Salem Witch Trials in History
and Literature
An Undergraduate Course, University of Virginia
Spring Semester 2001
Elizabeth Hubbard was one of the original girls to begin the
witchcraft accusations, and she continued to be a leading accuser
throughout the summer and fall of 1692. Although little is known
about Elizabeth, her name has stood out through history due to her
violent fits under the affliction of the "witches" and her active
role as an accuser.
Elizabeth, like most of the other afflicted girls, was detached
from her parents and family of birth. She went to Salem to live
with her great-aunt Rachel Hubbard Griggs and her husband, the town
physician Dr. William Griggs who diagnosed the original girls as
being under the affliction of an "Evil Hand". As a physician Dr.
Griggs and his wife were viewed as a family of social standing. But
Elizabeth was known as a servant to the household and not as an
adopted daughter.
In 1692 Elizabeth was around 17 years old, making her one of the
oldest of the original set of afflicted girls. Along with Elizabeth
Parris, Abby Williams and Anne Putnam, Elizabeth started the
accusations with claims of being tortured by specters of certain
members of the community. The reasons behind the start of the
accusations are somewhat unclear. There are many theories of why
the young girls accused people of witchcraft ranging from the
hysteria to the social and economic set up of the village of the
time. In The Devil in the Shape of a Woman, Carol Karlsen
researched some of the accusing girls and suggests that they may
have behaved as they did due to the fact that many of them felt
that their future was uncertain. As orphans, society looked at them
in a different light. Most of the girls had no monetary or
emotional support from direct family members. As Karlsen states,
that the frontier wars, "had left their father's estates
considerably diminished, if not virtually destroyed. Little if
anything remained for their dowries. With few men interested in
women without dowries, the marriage prospects of these women, and
thus their long-term material well being, looked especially grim
(227)". Elizabeth Hubbard, like most of the other accusing girls,
was a servant with very dismal if any prospects for the future.
Karlsen goes on to suggest the afflicted were able to use their
dramatic possession performances to "focus the communities' concern
on their difficulties". This was the one situation in which
Elizabeth Hubbard and the others accusing girls had the respect and
attention of the community. Karlsen thinks that this was the girls
way of dealing with the oppression they felt as orphans within
Puritan society (226-230). We can never know exactly why Elizabeth
Hubbard accused so many people of witchcraft but from the documents
we can read some of her testimony and draw conclusions about the
kind of girl she was.
By the end of the trial Elizabeth Hubbard had testified against
twenty-nine people, seventeen of whom were arrested, thirteen of
those were hanged and two died in jail. As a strong force behind
the trials, she was able to manipulate both people and the court
into believing her. One way she and the other girls did this was
through their outrageous fits in the courtroom. The fits, they
would claim, were brought on by the accused. Elizabeth was
especially known for her trances. She spent the whole of Elizabeth
Procter's trial in a deep trance and was unable to speak. The
original documents state that Elizabeth testified that in April
1692 "I saw the Apperishtion of Elizabeth procktor the wife of john
procktor sen'r and she immediately tortor me most greviously all
most redy to choak me to death....and so she continewed afflecting
of me by times till the day of hir examination being the IIth of
April and then also I was tortured most greviously during the time
of hir examination I could not spake a word and also severall times
sence the Apperishtion of Elizabeth procktor has tortured me most
greviously by biting pinching and allmost choaking me to death
urging me dreadfully to writ in hir [devil's] book" (Salem
Witchcraft Papers). At the trials in which she was able to speak,
she usually charged the accused with pretty much the same thing. An
example is the case of Sarah Good. She testified "I saw the
apprehension of Sarah Good who did most greviously afflect me by
pinching and pricking me and so she continuewed and then she did
also most greviously afflecct and tortor me also during the time of
her examination and also severall times sence hath afflected me and
urged me to writ in her book." This type of spectral accusation was
typical of all the girls. Elizabeth's used it against the
twenty-nine people.
However, some witnesses came forward and testified against the
character of aggressive Elizabeth. She was not charged as a witch
but James Kettle and Clement Coldum both took the stand and
attempted to show that Elizabeth was religiously deviant. Coldum
stated that one night when he was taking Elizabeth home form church
on his horse "she desired me to ride faster, I asked why; she said
the woods were full of Devils, & said ther & there they be,
but I could se none; then I put on my horse, & after I had rid
a while, she told me I might ride softer, for we had out rid them.
I asked her is she was not afraid of the Devil, she answered me no,
she could discourse with the Devil as well as with me, &
further saith not; this I am ready to testifie on Oath if called
thereto, as witness my hand." Elizabeth was a girl with a vivid and
powerful imagination. However, the fact that she was not afraid to
speak about her relationship with devil is also intriguing since by
May 29th (the date Coldum claimed the event took place) she had
already begun to help to condemn people for committing witchcraft
and conspiring with the Devil. Another member of the village, James
Kettle, stated that Elizabeth "speack severall untruths in denying
the sabath day and saying she had not ben to [church] meeting that
day but had only bean up to James houltons this I can testifie to
if called: as witnes my hand." He seems to be trying to infer that
Elizabeth may not be as pious as others had seen her. However,
statements such as this did not discredit Elizabeth as a truthful
witness to the court. She continued throughout the entire trials to
be a leading accuser.
The combination of a lonely upbringing in which there was little
hope for a future and Elizabeth's vivid imagination and fascination
with the devil contributed to her actions which lead to the
unjustified executions of many. Nothing is known of what happened
to Elizabeth Hubbard after the trials were over.
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