Chadwick Hansen. Witchcraft at Salem. New York: George Braziller, INC., 1969. 252pp. Many people believe that the witch-hunt of Salem, Massachusetts in 1692, was based upon mere delusions of a few frightened teenage girls. Despite the popular viewpoint of many other historians, Chadwick Hansen's book, Witchcraft at Salem, offers a generally discarded point of view. He uses exhausted research and well-written material to argue that the events of 1692 were true signs of witchcraft. Hansen proves this thesis by elaborate descriptions of the girls who were afflicted and by extensive trial evidence. In many historical writings the girls that were afflicted by the witches were usually branded as liars, who were afraid of the repercussion of taking part in the craft. Hansen, however, takes the stand that the girls were, for the most part, believable. The convulsive fits were so grotesque that eyewitnesses agreed that it was impossible for the girls to be acting (1). The girls were believed......
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