New England magicals, maybe. Europe was killing enough witches that a few towns in the colonies executing some witches thousands of miles away probably wasn't seen as that newsworthy, even if it was a rather remarkably large batch all at once. But I would bet that with Increase Mather et al. noisily being hardcore Puritans for quite a while before the trials, the local magical population had some suspicions that their fellow colonists might follow in Europe's footsteps with regards to witch-hunting well before it actually happened. And, if you take the dating discrepancy as when the statute was drafted (1689) and when it was put into effect (1692) instead of just a Flint, they definitely had prior warning. Meanwhile, back at the ranch in England, they had the Pendle witches as a wakeup call in 1612, and plenty more on the Continent. Plus there was the Malleus Maleficarum in the 1480s, which, although condemned by the Inquisition, must have looked like a very bad sign when it gained popularity in the next century. It wasn't the only or even the most popular witch-hunting manual either - see the Compendium Maleficarum of 1608. The Salem Trials certainly might have been the last straw that convinced any doubters in New England that the Statute was a good idea (drat, we didn't get away from that nonsense by moving across the ocean after all!), but they look a bit late to be the impetus.
There's a very interesting book on the smallpox epidemics called The Speckled Monster by Jennifer Lee Carroll. There's a fair amount of dramatized scenes to make it popularly accessible, but she explains in the notes in the back which bits she got from actual documented history and which were dramatic-if-plausible extrapolations, so you can come up with your own interpretation of the evidence as to people's motivations etc. And the actual actions everyone took are mostly solidly attested. /citation geekery
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Date: 2011-06-04 05:47 am (UTC)at the ranchin England, they had the Pendle witches as a wakeup call in 1612, and plenty more on the Continent. Plus there was the Malleus Maleficarum in the 1480s, which, although condemned by the Inquisition, must have looked like a very bad sign when it gained popularity in the next century. It wasn't the only or even the most popular witch-hunting manual either - see the Compendium Maleficarum of 1608. The Salem Trials certainly might have been the last straw that convinced any doubters in New England that the Statute was a good idea (drat, we didn't get away from that nonsense by moving across the ocean after all!), but they look a bit late to be the impetus.There's a very interesting book on the smallpox epidemics called The Speckled Monster by Jennifer Lee Carroll. There's a fair amount of dramatized scenes to make it popularly accessible, but she explains in the notes in the back which bits she got from actual documented history and which were dramatic-if-plausible extrapolations, so you can come up with your own interpretation of the evidence as to people's motivations etc. And the actual actions everyone took are mostly solidly attested. /citation geekery