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)

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)

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)

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)