by Graeme Davis
VIII
As for Susan Chandler, her Mother Testified, That being at the search of Rose Cullender, they found on her Belly a thing like a Teat, of an Inch long; which the said Rose ascribed to a strain. But near her Privy-parts, they found Three more, that were smaller than the former. At the end of the long Teat, there was a little Hole, which appeared, as if newly Sucked; and upon straining it, a white Milky matter issued out. The Deponent further said, That her Daughter being one Day concerned at Rose Cullenders taking her by the Hand, she fell very sick, and at Night cry’d out, That Rose Cullender would come to Bed unto her. Her Fits grew violent, and in the Intervals of them, she declared, That she saw Rose Cullender in them, and once having of a great Dog with her. She also Vomited up Crooked Pins; and when she was brought into Court, she fell into her Fits. She Recovered her self in some Time, and was asked by the Court, whether she was in a Condition to take an Oath, and give Evidence. She said, she could; but having been Sworn, she fell into her Fits again, and, Burn her! Burn her! were all the words that she could obtain power to speak. Her Father likewise gave the same Testimony with her Mother; as to all but the Search.
IX
Here was the Sum of the Evidence: Which Mr. Serjeant Keeling, thought not sufficient to Convict the Prisoners. For admitting the Children were Bewitched, yet, said he, it can never be Apply’d unto the Prisoners, upon the Imagination only of the Parties Afflicted; inasmuch as no person whatsoever could then be in Safety.
Dr. Brown, a very Learned Person then present, gave his Opinion, that these Persons were Bewitched. He added, That in Denmark, there had been lately a great Discovery of Witches; who used the very same way of Afflicting people, by Conveying Pins and Nails into them. His Opinion was, that the Devil in Witchcrafts, did Work upon the Bodies of Men and Women, upon a Natural Foundation; and that he did Extraordinarily afflict them, with such Distempers as their Bodies were most subject unto.
X
The Experiment about the Usefulness, yea, or Lawfulness whereof Good Men have sometimes disputed, was divers Times made, That tho’ the Afflicted were utterly deprived of all sense in their Fits, yet upon the Touch of the Accused, they would so screech out, and fly up, as not upon any other persons. And yet it was also found that once upon the touch of an innocent person, the like effect follow’d, which put the whole Court unto a stand: altho’ a small Reason was at length attempted to be given for it.
XI
However, to strengthen the Credit of what had been already produced against the Prisoners, One John Soam Testifi’d, That bringing home his Hay in Three Carts, one of the Carts wrenched the Window of Rose Cullenders House, whereupon she flew out, with violent Threatenings against the Deponent. The other Two Carts, passed by Twice, Loaded, that Day afterwards; but the Cart which touched Cullenders House, was Twice or Thrice that Day overturned. Having again Loaded it, as they brought it thro’ the Gate which Leads out of the Field, the Cart stuck so fast in the Gates Head, that they could not possibly get it thro’, but were forced to cut down the Post of the Gate, to make the Cart pass thro’, altho’ they could not perceive that the Cart did of either side touch the Gate-Post. They afterwards, did with much Difficulty get it home to the Yard; but could not for their Lives get the Cart near the place, where they should unload. They were fain to unload at a great Distance; and when they were Tired, the Noses of them that came to Assist them, would burst forth a Bleeding; so they were fain to give over till next morning; and then they unloaded without any difficulty.
XII
Robert Sherringham also Testifi’d, That the Axle-Tree of his Cart, happening in passing, to break some part of Rose Cullenders House, in her Anger at it, she vehemently threatned him, His Horses should suffer for it. And within a short time, all his Four Horses dy’d; after which he sustained many other Losses in the sudden Dying of his Cattle. He was also taken with a Lameness in his Limbs; and so vexed with Lice of an extraordinary Number and Bigness, that no Art could hinder the Swarming of them, till he burnt up two Suits of Apparel.
XIII
As for Amy Duny, ’twas Testifi’d by one Richard Spencer that he heard her say, The Devil would not let her Rest; until she were Revenged on the Wife of Cornelius Sandswel. And that Sandswel testifi’d, that her Poultry dy’d suddenly, upon Amy Dunys threatning of them; and that her Husbands Chimney fell, quickly after Duny had spoken of such a disaster. And a Firkin of Fish could not be kept from falling into the Water, upon suspicious words of Duny’s.
XIV
The Judge told the Jury, they were to inquire now, first, whether these Children were Bewitched; and secondly, Whether the Prisoners at the Bar were guilty of it. He made no doubt, there were such Creatures as Witches; for the Scriptures affirmed it; and the Wisdom of all Nations had provided Laws against such persons. He pray’d the God of Heaven to direct their Hearts in the weighty thing they had in hand; for, To Condemn the Innocent, and let the Guilty go free, were both an Abomination to the Lord.
The Jury in half an hour brought them in Guilty upon their several Indictments, which were Nineteen in Number.
The next Morning, the Children with their Parents, came to the Lodgings of the Lord Chief Justice, and were in as good health as ever in their Lives; being Restored within half an Hour after the Witches were Convicted.
The Witches were Executed; and Confessed nothing; which indeed will not be wondred by them, who Consider and Entertain the Judgment of a Judicious Writer, That the Unpardonable Sin, is most usually Committed by Professors of the Christian Religion, falling into Witchcraft.
LITHOBOLIA
R.C.
1698
According to a footnote in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register (Vol. 24, 1870), “R.C.” stands for Richard Chamberlayne (sometimes spelled Chamberlain), who was Secretary of the Province of New Hampshire in 1682, when his signature appears on several legal documents. Chamberlayne is not known to have published anything else.
The event Chamberlayne describes would be categorized today as a serious poltergeist haunting. It is also reported by Increase Mather, whose account was reproduced earlier in this book. Thereby hangs a tale: it seems that Mather heard that Chamberlayne was preparing an account of the incident, and wrote to a New Hampshire contact, one Joshua Moody of Portsmouth, asking him to obtain a copy.
Apparently Mather did not know that Moody was the wrong person to send to Chamberlayne for a favor, because the previous year, Chamberlayne had prosecuted Moody for failing to conduct his services according to the English (i.e., Church of England) Prayer Book—in other words, for conducting Congregationalist services in the Puritan manner—and the case had resulted in Moody being imprisoned for three months. Chamberlayne being no friend of Puritans in general or Moody in particular, Mather’s request went unanswered, leaving him to piece together his own account from whatever secondhand sources he could find.
Chamberlayne claims to have witnessed the haunting at first hand, making his the more authoritative account, at least in theory. Although it is framed as nonfiction, Chamberlayne’s account is regarded in some quarters as one of the first examples of horror fiction to be written in North America. It was first published in London in 1698.
Lithobolia: or, the Stone-Throwing Devil. Being an Exact and True Account (by way of Journal) of the various Actions of Infernal Spirits, or (Devils Incarnate) Witches, or both; and the great Disturbance and Amazement they gave to George Waltons Family, at a place call’d Great Island in the Province of New-Hantshire in New-England, chiefly in Throwing about (by an Invisible hand) Stone, Bricks, and Brick-bats of all Sizes, with several other things, as Hammers, Mauls, Iron-Crows, Spits, and other Domestick Utensils, as came into their Hellish Minds, and this for the space of a Quarter of a Year.
By R. C. Esq; who was a Sojourner in the same Family the whole time, and an Ocular Witness of these Diabolick Inventions.
The Contents hereof being manifestly known to the Inhabitants of that Province, and Persons of other Prov
inces, and is upon Record in his Majesties Council-Court held for that Province.
London, Printed, and are to be Sold by E. Whitlook near Stationers-Hall, 1698.
To The much Honoured Mart. Lumley, Esq;
Sir,
As the subsequent Script deserves not to be called a Book, so these precedent Lines presume not to a Dedication: But, Sir, it is an occasion that I am ambitious to lay hold on, to discover to You by this Epitome (as it were) the propension and inclination I have to give a more full and perfect demonstration of the Honour, Love, and Service, I own (as I think my self oblig’d) to have for You. To a Sober, Judicious, and well Principled Person, such as your Self, plain Truths are much more agreeable than the most charming and surprising Romance or Novel, with all the strange turns and events. That this is of the first sort, (as I have formerly upon Record attested) I do now aver and protest; yet neither is it less strange than true, and so may be capable of giving you some Diversion for an hour: For this interruption of your more serious ones, I cannot doubt your candor and clemency, in pardoning it, that so well know (and do most sensibly acknowledge) your high Worth and Goodness; and that the Relation I am Dignified with, infers a mutual Patronization.
Sir, I am
Your most Humble Servant,
R.C.
To the much Honoured R. F. Esq;
To tell strange feats of Daemons, here I am;
Strange, but most true they are, ev’n to a Dram,
Tho’ Sadduceans cry, ’tis all a Sham.
Here’s Stony Arg’uments of persuasive Dint,
They’ll not believe it, told, nor yet in Print:
What should the Reason be? The Devil’s in’t.
And yet they wish to be convinc’d by Sight,
Assur’d by Apparition of a Sprite;
But Learned Brown doth state the matter right:
Satan will never Instrumental be
Of so much Good, to’ Appear to them; for he
Hath them sure by their Infidelity.
But you, my Noble Friend, know better things;
Your Faith, mounted on Religions Wings,
Sets you above the Clouds whence Error springs.
Your Soul reflecting on this lower Sphear,
Of froth and vanity, joys oft to hear
The Sacred Ora’cles, where all Truths appear
Which will Conduct out of this Labyrinth of Night,
And lead you to the source of Intellect’ual Light.
Which is the Hearty Prayer of
Your most faithful Humble Servant,
R.C.
Lithobolia: or, the Stone-throwing Devil, etc.
Such is the Sceptical Humour of this Age for Incredulity, (not to say Infidelity,) That I wonder they do not take up and profess, in terms, the Pyrrhonian Doctrine of disbelieving their very Senses. For that which I am going to relate happening to cease in the Province of New-Hampshire in America, just upon that Governour’s Arrival and Appearance at the Council there, who was informed by my self, and several other Gentlemen of the Council, and other considerable Persons, of the true and certain Reality hereof, yet he continued tenacious in the Opinion that we were all imposed upon by the waggery of some unlucky Boys; which, considering the Circumstances and Passages hereafter mentioned, was altogether impossible.
I have a Wonder to relate; for such (I take it) is so to be termed whatsoever is Praeternatural, and not assignable to, or the effect of, Natural Causes: It is a Lithobolia, or Stone-throwing, which happened by Witchcraft (as was supposed) and maliciously perpetrated by an Elderly Woman, a Neighbour suspected, and (I think) formerly detected for such kind of Diabolical Tricks and Practises; and the wicked Instigation did arise upon the account of some small quantity of Land in her Field, which she pretended was unjustly taken into the Land of the Person where the Scene of this Matter lay, and was her Right; she having been often very clamorous about that Affair, and heard to say, with much Bitterness, that her Neighbour (innuendo the fore-mentioned Person, his Name George Walton) should never quietly injoy that piece of Ground. Which, as it has confirm’d my self and others in the Opinion that there are such things as Witches, and the Effects of Witchcraft, or at least of the mischievous Actions of Evil Spirits; which some do as little give Credit to, as in the Case of Witches, utterly rejecting both their Operations and their Beings, we having been Eye-Witnesses of this Matter almost every Day for a quarter of a Year together; so it may be a means to rectifie the depraved Judgment and Sentiments of other disbelieving Persons, and absolutely convince them of their Error, if they please to hear, without prejudice, the plain, but most true Narration of it; which was thus.
Some time ago being in America (in His then Majesty’s Service) I was lodg’d in the said George Walton’s House, a Planter there, and on a Sunday Night, about Ten a Clock, many Stones were heard by my self, and the rest of the Family, to be thrown, and (with Noise) hit against the top and all sides of the House, after the said Walton had been at his Fence-Gate, which was between him and his Neighbour one John Amazeen an Italian, to view it; for it was again, as formerly it had been (the manner how being unknown) wrung off the Hinges, and cast upon the Ground; and in his being there, and return home with several Persons of (and frequenting) his family and House, about a flight shot distant from the Gate, they were all assaulted with a peal of Stones, (taken, we conceive, from the Rocks hard by the House) and this by unseen Hands or Agents. For by this time I was come down to them, having risen out of my Bed at this strange Alarm of all that were in the House, and do know that they all look’d out as narrowly as I did, or any Person could (it being a bright Moon-light Night), but cou’d make no Discovery. Thereupon, and because there came many Stones, and those pretty great ones, some as big as my Fist, into the Entry or Porch of the House, we withdrew into the next Room to the Porch, no Person having receiv’d any Hurt, (praised be Almighty Providence, for certainly the infernal Agent, constant Enemy to Mankind, had he not been over-ruled, intended no less than Death or Maim) save only that two Youths were lightly hit, one on the Leg, the other on the Thigh, notwithstanding the Stones came so thick, and so forcibly against the sides of so narrow a Room. Whilst we stood amazed at this Accident, one of the Maidens imagined she saw them come from the Hall, next to that we were in, where searching, (and in the Cellar, down out of the Hall,) and finding no Body, another and my self observed two little Stones in a short space successively to fall on the Floor, coming as from the Ceiling close by us, and we concluded it must necessarily be done by means extraordinary and praeternatural. Coming again into the Room where we first were (next the Porch), we had many of these lapidary Salutations, but unfriendly ones; for, shutting the door, it was no small Surprise to me to have a good big Stone come with great force and noise (just by my Head) against the Door on the inside; and then shutting the other Door, next the Hall, to have the like Accident; so going out again, upon a necessary Occasion, to have another very near my Body, clattering against the Board-wall of the House; but it was a much greater, to be so near the danger of having my Head broke with a Maul, or great Hammer brushing along the top or roof of the Room from the other end, as I was walking in it, and lighting down by me; but it fell so, that my Landlord had the greatest damage, his Windows (especially those of the first mention’d Room) being with many Stones miserably and strangely batter’d, most of the Stones giving the Blow on the inside, and forcing the Bars, Lead, and hasps of the Casements outwards, and yet falling back (sometimes a Yard or two) into the Room; only one little Stone we took out of the glass of the Window, where it lodg’d its self in the breaking it, in a Hole exactly fit for the Stone. The Pewter and Brass were frequently pelted, and sometimes thrown down upon the Ground; for the Evil Spirit seemed then to affect variety of Mischief, and diverted himself at this end after he had done so much Execution at the other. So were two Candlesticks, after many hittings, at last struck off the Table where they stood, and likewise a large Pewter Pot, with the force of these Stones. Some of them were take
n up hot, and (it seems) immediately coming out of the Fire; and some (which is not unremarkable) having been laid by me upon the Table along by couples, and numbred, were found missing; that is, two of them, as we return’d immediately to the Table, having turn’d our backs only to visit and view some new Stone-charge or Window-breach; and this Experiment was four or five times repeated, and I still found one or two missing of the Number, which we all mark’d, when I did but just remove the Light from off the Table, and step to the Door, and back again.
After this had continued in all the parts and sides of the first Room (and down the Chimney) for above four hours, I, weary of the Noise, and sleepy, went to Bed, and was no sooner fallen asleep, but was awakened with the unwelcome disturbance of another Battery of a different sort, it issuing with so prodigious a Noise against the thin Board-wall of my Chamber (which was within another) that I could not imagine it less than the fracture and downfall of great part of the Chamber, or at least of the Shelves, Books, Pictures, and other things, placed on that side, and on the Partition-Wall between the Anti-Chamber and the Door of mine. But the Noise immediately bringing up the Company below, they assured me no Mischief of that nature was done, and shewed me the biggest Stone that had as yet been made use of in this unaccountable Accident, weighing eight pound and an half, that had burst open my Chamber Door with a rebound from the Floor, as by the Dent and Bruise in it near the Door I found next Morning, done, probably, to make the greater Noise, and give the more Astonishment, which would sooner be effected by three Motions, and consequently three several Sounds, viz, one on the Ground, the next to and on the Door, and the last from it again to the Floor, then if it had been one single Blow upon the Door only; which (’tis probable) wou’d have split the Door, which was not permitted, nor so much as a square of the Glass-Window broken or crack’d (at that time) in all the Chamber. Glad thereof, and desiring them to leave me, and the Door shut, as it was before, I endeavoured once more to take my Rest, and was once more prevented by the like passage, with another like offensive Weapon, it being a whole Brick that lay in the anti-Chamber Chimney, and used again to the same malicious purpose as before, and in the same manner too, as by the mark in the Floor, whereon was some of the dust of the Brick, broken a little at the end, apparant next Morning, the Brick it self lying just at the Door. However, after I had lain a while, harkning to their Adventures below, I drop’d asleep again, and receiv’d no further Molestation that Night.