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--- gasser_vexed_with_devils [2026/01/23 16:51] – [Post-Trial Responses to and Debate over Burroughs Case] nrutkows
+++ gasser_vexed_with_devils [2026/01/23 17:03] (current) – [Trial and Execution of George Burroughs] nrutkows
@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
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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 ====