| Abigail Williams | |
|---|---|
 Tituba and the Children, Illustration by Alfred Fredericks published in A Popular History of the United States, circa 1878 | |
|
Real Name |
Abigail Williams |
|
Born |
1681 |
|
Died |
1692 or after (aged 11 or older) |
Origin[]
Abigail Williams was an 11- or 12-year-old girl who, along with nine-year-old Betty Parris, was among the first of the children to falsely accuse their neighbors of witchcraft in 1692; these accusations eventually led to the Salem witch trials.
In early 1692, Abigail Williams was living with her relative, Betty Parris's father, the village pastor Samuel Parris, along with his two slaves Tituba and John Indian.
Tituba was part of a group of three women—with Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne—who were the first to be arrested, on February 29, 1692, under the accusation that their specters (ghosts) were afflicting the young girls in Parris' household. The three women were questioned separately but were aware of each other and, in a classic prisoner's dilemma, they were turned against each other.
Sarah Good was the first interrogated and held to her innocence. Judge John Hathorne directed all "the children ... to look upon her and see if this were the person that hurt them ... and they all did look upon her" and claimed her specter tormented them. "Sarah Good ... why do you thus torment these poor children?"
Hathorne asked. "What do I know, you bring others here and now you charge me with it," Sarah Good responded.
Next Hathorne interrogated Sarah Osbourne, who claimed not to know Sarah Good or her full name. But Hathorne told her, "Sarah Good said that it was you that hurt the children."
According to the transcript, this distorts what Sarah Good had said, as she had only vaguely referred to the others without naming them, in a way that was only intended to deflect blame from herself. Tituba was interrogated last and was the only of the three women to offer a full and elaborate confession against herself and pointing the finger of blame at the other two women: "Sarah Good and Osbourne would have me hurt the children." According to an investigation by Robert Calef that began soon after the trials, Tituba later recanted her confession as forced and claimed abuse from the slaveowner Parris:
"The account she [Tituba] since gives of it is that her master (Parris) did beat her and otherwise abuse her, to make her confess and accuse, such as he [Parris] called her 'sister-witches' and that whatever she said by way of confessing or accusing others, was the effect of such usage."
Further accusations against many others emerged from the Parris household (and others) and eventually led to the imprisonment of hundreds and the deaths of more than 20 in 1692. Sarah Osborne died in prison in May and Sarah Good was executed on July 19 along with four other women. Members of Parris household all managed to survive the entire episode including Tituba, who was released from jail a year later, when the slaveowner Parris paid her prison fees and sold her.
After the Salem witch trials, Williams disappeared from records circa 1696. Her fate is unknown.
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
All published appearances of Abigail Williams from before January 1, 1930 are public domain.
Some notable appearances are listed below:
- Rachel Dyer (1828)
- A Short History of the Salem Village Witchcraft Trials
- The Witch of Salem
- Dulcibel: A Tale of Old Salem
- With Force and Arms: A Tale of Love and Salem Witchcraft
Notes[]
- In John Neal's 1828 novel Rachel Dyer, Abigail Williams appears as the character Bridget Pope. Neal links the origin of the witch hysteria to her sexual development, and her bewitched behavior stems from sexual frustration that is calmed too late when she is reunited with her love interest, Robert Eveleth, after the trials have already begun.
- Abigail Williams appears in the the video game Fate/Grand Order where she is possessed by Yog-Sothoth. She is a friend of Lavinia Whateley who is summoned in a magical version of Salem during the witch trials, together with her grandfather.