Goody Glover: The Full Story of Boston's Last Witchcraft Execution

Discover the heartbreaking true story of Goody Glover, an Irish Catholic immigrant who became the last person executed for witchcraft in Boston in 1688. Occurring four years before the infamous Salem Witch Trials began, Glover's case clearly illustrates the injustice of colonial New England's witch hunting history. Standing alone between the 1656 execution of Ann Hibbins and the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-93, Goody Glover's case provides crucial insights into colonial Boston's religious tensions and social dynamics. While Salem would later become synonymous with witch trials, Boston's last execution deserves recognition as a pivotal moment in American religious persecution. This episode is the fourth in Witch Hunt’s Massachusetts Witch Trials 101 series exploring the complex history of witch persecution in colonial New England. 

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome to Witch Hunt, the podcast revealing the true
stories of witch trials and their victims.
I'm Josh Hutchinson. And I'm Sarah Jack.
Today, in the fourth episode of our Massachusetts Witch Trials
One O 1 Series, we're exploring the life and witch trial of
Goodie Glover of Boston, who wasexecuted for witchcraft on

(00:20):
November 16th, 1688. For many years, Goodie Glover
has been a footnote in historiesof the Salem witch trials.
Her own child thought of as a preamble to the greater witch
hunt to take place four years later.
However, in the late 19th century, antiquarians and others
began to take some interest in Goodie Glover's saga for its own

(00:41):
sake. And in the 20th and 21st
centuries, Goodie Glover has become important to many people,
including members of the Irish American community and the
Catholic Church. She is now recognized as a
martyr for dying without turningher back on her faith.
On the 300th anniversary of Glover's death, she was honored
in Boston when the City Council recognized November 16th, 1988

(01:05):
as Goody Glover Day. Goody Glover Day continues to be
recognized each year Unofficially, however, no
official functions take place. We believe Goody Glover deserves
greater recognition as the victim of the first fatal witch
trial in Boston following the 1656 hanging of Ann Heavens. 32
years had gone by without a supposed witch being executed in

(01:28):
Massachusetts. And nobody would ever be
convicted of witchcraft or hang for that crime in Boston again,
as the 1692 and 1693 witchcraft convictions in hangings all
occurred in Salem. So who was Goody Glover, the
last person hang for witchcraft in Boston, and what were the
accusations? Against her.
The earliest source on the events is the letter from

(01:50):
Minister Joshua Moody to eminentPuritan Divine and Chris Mather
dated October 4th, 1688. The letter was written to inform
Mather, who was then in England,of the astonishing events
occurring in the household of John Goodwin of Boston.
The letter begins Quote. We have a very strange thing
among us, which we know not whatto make of, except it be

(02:12):
witchcraft as we think it must needs be.
Moody explained that three or four children of 1 Goodwin, a
Mason that have been for some weeks grievously tormented,
crying out of head, eyes, tongue, teeth, breaking their
neck, back, thighs, knees, legs,feet, toes, etcetera.
And then they roar out, Oh my head, Oh my neck.

(02:34):
And from one part to another, the pain runs almost as fast as
I write it. And yet Moody reported that
quote. When the pain is over, they eat,
drink, walk, play, laugh. As at other times, they are
generally well at night. Moody said that many people
observed a day of prayer at the Goodwin home, and he and Charles

(02:55):
Morton, Charlestown's minister, each prayed for an hour.
Sometime after these prayers, Good Wife and Goodman Goodwin
expressed that they suspected anold woman and her daughter
living hard by. A complaint was filed with the
authorities and the two suspectswere jailed.
After the women were arrested, the children were well, but only

(03:15):
when they were away from home. The four afflicted children were
placed in neighbors homes as they had terrible fits whenever
they entered their own house. Moody wrote.
We cannot but think the devil has a hand in it by some
instrument. Following this letter, the next
document referencing the case ofGoody Glover is Samuel Sewell's

(03:36):
diary entry for November 16th, 1688, when he recorded quote
about 11 in The widow Glover is drawn to be hanged.
Mr. Larkin seems to be Marshall.The constables attend and just
as Bullet Hunt is there. This is our first indication
that Goodie Glover had been widowed and in lieu of a trial

(03:56):
record, this is the only known document from 1688 to tell us
the outcome of the case. Goodie Glover and the Goodwin
family next turn up in Cotton Mather's book Memorable
Provinces, which was published in 1689.
In this book, Mather gives a fairly detailed account of the
events leading up to Goody Glover's execution.

(04:17):
Mather begins the book by extolling John Goodwin's
virtues. Quote.
There dwells at this time, in the South part of Boston, a
sober and pious man, whose name is John Goodwin, whose trade is
that of a Mason, and whose wife,to which a good report gives a
share with him, and all the characters of virtue, has made
him the father of six now livingchildren.

(04:39):
Of these children, all but the eldest, who works with his
father at his calling, and the youngest, who lives yet upon the
breast of its mother, have labored under the direful
effects of no less palpable thanstupendous witchcraft.
Leather explains that the oldestson also suffered from pains,
and continues, but these four children mentioned were handled

(05:01):
in so sad and strange a manner, as has given matter of discourse
and wonder to all the country, and of history, not unworthy to
be considered by more than all the serious or the curious
readers in this new English world.
According to Mather, the oldest of the afflicted children was
about 13 years old and the youngest was about 1/3 as old,

(05:22):
so around 4:00. The children quote had enjoyed a
religious education, and answered it with a very torridly
ingenuity. They had an observable affection
unto divine and sacred things, and those of them that were
capable of it seem to have such a resentment of their eternal
concernments as is not altogether usual.

(05:45):
He continued, their parents alsokept them to a continual
employment, which did more than deliver them from the
temptations of idleness, and as young as they were, they took a
delight in it. It may be as much as they should
have done. In a word, such was the whole
temper and carriage of the children, that there cannot
easily be anything more unreasonable than to imagine

(06:07):
that a design to dissemble couldcause them to fall into any of
their odd fits. Though there should not have
happened, as there did 1000 things when it was perfectly
impossible for any dissimulationof theirs to produce what scores
of spectators were amazed at. This belief in the piety of the
children and parents perhaps goes some way to explain Mathers

(06:30):
gullibility, which will be apparent time and time again
throughout his book. In Mather's account, the
witchcraft scare began in the summer shortly after some of the
Goodwin's linen, witnessing the oldest Goodwin daughter, age 13,
confronted the unnamed laundress, who was the daughter
of Goodie Glover. Goodie Glover was incensed by

(06:51):
the allegations of the theft against her daughter.
According to Mather, Goodie Glover was, quote, an ignorant
and a scandalous old woman in the neighborhood.
Her quote Miserable husband, before he died, had sometimes
complained of her that she was undoubtedly a witch, and that
whenever his head was laid, she would quickly arrive onto the

(07:12):
punishments due to such a one. Unfortunately, Mather does not
tell us the name of Goody Glover's husband or give us his
occupation or any other identifying information.
Mather has a frustrating tendency to leave out such
details. Continuing Mather's account
quote, this woman, in her daughter's defense, bestowed

(07:33):
very bad language upon the girl that put her to the question
immediately upon which the poor child became variously
indisposed in her elf, and visited with strange fits beyond
those that attend an epilepsy ora catalepsy, or those that they
call the diseases of astonishment.
Soon afterward, the girl's siblings became I'll with the

(07:55):
same symptoms, Mather writes. Within a few weeks they were all
four tortured everywhere in a manner so very grievous that it
would have broke a heart of stone to have seen their
agonies. This is a pretty typical
witchcraft accusation. Someone has an argument Hersh.
Words are used and a misfortune occurs.

(08:15):
That same recipe is repeated again and again through accounts
of both the witch trials of the past and the witch trials of the
present. Girls with neighbors can have
severe consequences when witchcraft is then suspected for
whatever misfortune next visits the aggrieved parties.
Like in Salem four years later, those concerned about the

(08:36):
Goodwin's children's afflictionsconsulted medical authorities.
As Mother writes, skillful positions were consulted for
their help, and particularly ourworthy and prudent friend Doctor
Thomas Oakes, who found himself so affronted by the distempers
of the children that he concluded nothing but a hellish
witchcraft could be the originalof these maladies.

(09:00):
Quote. And that which yet more
confirmed such apprehension, was, that for one good, while
the children were tormented justin the same part of their
bodies, all at the same time together.
And though they saw and heard not one another's complaints,
though likewise their pains and sprains were swift like
lightning, yet when supposed theneck, or the hand, or the back

(09:20):
of one was wrecked, so it was atthat instant with the other two.
Like with the story of Salem Village physician William Griggs
telling Samuel Parris that his daughter Betty and his niece
Abigail Williams were under an evil hand, we have a medical
professional simply giving up and declaring that the problem
was beyond his comprehension, soit must be witchcraft.

(09:43):
Mather continues. The variety of their tortures
increased continually, and though about 9 or 10 at night,
they always had a release from their miseries, and ate and
slept all night for the most part indifferently well, Yet in
the daytime they were handled with so many sorts of ailes that
it would require of us almost asmuch time to relate them all as

(10:03):
it did of them to endure them. Years later, Beverly Minister
John Hale wrote about the Salem Village afflicted persons in a
modest inquiry into the nature of witchcraft.
He writes, quote, I will not enlarge in the description of
their cruel sufferings, because they were in all things
afflicted as bad as John Goodwin's children at Boston in

(10:23):
the year 1689. He means 1688.
So that he that will read Mr. Mather's book of Memorable
Providence's, Page 3, etcetera. They read part of what these
children, and afterwards sundry grown persons, suffered by the
hand of Satan at Salem Village, and parts adjacent, Ano
16911692. Yet there was more in these

(10:46):
sufferings than in those at Boston.
By pins invisibly stuck into their flesh, pricking with
irons, as a part. Published in a Book printed
1693, viz. The Wonders of the Invisible
World. So we see that even in the time
of the Salem witch trials, the afflictions then were compared
to those of the Goodwin children, which themselves can

(11:07):
be compared to many earlier afflictions supposedly resulting
from witchcraft. Back to memorable provinces,
Mather continues. Sometimes they would be deaf,
sometimes dumb and sometimes blind, and often all this at
once. As in Salem, these things could
be faked and often occurred at convenient time, Mather writes

(11:29):
quote. One while their tongues would be
drawn down their throats, another while they would be
pulled out upon their chins to aprodigious length.
Quote They would have their mouths opened onto such a
whiteness that their jaws went out of joint, and a nun they
would clap together again with aforce like that of a strong
spring lock. So were these just childish

(11:53):
antics, or did the children truly lack control over their
bodies? And there's more quote The same
would happen to their shoulder blades and their elbows and hand
wrists and several of their joints.
They would at times lie in a benumbed condition and be drawn
together as those that are tied neck and heels and presently be

(12:15):
stretched out, yay drawn backwards to such a degree that
it was feared the very skin of their bellies would have
cracked. Children are more flexible than
adults. Were they faking?
According to Mother, strange behavior was not all that
afflicted the children. Quote.
They would make most piteous outcries that they were cut with

(12:36):
knives and struck with blows that they could not bear.
But their necks would be broken,so that their neck bone would
seem dissolved onto them that felt after it, and yet on the
sudden it would become again so stiff that there was no stirring
of their heads. Yay.
Their heads would be twisted almost around, and if Maine
force at any time obstructed a dangerous motion, which they

(13:00):
seem to be a pawn, they would roar exceedingly.
Thus they lay some weeks most pitiful spectacles, and this
while has a further demonstration of witchcraft in
these horrid effects. When I went to prayer by one of
them that was very desirous to hear what I said, the child
utterly lost her hearing till our prayer was over.

(13:21):
How convenient a time to lose her hearing.
Yeah, these kids were allergic to work and religious practice,
Mather writes. It was a religious family that
these afflictions happened unto,and none but a religious
contrivance to obtain relief would have been welcome to them.
Many superstitious proposals were made unto them by persons

(13:43):
that were I know not who, nor what, with arguments fetched
from I know not how much necessity and experience.
But the distressed parents rejected all such counsels with
a gracious resolution to oppose devils with no other weapons but
prayers and tears unto Him that was the chaining of them, and to

(14:03):
try first whether graces were not the best things to encounter
witchcrafts with. As with the controversial witch
cake baked in Salem, using the supernatural to explain the
supernatural was frowned upon byreligious authorities in
Massachusetts. It was considered going to the
devil for help against the devil.
Mathers account continues. Accordingly, they requested the

(14:26):
four ministers of Boston, with the minister of Charlestown, to
keep a day of prayer at their thus haunted house, which they
did in the company of some devout people.
There, immediately upon this day, the youngest of the poor
children was delivered, and never felt any trouble as a
poor. But there was yet a greater
effect of These are applicationsunto our God.

(14:48):
Well, the report of the calamities of the family for
which we were thus concerned, arrived now unto the ears of the
magistrates, who presently and prudently applied themselves
with a just vigor to inquire into the story.
The father of the children complained of his neighbor, the
suspected I'll woman, whose namewas Glover, and she being sent

(15:09):
for by the justices, gave such awretched account of herself that
they saw cause to commit her unto the jailer's custody.
Note that Mather does not give Goodie Glover or her husband a
first name. According to Mather, Glover
herself told the magistrates whatever they needed to hear to
lock her up. Mather writes Goodwin had no

(15:30):
proof that could have done her any hurt, but the hag had not
power to deny her interest in the enchantment of the children,
and when she was asked whether she believed there was a God,
her answer was too blasphemous and horrible for any pen of mine
to mention. Well, an experiment was made
whether she could recite the Lord's Prayer, and it was found

(15:51):
that though clause after clause was most carefully repeated unto
her, yet when she said it after them that prompted her, she
could not possibly avoid making nonsense of it with some
ridiculous deprivations. This experience I had the
curiosity sense to see made upontwo more and it had the same
event. Here we encounter the confusion

(16:11):
over what was an acceptable experiment.
Those proposed to the Goodwins earlier We're not worthy.
However, the Lord's Prayer test was acceptable here and in the
Salem Witch Trials. According to Mather, upon the
commitment of this extraordinarywoman, all the children had some
present ease, until 1 related unto her accidentally meeting.

(16:33):
One or two of them entertained them with her blessing, that is,
railing, upon which three of them fell I'll again as they
were before. This is again similar to the
Salem Witch Hut, when the afflicted were momentarily freed
from suffering whenever a suspect was jailed.
But would then relapse upon seeing the suspect in court.

(16:54):
Mather continues, It was not long before the Witch thus in
the trap was brought upon her trial at Witch, through the
efficacy of a charm, I suppose used upon her by 1 or some of
her crew. The court could receive answers
from her, and none but the Irish, which was her native
language, although she understood the English very

(17:14):
well, and had accustomed her whole family to none but that
language in her former conversation.
And therefore the communication between the Bench and the Bar
was now chiefly conveyed by two honest and faithful men that
were interpreters. It's interesting that Mather
believes witches charmed Goody Glover into only speaking.

(17:35):
Irish at trial, he may have actually exaggerated or
misunderstood how well she understood English.
Perhaps she couldn't actually follow what the officials were
saying to her. Unfortunately, the two honest
and faithful men that were interpreters are never named.
Mather goes on. It was long before she could,

(17:58):
with any direct answers, plead unto her indictment.
And when she did plead, it was with confession rather than
denial of her guilt. What order was given to search
the old woman's house, from whence there was brought into
the court several small images or puppets or babies made of
rags and stuffed with goat's hair and other such ingredients.

(18:19):
When these were produced, the vile woman acknowledged that her
weighted torment the objects of her mouth was by wetting of her
fingers with her spittle and stroking of those little images.
Puppets were commonly used in image magic when used to
represent a person. A puppet was believed to be a
very effective way of manipulating a target's health.

(18:40):
A magic user could burn a puppet, prick it with pens, cut
it, stroke it, or squeeze it, and like effects would
supposedly be produced in the person represented by the image.
Memorable Providence is continues the abuse.
Children were then present, and the woman still kept stooping
and shrinking as one that was almost pressed to death with the

(19:00):
mighty weight upon her. But one of the images being
brought unto her immediately, she started up after an odd
manner, and took it into her hand.
But she had no sooner taken it than one of the children fell
into sad fits before the whole assembly.
OK, so I'm thinking about this. These stories make it sound like

(19:21):
she's the only woman in town that had a puppet.
Especially if there is this language barrier and everybody
else is puppeting each other when they're mad and that's her
puppet and they're handling her puppet, she's going to take it.
She might wet it and smooth it down if they were being rough

(19:43):
with it. I'm just thinking about what was
her experience, What was her perception of the puppet versus
what Cotton is making it sound like?
And the puppet could even have symbolized something else for
her. Could have been.
Represented one of her Saints or.
Maybe it represented a loved oneand she wanted to be nice to it.

(20:07):
It's really unclear. They don't describe the puppet
for us, and puppets were basically just dolls.
So any kind of doll that you hadin your house for your child or
whatever it was for could be interpreted as being this
magical tool. Quote this, the judges had their

(20:32):
just apprehensions at and carefully causing the repetition
of the experiment found again the same event of it.
This is interesting because now it's the magistrates doing the
experimentation. We hear the word experiment a
lot when we're looking at some of the Connecticut witch trials
too, because they would do the experiments with Ann Cole.

(20:57):
Oh yeah, yeah. Not just that, they're playing
with proverbial fire. Who knows what a real witch
could have done to the children with that puppet if it truly
were possible to use one as feared.
Continuing quote, they asked herwhether she had any to stand by
her. She replied she had, and looking

(21:18):
very pertly in the air, she added, No, he's gone.
Quote And she then confessed that she had one who was her
Prince, with whom she maintainedI know not what communion for
which cause. The night after she was heard
expostulating with a devil for his, thus deserting her, telling
him that because he had served her so basically and falsely,

(21:40):
she had confessed all. Here, Mather bothers me because
he assumes that she's speaking to a devil rather than God, a
St. or an Angel, or any of theseother entities.
She could have been addressing, which would have been a totally
logical assumption. He proceeds, however, to make

(22:02):
all clear, the court appointed 5or 6 physicians 1 evening to
examine her very strictly, whether she were not crazed in
her intellectuals, and had not procrued to herself by folly and
madness the reputation of a witch diverse.
Hours did they spend with her, and in all the wild no discourse
came from her but what was pertinent and agreeable,

(22:24):
particularly when they asked herwhat she thought would become of
her soul, she replied, You askedme a very solemn question, and I
cannot well tell what to say to it.
What if she just said what? Yeah.
She might have. Just said that and they said
that. She said what they said she
said. Well, she owned herself a Roman

(22:47):
Catholic, and could recite her Peter Noster in Latin very
readily, but there was one pauseor two always too hard for her,
whereof she said she could not repeat it, and if she might
have, all the world. In The upshot, the doctors
returned her Campos mentis and sentence of death was passed
upon her. Yeah, Mather doesn't tell us

(23:09):
what language was used with Goody.
Glover in her mental examination.
Based upon a later comment on the rarity of her use of
English, we can probably assume that the sanity evaluation was
conducted in Gaelic through the interpreters Mather mentioned
earlier. The book continues.
Diverse days were passed betweenher being arraigned and

(23:31):
condemned. In this time, one of her
neighbors had been giving in hertestimony of what another of her
neighbors had upon her death related concerning her.
Quote, it seems what how in about six years before had been
cruelly bewitched to death, but before she died she called 1
Hughes onto her, telling her that she laid her death to the

(23:52):
charge of Glover, that she had seen Glover sometimes come down
her chimney, that she would remember this for within the six
years she might have occasion todeclare it.
It appears that Hughes never made any allegations against
Glover prior to 1688 and she mayhave regretted coming forward

(24:12):
then, as we'll see. In Mather's account, well, this
Hughes now preparing her testimony immediately one of her
children, a fine boy, well growntowards youth, was taken I'll
just in the same woeful and surprising manner that Goodwin's
children wore. One night particularly, the boy
said he saw a black thing with ablue cap in the room tormenting

(24:35):
of him, and he complained most bitterly of a hand put into the
bed to pull out his bowels. Quote The next day the mother of
the boy went on to Glover in theprison and asked her why she
tortured her poor lad at such a wicked rate.
Quote This witch replied that she did it because of wrong done
to herself and her daughter. He's denied as well as she might

(24:59):
that she had done her any wrong.Quote Well then, says Glover.
Let me see your child, and he shall be well again.
Well, Glover went on and told her of her own accord.
I was at your house last night, says Hughes.
In what shape? Says Glover.
As a black thing with a blue cap.

(25:19):
Says Hughes. What did you do there?
Says Glover. With my hand in the bed, I tried
to pull out the boy's bowels, but I could not.
They parted, but the next day hewas appearing at Quirk had her
boy with her and Glover passing the by the boy express her good
wishes for him. Do I suppose his parent had no
design of any mighty respect unto the hag by having him with

(25:41):
her there? But the boy had no more in
dispositions after the condemnation of the woman.
Of course, it would have been Hughes, not Glover, who told the
account of Glover saying that she was at Hugh's house that
night. And it's unclear how Hughes
would even have communicated with Glover if her jailhouse
visits really took place. Yeah, how is she speaking the

(26:03):
Gaelic? Mather goes on to speak of his
own visits to Glover. Quote.
While the miserable old woman was under condemnation, I did
myself twice give a visit unto her.
She never denied the guilt of the witchcraft charged upon her,
but she confessed very little about the circumstances of her
confederacies with the Devil's only.
She said that she used to be at meetings which her Prince and

(26:26):
four more were present at. Quote As for those four, she
told who they were, and for her Prince, her account plainly was
that he was the devil. The reasons known only to
Mather. He never revealed the names of
the four Confederates of Goodie Glover, so we do not know who
else was named as a witch in Boston in 1688.

(26:47):
Mather continues. She entertained me with nothing
but Irish, which language I had not learning enough to
understand without an interpreter.
I'm so mad right now. She had to have an interpreter,
but I'm just saying an interpreter was fine enough for
her, but not for him. I'm going to start.

(27:09):
She entertained me with nothing but Irish, which language I had
not learning enough to understand without an
interpreter. Only one time when I was
representing unto her that and how her Prince had cheated her
as herself would quickly find. She replied, I think in English,
and with passion too. If it be so, I am sorry for
that. This is the only time, Mather.

(27:31):
Or anyone else quotes Glover directly and he thinks it was in
English? He's so.
Certain. He's so certain of everything
else. How often would he say?
I'm not sure. So we do not have her side of
the story at all. We really don't, Mather
continues. I offered many questions unto

(27:54):
her, unto which after long silence, she told me she would
faint, give me a full answer, but they would not give her
leave. It was demanded they who is that
they? And she returned that they were
her spirits, were her Saints, for they say the same word in
Irish signifies both. And at another time she included
her two mistresses, as she called them in that day.

(28:16):
But when it was inquired who those two were, she fell into a
rage, and would be no more urged.
Like I can really see here how he was persecuting her
religiously because he is sayinghe is appropriating the devil
and spirits onto what her faith is.

(28:39):
He knowingly was doing this and portraying her as speaking with
the devil when he understood Catholicism.
He understood Catholicism a lot better than he's letting on.
He was a Harvard trained religious scholar, so of course
he knew. And to say that, you know,

(29:00):
Saints and spirits, it's the same word.
I don't know if that's even true, but he obviously should
know that when she's talking about Saints, that's something
different than devils, he continues.
I set before her the necessity and the equity of her breaking
her covenant with hell and giving herself to the Lord Jesus

(29:23):
Christ by an everlasting covenant.
Oh my word, every time I get into these quotes I'm getting
really mad because that isn't the covenant that her faith
would have been directly based on.
Her covenant isn't broken by hell, nor that's just not
Catholicism. Yeah, he's saying that she has a
covenant with hell, and she's saying that she has a covenant

(29:47):
with God, but it's Roman Catholic God.
And giving herself to the Lord. Jesus Christ by an everlasting
covenant. To which her answer was that I
spoke a very reasonable thing, but she could not do it.
I asked her whether she would consent or desire to be prayed
for. To that, she said, if prayer
would do her any good, she couldpray for herself.

(30:11):
And when it was again propounded, she said she could
not, unless her spirits or angels would give her leave.
However, against her will I prayed with her, which, if it
were a fault, it was in excess of pity.
Well, when I had done, she thanked me with many good words,
but I was no sooner out of her sight that she took a stone, a

(30:33):
long and slender stone, and withher finger and spittle fell to
tormenting it, though whom or what she meant I had the mercy
never to understand. Mother doesn't say how he knew
what she did after he was out ofher sight, but presumably the
jailer somebody else. President told him.
But still, how is she tormentingthis stone?

(30:57):
By rubbing it with her finger. It was a fit.
It's a It's her fidget. It's her fidget.
Yeah, he forcibly prayed for heragainst her will.
And mother continues, When this witch was going to her
execution, she said the childrenshould not be relieved by her

(31:19):
death, for others had a hand in it as well as she, and she named
one among the rest whom it mighthave been thought natural
affection would have advised theconcealing of.
This comment about natural affection.
Has. Contributed to the belief that
she may have been Speaking of her daughter there.
She may not have even been trying to say that her daughter

(31:40):
or whoever it was that she actually named was, which it
might have just been a misunderstanding.
Mather goes on Quote. It came to pass accordingly that
the three children continued in their furnace as before, and it
grew rather 7 times hotter than it was.
All their former ales pursued them, still with an addition of

(32:02):
tis not easy to tell how many. More.
But such as gave more sensible demonstrations of an enchantment
growing very far towards a possession by evil spirits.
Quote, The children in their fits would still cry out upon
they and them as the authors of all their harm, but who that
they and them were they were notable to declare.

(32:23):
At last the boy obtained at sometimes a sight of some shapes
in the room. There were three or four of
them, the names of which the child would pretend at certain
seasons to tell only the name ofone who was counted as sage or
hag than the rest. He's still so stammered at that
he was put upon some paraphrasesin describing her.

(32:46):
Quote a blow at the place where the boy beheld.
The specter was always felt by the boy himself in the part of
his body that answered what might be stricken at, and this
though his back was turned, which was once and again so
exactly tried that there could be no collusion in the business.
But as a blow at the operation always hurt him, so it always

(33:07):
helped him too, For after the agonies which a push your stab
of that had put him too were over, as in a minute or two the
boy would have a respite from his fits a considerable while
and the hobgoblins disappear. Quote.
It is very credibly reported that a wound was this way given
to an obnoxious woman in the town, whose name I will not

(33:29):
expose, for we should be tender in such relations, lest we run
the reputation of the innocent by stories not enough inquired
into. And here he's calling Goody
Glover every name. In the book.
The 17th century Puritan book. Except for yeah, he doesn't tell

(33:49):
us her real name and that he's telling us.
Oh, we should be cautious and not spread stories about people
without really knowing. And I guess that's why he didn't
tell any of the four accomplicesnames.
But like, where's he drawing theline here?
He's like, it's this obstinate older Irish woman who's got no

(34:13):
husband alive to protect her, soI'll go after her.
But like these other ones, he draws a line somehow.
And you know, he in his mind, hewas going after the Catholic
Saints as well. And also, once again we see
parallels with Salem, with an afflicted person seeing the
disembodied specters of witches and others striking at thin air

(34:35):
in their attempts to remove these tormentors.
Of course, the boy was the only one who could see the specter,
so he could easily have told them that they had hit the
spectre's arm or leg or head. They would have been none the
wiser. It really didn't matter that his
back was turned. Yeah, all he really had to do
was guess when they hit the witch by listening to what

(34:58):
sounds they were making. And then he'd say, oh, you've
got her again, that time you gother arm, and Oh, my arm hurts
too, Mather continues. The fits of the children yet
more arrived unto such motions as were beyond the efficacy of
any natural distemper in the world.
So those afflicted girls in Salem, they knew for sure that

(35:22):
resting afflictions was not natural to September like that
it would be taken as witchcraft.There's.
No doubt they had the playbook written by 1 Cotton Mather
himself. But also writings of his father
increase before this was the established playbook of how to
behave when you were bewitched. This is where it gets fun.

(35:45):
Quote. They would bark at one another
like dogs and again, purr like so many cats.
Would sometimes complain that they were in a red hot oven,
sweating and panting at the sametime unreasonably, and on they
would say cold water was thrown upon them, at which they would
shiver very much. Quote they would.

(36:08):
Cry out of dismal blows with great cudgels laid upon them.
And though we saw no cudgels norblow, yet we could see the marks
left by them in red streaks upontheir bodies afterwards.
And one of them would be roastedon an invisible spit, run into
his mouth and out at his foot, he lying and rolling and
groaning as if it had been so inthe most sensible manner in the

(36:31):
world. And then he would shriek that
knives. Were cutting up in well,
sometimes also he would have hishead so forcibly, though not
visibly, nailed into the floor that it was as much as a strong
man could do to pull it up. One wild they would all be so
limber that it was judged every bone of them could be bent.
Another wild They would be so stiff that not a joint of them

(36:54):
could be stirred. Much similar imagery was used
during the Salem Witch Trial. During the Salem witch hunt,
afflicted Mercy Lewis even used the image of a person roasting
on a spit in her testimony against Martha Corey.
And, the story continues, they would sometimes be as though
they were mad, and then they would climb over high fences

(37:17):
beyond the imagination of them that looked after them.
Quote Yay. They would fly like geese and be
carried with an incredible swiftness through the air,
having but just their toes now and then upon the ground, and
their arms waved like the wings of a bird.
Wish wish. One of them in the House of a

(37:37):
kind neighbor and gentleman. Mr. Willis flew the length of
the room about 20 foot, and flewjust into an infant's high
armchair. As just affirmed none seen her
feet all the way touch the floor.
She's just moving really fast. In his book A True Narrative of
some Remarkable passages, David at Lawson wrote the Abigail

(37:59):
Williams during the Salem witch hunt quote was at first hurried
with violence to and fro in the room, though Misses Ingersoll
endeavoured to hold her, sometimes making as if she would
fly, stretching up her arms as high as she could, and crying
wish, wish, wish several times. The afflicted persons of Salem
and surrounding communities had definitely imbibed the stories

(38:21):
of the Goodwin children and other afflicted children.
Memorable Providence's continuesMany ways did the devil's take
to make the children do mischiefboth to themselves and others,
but through the singular Providence of God they always
failed in their attempts so. They could never essay the doing
of any harm unless there were somebody at hand that might

(38:43):
prevent it, and sell them without first shrieking out.
They say I must do such a thing.How convenient.
Mather continues diverse times they went to strike furious
blows at their tenderness and dearest friends, or to fling
them downstairs when they had them at the top, but the warning
from the mouths of the children themselves would still

(39:04):
anticipate what the devil's did intent.
They diverse times were very near burning or drowning of
themselves, but the children themselves, by their own pitiful
and seasonable cries for help, still procure their deliverance,
which make me to consider whether the little ones had not
their angels in the plain sense of our Savior's intimation.

(39:25):
So their angels are OK? Their angels are OK, hers or
not. They either had angels or they
were sapping themselves just short of inflicting any real
harm. Neither adds sometimes when they
were tying their own neck clothes, their compelled hands
miserably strangled themselves, so perhaps the standards by gave
some relief unto them. Well, but if any small mischief

(39:49):
happened to be done where they were, as the tearing or dirtying
of a garment, the falling of a cup, the breaking of a glass, or
the like, they would rejoice extremely and fall into a
pleasure and laughter very extraordinary.
I mean, who doesn't? Quote all which things compared

(40:10):
with the temper of the children,when they are themselves, may
suggest some very peculiar thoughts on to us.
Now what does the peculiar thoughts occurring to me is that
the children were thinking though it is possible they may
have been going through some stress induced psychogenic
illness, which is a theory aboutthe sandwich trials as well.

(40:30):
And this illness manifested in these strange behaviors because
of genuine. Fear of witchcraft.
And my laughter and making fun is of the adults, not that the
children had no way to work through the stresses that they
were feeling. I just want to be clear on that.

(40:51):
This is about the narration of the adults about what's what's
going on with the children whoselives were wonderful Cotton
mothers gullibility and just believes anything.
We'll never really know why the children did these things.
As far as we can tell, nobody did any.
Where are they now type follow-ups years later?

(41:14):
And none of the sources ever quotes the children themselves.
They're not named by the sources, they're named later.
Mather continues. They were not in a constant
torture for some weeks, but we're a little quiet unless upon
some incidental provocations upon which the devils would
handle them like tigers and wound them in a manner very

(41:36):
horrible. Particularly upon the last
reproof of their parents for anyunfit thing they said or did.
Most grievous, woeful, heartbreaking agonies would they
fall into? I can just see the eyes
wallowing up with tears just like that, Josh.
Yes, well, if any useful thing were to be done to them or by

(41:58):
them, they would have all sorts of troubles fall upon them.
Seriously, did these children just not want to work or to get
in trouble with their parents? Were they afraid of what
punishment their parents would dole out?
That's just a question as we have no way of answering that.
And Mather writes, it would sometimes cost one of them an

(42:19):
hour or two to be undressed in the evening or dressed in the
morning. For if anyone went to untie a
string or undo a button about them, or the contrary, they
would be twisted into such postures as made the thing
impossible. That sounds like toddler
transition frustrations that we all see children do in 2024 and

(42:41):
at Wiles, they would be so managed in their beds that no
bed clothes could for an hour ortwo be laid upon them.
Or could they go to wash their hands without having them
clasped so oddly together There was no doing of it?
It's just those troublesome kidsat bedtime.
Wash your hands. Wash your hands.
Did you wash your hands? That's all that is.

(43:04):
No. Did you just from the water and
not wash your hands? Yes, but when their friends were
near tired with waiting Anon, they might do what they would
unto them. There were limits.
Whatever work they were bid to do, they would be so snapped in
the member which was to do it that they, with grief, still

(43:27):
desisted from it. If one ordered them to rub a
clean table, they were able to do it without any disturbance.
If to rub a dirty table presently, they would, with many
torments, be made incapable. I can't believe he wrote this
down. It's just troublesome.
Did he never deal with his own children?

(43:47):
He had plenty of them. He was 25 or 26 when he wrote
this, but he already had severalchildren.
Quote And sometimes, though but seldom, they were kept from
eating their meals by having their teeth set when they
carried anything onto their mouths.
But even worse than work, another 4 awaited the children.

(44:09):
Religion was even worse for themthan chores.
As Mather writes, nothing in theworld would so discompose them
as a religious exercise. Well, if there were any
discourse of God or Christ, or any of these things which are
not seen in our eternal, they would be cast into intolerable

(44:29):
anguishes. Once those two worthy ministers,
Mr. Fisk and Mr. Thatcher bestowing some gracious councils
on the boy whom they then found at a.
Neighbor's house, he immediatelylost his hearing so that he
heard not one word but just the last word of all they said.
How does he hear only the last word?
He's waiting for them to stop, obviously, and then he knows

(44:52):
what last word they said becausehe was waiting for them to stop.
Wasn't it Diadot's message wherethey were like, I just missed
that whole thing? Yeah, Abigail Williams is saying
if you had a doctor, and I don'tknow what it was, well, much
more all praying to God and reading of His word would

(45:13):
occasion a very terrible vexation to them.
They would then stop their own ears with their own hands, and
roar and shriek and holler to drown the voice of the devotion.
Yay. If anyone in the room took up a
Bible to look into it, though, the children could see nothing
of it as being in a crowd of spectators, or having their
faces another way. Yet would they be in wonderful

(45:34):
miseries till the Bible were laid aside.
In short, no good thing must be then endured, dear those
children, which, while they are themselves, do love every good
thing in a measure that proclaims in them the fear of
God. And this is how Mather ends his
account. But Mather does not conclude his
section on Goodie Glover here. Instead, he continues with

(45:56):
another telling of the story. He included a section supposedly
written by John Goodwin himself.Mather labeled the section
mantissa, a term for a minor addition to a text, and it's
basically a retelling of the story from Goodwin's
perspective. In the year 1688, about
Midsummer, it pleased the Lord to visit one of my children with

(46:17):
a sore visitation, and she was not only tormented in her body,
but was in great distress of mind, crying out that she was in
the dark concerning her soul's estate, and that she had
misspent her precious time. She and we thinking her time was
near at an end. Well, hearing those shrieks and
groans which did not only Piercethe ears, but hearts of her poor

(46:38):
parents, now was the time for meto consider with myself, and to
look into my own heart in life, and see how matters did their
stand between God and my soul. And see wherefore the Lord was
thus contending with me, and upon inquiry I found cause to
judge myself, and to justify theLord.
This affliction continuing sometime the Lord saw good then

(47:00):
to double the affliction in spiting down another child, and
that which was most heartbreaking of all, and did
double. This double affliction was it.
It was apparent, and judged by all that saw them, that the
devil and his instruments had a hand in it.
A double, double, double, double, toil and trouble.

(47:21):
The consideration of this was most dreadful.
I thought of what David said in Second Samuel 2414.
If he feared so to fall into thehands of men.
Oh, then to think of the horror of our condition to be in the
hands of devils and witches. This our duelful condition,
moved us to call to our friends to have pity on us, for God's

(47:42):
hand had touched us. I was ready to say that no one's
affliction was like mine, that my little house that should be a
little Bethel for God to dwell in should be made a den for
devils. And those little bodies that
should be temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in should be thus
harassed and abused by the deviland his cursed brood.
But now this twice doubled affliction is doubled again.

(48:04):
Two more of my children are smitten down.
Oh, the cries, the shrieks, the tortures of these poor children.
Doctors cannot help. Parents weep and lament over
them, but cannot use them. Now I considering my affliction
to be more than ordinary. It did certainly call for more
than ordinary prayer. Yeah, you might be wondering why

(48:27):
he's talking about his affliction when the kids are the
ones suffering. And, well, it wasn't uncommon
for the men of the time as headsof the House wolves.
To feel like any misfortune thatBefeld, their family was a
judgement on them. In particular, cotton leather
behave the same way. And so did Samuel Sewell.
Which was why Samuel Sewell did an apology for the Salem witch

(48:50):
trials. Sort of.
That's the gall of John Goodwin to act like he was the one
afflicted when it was his own children who allegedly suffered
pain. Yeah.
What gall, what a nerve Childrenare suffering.
He's like, oh, God has a beef with me.

(49:11):
What's this beef with me about? And Goodwin continues, quote, I
acquainted Mr. Allen, Mr. Moody,Mr. Willard, and Mr. C Mather,
the four ministers of the town, with it, and Mr. Morton of
Charlestown, earnestly desiring them that they, with some other
praying people of God, would meet at my house, and there be
earnest with God on the behalf of us and our children, which

(49:34):
they, I think them for it readily attended with great
fervency of spirit. But As for my part, my heart was
ready to sink to hear and see those dwellful sights.
Quote Now I thought that I had greatly neglected my duty to my
children, and not admonishing and instructing of them, and
that God was hereby calling my sins to mind to slay my

(49:55):
children. So which is it?
Is it God or witches? Yeah, he can't make up his mind.
And you have to wonder, were they thinking?
As Cotton Mather referenced earlier, their symptoms were
approaching diabolical possession.
So they could have been possessed or they could have

(50:16):
been bewitched, or it could havebeen a judgement of God.
Either way, ultimately in the Puritan belief of the time, he
would have come back to God judging them in some way,
whether he used let the devil and his witches have their way
for a little while as a test or judgement.

(50:38):
He's the one who ultimately has the power in the situation in
the in their minds at the time. Then I pondered of that place in
Numbers 2323. Surely there is no enchantment
against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel.

(50:59):
Quote And now I thought I had broke covenant with God, not
only in one respect, but in many, But it pleased the Lord to
bring that to mind in Hebrews 812.
For I will be merciful, For I will be merciful to their
unrighteousness, and their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. So then why is Goodie Glover

(51:20):
getting the ultimate punishment?And this is all within the
household and between God in hisbroken covenant.
Goodwood's broke covenant with him.
What? Why are they hanging?
Goody clever. Yeah, Yeah.
Why fear? Just lack of understanding.
Because the true will of God wasunreadable.

(51:44):
But you could go after the devil's instruments.
Couldn't really go. You couldn't take the devil to
court. You couldn't take God to court
and say just to ask him, what did I do?
I'm sorry, I want to reform. You couldn't even do that
because his mind is unknowable. But you're afraid of the

(52:06):
earthly. Even as much as you believe in
the heavenly, you're afraid of the earthly.
And so you're afraid of the witch who you know more than the
devil that you don't. Continuing the account quote,
the consideration how the Lord did deal with Job and His
patience and the end the Lord made with him was some support

(52:28):
to me. But I thought also on what David
said that he had send. But what have these poor Lambs
done? Yeah, this part here.
Reminds me of your great grandmother Rebecca Nurse in
Salem saying that she was unsurewhat's in God must have found in
her that you would allow her to be accused of witchcraft.

(52:48):
Where here it's like the flip side of that.
John Goodwin is asking, what since have I and my children not
repented of, that God would allow the children to be
afflicted by a witch? Goodwin continues his account
quote. But yet, in the midst of my
tumultuous thoughts within me, it was God's comforts that did

(53:09):
delight my soul. That in the 18th of Luke and the
beginning verse one where Christspake the parable for that end,
that men ought always to pray and not faint.
This, with many other places, were my spirit.
And I want to point out that much of the same scripture
possibly would have been known by Goody Glover and she.

(53:32):
Could too be. Asking questions of God and
quoting scripture to try to flesh out what was happening to
her spiritually. The only difference is she's
probably thinking of it in Irish, then he's thinking of it
in English, but she would have been just as versed anybody at
the time. To build.

(53:53):
Again and again, these things into your head.
And I'm thinking about when Cotton was Speaking of her in
the jail, saying things and asking questions of the spirits.
Could it, would it not be just like this account of Goodman
Goodwin questioning and quoting very much?
I thought, with Jonah too far, that I would yet again look

(54:15):
towards God's holy temple, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I did greatly desire to findthe Son of God with me in this
furnace of affliction, knowing hereby that no harm shall befall
me. But now this solemn day of
prayer and fasting being at end,there was an imminent answer of
it. For one of my children was
delivered, and one of the wickedinstruments of the devil

(54:36):
discovered, and her own mouth condemned her, and so
accordingly executed. Goody Glover's death was the
answer to John Goodwin's prayer.He goes on to say.
Quote. Here was food for faith and
great encouragement still to hope and quietly wait for the
salvation of the Lord. The ministers still counseling

(54:57):
and encouraging me to labor to be found in God's way,
committing my case to Him and not to use any way not.
Allowed in God's Word. This really reminds me when Paul
Moyer discusses and his book Wicked and Detestable Arts how
in in our conversation with him on that episode he made with us

(55:19):
how the scriptural family framework was holy and anything
that fell outside of that would have not been valuable.
And Goody Glover, everything about her life fell outside of
that scriptural family in their perception.

(55:41):
Yeah. And we never find out if she has
any other children. They're never mentioned, only
her one daughter. And we know from other cases,
like Alice Young had just one daughter that we know of.
And you look at the case of Goody Eunice Cole who had no

(56:03):
children of her own and was reported to be jealous of others
who had children and wanted to take their children.
But this like low fertility thing also was considered to be
a judgement of God against you that you had somehow done
something wrong or you weren't chosen by God to have children

(56:25):
so therefore you were valued less in society.
It was OK for the ministers and magistrates to try their
experiments that, but they did not want John Goodwin tempting
the devil through folk magic or other means not specifically
sanctioned by the Bible. Goodwin continues.
Quote It was a thing not a little comfortable to us to see

(56:48):
that the people of God with so much concerned about our
lamentable condition, remembering us at all times in
their prayers, which I did look at as a token for good.
But you must think it was a timeof sore temptation with us, for
many did say yeah, and some goodpeople too.
Were it their? Case that they would try some
tricks that they should give ease to their children.

(57:11):
Why was it so important for themto document that they weren't
doing witch cakes and such? I think in here part of the if
you look at this from like a propaganda perspective.
Basically, the story that's being sold is that the Goodwin
family is very pious and dedicated and devoted and did

(57:33):
nothing to bring this on to themselves other than whatever
sin Goodwin worries about their they didn't do any witchcraft,
they didn't do any magic, Only Goodie Glover tried magic and
her four accomplices that are unnamed.
So it's like creating, it's likeserving as even though the trial

(57:56):
had already happened and the execution had already happened,
it's like preserving for future generations the high level of
decency of the victims and likewise showing just how
detestable Goody Glover was. And then I'm thinking about how

(58:20):
important at the beginning of the tale of the afflicted girls
in Salem, the witch cake that's kicks off the story that Tituba
allowed that to happen. Yes.
And Tituba gets blamed even though Mary Sibley's the one who
comes up with the idea for it, and she gets scolded in church.

(58:44):
But then they vote and they say,oh, we forgive you.
Yeah. Reverend Paris would have been
really familiar that Goodman Goodwin refused to use that folk
magic. And it happened right in his
house. Yeah.
Reverend Paris, before he went up to Salem, he was living in
Boston in 1688. He moved to Salem Village in

(59:07):
1689. So he was still in Boston while
this was going on. And he was a member of Mather's
Church and he possibly talked about this in his home.
Probably. And I, when I say possibly I'm
being sarcastic. He did.
Yeah, he did. You know he did.

(59:29):
Yeah, that's all there was to talk about, really.
Continuing quote. But I thought for us to forsake
the council of good old men and to take the council of the young
ones, it might ensnare our souls, though for the present it
might offer some relief to our bodies, which was a thing I
greatly feared. And my children were not at any
time free for doing any such thing.

(59:50):
It was a time of sore affliction, but it was mixed
with abundance of mercy, for my heart was many a time made glad
in the House of prayer. And, Goodwin continues, The
neighborhood pitied us, and werevery helpful to us.
Moreover, though my children were thus in every limb and
joint tormented by those children of the devil, they also

(01:00:12):
using their tongues at their pleasure, sometimes one way,
sometimes another, yet the Lord did hear and prevent them that
they could not make them speak wicked words, though they did
many times hinder them from speaking.
Good ones had they in these fitsblaspheming the name of the holy
God. This, you may think, would have
been a heartbreaking thing to us, the poor parents, But God
and His mercy prevented them, a thing worth taking notice.

(01:00:34):
Of likewise they slept well the nights, and the ministers did
often visit us and pray with us and for us.
And their love and pity was so great, their prayers so earnest
and constant, that I could not but admire at it.
If they admitted at this point that their fits included
blasphemy, then it would totallydiscredit Cotton's analysis of

(01:00:57):
their pious family, and they hadto get out in front of any
rumors of blasphemy that might have been spreading.
Mr. Mather, particularly now hisbow will so yearn toward us in
the sad condition that he not only prays with us and for us,
but he taketh one of my childrenhome to his own house, which

(01:01:18):
indeed was but a troublesome guest for such a one that had so
much work lying upon his hands and heart.
He took much pains in this greatservice.
To pull this child. And her brother and sister out
of the hand of the devil. So Cotton Mather took one of the
Goodwin children in David D Hallrefers to her as Martha in his
book Witch Hunting in 17th Century in New England.

(01:01:40):
John Goodwin's account continues.
Let us now admire and adore thatfountain, the Lord Jesus Christ,
from whence those dreams come, the Lord Himself for quite his
labor of love. Our case is yet very sad.
And don't call for more prayer. And the good ministers of this
town and Charleston cut readily came with some other good
praying people to my house, to keep another day of solemn

(01:02:03):
fasting and prayer, which our Lord saith this kind goeth out
by. My children being all at home,
the two biggest lying on the bed, one of them would fain have
kicked the good men while they were wrestling with God for
them. Had that I held him with all my
power and might, and sometimes he would stop his own ears.
This, you must needs think, was a cutting thing to the poor

(01:02:25):
parents. Now our hearts were ready to
sink. Had not God put us under His
everlasting arms of mercy, Deuteronomy 3327 and helped us
still to hope in His mercy, and to be quiet, knowing that He is
God, and that it was not for thepotsherds of the earth to strive
with their Maker. One thing that I noticed here is

(01:02:49):
he says that they talked about keeping fasting in prayer, which
our Lord seeth. This kind goeth out by.
Isn't the kind that goes out by fasting in prayer having to do
with possession and not witchcrafts?
John Goodwin was concerned for the well-being of his children,

(01:03:09):
but he often comes across as more concerned for his own
needs, such as here when he talks about his and his wife's
hearts being ready to sink because this was, quote, a
cutting thing to the poor parents.
But to be fair, he's also speaking to the parents in his
audience about things they mightexperience in their own times of
need. And giving them advice on how to

(01:03:30):
maintain their faith that God will deliver them from their.
Troubles, he continues, quote. Well might David say Psalms 1-2
that had not the law of his God been his delight.
He had perished in his affliction, but now the promises
of God are sweet, God having promised to hear the prayer of
the destitute, and not to despise their prayer.

(01:03:51):
And he will not fail the expectation of those that wait
on him, but he hears the cry of the poor and the needy.
These Jacobs came and wrestled with God for a blessing on this
poor family, which indeed I hopethey obtained, and may be now
worthy of the name Israel, who prevailed with God, and would
not let him go till he had. Blessed us, for soon after this

(01:04:12):
there were two more of my children delivered out of this
horrible pit. Here was now a double mercy, and
how sweet it was knowing it camean answer of prayer.
Now we see a know it is not a vain thing to call in the name
of the Lord, for he is the present help in the time of
trouble. Psalms 46.
One. And we made boldly say, The Lord
has been our helper. I had sunk, but Jesus put forth

(01:04:35):
his hand and bore me up. And I just keep thinking how
good he Glover would have been clinging to the same scripture
for her hope and rescue. Yes, my faith was ready to fail,
but this was a support to me that Christ said to Peter in
Luke 2232. I have prayed for thee that thy

(01:04:58):
faith fail not. It's a good one.
Owns his crisis and faith and shares how he overcame it.
Quote and many other promises were as cordials to my drooping
soul, in the consideration of all those that ever came to
Christ Jesus for healing, that He healed their bodies, pardon
their sins, and healed their souls too, which I hope and God
may be the fruit of this presentaffliction.

(01:05:21):
If God be pleased to make the fruit of this affliction to be
to take away our sin and cleanseus from iniquity, and to put us
on with greater diligence to make Our Calling and election
sure than happy affliction. So mad right now meanwhile.
This woman. Died for to make this guy happy.
It's so unhappy that they're willing to kill a woman.

(01:05:46):
It's so unhappy that it was crushing the hearts of the
parrots, but now it's happy the rescue.
Ding Dong. The Lord said that I had need of
this to awake me. I have found a prosperous
condition, a dangerous condition.
I have taken notice and considered more of God's

(01:06:07):
goodness in these few weeks of affliction.
Than in many years of prosperity, and this is really a
point that we have even discussed with some of the
European witch trials that we'vediscussed, that if witches were
being found in your parish or church or community, that was a
sign that you were having some spiritual prosperity.

(01:06:30):
And so then you were a target bythe devil.
Just as Goodman Goodwin here said, that prosperous condition
is a dangerous condition. Yes, I may speak it with shame.
So wicked and deceitful and ungrateful is my heart, that the
more God hath been doing for me,the less I have been doing for
him. My returns have not been

(01:06:51):
according to my receiving. The Lord help me now to praise
Him in heart, lip, and life. The Lord help us to see by this
visitation what need we have to get shelter under the wing of
Christ, to haste to the rock where we may be safe.
I'm really impressed with this Mason's writing skills.

(01:07:12):
He's he blows me away. He's better than Cotton.
We see how ready the devils are to catch us and torment our
bodies, and He is as diligent toensnare our souls in that many
ways. But let us put on all of our
spiritual armor and follow Christ, the captain of our
salvation, and though we meet with the cross, let us bear it
patiently and cheerfully. For if Jesus Christ be at the

(01:07:35):
one end, we need not fear the heft of it.
If we have Christ, we have enough.
He can make His rod as well as the staff to be a comfort to us,
and we shall not want if we be the shape of Christ.
If we want afflictions, we shallhave them, and sanctified
afflictions are choice mercies. Now I earnestly desire the
prayer of all good people, that the Lord would be pleased to

(01:07:56):
perfect that work he hath begun,and make it to appear that
prayer is stronger than witchcraft.
December 12th. 1688 John GoodwinJohn just shared a lot of
scripture that is very familiar to many people, and it's just
very insightful to see how it can be twisted to sanctify one

(01:08:20):
person and discredit another person's humanity.
It's so easy to twist words. And that ends the Goody Glover
section of Memorable Providence's Cotton Mather then
goes on to detail other cases when final source reflects
another attitude about the Glover case.

(01:08:41):
Robert Califf, vocal critic of Cotton Mather in The Salem Witch
Hunt, wrote more Wonders of the Invisible World as a
counterpoint to Mather's own Wonders of the Invisible World
of fawning work praising the actions of the Salem Witch
Trials judges. In More Wonders of the Invisible
World, Caliph included a couple paragraphs on the case of Goodie

(01:09:02):
Glover. Caliph wrote that he had perused
the trial records of Goodie Glover.
Unfortunately, these records arenot available today.
He wrote in the Times of Sir Edmund Andros, his government
goodie Glover, a despised, crazyI'll conditioned old woman, an
Irish Roman Catholic, was tried for afflicting Goodwin's

(01:09:23):
children. By the account of witch trial
taken in shorthand for the use of the jury, it may appear that
the generality of her answers were nonsense, and her behavior,
like that of 1, distracted. Yet the doctors, finding her as
she had been for many years, brought her in compos mentos,
and setting aside her crazy answers to some ensnaring

(01:09:44):
questions, the proof against herwas wholly deficient.
The jury brought her guilty. Quote, Mr. Cotton Mather was the
most active and forward of any minister in the country in those
matters in the country, taking home one of the children, and
managing such intrigues with that child, and after printing

(01:10:04):
such an account of the whole in his memorable provenances, as
conduced much to the kindling those flames that in Sir
William's time threatened devouring this country.
So now we've covered 4 contemporary sources of
information on the Goody Glover case.
We talk about them losing hold of the country, and here Caleb

(01:10:28):
uses the word devouring that I just find that significant.
Yeah. It's interesting because Cotton
Mather, when he talks about Salem, he talks about the
Devil's dominion. Is New England is the Devil's
dominion, and the people of thatdominion are all allied to take

(01:10:50):
down the Massachusetts Bay Colony and its puritanized
church. So it's interesting, Cotton
Mather's saying that the devouring of the country is by
Satan and his instruments, and Caleb is saying no, the
devouring is you guys with your witch trail running rampant and

(01:11:15):
witch hunting is still devouring.
So what do you think caused the afflictions?
I believe the Goodwin children, like the girls in the Salem
Village Parsonage in 1692, were under a great deal of stress.
Cotton Mather told us that they were kept continuously employed
in order that they could avoid temptation that sort of.

(01:11:36):
Strict management of their life could have driven them to
extremes in an effort to avoid more work, and Martha wouldn't
have wanted to be blamed for themissing linen, so she confronted
the Wanderers in an effort to get it back.
Or, cynically, you might think she was just trying to cover
herself by shifting the blame for whatever really happened to
the linen to someone else. Then, when the stressed out

(01:12:00):
Martha Goodwin was balled out byGoody Glover, she feared the
woman was a witch who had cursedher.
She then embodied the symptoms of bewitchment which were known
at the time. And her younger siblings
followed suit, either out of their own bewitchment, fear or
simply to play the game. Whatever caused the children's
behaviors, we know one thing that didn't real witchcraft.

(01:12:24):
That's right, we know for a factthat Goodie Glover was not
guilty of using witchcraft to harm the children.
With that much known, there's still much that we do not know
about Goodie Glover. The men who wrote about her in
the 17th century did not includedetails on her background.
You'll notice in these four sources that nobody ever gave

(01:12:45):
Goodie Glover a first name or a maiden name.
Or names her husband or daughter.
Unfortunately, some information that is commonly shared about
Goodie Glover today is not basedon these sources or other true
historical record. Despite best guesses, Goodie
Glover's first name and maiden name are not known.

(01:13:05):
But part of popular lore. Yes, part of popular.
Lore. We only know her by her
husband's surname and the honorific goodie, which was
short for Good Wife, a term applied to most married women in
early Massachusetts. I know many people know her as
Anne, but the contemporary sources we have do not include
this information. In fact, Goodie Glover was first

(01:13:29):
given the name Anne in 19 O 5 byHarold Dijon in his article The
Forgotten Heroine, which was published in the Ave.
Maria magazine's January 7th, 19O 5 issue and was later
reproduced in the Journal of theAmerican Irish Historical
Society. Sadly, Dijon fabricated
historical details such as supposed quotes from Glover

(01:13:50):
herself. Still, despite the glaring
inconsistencies and inaccuracies, the story of
Heroic and Glover took hold in people's minds.
From this article and others like it, additional
misinformation and speculation about Goody Glover has spread.
In 1872, Father James Fitton speculated that Goodie Glover

(01:14:11):
quote was probably one of the unfortunate women whom English
barbarity tore from their homes in Ireland to sell as slaves in
America. This was published in the book
Sketches for the Establishment of the Church in New England.
Conjecture that Goodie Glover was enslaved by Oliver
Cromwell's regime and transported to Barbados made the

(01:14:33):
rounds in the years following publication of this book.
Then in 19 O 5, Harold Dijon removed the conjecture by
claiming that Goodie Glover, quote herself, has stated that
she and her husband were sold tothe Barbados in the time of
Cromwell. No author ever cited this
seemingly important quote by Goodie Glover.

(01:14:56):
For his own part, Cotton Mather,writing soon after the execution
of Glover, only quoted the Irishwoman briefly saying, Quote,
when I was representing unto herthat and how her Prince had
cheated her as herself would quickly find.
She replied. I think in English and with
passion too. Quote.
If it be so, I am sorry for that.

(01:15:17):
Well, if it be. So I am sorry for that.
Is that really all he could be bothered with writing down out
of everything? She said.
Well, he was. Busy writing the 388 books and
pamphlets he published, but he had time to accuse Goodie Glover
of having familiarity with the devil and evil spirits.

(01:15:38):
So how should this woman be remembered?
Over the years, various efforts have been made to resuscitate
Glover's reputation. These have gone a long way to
rehabilitate her image, but her story is still not widely known.
In 1987, a committee was formed to change that by erecting a
statue in Goodie Glover's honor.The plan was referenced in a

(01:16:00):
Boston Globe article titled In Honor of Goody, found on page 15
of the November 16th, 1987 edition.
In this article, Patrick G Russell, described as a local
history buff from Stoneham, wrote that Reverend Vincent A
Lapobarda of Holy Cross and Reverend Letter P Mahoney and
Francis W Sweeney of Boston College had formed a committee

(01:16:23):
to push for the memorial, which has not been built.
These three gentlemen have sincepassed.
If anyone out there knows any more about this committee, we
would love to hear what you have.
But there's a plaque on a churchin Boston, and there's another
way we can honor her very soon. Goody Glover is never been

(01:16:44):
exonerated of her supposed crime, though it is abundantly
clear she was not guilty of being a witch, legally defined
at the time as having or consulting with a familiar
spirit. As nobody has ever proven a
connection with a familiar spirit, nobody could have proven
Glover a witch as defined by Massachusetts law.
If you believe, like us, that Goodie Glover deserves justice,

(01:17:07):
we encourage you to sign our petition at Chain Shut Org slash
Witch Trials. And join us on Zoom this
Saturday, November 16th, 2024 at2:00 PM Eastern for a
remembrance ceremony for Goodie Glover.
Please check the show notes for details on that event.

(01:17:28):
There's a Facebook event, yeah. There's a Facebook event.
You can go to Massachusetts Witch Hunt Justice Project
Facebook and Witch Hunt Facebookand find it there.
But we'll also have it in the show notes.
And at this event, we'll have information on how you can help
the Massachusetts Witch Hunt Justice Project clear the names
of Goody Glover at seven other individuals who were convicted

(01:17:49):
of witchcraft in Boston, and an apology for all witchcraft
prosecutions in Massachusetts. If you would like to get
involved right now and you are in Massachusetts, please write
your senator a representative toencourage them to support
legislation to exonerate the eight people convicted of
witchcraft in Boston. We're going to need people

(01:18:11):
anywhere to write, but right nowwe really need people that are
local in Massachusetts. So please visit
massachusettswitchhouse.org to learn more about the project and
to complete our simple volunteerregistration form.
And now Mary Bingham has a new minute with Mary.
Imagine a child grieving the loss of her mother.

(01:18:34):
As the woman, she looked new forcomfort and support all her
life. Now imagine her mother died
because she was hanged for a crime she did not commit.
This was the case for Goody Glover's daughter, who was
accused of stealing linen which resulted in her mother's
accusation of witchcraft. The younger Glover was orphaned

(01:18:57):
at the moment of her mother's death in 1688.
Unfortunately, what happened to Goody's daughter is lost to
history. What we do know is that she died
without seeing justice for her mother or herself.
Boston did declare November 16th, 1988 as Goody Glover Day,

(01:19:17):
but one day to honor her is not enough.
The stain needs to be removed once and for all from Goody
Glover. It's time the State of
Massachusetts fully exonerate Goody Glover and offer an
official state apology to all those who were accused for the
capital crime of witchcraft. Thank you.

(01:19:43):
Thank you, Mary. Here's Sir with In Witch Hunts
News. For my segment today, I'd like
to read for you the Proclamationwhich set November 16th, 1988 as
Goody Glover Day. You will notice the wording
includes both historical fact and some of the lore we have
covered in this episode and now read for the first time since

(01:20:06):
1988, the Proclamation, City of Boston and City Council
Resolution of Councillor O'Neill.
Designating November 16th as Goody Glover Day in Boston,
commemorating the tricentennial of her religious martyrdom here.
Whereas 300 years ago this day in Boston, on November 16th,

(01:20:28):
1688, Good Wife and Glover, a penniless Irish laundress, was
hanged, refusing to renounce herCatholic religion and Goody.
Glover thus became one of the early Puritan colony martyrs to
the witchcraft mania which was to spread to Salem four years
later. And she was executed one day

(01:20:48):
after her trial in Boston, amidst an atmosphere on
sympathetic to her Gaelic speechand disapproving of religious
relics found in a search of meager living quarters.
The widow and her daughter had and at her trial, without
benefit of counsel, inarticulatein her defense.
She was convicted of witchcraft based on charges stemming from

(01:21:09):
the tantrums of a young girl. The eve of her execution.
She refused to save herself by recanting her faith, then failed
to recite the Our Father in the version approved by the Reverend
Cotton Mather when he visited herself.
Goody Glover's martyrdom has been recognized by scholars,
although her name has never beencleared on the records.
This past Sunday, a pluck to Good Wife Ann Glover was

(01:21:32):
dedicated in Our Lady of VictoryShrine in Boston as a donation
by the Order of Alhambra. Therefore be it resolved, the
Boston City Council on this anniversary of Good Wife Ann
Glover's death and as a token ofredemption of her name, declares
November 16th, 1988 as Goodie Glover Day in Boston.

(01:21:53):
Thank you, Sarah. You're welcome.
And thank you for joining us forthis episode of Witch Hunt.
We hope to see you Saturday at our online event and back next
week for another lesson. Have a great today and
remembered Goodie Glover.