Beginning with a brief history of witchcraft, a belief as old as civilization itself, the course will continue with a discussion of the religious, social and political conditions in the Massachusetts colony and the Salem and Andover townships. The class will meet the major actors in the sorcery drama, the accusers, the "witches," and the trial officials. The second session will focus on the actual trials, the use of spectral evidence, and the courtroom antics of the young accusers which contributed to the guilty verdicts and resulted in the deaths of 20 innocent women and men. At the height of the delusion the colony's jails were full as neighbor accused neighbor, children accused parents and vice-versa, and spouses turned on one another. No one was safe from accusation and the threat of death by hanging, during the harsh Massachusetts winter of 1692.