Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692 Read Online Free PDF Page B

himself claimed that during one of her fits Kate stuck out her tongue to a great length. “I put it back into her mouth again,” he said, “and then looked in her mouth, and could see no tongue but what looked like a lump of flesh down her throat.”
    Kate’s master also described how on one occasion she had been lying on the bed and was suddenly flung up against the headboard. He had not been paying attention at that instant and so did not see her rise up, but, hearing a noise, he turned toward the bed and saw her coming down. Minutes later it happened again. This time he saw her go up and down, with no apparent means of propulsion. Another time Kate was lying on the bed and then suddenly sprang up without the help of her hands or feet, landing on the floor six feet from the bed. Joseph had heard many stories of bewitchment, but none to equal this. Surely such occurrences were “beyond nature.”
    Yet Joseph had also heard talk about Kate’s fits being counterfeit. Sarah Kecham told him about an experiment that she and several others had witnessed. After watching Kate lie in a stupor and then suddenly scream out in terror, Thomas Asten had declared that he was sure she was bewitched. Sarah disagreed, saying she did not believe there to be any witch in the town. Goodman Asten replied, “I’ve heard it said that if a person is bewitched, you can take a sword and hold it over them and they will laugh themselves to death.”
    He took a sword and held it over Kate, whereupon she burst into laughter. Sarah whispered that Kate might have laughed simply because she knew that the sword was being held over her and Mister Wescot, who was present, signaled Goodman Asten to repeat the experiment in such a way that the servant would not know the sword was there. This time she neither laughed nor changed her expression in any way.
    Joseph also wondered about Daniel Wescot’s role in his servant’s supposed affliction. Rumor had it that Nathaniel and Abigail Cross had confronted Mister Wescot with the charge that Kate was counterfeiting her torments, to which he replied, “I’ll venture both my cows against a calf that she’ll do a trick tomorrow morning that nobody else can.” Goody Cross had wanted to know what Daniel Wescot meant by that remark. “Can you make her do it when you want?” she asked. “Yes,” he declared, “when I want I can make her do it.” Did Mister Wescot have some kind of control over his servant’s fits? Or was he trying to make people believe that? And if so, why?
    Joseph decided to see the afflictions for himself and so volunteered to watch over Kate in company with Nathaniel Wyatt. At first the young woman went about her chores as if nothing was wrong. Joseph was unsure whether to feel relieved or disappointed. Then she went into the yard to fetch some clothes that were drying and the two men followed. All of a sudden Kate collapsed. Joseph carried her hastily into the house and laid her on a bed. She lay there motionless as if in a trance. Joseph prepared to sit with her in case she began to have fits and needed to be restrained, but Nathaniel had other plans. “There are some who think she dissembles,” he reminded Joseph. “Now’s our chance to make trial of that.” True enough, especially since Mister Wescot was away and could not meddle.
    The two men got permission from Mistress Wescot to carry out an experiment. Nathaniel, standing next to the bed, asked Joseph for a sharp knife. No sooner had Joseph reached for one than Kate came to her senses, jumped up, and ran outside to the henhouse. The two men smiled at each other: if Kate was truly senseless, how could she know that they were about to cut her and so run away to prevent them from hurting her? But their smiles vanished as they heard Kate’s piercing scream. Joseph ran out to her and demanded to know what had happened.
    “I’m in such pain that I cannot live,” she declared and then fell into a paralyzed stupor. They carried