13: Rebecca and Her Sisters

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A PRODUCT OF THE WHISPERFORGE: SOUND & STORY, BROUGHT TO LIFE

[[Theme music: “Lakeside Path” by Blue Dot Sessions]]

KATE: Hello, and welcome back to Remarkable Providences. The podcast about neighbors and Nurses, martyrs and monsters, and, of course, the Salem Witch Trials. I’m your tour guide, Kate Devorak.

[[MUSIC: Banjo.]]

Deodat Lawson was making a house call. Thomas Putnam had asked the reverend to come pray for his wife, Ann, who had joined her daughter and servant in their supernatural fits. Mrs. Putnam had been suffering from spiritual attacks since March 18th, sometimes battling her enemies’ spectors for hours, which sounds exhausting, though probably less so than running a household on her own. Thomas had supported Deodat’s proposed ordination before the rest of the Village shut him out, so there was less bad blood between the Putnams and Mr. Lawson as there might have been elsewhere. Besides, Deodat was working on his book, and with three afflicted people in the house, a visit to the Putnam homestead was inevitable.

If it helps, you can picture spooky fog rolling in.

The spector that tormented Ann had told them that Deodat would not be allowed to pray for the ailing Mrs. Putnam. Challenge accepted, I guess.

[[MUSIC: Dramatic.]]

As Lawson later recorded in his book, Ann was able to sit with Deodat and her husband for a short time before she was taken by a fit, at which time she became nearly catatonic. Thomas carried her to the bed, where she lay stiff as a board. Suddenly, she began to flail her arms and legs wildly as she fiercely argued with the witch’s spector that tormented her–Rebecca Nurse.

ANN PUTNAM: Goodwife Nurse, begone! Begone! Are you not ashamed, a woman of your profession to afflict a poor creature so? What hurt did I ever do you in my life? You have but two years to live, and then the Devil will torment your soul, for this your name is blotted out of God’s Book, and it shall never be put in God’s Book again. Be gone for shame, are you not afraid of that which is coming upon you? I know, I know what will make you afraid. The wrath of an angry God. I am sure that will make you afraid. Be gone, do not torment me, I know what you would have, but it is out of your reach, it is clothed with the white robes of Christ’s Righteousness!

KATE: The thing clothed in “Christ’s Righteousness” was supposed to be Ann’s soul, which I think says a lot about Mrs. Putnam. Ann then seemed to argue with Goody Nurse’s spector over the existence of a certain Biblical text that it prevented her from reciting. Finally, she cried that it was the third chapter of Revelations. Thomas explained to Lawson that Ann had been comforted by such passages before, but Deodat was reluctant to read it. Recitation of a holy text to banish a witch was pretty close to a counterspell in his book. But under pressure from a screaming, contorting woman and her panicked husband, Lawson figured that this one time couldn’t hurt. To quote Abigail Williams, it is a long text, so I’ll just give you the highlights:

DEODAT LAWSON (BOOK OF REVELATIONS): Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.

Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

KATE: When Deodat finished his reading, Ann suddenly broke from her fit, opened her eyes, and triumphantly declared:

ANN: Did I not say he should go to prayer?”

KATE: The whole ordeal lasted about half an hour, and Edward and Captain John Putnam wasted no time in filing complaints against Rebecca Nurse. They petitioned their cause before John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin that very afternoon. The magistrates issued a warrant for Rebecca’s arrest to be carried out the next morning.

[[MUSIC: Downbeat.]]

Rebecca Nurse is probably one of the most recognizable figures in the witch trials, due to depictions in The Crucible and the TV movie Three Sovereigns for Sarah, which was partially filmed at the old Nurse homestead in Danvers, MA. She’s considered one of those “perfect victims” of the trials, seeing as she was a well respected and devout woman with nothing terribly objectionable in her past. Don’t get me wrong, Rebecca was straight up murdered by her neighbors for no reason and probably should be viewed as some kind of martyr. Then again, the same could be said for Sarah Good and Martha Corey, but they were a bit too mouthy, and Sarah was basically homeless, so history doesn’t remember them as fondly.

Rebecca was born in Great Yarmouth, England, the first child of William and Joanna Towne. Her father was a gardener, and her parents were both devout Puritans. Rebecca was baptized as an infant on February 21, 1621, which started her off on the right foot, salvation-wise. Her exact date of birth isn’t listed, and we can’t really assume much from the date of the baptism. I keep seeing sources, specifically online, that list a person’s baptism date as their birthday, and while that might be spiritually true, it’s not like these babies were going straight from womb to church. So sorry, y’all, we can never truly know if Rebecca was a Pisces. Her brother Edmund was born in 1628, followed by Jacob in 1632. Her sister Mary would be the last Towne child born in England, baptized in 1634. In order to escape religious persecution and a worsening economy, the family packed up and set off for the New World in 1635. The Townes settled in the Northfields of Salem Town, just across the North River from the town center and, actually, where I used to live. The more you know! Joanna Towne gave birth to two more children in Massachusetts–Sarah and Joseph, who were both baptized in 1648.

Rebecca married Francis Nurse on August 24, 1644. Frank is described as a “tray maker”, which is rather specific, though I’m sure it’s safe to assume those skills translated to making other wooden household objects. He had also been born in England, and had settled in Salem at some point prior to 1640, when he was named in a court case for breaking and entering. It’s unclear what the outcome of this trial was, but the entry was, quote, “crossed slightly”, and this incident didn’t seem to affect Francis’s later standing in the area, so there’s a good chance it was thrown out. Together, they had eight children: John, Rebecca, Samuel, Sarah, Mary, Francis, Benjamin, and Elizabeth. Samuel Nurse is going to come up a bunch later as the president of the Samuel Parris Anti-Fan Club, for which I am very grateful. God, that guy sucks.

Francis was relieved from militia service in the 1650s, which freed him up for other types of community service. He served a term as constable for Essex County, and sat on several juries for the county courts. In 1691, he was elected to the Salem Village committee, to the chagrin of Samuel Parris and Thomas Putnam. Unfortunately, his experience on both sides of the Colony’s legal system would not help his family the next year.

Meanwhile, Rebecca had done enough soul searching to confidently join the Salem Town congregation as a living saint in 1672. Six years later, the Nurses purchased a plot of land in Salem Village, which still exists as the Rebecca Nurse Homestead museum. Because it’s a small world, that land once belonged to John Endicott, the governor who hated Catholics so much he stomped a flag.

[[MUSIC: Dramatic.]]

The Nurse land abutted another old Village estate, the Putnam farm, which led to tensions between the two families over the disputed boundaries of their respective lands. The rest of the Towne clan moved to the neighboring community of Topsfield in the 1650s, which is where Mary met and married Issac Esty, a farmer and barrel maker, in 1655. The Estys had eleven children together, all with fairly predictable names. The youngest Towne daughter, Sarah, first married a man named Edmund Bridges in 1659, with whom she had six children. Edmund died in the early 80s, and Sarah married Peter Cloyse not too long after. She and Peter had three children. By 1692, Sarah had joined the Salem Village congregation as a full member. All three of the Towne sisters would be implicated in the witch trials, and only one would come out alive.

The day after Martha Corey’s questioning, before Deodat witnessed Ann Putnam’s fits, Rebecca had been visited by a small council of concerned neighbors. Israel and Elizabeth Porter, Daniel Andrews, and Peter Cloyse arrived at the Nurse home to fill Rebecca in on the happenings in the Village, including the buzz that she was named as one of the coven of witches. While she was aware of the situation in Salem, she had not attended Martha Corey’s trial since she had been bedridden for the past week. She said that she was praying for the afflicted girls, though she had not gone to visit any of them. Like Sarah Osbourne, she feared that she too might fall victim to similar fits. I imagine the group awkwardly side-eying each other before breaking the news to Rebecca that, actually, she had been accused of causing the afflictions.

REBECCA NURSE: Well...

KATE: Rebecca replied after a few moments of stunned silence,

REBECCA: as to this thing, I am as innocent as the child unborn. But surely, what sin hath God found out in me unrepented of, that he should lay such an affliction upon me in my old age?”

KATE: Whatever sin God hath found, her neighbors couldn’t guess. But that didn’t stop her arrest the next day.

The meeting house was once again packed as Rebecca Nurse was led in at 10am on March 24th. Along with Rebecca, four-year-old Dorothy Good was arrested and brought in for examination. With her mother already in custody, Dorothy would be interrogated on her own behalf, as well as to gather evidence against Sarah. The usual suspects were all present–the Johns Hathorne and Corwin presiding, with Sammy P and D-Law taking notes. Today’s afflicted included both Anns Putnam, Abigail Williams, Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, Elizabeth Hubbard, and Bethshua Pope, who was probably itching to throw a shoe at another old woman’s head.

[[MUSIC: Troublesome.]]

Reverend Hale led the opening prayer, then Hathorne started in, asking what Goody Nurse had to say for herself in light of the allegations against her. She proclaimed innocence and hoped that God would prove it so. It’s a testament to Rebecca’s reputation that Hathorne responded with the most sympathy he could muster.

JOHN HATHORNE: Here is never a one in the assembly but desires it, but if you be guilty, pray God discovers you.

KATE: It’s not much, but what were you expecting?

Henry Kenny, Mercy Lewis’ brother-in-law, stood up first to testify how he had been, quote, “seized twice with an amazed condition” when Goody Nurse entered the house. Which house he was talking about or what he meant by “an amazed condition” isn’t specified (thanks, Sammy P), but it was entered as evidence nonetheless.

Rebecca continued to deny her involvement with any sort of witchcraft, especially given that she had been so sick lately that she had not left her own house in over a week. While she may not have physically left her bed, her spirit seemed to be quite busy, according to the magistrates.

[[MUSIC: Curious.]]

The afflicted were back on their bullshit, apparently having figured out what tactics were most effective during Martha Corey’s pretrial. If Rebecca moved her hands even slightly, the afflicted would launch into fits, claiming to be pinched, scratched, squeezed, or otherwise tortured. If Rebecca leaned, they would bend backwards as though their spines would snap. I swear, by these accounts, these folks must have been flexible as hell. The afflicted screamed that “the Black Man'' was whispering in Goody Nurse’s ear and that birds flew about her head, which prevented her from hearing the magistrates. It was definitely not because she was in her 70s and hard of hearing, or because of the absolute chaos in the meetinghouse.

ANN: Did you not bring the Black Man with you?” screamed Ann Sr, “Did you not bid me tempt God and die? How oft have you eat and drunk your own damnation?”

KATE: Mary Walcott pulled out her favorite party trick and screamed that she had been bitten, raising her arm to reveal clear bite marks from Rebecca’s spector. Sure.

Hathorne demanded to know how Rebecca could not be moved by the suffering of the afflicted.

JOHN: It is very awful to all to see these agonies, yet to see you stand with dry eyes when there are so many wet–

REBECCA: You do not know my heart.

KATE: I think this is such a tragic moment, because I do believe that Rebecca was sincerely moved by the whole thing, and not just because she was being horribly abused by her community. But if we remember the valuable lessons laid out by William Perkins, witches can’t cry, no matter what is in their hearts. What a sad thing it was, Hathorne mused, that two members of the church could be brought so low.

“A sad thing indeed!”, yelled the ever helpful Mrs. Pope.

Ann Sr. became so badly afflicted that she could not move or speak, and had to be carried out of the meetinghouse by her husband.

At one point, Rebecca craned her neck, and Elizabeth Hubbard snapped hers to the same side. Like they did with Martha Corey, the guards stepped in to hold Rebecca’s head straight, and Elizabeth righted her neck on cue.

Hathorne asked Rebecca if she believed that the girls were really tormented. She said that she did, and despite the lack of tears, she really seemed to pity them. Hathorne then reminded the court that Betty Parris had been tormented by Tituba’s spector, even though Tituba claimed to love Betty. So why should they believe Rebecca’s repeated claims of her innocence?

Rebecca protested that she couldn’t help it, and suggested that the Devil might use her shape to cause harm. Hathorne either didn’t have a good rebuttal to this, or was simply bored by the lack of a confession, because the examination ended there. In his expert opinion, the evidence spoke for itself. Rebecca was to be held for further trial in the Salem prison.

[[MUSIC: Chaotic.]]

The examination of Dorothy Good is unfortunately lost, but we know that she was further questioned later by Hathorne, Corwin, and the minister of Salem Town, John Higginson. Deodat Lawson reported that the girl showed them a small red dot on her index finger from which she claimed to feed a small snake. Lawson also notes that the red dot was the size of a flea bite, but I guess the snake seemed more plausible. Dorothy told the magistrates that the familiar had been given to her by her mother.

Side note on Dorothy: when researching her, you’ll probably find her referred to as both “Dorothy” and “Dorcas”. Her name is listed as “Dorcas Good” on her arrest warrant, but she’s called Dorothy everywhere else, so it seems to be either a weird shorthand or a spelling error on Hathorne’s part. Unfortunately, later historians, notably Charles W. Upham, who wrote extensively about the witch trials in the 19th century, called her Dorcas, and it kinda stuck. As for Dorcas, it is not a nickname for Dorothy, but rather the name of an early Christian saint, which is also, somehow, translated as Tabitha. And Tabitha is the name of Samantha Stephens’ daughter on the tv series Bewitched, which shot some episodes in Salem in 1970. Which is why you can find a statue of Samantha riding a broomstick at the intersection of Essex and Washington in Salem! Just some fun trivia to distract us from the fact that they threw this actual child in prison.

It was also the Village’s turn to host the Thursday lecture, with Deodat Lawson serving as guest reverend. His sermon, of course, centered around the current witch crisis, which I’m sure he won’t sensationalize at all. The congregation had just witnessed two examinations in the same meeting house just a few hours before. Deodat had to duck out early, probably to work on his sermon, but he said he could hear the screams of the afflicted from the streets of the Village. He advised that the magistrates proceed through the proper legal channels, without resorting to torture or countermagic. Apparently he still felt weird about the whole Book of Revelations deal. Despite his request for reason, he still implored the congregation to ARM themselves against the enemy that had descended upon their Village. By that, he meant through prayer, but his language clearly related the spiritual attacks of the supposed witches’ coven to the very real attacks on the Maine frontier by the Puritans’ indigenous enemies, the Wabanaki. So much for keeping a level head there, Deodat.

Rebecca Nurse spent the following Sunday in prison with her fellow living saint, Martha Corey, while the rest of her family attended sabbath services in Salem Village. For the Catholics and Anglicans, it was Easter Sunday, but the Puritans ignored that particular holiday. Too papal, too pagan. It wasn’t as scandalous as Christmas, though I did see a modern Puritan website (yes, they have those) refer to it as “Easter: The Devil’s Holiday.”

[[MUSIC: Parris leitmotif.]]

Samuel Parris was certainly not in a festive mood, though I imagine he was quite pleased with himself given his choice of text for his sermon. He remarked on the unfortunate circumstances that had revealed two of the congregation’s saints to be in league with the Devil. Seeing as it was a sacrament day, where the full members would take part in the Lord’s Supper, Parris thought it appropriate to talk about Judas Iscariot, one of Christ’s devoted disciples whose betrayal led to Jesus’ execution. Like the other disciples who had shared in Christ’s last meal with Judas, the elect of the Village congregation had also eaten and drank with traitors. “Have I not chosen you Twelve,” Parris quoted, “and one of you is a Devil?”

Seeing Parris’ clear callout against her sister as soon as he announced the text, Sarah Cloyse stood up and marched out of the meetinghouse, slamming the door behind her. There were some who would later claim to have seen Goody Cloyse curtsy to the Devil at the gate. Undaunted, Parris continued his sermon. He urged the Villagers to examine themselves and identify what weaknesses and sins could have brought the Devil to Salem. No one was above self reflection, not even the elect. While the Devil continued his assault on the Village, the best the Puritans could do was take refuge in the Church. Prayer and devotion were no guarantee of safety, of course, as evidenced by the ailing Ann Putnam and the damned Goodies Corey and Nurse, but they would be their best bet. And, by extension, so was their ever faithful-minister. As long as the Village was threatened by the forces of Satan, they would need their spiritual captain. Samuel Parris was not going anywhere.

[[MUSIC: Dramatic]]

After that uplifting speech, the general congregation was dismissed so the full members could gather for communion. Though Sarah was long gone, Peter Cloyce would remain for the sacrament, as well as two of Rebecca’s children and their spouses. There was just one bit of business left–the matter of Mary Sibley’s witch cake. Parris read Mrs. Sibley’s statement before the Elect, in which she apologized for her involvement in the whole debacle, specifically her, quote, “rashness” in resorting to countermagic. While Tituba shivered and starved in a jail cell, Mary Sibley sat silently in her pew, waiting for her neighbors to finally pass judgement on her sins. Parris asked the voting members (all men, of course) whether they would accept or reject her plea.

It was unanimous. Goody Sibley was forgiven.

[[MUSIC: Outro]]

Remarkable Providences was written, researched, and produced by me, Kate Devorak. It was produced by Dan Manning, and recorded at the Multitude Studio in beautiful Brooklyn, NY. Consulting production provided by Mischa Stanton. This episode features the voices of James Oliva, Kristen diMercurio, Vin Ernst, and Wil Williams. Music from Blue Dot Sessions.

Follow us on Twitter @RemarkablePod and everywhere else @RemarkableProvidences. For transcripts (like this one) and links to everything, visit http://whisperforge.org/remarkableprovidences. If you like the show, rate and review, or just tell your friends about it, that really helps us out. This show is made possible by our wonderful patrons. If you’d like to join them, visit our Patreon.

And remember, the Devil’s in the details.