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--- gasser_vexed_with_devils [2026/01/23 15:11] – 199.111.65.35
+++ gasser_vexed_with_devils [2026/01/23 17:03] (current) – [Trial and Execution of George Burroughs] nrutkows
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 George Burroughs had been an unordained minister in Salem, but, at the time of his arrest in 1692 was living in Maine. Accused of leading a group of witches in worshiping and attempting to take over New England for the Devil, he was brought back to Salem for trial. The evidence brought against him consisted both of accounts of witchcraft from the possessed or from confessed witches as well as accounts of his behavior that challenged his position as a patriarchal authority figure as a member of the clergy. (Cameron Spivy)
+During Burroughs’ trial, two main groups of accusers formed who were (mostly) divided by gender. The first group was the afflicted female accusers who performed possession symptoms in order to prove Burroughs’ influence over them while maintaining their status as innocent victims. These inflicted women likely used their “possession” as an outlet to admit to spiritual weakness while also blaming their sinful behavior on someone else. The second group of accusers mainly consisted of nonafflicted men, though sometimes also women, who testified as witnesses to Burroughs’ cruel behavior towards people like his wives Hannah and Sarah. Both groups of accusers wielded Burroughs’ masculine power as a minister and husband against him, unmaking him from a respectable religious authority into a demonic witch. (Noah Rutkowski)
 ==== Witchcraft ====
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 ===== Post-Trial Responses to and Debate over Burroughs Case =====
+Many initial published accounts of Burroughs’ case were very convinced of his guilt, relying on the narrative of his unmaking as a man and minister to portray him as a dangerous, perverted authority figure. When describing the five witches who testified against Burroughs, author Cotton Mather used gendered insults like “hag” and maintained the notion of Martha Carrier being promised the role of the “queen of Hell.” Still, despite his obvious distaste for the female witches, Mather was so convinced of Burroughs’ ultimate guilt and power over the witches that he shortened his name to simply G.B., implying that the use of his full name could wield the Devil’s power. However, later writers like Robert Calef depicted earlier writers like Mather as deluded witch hunters, with some writers even defending some of the men executed as witches on the same day as Burroughs. (Noah Rutkowski)