Salem Presentation Photos

tmsneed — Mon, 24 Oct 2022 18:03:47 +0000

Theresa Sneed presented her research on Salem on Saturday, October 22. She spoke about several of the victims of Salem, 1692, including her own ninth-great-grandmother, Susannah Martin, and backed up their stories using primary sources.

Book Signings in One Week!

tmsneed — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 12:12:47 +0000

I will be at the at the Thompson Free Library on Thursday, October 20th, at 6 pm with 16 of my published books. Then on Saturday, October 22, at 7 pm, I’ll present my research on Salem at the Center Theater in Dover. Would love to see you!

Fabulous Footnotes

tmsneed — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 21:25:45 +0000

Author Theresa Sneed’s Newsletter

I love John Hale’s personal account of the witch trials and hangings. He wrote, A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft. Hale was a well-known minister in Beverly, Massachusetts, which is about 3 miles north of Salem. He was an eyewitness and closely involved in the Salem witch trials. In this newsletter, I’m going to show you the research from John Hale I used to write certain scenes in Salem Witch Haunt.

But before we look at the primary sources from him, let’s look at the way the 17th century typeset was formed. It’s a bit odd at first, but if you keep trying, it becomes second nature to read. In the title The Preface to the Christian Reader, you can see the typeset shows the “s” in Christian to look almost like an “f”. It’s called the “long s” and if you look closer, you’ll see that there’s a nub only on the left-hand side of the long s. It’s very faint in this example, but it’s there.

I bolded the examples of the long s in the first paragraph of John Hale’s preface.

“The Holy Scriptures inform us that the Doctrine of Godliness is a great mystery, containing the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven: Mysteries which require great search for the finding out: and as the Lord hath his Mysteries to bring us to Eternal Glory, so Satan hath his Mysteries to bring us to eternal ruine: Mysteries not easily understood, whereby the depths of Satan are managed in hidden wayes.”

See if you can pick it out in the original 17th century typeset and then read on to see if you can decipher the long s in the rest of this example.

The basic rules of the long s make it easy to read.

1. The round s (what we call lowercase s) is always at the end of a word as shown in the example above in mysteries and Sons.

2. The round s is used before and after an f. There’s not an example of this above, but in the word “satisfaction” it would look like “ſatisfaction” with a long s (it looks like an f with a nub only on the left-hand side of it) found at the beginning of the word and with a round s before the f.

3. If there are two ss side-by-side, then the first s would be the long s as shown in Congress in the example below.

What about the odd circle mark above the c in the word Doctrine? They merged the c and t together forming a new letter which they could then use for quicker typesetting. You can see another example of that in Mysteries where the long s (first s) is merged with the t. Interesting, huh? Nice to know when trying to read 17th century typeset.

Okay, with that in mind, I can now show you more of the actual primary source, A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft. John Hale wrote it five years after the hangings, because he was there. He participated in many of the trials and hangings. I used his remarkable insights when writing several scenes throughout the Salem Witch Haunt series.

The following scene comes from page 40 in both Stranger Than Fiction and Salem Witch Haunt and has our main character, Bess Martin, back in time. She uses her given name Elizabeth as requested by her new friend Martha who also has her change into a long dress. Unaware that she has traveled back in time, she just wants to find someone with a phone so she can get help to leave the strange town. Shortly, she meets two of the key players of Salem, 1692, Elizabeth Hubbard (also called Betty) and Mercy Lewis. They’re on the way to Reverend Lawson’s to bring him a message from Betty’s uncle, Dr. Griggs. (All real persons of Salem are bolded.) This first scene has Betty Hubbard and Mercy Lewis talking about a seemingly harmless game they like to play – fortune telling

FORTUNE TELLING

“Oh,” said Mercy. “Well, if you’d like to come with us, Elizabeth, we’re going to the meetinghouse to bring the reverend a message.”

I nodded and fell in step with them. From that point on, they spoke as if they’d forgotten I was there.

“Yes, Mercy—tonight.” Betty looked over at her and grinned.

“Oh, alright, I guess so, but something about all of this gives me the frights.”

“Don’t you want to know if John will be your future husband?” Betty giggled. “It’s just a game, Mercy—a harmless, fun game.”

“We are not supposed to play that game,” Mercy declared, her voice so low I almost couldn’t hear her. “Remember what the reverend said?”

Betty scowled. “That’s ridiculous, Mercy. It’s not evil. It’s just a silly game.”

Mercy shrugged. “Perhaps.”

Below is the primary source I used to write that scene. Starting with, “I fear some young persons.” By the way, Anno comes from the Latin anno mundi which means “in the year of the world.”

John Hale, A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft: 132-133

This next scene is from page 42 in both Stranger Than Fiction and Salem Witch Haunt. It’s one of the scariest scenes in my book, and it’s based on primary sources, which means, parts of it actually happened.

BETTY PARRIS

“Pleased to meet you.” Reverend Lawson turned to Betty. “You bring me word?”

“Yes, sir,” she said. “Dr. Griggs would like to see you as soon as possible.”

Mercy leaned into me. “Dr. Griggs is Betty’s uncle.” She pointed across the street and down a few houses. “He’s at Reverend Parris’s.”

“Very well.” Reverend Lawson passed by us and walked down the road.

As he went, the girls watched him, seeming mesmerized. I broke the silence. “Your uncle is a doctor?”

“Why yes, Elizabeth. Do you need a doctor?”

I didn’t need a doctor, but I needed what I was sure that every doctor had—a phone.

“Let’s take a stroll by the Parris house.” Betty chewed on her fingernail and glanced at Mercy. They were quiet as we walked. Soon we stopped in front of the house Reverend Lawson had entered. Betty pressed closer to Mercy, clutching the folds of her dress tight.

A mournful wail filled the air, followed by piercing screams. Mercy pulled Betty under the window then dashed back to get me. They were shaking like they were scared to death. I figured it was probably a horror movie turned up way too loud, but the way the girls reacted to it totally freaked me out. Mercy pushed me toward the open window.

“Stop! Leave me alone!” I slapped her hands away.

She shoved harder. “Tell us what you see.”

“Why?” I struggled to get away, but Betty joined in and forced me up alongside the windowsill. I looked inside.

Reverend Lawson and a couple men stood over two girls who lay side by side on a large bed, pressed up against the headboard. I recognized one of them as the girl in the woods who asked me to come play. Beads of sweat gathered at her brow. Her messy hair was matted against her head, and dark circles swelled beneath her wild eyes. The younger girl had the same sweaty brow and tangled hair, but her face was white as snow, her pupils narrow pin dots.

“What is wrong with my daughter, Dr. Griggs?” One of the men pointed at the younger girl.

“I should think it is quite obvious, Parris. Your daughter is afflicted by the evil hand of witchcraft.”

Parris paced the room. “I will send her away until this passes.”

His daughter wailed and rose two feet off the bed. Fear shot up my spine, and I clutched the windowsill. The men grabbed her but could not pull her down. All at once, her body jerked. Her head spun to her back and her torso bowed in the opposite direction, while the older girl’s body rolled in a violent spasm.

That is not humanly possible! My hands went to my throat. I turned and stumbled to my knees, then threw up on the ground. Mercy grabbed me from behind.

Here’s is John Hale’s personal account, starting on Chapter II.

Hale, A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft: 23-25

The scene with Betty Parris and Abby Williams is based on a primary source which makes it way cool for educational purposes. I wonder how a firsthand account like this could be hidden for generations. Could it be that Satan wants to be forgotten? If a world doesn’t believe that evil exists, then evil can go on undetected, and then it’s a whole lot easier to forget God too. The Puritans believed both God and Satan existed.

What do you think? Leave your comments below!

Next week we’ll look at more of the research that drove the Salem Witch Haunt series.

Have a great week! Send me a message if you have questions or comments

Author Theresa Sneed, a Direct Descendant of Susannah Martin, hanged, July 19, 1692

tmsneed — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 16:02:28 +0000

I’m only nine generations removed from one of the women hanged as a witch in Salem. Susannah Martin is my ninth great-grandmother, and her voice was silenced forever on July 19, 1692. I want to speak for her and for all the victims of Salem.

That’s why I wrote the Salem Witch Haunt series . . . based on primary sources, these three books take you through all the trials and hangings and Giles Corey’s crushing to death in a very real setting, Salem, 1692, as seen through the eyes of a teenage time-traveler.

Much like her 11th great-grandmother (you guessed it, mine too!) Bess Martin has a sharp tongue that gets her into perilous predicaments in 1692. Because she has a near-perfect knowledge of the historical events about to unfold, she knows the untimely fate of many. In this way, I’ve created a great backdrop to introduce the real people and real history of Salem . . . and I can truly speak for my grandmother. In fact, her recorded words as written by the Reverend Samuel Parris during the trials are used verbatim in Salem Witch Haunt. You’ll love her sharp tongue . . . as I do too. Unfortunately, not many appreciated it back then. She had a bit of a rough personality and was quick to snap at her neighbors. She was an easy target for revenge or at least, a lack of compassion.

Book One in Salem Witch Haunt series

When she finds herself thrust back in time, seventeen-year-old Bess Martin, a senior at Danvers High, sets out on a mission to save her eleventh great-grandmother from the gallows tree. With a near-perfect knowledge of the historical events about to unfold, Bess knows the untimely fate of Many. The problem is that Bess has inherited her grandmother's sharp tongue - a tongue that caused her grandmother to be tried and hanged as a witch in Salem Village, 1692. Can Bess stop the hangings and change the course of history, or will she share her grandmother's fate?

Book one, SALEM WITCH HAUNT takes the reader through the first six trials and hangings of Bridget Bishop, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Susannah Martin, Rebecca Nurse, and Sarah Wildes.

Stranger Than Fiction is a free eBook and it’s identical to book one, Salem Witch Haunt, with the exception of added footnotes to point you to the primary sources I used in writing Salem Witch Haunt. It is my hope that interested people and especially teachers will use this as a resource in teaching the facts about Salem, 1692.

Author Event

tmsneed — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 15:09:59 +0000

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Salem Witch Haunt Blog