Salem Gets Witchy

            So many things happened in our country’s early history.  One of the blemishes of that history is the constant accusations of witchcraft.  As I discussed before, the book “The Crucible” was written by Arthur Miller.  It recounts the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts that began in 1692.  In it, John Proctor and Abigail Williams were said to have had an affair.  After some research I have concluded: that is utter fiction.  Some of you may already know the falsehood of this untrue falseness (heh heh). 

            But what you do not know is the actual ages of these two major characters.  At the time, John Proctor was actually 60 years old and Abigail was 12.  So there would have been something very, very wrong if they did have an affair.  Besides, they lived more than eight miles from each other.  Considering that the fastest way of travel in that time period was by horse, it would have been even more difficult to have constantly rendezvoused with each other.

            Our next novel of choice (although we didn’t actually choose to read “The Crucible”) is “House of the Seven Gables”.  In this fine yet complex story, Nathaniel Hawthorne tells the tale of a large house in the 17^th century.  The plot of land it sits on was originally owned by a man named Maule that was hanged for witchcraft.  Now think: the actual house of the seven gables was completed in 1668.  The Salem witch trials commenced in 1692.  Could these witch-related events be a coincidence?  I think not.