The following is an account of the First witch ever recorded in the Salem, Mass. area. All information is copied directly from my Great Aunt Helena’s diary of spell’s book…


 In 1598 the land in and around salem was almost bare from settlers. As time went forth, Puritan’s took over and a town was born. Ever since the settlers moved into this part of the country strange things began happening in the woods not far from town. Outside of Salem was the town of Andover. This would be the town Martha Carrier was born. Best remembered in popular lore as the ‘rampant hag’ described by Cotton Mather, Martha Carrier was a victim of Salem’s outbreak of witchcraft. Carrier was accused of being in league with the devil by the circle of “afflicted” girls, neighbors and even her own children, and hanged as a witch on August 19, 1692. Like many of accused witches, Carrier was a poor, disagreeable woman, for whom this was not the first accusation of witchcraft. 

  Born Martha Allen, daughter of one of the original founders of the Massachusetts town of Andover, in 1674 Martha married below her station to a young Welsh servant and father of her illegitimate child, Thomas Carrier. Living for a few years in Billerica, the couple returned to Andover in the 1680′s with very little money and four children. Martha’s independent spirit and lack of deference seem to have quickly alienated her from the rest of the community. The turning point came in 1690 when a smallpox epidemic erupted in the town.

Although her family, particularly the men, accounted for 7 of the 13 who died of smallpox in the town, the community of Andover blamed Martha for the tragedy.

Martha was forced to give up her account of being a witch or at least having participated in witchcraft…faced with death, she confessed about the witch who taught her witchcraft, who lived in the woods of Andover, a male witch. (His name cannot be spoken ever! Only the one who possess’ the skull and amulet of the male witch my say his name, for this person now owns the right of spell’s that have been cast and are awaiting to be cast.) 

D*****n, the male witch practiced witchcraft for ages, no one knows when and were he was born but was believed to lived over 100 years. He taught Martha everything he knew, at least as much as she could handle at such a young age. She then went forth and taught the other girls of Salem. 

D*****n was torn from his home, a cave in the woods, and dragged to death behind a horse drawn carriage. His head was chopped off and put on a stick, placed on the roof of the court house in Salem, better known as the witch house. His body was burned. After the death of D*****n, in the cover of night Martha dug through the ashes of the cremation and recovered the amulet and ring D*****n wore. She immediately buried them both for safe keeping. 

Martha also climbed to the top of the court house and took down D*****n’s head and rapped it in butcher paper. She also buried it. Martha inherited all the power ofD*****n and his spell’s followed.

Carrier’s reputation as a witch found new expression two years later when the outbreak in Salem began. As the testimony of the circle of accusing girls reflected, the Salem community was well aware of Andover’s gossip. Susan Sheldon, Mary Walcot, Elizabeth Hubbard and Ann Putnam screamed before the court that they could see the 13 ghosts of Andover. Other neighbors accused her of maleficium, testifying that after harsh words from her, evil things like sick or dead animals or strange illnesses befell them. During her courtroom examination, however, Carrier stood her ground and boldly asserted that those who accused her lied. Asked if she could then look upon the girls, seemingly possessed, without their writhing in pain, she said she would not, for “they will dissemble if I look upon them.” Later, she admonished the magistrates, saying “it is a shameful thing that you should mind these folks that are out of their wits.” 

Accusations of witchcraft extended beyond Martha to the rest of her family. Her sons Richard and Andrew, ages 18 and 15 respectively, were tied neck to heels until blood was ready to come out of their noses. Under such intense pressure, Martha’s own children, including seven-year-old Sarah and ten-year-old Thomas, Jr., testified against her and confessed themselves to be witches. Young Sarah told the court that she had been a “witch Ever Since She was Six years Old that her Moth’r brought a red book to her and She touched it.” The assistant minister Thomas Barnard who was responsible for these confessions, managed to get confessions from all but two of accused witches, including Martha, who were also members of his congregation.

D*****n’s skull, amulet and ring have been passed down in our family, witch to witch, there are no longer any witches’ living in our bloodline. The only reason the skull was given up was for someone to care for it that better understands the strange happenings it creates.


-Blessed be with you always…

I currently possess the skull, amulet and a ring which supposedly belonged to D*****n. It’s my intent to find out the truth behind this story. This blog will chronicle my efforts up to this point, and the research I do from this point on.

The Restless Spirit Hunter

 

 

 

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