The Salem Seer and the New England Cunning-Folk Tradition
- Date of account
- seventeenth century
- Location
- Massachusetts Bay, especially Essex County
- Source
- model_recalled_reference
- Record updated
- 2026-10-10
Record summary
New England witch-trial records preserve references to counter-magic, healing, fortune-telling, image magic, and protective practices alongside accusations of witchcraft. The records connected with Salem and neighboring communities can therefore be studied as evidence for a broader vernacular magical environment, not only as prosecution narratives. This lead matters for comparing learned demonology with household practices and informal specialists sometimes called cunning folk. The sources were produced under legal and theological pressure, and many alleged practices survive only through hostile testimony, fragmented depositions, or later editorial selection.
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