“There Was Some Mischief in It”
“There Was Some Mischief in It”
The Social Context of Witchcraft
This chapter delves into the dynamics of accusation and investigates what motivated people to denounce others as witches. It recounts how William Meaker of New Haven initiated a slander suit against his neighbor, Thomas Mullenner, for claiming that the defendant had called him a witch in 1657. It also explains how Meaker's case illustrates the important link between witchcraft and interpersonal conflict in early New England. The chapter explains the social context of witchcraft and examines the social situations that gave birth to fears of malefic attack as well as the motives that drove one person to accuse another of black magic. It examines how Puritan colonies closely match dynamics of witch-hunting across the early modern English Atlantic.
Keywords: William Meaker, witchcraft, interpersonal conflict, Thomas Mullenner, malefic attack, black magic, witches, Puritan colonies, witch-hunting
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