Escaping Salem

In June 1692, as two townsfolk in Stamford, Connecticut pass one another, they hear a scream from inside of the Wescots’ house that they recognize to be the Wescots’ maidservant, Katherine Branch. Katherine, known as Kate, had been experiencing unexplained torment since that April, and many people in Stamford believed her to be bewitched.

Stamford at this time was a “remote southwestern outpost of Puritan New England,” “its character and layout […] typical of a New England town,” despite being “closer to New York than to Boston” (3). Houses were situated relatively close together, and it was expected that members of the community keep watch over and protect one another. Most were farmers and “aspired to a life of peaceful order and purposeful spirituality” (3).

Although the Wescots, like many in the town, were believers in the existence of witchcraft (as well as other types of supernatural intervention), they still considered other explanations and sought the assistance of a local midwife. However, as Kate’s symptoms continued unabated, they and others became increasingly convinced that Kate was bewitched and that the culprit was someone nearby, likely someone who had previously fought with the Wescots.

Although the residents of Stamford had heard of the witch trials in Salem, “there were as yet no newspapers in the North American colonies and so news spread slowly […] through letters or gossip carried by travelers” (6).