Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
Views: Ergot and the Salem Witchcraft Affair: An outbreak of a type of food poisoning
known as convulsive ergotism may have led to the 1692 accusations of witchcraft
Author(s): Mary K. Matossian
Reviewed work(s):
Source: American Scientist, Vol. 70, No. 4 (July-August 1982), pp. 355-357
Published by: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
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Mary
.
Matossian
Views
Ergot and the Salem Witchcraft
Affair
An outbreakofa typeoffoodpoisoningknownas
convulsive ergotismmay have led to the 1692
accusations ofwitchcraft
. .
vated. The development
of ergot is
Spanos and JackGottlieb on the
favored by a severely cold winter
ground that the facts of the case fit
followed by a cool, moist growing
the model
very imperfectly (3). I
season: the cold winter weakens
the
have concluded, after examining the
Salem court transcript, the ecological
rye plant, and the spring moisture
the
of
the
situation, and recent literature on
promotes
growth
fungus.
after
ergotism, that this objection is not as
People develop
ergotism
valid as originally perceived.
eating rye contaminated
by ergot.
Previous attempts to explain the
Children
and teenagers are more
erly, Boxford, Gloucester,
Ipswich,
to ergotism than adults
vulnerable
witchcraft affair of 1692 have been
Newbury, Topsfield, and Wenham,
all inMassachusetts,
and in Fairfield
because
they ingest more food per
unsatisfactory. The work of histori
Connecticut.
The timing of unit of
ans Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissen
County,
body weight; consequently,
the outbreak was strange, since it
more
unit
baum, for example, has been con
poison per
theymay ingest
occurred 47 years after the last epi
cerned with the social reactions to
of body weight. Made
of
four
up
in En
demic of witch persecution
the symptoms
of bewitchment,
groups of alkaloids, ergot produces a
rather than the origin of the symp
gland. No one has been able to prove
variety of symptoms. Diagnosis may
in 1692, and not
toms (4). Other historians have at
be difficult because many symptoms
why it occurred
some other year, or why ithappened
are not present in all cases.
tributed the outbreak to the tendency
in Essex County, Massachusetts,
and
to
to
current
medical
make scapegoats of certain mem
According
Fairfield County, Connecticut,
and
bers of a community; although this is
thinking, the symptoms of early and
not in other counties.
a widespread
mild convulsive ergotism are a slight
and chronic phenom
In 1976 psychologist
Linnda
a
to explain the
it
is
of
frontal
insufficient
enon,
pres
giddiness,
feeling
an interesting
sure in the head, fatigue, depression,
case.
of
the
New En
proposed
Caporael
unique aspects
solution to the problem ofwhy vari
nausea with or without vomiting,
glanders believed inwitchcraft both
ous physical and mental symptoms
and pains in the limbs and lumbar
before and after 1692, yet in no other
in
certain
communi
that
make
severe
difficult
there
such
appeared only
region
year was
persecu
walking
ties at certain times (1 ). She suggested
tion of witches.
(2). In more severe cases the symp
that those who displayed symptoms
toms are formication (a feeling that
The suggestion that the afflicted
of "bewitchment"
in 1692 were ac
ants are crawling under the skin),
teenage girls in Salem Village were
from a disease
coldness of the extremities, muscle
tually suffering
feigning their symptoms or, as Spa
known as convulsive ergotism. The
nos
and
tonic
of
the
and Gottlieb
role
spasms
twitching,
suggested,
main causal factor in this disease is a
limbs, tongue, and facial muscles.
playing in the presence of social cues
substance called ergot, the sclerotia
Sometimes
there is renal spasm and
cannot explain the symptoms of the
of the fungus Claviceps purpurea,
urine stoppage.
In the most severe
animal victims or of the other human
which usually grows on rye (Fig. 1).
cases the patient has epileptiform
victims who were
apparently not
convulsions
stimulated by social cues. The sug
and, between
fits, a
Ergot ismore likely to occur on rye
ravenous appetite. He may lie as if
grown on low, moist, shaded land,
gestion made by an English profes
dead for six to eight hours and after
that the be
sor, Chadwick Hansen,
especially if the land is newly culti
ward suffer from anesthesia of the witched were suffering from hysteria
is also unsatisfactory
in
skin, paralysis of the lower limbs,
(5). People
the afflicted communities may have
jerking arms, delirium, and loss of
Educated at Stanford University, Mary
been hysterical in the sense that they
speech. He may die on the third day
Kilbourne Matossian
is at present Associate
after the onset of symptoms. Animals
were excited and anxious, but such
Professor ofHistory at the University of
stimuli alone have not
suffering from convulsive ergotism
psychological
Maryland. Her research fields have included
behave wildly, make loud, dis
been shown to be capable of pro
may
European folklore, family history, and
tressed noises,
stop lactating, and
ducing an epidemic of convulsions,
demographic history. For the last few years she
die.
and sensory distur
hallucinations,
has been studying the impact of mold poisoning
case
matched
the
in
in which a diag
bances
on
and
human
trends
social
Caporael
symptoms
any
epidemics
population
and their epidemiology
in 1692 with
nosis of ergotism or other food poi
behavior. Address: Department ofHistory,
those in the above model. She was
University ofMaryland,
College Park, MD
soning was seriously considered and
20742.
criticized
then ruled out (6).
severely
by psychologists
The witchcraft affair of 1692 had
several peculiar aspects. In terms of
the number of people accused and
executed, itwas theworst outbreak of
in American his
witch persecution
of witchcraft were
tory.Accusations
made not only in Salem Village (now
but also in Andover, Bev
Danvers)
1982
July-August
355
does not disprove a diagnosis of er
gotism. Ergot is the source of lysergic
acid diethylamide
(LSD), which some
can occur in a
believe
mycologists
natural state (8). People under the
influence of this compound
tend to
be highly suggestible. They may see
formed
instance, of
images?for
or
animals,
people,
religious
their eyes are open
scenes?whether
or closed (9). These hallucinations
can take place in the presence or ab
sence of social cues.
to those
similar
Symptoms
in the Salem court record
mentioned
between May
and
also appeared
in
of
1692
Fairfield
September
County, Connecticut. A 17-year-old
girl, Catherine Branch, suffered from
and
fits, pinching
epileptiform
1
pricking sensations, hallucinations,
and spells of laughing and crying.
On 28 October she died, after accus
of bewitching her.
ing two women
John Barlow, aged 24, reported that
he could not speak or sit up and that
daylight seemed to prevail even at
night. He had pain in his feet and
also
symptoms
legs (10). These
suggest a diagnosis of ergotism.
^
on the left of this early nineteenth-century
drawing
Figure 1. The three ears of rye
a type of food
contain ergot, the sclerotia of the fungus Claviceps
purpurea.
Ergotism,
a variety of symptoms
caused by eating rye contaminated
with ergot, produces
poisoning
sensations
and
to those commonly
associated
with bewitchment,
such as pinching
similar
convulsions.
first two ears of rye contain
are shown
in the detached
of which
The
examples
stout rye, contains
is wheat,
a grain
also bears
only one large ergot. The ear at the right, which
rarely contaminated
by the fungus. (From ref. 18.)
Symptoms in 1692
24 of
In Essex County, Massachusetts,
in 1692
30 victims of "bewitchment"
and the
suffered from convulsions
sensations of being pinched, pricked,
or bitten. According
to English folk
tradition, these were the most com
mon specific symptoms of a condi
tion called
"bewitchment"
(7).
were
the symptoms most
Hence, they
in the court records,
often mentioned
for the intent of the court proceed
ings was to prove "witchcraft," not to
case
a thorough medical
present
history.
Some of the other symptoms of
in the
mentioned
"bewitchment"
court record, like the most common
symptoms, may also occur in cases of
ergotism. These include temporary
and
blindness,
deafness,
speech
lessness; burning sensations; seeing
visions
like a "ball of fire" or a
in white
"multitude
glittering
sensation of flying
and
the
robes";
through the air "out of body." Three
356
American
a great number of ergots, more detailed
ergots on the drawing. The third ear, of
Scientist,
Volume
70
one ergot,
girls said they felt as if they were
being torn to pieces and all their
bones were being pulled out of joint.
Some victims reported feeling "sick
to the stomach" or "weak," having
half of the right hand and part of the
and painful,
face swollen
being
"lame," or suffering from a tempo
rary, painful urine stoppage. Three
people and several cows died.
The Salem court record does not
mention certain symptoms often as
sociated with mild or early cases of
ergotism, such as headache, nausea,
diarrhea, dizziness, chills, sweating,
livid or jaundiced skin, and the rav
enous appetite likely to appear be
tween fits. If these symptoms were
present, they may not have been re
ported because
they were not com
monly associated with bewitchment.
Nor does the court record establish
whether or not the victims suffered
relapses or how the cases ended.
cues in the courtroom
Social
some of the
have
stimulated
may
but such stimulation
hallucinations,
Epidemiology
in Essex
The victims of bewitchment
were
children
and
County
mainly
or
infants
Seven
young
teenagers.
children are known to have devel
oped symptoms or died. According to
recent findings, nursing infants can
from drinking
develop
ergotism
their mother's milk (2).
Spanos and Gottlieb, citing the
court record, asserted that the pro
portion of children among the vic
tims in 1692 was less than that in a
typical ergotism epidemic. However,
in a recent epidemic of ergotism in
Ethiopia, the ages of the victims were
not much different from those in the
Essex County epidemic of 1692: more
than 80% of the Ethiopian
victims
were aged 5-34(11).
There can be no doubt that rye
was cultivated in Salem Village and
inmany other parts of Essex County
in the late seventeenth century (12).
The animal cases could have resulted
from ingestion of wild grasses such
as wild rye or cord grass, some of
in Essex County were also
which
liable to ergot infection (13).
The first symptoms of bewitch
ment appeared
in Salem Village
in
December
1691. Beginning about 18
1692, the pace of accusation
April
increased. It slowed in June and then
in 1741. In 1795 a Salem epidemic,
labeled "nervous
fever," killed at
least 33 persons (17).
in
The growth of population
Salem Village provided an incentive
their
How
for local farmers to utilize
of Massachusetts.
governor
land. This
ever, during thewinter of 1692-93 in swampy, sandy, marginal
the area around Boston and Salem
land, ifdrained, was better suited to
the cultivation of rye than other ce
there were religious revivals, during
which people saw visions (14).
real crops. But thiswas the very type
If rye harvested in the summer
of land inwhich ryewas most likely
to be infected with ergot (18). All 22
for the epi
of 1691 was responsible
no
one
affected in
the Salem households
of
did
exhibit
demic, why
any
on
or
were
at
1692
the edge of
located
before
December
of
that
symptoms
to
cultivation:
In
suited
of
soils
the
rye
ergotism
epidemics
ideally
year?
continental Europe the first symp
moist, acid, sandy loams. Of the
or
toms usually
16 were close to river
in
households,
appeared
July
or
in
after
the
banks
swamps and 15 were
rye
August,
immediately
areas shaded by adjacent hills. No
harvest. But these episodes occurred
in communities heavily dependent
part of Essex County ismore than 129
m above sea level. As in Essex Coun
on rye as a staple crop and among
ty, in southern Fairfield County,
people so poor that they had to begin
new
soil
the predominant
the
Connecticut,
crop
rye
eating
immediately
after the harvest. The situation was
type was fine sandy loam, elevations
were
in New
The
otherwise
low, and the population was
England.
a
of
Zaccheus
resident
Collins,
(19).
expanding
diary
in the 1590s, the
of the Salem area during the epi
Beginning
common people of England began to
demic, and probate inventories show
eat wheat instead of rye bread. The
that the rye crop often lay un
also pre
settlers in New England
threshed in the barns until Novem
if other food was
ber or December
ferred wheat bread but, troubled by
abundant
(15). Since ergot can re wheat rust, in the 1660s they began to
main chemically stable in storage for substitute the planting of rye for
wheat. This dietary shiftmay explain
up to 18 months, stored rye might
for
have
been
the
responsible
why thewitchcraft affair of 1692 oc
1691.
curred 47 years after the last epi
symptoms of December
in En
But if people normally delayed
demic of witch persecution
was
until
winter,
threshing rye
why
gland (20).
of
the limitations
there a peak of convulsive symptoms
Although
in the summer of 1692? Such a peak
records make
certainty
surviving
in time of food
impossible, the balance of the avail
might be expected
was
case
in
this
the
1692?
that the
able
evidence
suggests
scarcity:
were
sources
the
accusations
usual
of
1692
witchcraft
Unfortunately
of information about food supply,
prompted by an epidemic of ergot
government records, are missing for ism. The witchcraft affair, therefore,
1692, but data from tree rings indi
may have been part of a largely un
cate that in 1690,1691, and 1692, the recognized
American
health
a peak between
July and
when
the
symp
September. Exactly
toms terminated is unknown. After
12October 1692 there were no more
trials forwitchcraft, by order of the
reached
growing
season
in eastern
New
En
cooler
than average.
gland was
Diarists in Boston recorded that the
winters of 1690-91 and 1691-92 were
very cold (16). Since rye is a crop that
in cold weather
when
flourishes
other crops fail, people may have
on rye and
been more dependent
therefore may have begun consum
ing it earlier in the year. In coastal
areas, such as Essex and Fairfield
counties, cool conditions are usually
also moist; ergot grows more rapidly
inmoist weather.
In several other years forwhich
tree rings indicate especially
cool
there were
of
weather,
epidemics
convulsions.
The most widespread
epidemic in New England occurred
problem.
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357