In 1679, the house of William Morse at Newberry in New England was strangely disquieted by a Daemon. After these troubles began he was advised to write down the particulars, of which he gave the following account:
December 3. in the night he and his wife heard a noise upon the roof of his house as if sticks and stones had been thrown against it with great violence, upon which he rose but could see nothing, and locking the doors fast returned to bed. About midnight they heard a hog making a great noise in the house, so that he arose again, and found a great hog in the room below, the door being shut, which he opening it ran out.
December 8. in the morning five great stones and bricks were thrown by an invisible hand in at the west end of the house, and while the man’s wife was making the bed, the bedstead was lifted up from the floor, and the bedstaff flung out of the window, and a cat thrown at her. A long staff danced up and down in the chimney, a burnt brick and a piece of weatherboard were thrown in at the window.
The man at his going to bed put out his lamp, but in the morning found the saveall taken away, and yet after it was again unaccountably brought to the same place. The same day the long staff was hung up by a line and swung to and fro, the man’s wife laid it on the fire but could not hold it there inasmuch as it forcibly flew out, yet after much ado with husband’s assistance they made it burn. A shingle flew from the window though no body near it, many sticks coming in at the same place, one of which was so ragged that it could enter the hole but a little way, whereupon the man pushed it out. A great rail likewise was thrust in at the window so as to break the glass.
Another time an iron hook which hung on a nail violently flew up and down, also a chair flew about, and at last fell on the table where victuals stood ready to eat, and was like to spoil all had they not nimbly saved some of the meat with the loss of the rest, and the overturning of the table.
The people were sometimes barricaded out of doors, when there was no body to do it; and a chest was removed from one place to another, no hand touching it. Three keys being tied together one was taken from the rest, and the other two flew about making a great noise by striking against each other.
But the greatest part of the devil’s feats were mischievous, though herein he was sometimes antick enough, wherein the chief sufferers were the man, and his wife, and grandson, the man especially had a share in these diabolical molestations. Sometimes they could not eat their suppers quietly, but had the ashes on the hearth before their eyes thrown into their victuals, and upon their heads and clothes, so that they were forced up into their chambers, but had no rest there, for one of the man’s shoes being left below, was filled with coals and ashes, and thrown up after them.
Their light was beaten out, and they being laid in their bed with their little boy between them, a great stone from the floor of the loft weighing about three pound was thrown upon the man’s stomach, and he turning it down on the floor, it was again thrown upon him. A box and a board were likewise thrown upon them all, and a bag of hops were taken out of their chest, wherewith they were beaten till some of the hops were scattered on the floor, where the bag was then laid and left.
Another evening when they sat by the fire the ashes were so whirled at them that they could neither eat their meat nor endure the house. A peel struck the man in the face, an apron hanging by the fire was flung into it, and singed before they could snatch it off. The man being at prayers with his family a broom gave him a blow on his head behind, and fell down before his face. Another day when they were winnowing barley some hard dirt was thrown in, hitting the man on the head, and both the man and wife on the back, and when they had made themselves clean they tried to fill their half bushel, but the foul corn was in spite of them often cast among the clean, and the man being diverse times thus abused was forced to give over what he was about.
January 23. In particular he had an iron pin thrown at him twice, his inkhorn was taken away while he was writing, and when by all his search he could not find it, at last he saw it drop out of the air down by the fire. A piece of leather was twice thrown at him, and a shoe was laid upon his shoulder which he catching at, was suddenly snatched from him. A handful of ashes were thrown in his face and clothes, and the shoe was then clapped on his head, upon which he clapped his hand holding it so fast that somewhat unseen pulled him with it backward on the floor.
Next night ast they were going to bed a loft ladder was thrown against the door and their light put out, and when the man was abed he was beaten with a heavy pair of leather breeches, plucked by the hair of his head and beard, pinched, scratched, and his bed-board taken from him. Yet more, next night when in bed his bed-board rise out of its place though he used all his strength to keep it in; one of his bodkins were brought out of the next room into his bed and did prick him; the cloths wherewith he hoped to save his head from blows were violently plucked from thence; a night or two after the man and his wife both received a blow upon their heads, but it was so dark they could not see the stone that gave it; the man had his cap plucked off his head while he sat by the fire.
The night following they went to bed with their clothes on because of their late disturbances, and the man, wife, and boy presently felt themselves pricked, and upon search found in the bed a bodkin, knitting-needle and two sticks sharp at both ends. He likewise received a great blow on his thigh, and on his face which fetched blood, and while he was writing a candlestick was twice thrown at him, and a great piece of bark fiercely smote him, and a pail of water was poured out without hands.
January 28. Frozen clods of cow dung were diverse times thrown at the man out of the house in which they were. His wife went to milk the cow, and received a blow on her head, and sitting down to her milking work had diverse times cow dung thrown into her pail. The man tried to save the milk by holding a piggin sideways under the cow’s belly, but yet the dung would fly in and the milk was made only fit for hogs. That night ashes were thrown into the broth provided for supper so as they could not eat it. Ashes were likewise often thrown into the man’s eyes as he sat by the fire, and an iron hammer flying at him gave him a great blow on the back. The woman going into the cellar for beer a great iron peel flew and fell after her through the trap-door of the cellar, and going thither again afterward upon the same account, the door was shut down upon her, and the table came of itself and lay upon the door, which the man was forced to remove ere his wife could be released.
Next day while he was writing a dish went out of its place, leapt into the pail and threw out water upon the man, his paper and table, so that he could not proceed. His cap jumped off his head and on again, and the pot-lid leaped off from the pot into the kettle on the fire.
February 2. While he and his boy were eating cheese it was snatched from them and after found under an apron and a pair of breeches on the table. Also from the fire rose little sicks and ashes which flying on the man and his boy made them in a dirty pickle.
But as for the boy now spoken of, much must be said concerning him as a principal sufferer in these afflictions; For December 18. He sitting by his grandfather was hurried into great motions, and the man thereupon took him and made him stand between his legs, but the chair danced up and down, and had like to have cast both man and boy into the fire, and the child was after flung about in such a manner as they feared his brains would have been beaten out. In the evening he was again tossed as before, and the man endeavoured to hold him, but in vain. The lad was soon put to bed, and they heard a huge noise, and demanded what was the matter, he answered that his bedstead leaped up and down. The man and his wife went up and found all quiet, but had not been there long when they saw the board by his bed trembling, and the bed-clothes flying off him, which they immediately put on, and were as soon off again, so for quietness they took him out of his bed.
December 29. The boy was violently thrown to and fro; they carried him to the house of a doctor in the town and there he was free from disturbance, but returning home at night his former trouble began, and the man taking him by the hand they were both almost thrust into the fire. They put him to bed, where the clothes were again plucked off him, the bed-board shook, and there were the same dreadful noises as before. They took him up designing to sit by the fire, but the doors clattered, and the chair was thrown at him. Therefore they carried him to the doctor’s house and that night all was well. Next morning he came home quiet, but as they were doing somewhat he cried out he was pricked on the back. They looked and found a three grained fork sticking strangely there; which being carried to the doctor’s, himself said it was his, and the doctor’s servant affirmed the fork was seen at home after the boy was gone.
The boy’s vexations continuing, they left him at the doctors, where he was free some time, and then again complained he was pricked. Upon search they found an iron spindle sticking below his back. He complained he was pricked still; they look further and found pins in a paper sticking to his skin. He once more complained of his back, and they discovered a long iron, a bowl of a spoon and a piece of a pansheard. They lay down by him on the bed, with the light burning, but he was twice thrown from them, and the second time quite out of the bed. In the morning the bed was tossed about with such a creaking noise as was heard by the neighbours.
In the afternoon several knives were one after another brought and put into his back, but pulled out by the spectators. Only one knife which was missing seemed to the standers-by to come out of his mouth. He was bid to read, whereupon his book was taken and thrown about several times, and at last hit the boy’s grandmother on the head. Another time he was thrust out of his chair and rolled up and down with lout outcries heard that all was one fire, yea he was three times dangerously thrown into the fire and very hardly preserved by his friends. The boy likewise for a long while together made a noise like a dog, and sometimes like a hen with her chickens, and could not speak rationally.
Particularly December 26. He barked like a dog and clucked like a hen, and after long straining to speak said, There’s Powel I am pinched; his tongue likewise hung out of his mouth, and could by no means be forced in till his fit was over, and then he said, It was forced out by Powel. He and the house also had rest after this till January 9.
When the child because of his intolerable ravings lying between the man and his wife, was pulled out of the bed, and thrown with amazing and dangerous force against the bedstead boards. In the day time he wa carried beyond all possibility of finding him. His grandmother at last saw him creeping on one side, and dragged him in, where he lay miserable lame, but recovering his speech he said, He was carried above the doctor’s house, and that Powel carried him, and then had him into a barn throwing him against the cart-wheel there, and after thrusting him out at a hole. And accordingly they found some of the threshold barley hanging on his clothes.
Another time falling into a swoon, they forced somewhat into his mouth for refreshment, but it was turned out as fast as they put it in, ere long he came to himself, and seemed willing to eat, but the meat would forcibly fly out of his mouth, and when he was able to speak he said, Powel would not let him eat. Having observed the boy to be best at a neighbour’s house, the boy carried him to his daughter three miles off. The boy was very antick as he was going, but at length made a grievous hallowing, and when he came thither, he threw a great stone at the maid of the house, and fell to eating ashes.
Being afterwards at home, they had rest a while, but January 19, in the morning he swooned and coming to himself roared terribly, and eat ashes, sticks, and rug yarn. Next morning there was such a dreadful racket with the boy that the man and his wife took him to bed to them, whereupon a bedstaff was thrown at them, and a chamber-pot with its contents poured upon them, and they were severely pinched. The man being about to rise his clothes were diverse times plucked from him, himself thrust out of the bed, and his pillow thrown after him. The lad likewise had his clothes oft plucked off him in these winter nights, and was woefully disturbed with these malicious devilish tricks till it pleased God to restrain the wicked daemon.
All this while the devil did not use to appear in any visible shape, only they would think they had hold of the hand that scratched them, but it would give them the slip, and once the man was discernably beaten by a fist, and a hand got hold of his wrist which he saw, but could not catch, and the likeness of a Blackmore Child appeared from under the rug and blanket where the man lay, and it would rise up, fall down, nod and slip under the clothes when they endeavoured to clasp it, never speaking anything.
Neither were many words spoken by Satan all this time, only once having put out their light they heard a scraping on the boards, and then a piping and drumming on them, which was followed with a voice singing Revenge, Revenge, Sweet is Revenge. Who being much terrified thereat called earnestly upon God, the issue of which was, that suddenly with a mournful note there were six times over uttered such expressions. Alas! Alas! Me knock no more, me knock no more, and now all ceased.
William Morse does further affirm that a seaman being a mate of a ship coming often to visit him told him, That they wronged his wife who suspected her to be guilty of witchcraft, and that the boy his grandchild was the cause of this trouble, and if he would let him have the boy one day he would warrant him his house should be no more troubled. To which he consented, and next morning betimes the mate came, and the boy was with him till night, after which his house he saith was not for some time molested with evil spirits.
Thus far is the relation of this daemon, but the true reason of this disturbance is not yet certainly known. Some as was said, suspected Morse’s wife to be guilty of witchcraft. One of the neighbours took apples which were brought out of the house and put them into the fire upon which their own houses were much disturbed. Another neighbour caused a horseshoe to be nailed before the doors, and as long as it remained so, they could not persuade the suspected person to go into the house, but when the horseshoe was gone she presently visited them. The vanity and superstition of these experiments deserve to be exploied, since the daemons whom the blind gentiles of old worshipped told their servants that such things as these would very much affect them. Yea, and that certain characters, signs and charms would render their power ineffectual, and accordingly they would become subject when their own directions were obeyed. It is sport to the devils to see silly men thus deluded and made fools of by them. Others suspected that one Powel, a seaman who was thought to be a conjuere, set the devil on work thus to disquiet Morse’s family, or it may be some other thing yet reserved in the secrets of providence might be true.
Original of all this trouble, Essay of Provid., p. 142.
in The Kingdom of Darkness, or the history of daemons, specters, witches, apparitions, possessions, disturbances and other wonderful and supernatural delusions, mischievous feats, and malicious impostures of the devil. London, 1688.
Haunted Houses.
Formerly every village in New England could boast of one or more of these favoured tenements. I have, nevertheless, seen several of a most unchristian reputation in this respect, old, black, and unseemly, with shingles and clapboards hanging loose and ragged, like the cloak of Otway’s witch. A new coat of paint, in almost all cases, proves an effectual exorcism.
A former neighbour of mine – a simple, honest mechanic – used to amuse us by his reiterated complaints of the diabolical revels of certain evil spirits, which had chosen his garret for their ballroom. All night long he could hear a dance going on above him, regulated by some infernal melody. He had no doubt whatever of the supernatural character of the annoyance, and treated with contempt the suggestion of his neighbours, that, after all, it might be nothing more than the rats among his corn.
Anyone who has read Increase Mather’s “Remarkable Providences,” or the second volume of “Magnalia,” p391-2, will remember the story of the house in Newbury, on the Merrimack, which was “infested by demons,” and where, “before the devil was chained up, the invisible hand did begin to put forth an astonishing visibility.”
This house is still standing at the corner of Market-street and opposite St. Paul’s Church, in the pleasant town of Newburyport – a venerable and respectable mansion, half-hidden by trees. Here, in 1679, lived a sober old couple, William Morse and his wife, Elizabeth, and their grandson, a roguish lad of fifteen, who seems to have been the author of the mischief.
The whole neighbourhood was filled with consternation by accounts of strange disturbances inthis dwelling: doors opening and shutting; pots and kettles dancing on the floor; the dinner-pot, after being hung over the fire carefully by the good wife, persisting in turning itself over, and emptying the pork and cabbage in the fire; the bed-clothes flying off as fast as they could be put on; and the great wooden wheel turning itself upside down, and standing on its end, in a manner very unseemly and improper for a piece of Puritan house-stuff.
A sea-faring man, named Powell, detected the young mischief-maker, and put an end to the disturbance; but, for so doing, he was himself suspected of being a wizard, was arrested and tried at Salem, and narrowly escaped the gallows. On his acquittal, the good citizens seized upon Morse’s wife as the witch, and she was actually sentenced to be executed, but was finally reprieved by the governor and council. — Supernaturalism in New England.
Kilkenny Journal,and Leinster Commercial and Literary Advertiser, 12th May 1847.
As there have been several persons vexed with evil spirits, so divers houses have been wofully haunted by them. In the year 1679, the house of William Morse, in Newberry in New-England, was strangely disquieted by a daemon. After those troubles began, he did, by the advice of friends, write down the particulars of those unusual accidents. And the account which he giveth thereof is as followeth:
On December 3, in the night time, he and his wife heard a noise upon the roof of the house, as if sticks and stones had been thrown against it with great violence; whereupon he rose out of his bed, but could see nothing. Locking the doors fast, he returned to bed again. About midnight they heard a hog making a great noise in the house, so that the man rose again, and found a great hog in the house; the door being shut, but upon the opening of the door it ran out.
On December 8, in the morning, there were five great stones and bricks by an invisible hand thrown in at the west end of the house while the mans wife was making the bed; the bedstead was lifted up from the floor, and the bedstaff flung out of the window, and a cat was hurled at her; a long staff danced up and down in the chimney; a burnt brick, and a piece of a weather-board, were thrown in at the window. The man, at his going to bed, put out his lamp, but in the morning found that the saveall of it was taken away, and yet it was unaccountably brought into its former place. On the same day the long staff, but now spoken of,was hang’d up by a line, and swung to and fro; the man’s wife laid it in the fire, but she could not hold it there, inasmuch as it would forcibly fly out; yet after much ado, with joynt strength they made it to burn. A shingle flew from the window, though no body near it; many stickscame in at the same place, only one of these was so scragged that it could enter the hole but a little way, whereupon the man pusht it out; a great rail likewise was thrust in at the window, so as to break the glass.
At another time an iron crook that was hanged on a nail, violently flew up and down; also a chair flew about, and at last lighted on the table where victuals stood ready for them to eat, and was likely to spoil all, only by a nimble catching they saved some of their meal with the loss of the rest and the overturning of their table.
People were sometimes barricado’d out of doors, when as yet there was nobody to do it; and a chest was removed from place to place, no hand touching it. Their keys being tied together, one was taken from the rest, and the remaining two would fly about making a loud noise by knocking against each other.
But the greatest part of this devils feats were his mischievous ones, wherein indeed he was sometimes antick enough too, and therein the chief sufferers were, the man and his wife, and his grand-son. The man especially had his share in these diabolical molestations. For one while they could not eat their suppers quietly, but had the ashes on the hearth before their eyes thrown into their victuals, yea, and upon their heads and clothes, insomuch that they were forced up into their chamber, and yet they had no rest there; for one of the man’s shoes being left below, it was filled with ashes and coals, and thrown up after them.
Their light was beaten out, and, they being laid in their bed with their little boy between them, a great stone (from the floor of the loft) weighing above three pounds was thrown upon the man’s stomach, and he turning it down upon the floor,it was once more thrown upon him. A box and a board were likewise thrown upon themall; and a bag of hops was taken out of their chest, therewith they were beaten, till some of the hops were scattered on the floor, where the bag was then laid and left.
In another evening, when they sat by the fire, the ashes were so whirled at them, that they could neither eat their meat nor endure the house. A peel struck the man in the face. An apron hanging by the fire was flung upon it,and singed before they could snatch it off. The man being at prayer with his family, a beesom gave him a blow on his head behind, and fell down before his face.
On another day, when they were winnowing of barley, some hard dirt was thrown in, hitting the man on the head, and both the man and his wife on the back; and when they had made themselves clean, they essayed to fill their half-bushel; but the foul corn was in spite of them often cast in amongst the clean, and the man, being divers times thus abused, was forced to give over what he was about.
On January 23 (in particular), the man had an iron pin twice thrown at him, and his inkhorn was taken away from him while he was writing; and when by all his seeking it he could not find it, at last he saw it drop out of the air down by the fire. A piece of leather was twice thrown at him; and a shoe was laid upon his shoulder,which he catching at, was suddenly rapt from him. An handful of ashes was thrown at his face, and upon his clothes; and the shoe was then clapt upon his head, and upon it he clapt his hand, holding it so fast,that somewhat unseen pulled him with it backward on the floor.
On the next day at night, as they were going to bed, a lost [loft?] ladder was thrown against the door, and their light put out; and when the man was abed, he was beaten with a heavy pair of leather breeches, and pull’d by the hair of his head and beard, pinched and scratched, and his bed-board was taken away from him. Yet more: in the next night, when the man was likewise abed, his bed-board did rise out of its place, notwithstanding his putting forth all his strength to keep it in; one of his awls was brought out of the next room into his bed, and did prick him; the clothes wherewith he hoped to save his head from blows, were violently pluckt from thence.
Within a night or two after, the man and his wife received both of them a blow upon their heads, but it was so dark that they could not see the stone which gave it. The man had his cap pulled off from his head while he sat by the fire.
The night following, they went to bed undressed, because of their late disturbances, and the man, wife, boy, presently felt themselves pricked, and upon search, found in the bed a bodkin, a knitting needle, and two sticks picked at both ends; he received also a great blow, as on his thigh, so on his face, which fetched blood; and while he was writing, a candlestick was twice thrown at him; and a great piece of bark fiercely smote him; and a pail of water turned up without hands.
On the 28th of the mentioned month, frozen clods of cow-dung were divers times thrown at the man out of the house in which they were. His wife went to milk the cow, and received a blow on her head; and sitting down at her milking work, had cow-dung divers times thrown into her pail. The man tried to save the milk, by holding a piggin sideways under the cow’s belly; but the dung would in for all, and the milk was only made fit for hogs.
On that night, ashes were thrown into the porridge which they had made ready for their supper, so as that they could not eat it; ashes were likewise often thrown into the man’s eyes as he sat by the fire; and an iron hammer flying at him, gave him a great blow on his back. The man’s wife going into the cellar for beer, a great iron peel flew and fell after her through the trapdoor of the cellar; and going afterwards on the same errand to the same place, the door shut down upon her, and the table came and lay upon the door, and the man was forced to remove it e’er his wife could be released from where she was.
On the following day, while he was writing, a dish went out of its place, leapt into the pail, and cast water upon the man, his paper, his table, and disappointed his procedure in what he was about; his cap jumped off from his head, and on again, and the pot-lid leapt off from the pot into the kettle on the fire.
February 2. While he and his boy were eating of cheese, the pieces which he cut were wrested from them, but they were afterwards found upon the table, under an apron and a pair of breeches; and also from the fire arose little sticks and ashes, which flying upon the man and his boy, brought them into an uncomfortable pickle.
But as for the boy, which the last passage spoke of, there remains much to be said concerning him and a principal sufferer in these afflictions: for on the 18th of December, he sitting by his grandfather, was hurried into great motions, and the man thereupon took him, and made him stand between his legs; but the chair danced up and down, and had like to have cast both man and boy into the fire; and the child was afterwards flung about in such a manner, as that they feared that his brains would have been beaten out; and in the evening he was tossed as afore, and the man tried the project of holding him, but ineffectually. The lad was soon put to bed, and they presently demanded what was the matter? and he answered, that his bedstead leaped up and down; and they (i.e. the man and his wife) went up, and at first found all quiet, but before they had been there long, they saw the board by his bed trembling by him, and the bed-clothes flying off him; the latter they laid on immediately, but they were no sooner on than off; so they took him out of his bed for quietness.
December 29. The boy was violently thrown to and fro, only they carried him to the house of a doctor in the town, and there he was free of disturbances; but returning home at night, his former trouble began, and the man taking him by the hand, they were both of them almost tripped into the fire. They put him to bed, and he was attended with the same iterated loss of his clothes, shaking off his bed-board, and noises that he had in his last conflict; they took him up, designing to sit by the fire, but the doors clattered, and the chair was thrown at him; wherefore they carried him to the doctors house, and so for that night all was well.
The next morning he came home quiet; but as they were doing somewhat, he cried out that he was pricked on the back; they looked, and found a three-tined fork sticking strangely there; which being carried to the doctor’s house, not only the doctor himself said that it was his, but also the doctor’s servant affirmed it was seen at home after the boy was gone. The boy’s vexations continuing, they left him at the doctors, where he remained well till a while after, and then he complained he was pricked; they looked and found an iron spindle sticking below his back: he complained he was pricked still; they looked, and found there a long iron, a bowl of a spoon, and a piece of a pansheard.
They lay down by him on the bed, with the light burning, but he was twice thrown from them, and the second time thrown quite under the bed. In the morning the bed was tossed about, with such a creaking noise as was heard to the neighbours. In the afternoon their knives were, one after another, brought, and put into his back, but pulled out by the spectators; only one knife, which was missing, seemed to the standers by to come out of his mouth. He was bidden to read; his book was taken and thrown about several times, at last hitting the boy’s grandmother on the head. Another time he was thrust out of his chair, and rolled up and down, with outcries, that all things were on fire; yea, he was three times very dangerously thrown into the fire, and preserved by his friends with much ado. The boy also made, for a long time together, a noise like a dog, and like a hen with her chickens, and could not speak rationally.
Particularly, on December 26, he barked like a dog, and clucked like a hen; and after long distraining to speak, said, “There’s Powel, I am pinched.” His tongue likewise hung out of his mouth, so as that it could by no means be forced in till his fit was over, and then he said ’twas forced out by Powel. He and the house also after this had rest till the 9th of January; at which time the child, because of his intolerable ravings, lying between the man and his wife, was pulled out of bed, and knocked vehemently against the bedstead boards, in a manner very perilous and amazing.
In the day-time he was carried away beyond all possibility of their finding him. His grandmother at last saw him creeping on one side, and drag’d him in, where he lay miserable lame; but recovering his speech, he said, that he was carried above the doctor’s house, and that Powel carried him; and that the said Powel had him into the barn, throwing him against the cart-wheel there, and then thrusting him out at a hole; and accordingly they found some of the remainders of the threshed barley, which was on the barn-floor, hanging to his clothes.
At another time he fell into a swoon; they forced somewhat refreshing into his mouth, and it was turned out as fast as they put it in; e’re long he came to himself, and expressed some willingness to eat, but the meat would forcibly fly out of his mouth; and when he was able to speak, he said Powel would not let him eat. Having found the boy to be best at a neighbour’s house, the man carried him to his daughter’s, three miles from his own. The boy was growing antick as he was on the journey, but before the end of it he made a grievous hollowing; and when he lighted, he threw a great stone at a maid in the house, and fell on eating of ashes.
Being at home afterwards, they had rest awhile; but on the 19th of January, in the morning, he swooned, and coming to himself, he roared terribly, and did eat ashes, sticks, rug-yarn. The morning following, there was such a racket with the boy, that the man and his wife took him to bed to them: a bedstaff was thereupon thrown at them, and a chamber-pot with its contents was thrown upon them, and they were severely pinched. The man being about to rise, his clothes were divers times pulled from them, himself thrust out of his bed, and his pillow thrown after him. The lad also would have his clothes plucked off from him in these winter nights, and was woefully dogged with such fruits of devilish spite, till it pleased God to shorten the chain of the wicked daemon.
All this while the devil did not use to appear in any visible shape, only thery would think they had hold of the hand that sometimes scratched them; but it would give them the slip. And once the man was discernably beaten by a fist, and a hand got hold of his wrist, which he saw but could not catch; and the likeness of a blackmore child did appear from under the rug and blanket, where the man lay, and it would rise up, fall down, nod, and slip under the clothes, when they endeavoured to clasp it, never speaking anything.
Neither were there many words spoken by Satan all this time; only once, having put out their light, they heard a scraping on the boards, and then a piping and drumming on them, which was followed with a voice, singing, “Revenge! Revenge! Sweet is revenge!” And they being well terrified with it, called upon God: the issue of which was, that suddenly, with a mournful note, there were six times over uttered such expressions as, “Alas! me knock no more! me knock no more!” and now all ceased.
The man does, moreover, affirm that a seaman (being a mate of a ship) coming often to visit him told him, that they wronged his wife who suspected her to be guilty of witchcraft; and that the boy (his grandchild) was the cause of this trouble; and that if he would let him have the boy one day, he would warrant him his house should be no more troubled as it had been. To which motion he consented. the mate came the next day betimes, and the boy was with him until night; since which time his house, he says, has not been molested with evil spirits.
Thus far is the relation concerning the daemon at William Morse’s house in Newberry. The true reason of these strange disturbances is as yet not certainly known: some (as has been hinted) did suspect Morse’s wife to be guilty of witchcraft.
One of the neighbours took apples, which were brought out of that house, and put them into the fire; upon which, they say, their houses were much disturbed. Another of the neighbours caused a horse-shoe to be nailed before the doors; and as long as it remained so, they could not persuade the suspected person to go into the house; but when the horse-shoe was gone, she presently visited them. I shall not here enlarge upon the vanity and superstition of those experiments, reserving that for another place; all that I shall say at present is, that the daemons, whom the blind Gentiles of old worshipped, told their servants, that such things as these would very much affect them; yea, and that certain characters, signs, and charms, would render their power ineffectual; and, accordingly, they would become subject, when their own directions were obeyed. It is sport to the devils when they see silly men thus deluded and made fools of by them.
Others were apt to think that a seaman, by some suspected to be a conjurer, set the devil on work thus to disquiet Morse’s family; or, it may be, some other thing, as yet kept hid in the secrets of Providence, might be the true original of all this trouble.
In ‘Remarkable Providences illustrative of the earlier days of American colonisation’ by Increase Mather (reprint 1856 of ‘An essay for the recording of illustrious providences: wherein an account is given of many remarkable and very memorable events, which have happened this last age, especially in New England’, printed 1684.)