a girl with a vivid and powerful imagination.
However, the fact that she was not afraid to speak about her relationship
with devil is also intriguing since by May 29th (the date Coldum claimed
the event took place) she had already begun to help to condemn people
for committing witchcraft and conspiring with the Devil. Another member
of the village, James Kettle, stated that Elizabeth "speack severall
untruths in denying the sabath day and saying she had not ben to [church]
meeting that day but had only bean up to James houltons this I can testifie
to if called: as witnes my hand." He seems to be trying to infer that
Elizabeth may not be as pious as others had seen her. However, statements
such as this did not discredit Elizabeth as a truthful witness to the
court. She continued throughout the entire trials to be a leading accuser.
The combination of a lonely upbringing in which there was little hope
for a future and Elizabeth's vivid imagination and fascination with
the devil contributed to her actions which lead to the unjustified executions
of many. Nothing is known of what happened to Elizabeth Hubbard after
the trials were over.
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