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====== Vexed with Devils ======
Erika Gasser is posing the argument that witchcraft and possession in the 17th century was a language of power where gender can be validated through disorder. Ministers were able to reaffirm the patriarchy by turning these "irrational episodes" into moments of religious and patriarchal authority.(Tea Aliu)
===== Witchcraft in the Colonial Context =====

In England, there was a resurgence in witchcraft and possession cases in the mid 17th century, and this increasing commonness of these phenomena was reflected in the colonies. Though the trials in Essex County and specifically Salem were of a notable intensity, witchcraft and possession cases were taking place across New England. The stories of these cases were often spread for religious reasons. They served as proof of the devil's power and the importance of faith, but also to encourage colonists to maintain their faith as a guard against preternatural events. These accounts often framed the devout as the only who could be left without blame, and the practice of praying and fasting as the only true cure to possession or other preternatural afflictions. (Cameron Spivy)
===== Trial and Execution of George Burroughs =====

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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)

==== Witchcraft ====
There was a sense that the ministers and magistrates had a pre-agreed upon notion of what bodily affliction and spectral visions look like and how they function in puritan society. (shared culture scripts on witchcraft- and agreed upon behaviors.) (Tea Aliu)

Multiple people testified that Burroughs had appeared to them and tried to force them to sign the devil's book. Confessed witches also identified him as a leader in worship of the devil, a perversion of his ministerial status. (Cameron Spivy)
==== Excessive and Deficient Manhood ====
Gasser describes George Burroughs' "sins" as excessive and deficient manhood simultaneously. What Puritan society valued most in men was their ability to be the head of a harmonious household. George Burroughs did not exactly fit this bill: he experienced financial difficulties throughout his life, and for a time, he boarded with another family while himself married. The idea that a married man should be reliant on others in this way was bad enough, but rumors of Burroughs' mistreatment of his wives abounded. Puritan society was deeply patriarchal, but in a paternalistic way, where the male head of household was to show a Christ-like love and mercy to his dependents, all the while ensuring their productivity and obedience. Cruelty and physical violence towards spouses violated this idea of a man's place in his home and in society. However, at the same time, Burroughs was charged with having a sinful pride in his male-coded accomplishments - physical strength and wisdom - that would have been understood as "excessive" manhood. A real Puritan man was strong and wise, but did not brag of being so in the way that Burroughs did. All of this combined to paint a picture of a man who, in the Puritan understanding, violated masculine codes of conduct in quite a severe way through a simultaneous inability to provide and a pride in himself despite his deficiencies. (Nick Thodal)
==== Connections between Manhood and Severity of Witchcraft  ====

Accusers connected Burroughs' position of authority within the church to his witchcraft by placing him as a leader in a conspiracy of witches across New England. His masculine authority position, rather than defending him, exposed him to further accusations about his crimes and involvement with witchcraft more generally. (Cameron Spivy)

===== Post-Trial Responses to and Debate over Burroughs Case =====

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