The Ruin of All Witches

In the mid 17th century, 100 miles west of Boston, Springfield’s fledgling community lived a fragile existence, under threat from illness, natural disaster and conflict.

As local quarrels burst into violence, thought to be inflamed by heavenly or demonic forces, witchcraft became cited as a malevolent source. Through the lives of the town’s inhabitants Malcolm Gaskill shows how such thinking escalated into a fatal outcome and widespread witch-hunts.