The Beginning

As Martha watched Betty skulk down the stairs, she wondered if she should follow her or go back to sleep. This was the third time this week that Betty had gotten out of bad, dressed and gone outside, each time doing something a little too loud, causing Martha to wake up.

As Martha sat up, she heard the front door close. She bent over, carefully pulled on her winter boots, and quickly dressed. She scampered downstairs as quietly as possible, opened the front door, and walked outside.

The moon was full so Martha could clearly see her sister standing in front of their cousin's house. Slowly the door opened and their nine-year old cousin stepped outside. Betty and Abigail said something to each other and then, grasping each others' hands, ran off into the night. They ran back towards Betty's house and into the root cellar.

Martha crept up to the door and listened. In the cellar, she heard not one voice, not two, but seven voices all talking at once. Then all was silent; nothing was to be heard except the hoot of an owl.

Then a quiet lilting voice began to tell a strange story. Martha recognized the voice as the one that belonged to their servant, Tituba. Tituba was a strange girl; all Martha knew about her was that she had grown up on an island in the Atlantic.

Martha listened with anticipation as Tituba told story after story about witches and spooks. "How can my sister sit there and listen to those stories, something that clearly goes against the Puritan way of life? Martha thought.

Martha didn't know it then but as she sat listening to Tituba's lilting voice, the stories she told would start something that would be a horrible mistake: the Salem Witch Trials.


Photo Credit: Len Radin