Laurie Winn Carlson - A Fever in Salem: A New Interpretation of the New England Witch Trials

Table 1

Victims of Witchcraft by Age and Sex

Table 2

Possessed Accusers by Sex and Age,

New England, 1620-1725

Numerical Incidence of Encephalitis Lethargica by Month, 1916- 1923

Number of Fits Reported in Salem, 1692

Deaths Reported from Fits in Salem, 1692

Number of People Reporting Hallucinations (Visions ) in Salem, 1672-1692

These were reported in court records during the 1692 hearings. The periods between clusters of incidents follow the pattern for a disease that retreats into trough of inactivity for several years, to revive again.

Baganz, Mark D., Peter E. Dross, and John A. Reinhardt. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever Encephalitis: MR Findings. American Journal of Neuroradiology, vol. 16 (April 1995), 919-922.

Boyer, Paul, and Stephen Nissenbaum, eds. The Salem Witchcraft Papers, 3 vols. New York, 1977.

Burr, George Lincoln. Narratives of the Witchcraft Cases, 1648-1706. New York, 1914. Reprint, New York, 1968.

Caporeal, Linnda R. Ergotism: The Satan Loosed in Salem? Science, vol. 192 (April 2, 1976), 21-26. Presents evidence that convulsive ergotism from contaminated grain may have been the physiological basis in 1692 for Salems witchcraft crisis.

The Cause of the Epidemic Among Horses in the West. Science, vol. 75, no. 1928 (February 19, 1932), 10.

Cheyette, S. R., and J. L. Cummings. Encephalitis Lethargica: Lessons for Contemporary Neuropsychiatry. Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, vol. 7, no. 2 (Spring 1995), 125-134.

Colligan, Michael J., James W. Pennebaker, and Lawrence R. Murphy, eds. Mass Psychogenic Illness: A Social Psychological Analysis. Hillsdale, N.J., 1982. The modern version of mass hysteria theory.

Disney Takes Precautions Against Encephalitis. (Orlando) Sun Sentinel. August 28, 1997.

Encephalitis Lethargica. American Journal of Public Health 13 (June 1923), 486-488.

Encephalomyelitis. Science, supplement, vol. 75, no. 1946 (April 15, 1933), 8.

Jameson, J. Franklin, ed. Narratives of the Indian Wars, 1675-1699. Original Narratives of Early American History series. New York, 1913.

Josselyn, John, John Josselyn, Colonial Traveler. Paul J. Lindholt, ed. Hanover, N.H., 1988.

Hippocrates. Writings. Franklin Center, Pa., 1979.

Kidder, William. The Diary of Nicholas Gilman. M.A. thesis, University of New Hampshire, 1972.

Margolis, Simeon, ed., Johns Hopkins Symptoms and Remedies. New York, 1995.

Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology and Immunization. Public Health Fact Sheet: Lyme Disease. Available from http://www.state.ma.us/dph/comm ; Internet (accessed June 28, 1998).

Mead, Richard. A Discourse on the Plague. London, 1744. Reprint, New York, 1978.

Oxford, John S. Encephalitis Lethargica: Influenza is a Prime Suspect. Neurology News, forthcoming.

Parris, Samuel. The Sermon Notebook of Samuel Parris, 1689-1694. James F. Cooper, Jr., and Kenneth P. Minkema, eds. Boston, 1993.

Richt, Jurgen A., Isolde Pfeuffer, Mathias Christ, Knut Frese, Karl Bechter, and Sibylle Herzog. Borna Disease Virus Infection in Animals and Humans. Emerging Infectious Diseases, vol. 3, no. 3 (July-September 1997). Available from http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol3no3/richt.htm ; Internet (accessed December 24, 1997).

Sacks, Oliver. Awakenings. London, 1973. Reprint, New York, 1990.

Sleeping Sickness. Science, supplement (March 30, 1923), vii-viii.

Stahle, David W., Malcolm K. Cleaveland, Dennis B. Blanton, Matthew D. Therrell, and David A. Gay. The Lost Colony and Jamestown Droughts. Science, vol. 280 (April 24, 1998), 564-567.

Tilney, Frederick, and Hubert S. Howe. Epidemic Encephalitis (Encephalitis Lethargica). New York, 1920. Includes Sequelae of Epidemic Lethargic Encephalitis, reprinted from the Journal of the American Medical Association, vol. 79 (July 15, 1922), 211-214.

Von Economo, Constantin. Encephalitis Lethargica: Its Sequelae and Treatment. K. O. Newman, trans. London, 1931.