Mollie Medine

Elizabeth Kent
English 1020R
3 March 2016
Annotated Bibliography
Goodheart, Adam. "How Satan came to Salem: the true story of the witch trials." The
Atlantic 2015: 46. Literature Resource Center. Web. 1 Mar. 2016.
In How Satan came to Salem: the true story of the witch trials, Goodheart descried the real story
behind the accusations and executions. It all started with two little girls named Betty Parris, age
9, and Abigail Williams, age 11. The two were close cousins and though of to be smart, well
behaving children. One day while the girls were playing, they crawled under the furniture, made
weird noises, and tried to fly. Many in the town believed they were bewitched, and the girls did
not tell them any different. Because of these accusations of witchcraft, 20 people died in Salem.
Though none were burned to death, which is a very popular belief, 19 were hung and 1 was
pressed to death in an attempt to achieve a confession. The trials spread to dozens of towns
around Salem and ultimately collected 1693 deaths, and then the executions just stopped. This
left many wondering what happened in those months of craze, and that the girls were making it
all up to manipulate the attention of their elders. The Crucible (1953) referred to it as a response
to the changes occurring in early America regarding the increase in support of individual
freedom. A psychologist suggests that it was caused by a hallucinogenic fungus that grew on
moldy rye bread, which causes those who consumed it to have a really bad trip.
The strengths of this article were that most of the information is historical, true, and it also had
word from a psychologist. Some of the articles weaknesses were that the layout was difficult to
understand at first, and a few pieces of information seemed like they would fit better in a
different spot of the article. It is also a great thing that he uses information that could very well
be familiar to many who learned a little bit about it in school. Goodheart does provide a good
foundation for an argument to evolve off of, and other than the layout, he did a very well job of
presenting his information.
I can see this article entering my essay toward the beginning to begin my argument of how
assumptions of witches are made, and how no one really cares about the true facts at the
moment. They just act spontaneously in the moment because it is exciting. We only want to
analyze the facts of the situation when the excitement is done and over with. I could also use it to
inform my readers of past encounters, if they are uneducated on this particular subject.
Hocus Pocus. Dir. Kenny Ortega. Perf. Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Majimy.

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Walt Disney Pictures, 1993. DVD.

In Salem, Massachusetts, Max, his younger sister, Dani, and Allison, their friend, are exploring
an old abandoned house on Halloween night. When max stumbles across an old book he recites a
few words and accidentally awakes a coven of three witches who have been resting for three
centuries, 300 years. They were executed in Salem long ago for practicing black magic. Now that
they have returned, they will have one night to secure the immortality. With the help from a
immortal cat, that happens to be out for revenge on the witches, the kids will be challenged to
face the coven of witches to retrieve their spell book and put them to rest once and for all. These
three powerful witches will not go down so easily though.
I believe a strength of this movie is the timing it is set in. It is set in Salem, Massachusetts, where
the witch trails were held long ago. The historical back group makes it more believable to the
young viewers out there who are completely gullible to anything Disney puts on, what used to
be, channel 27. Though this can also be a weakness because they are promoting untrue facts
along side of very true facts. Like the witch trials were heal in Salem, but it also tells of how the
witches are evil and want to eat little children. In my research I did find where some believed
that true, but mostly they were all just rumors. The director does develop a decent building block
for an argument that witches are bad, but it could also be counter argued that witches are one
with mother nature.
This could be another source that I use to state how society views how witches are evil men and
women. It is also a good source to use to describe how many still believe the rumors that were
said over hundreds of years ago in Salem. Even though those citizens in Salem have no real
physical evidence, the rumors ruined many peoples lives. This also shows how society takes this
to the extreme. We act to abruptly off of hear say instead of doing a thorough investigation to
prove the facts.
Levack, Brian P. "The Horrors of Witchcraft And Demonic Possession." Social Research 81.4
(2014): 921-939. Business Source Premier. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.
In this article, the author, Levack, tells what has been reported in the past about Witchcraft and
the religion Wicca. He starts with describing an imaginary group called the Witches Sabbath.
They are said to be a nocturnal assembly of witches, demons, and the devil. During these
meetings, some believed they acted in a promiscuous manner with other witches and demons. It
was also said they danced around naked and mocked the Christian church service. These
meetings were thought to be held at night at a remote location to praise the devil and reverse the
norm of society. When they come in contact with the Evil One people die from sickness and
disease. Many believe that these people were victims of these groups that used magic to target
those around them. More rumors flew that they even sacrificed unbaptized babies to the devil,
dismembered, consumed, or used their hair and bones for magic.
Some of the Strengths I believe this article holds are that it has a ton of information, it is
historical, and some was investigated by a professional. Some of the weakness I found were that

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much of the information was based off of rumors or peoples amateur beliefs. Though some of it
was stated by a demonologist, the majority of it was just the imagination of those long ago. I
think his argument could be made stronger with some more hard evidence.
I can definitely see this article entering my essay because it is a perfect example of how society
views witches along with their religion. They make assumptions off of what they hear from one
individual and run with it. Wicca is a religion based around Mother Earth, yet many still believe
that it surrounds the devil.
The Witches. Dir. Nicolas Roeg. Perf. Anjelica Huston, Mia Zetterling, and Jasen Fisher. Warner
Bros. 1990. DVD.
The Witches is a children movie released in 1990 and directed by Nicolas Roeg. It depicts the
story of a young boy names Luke Eveshim. The movie begins with Luke talking with his
grandmother about the reality of witches and the harm they can do. When his parents die in a car
crash, he is orphaned and goes to live with his grandmother. They go to England for family
business and stay at a hotel. As Luke and a friend are wondering around the hotel, the stumble
upon a meeting. The suddenly realize that this is a meeting a witches who are meeting to spread
a plan to eliminate all children in England. They plan to use a potion to turn them all to mice.
During the meeting, the witches discover the children and test out their new plan on them. The
boys both turn into mice, but before the witches can kill them they get away. Luke faces many
obstacles throughout the fil to return to his grandmother and get her help.
The strengths this movie has is it is an accurate representation of how society truly views witches
and witchcraft. We believe witchcraft is a few gross things like fingernail clippings and a frog
leg thrown into a pot to make potions. When in reality that is far from what it actually is. This is
a strength because I can use it as an example of society views. A weakness of this film is that is
is a childrens movie. With it being a childrens movie, it is teaching the young America to be
afraid of witches or that killing them is okay. That is like saying killing Jews because they dont
practice their religion like we do. Overall, the presentation of this movie was great given the time
period it was produced.
I can see this article entering my essay in the midst of it. It could help provide examples of
societies assumptions, and how we portray witches. It would also enhance my argument that
their religion is no different than any other religion. We are all suppose to be treated equally and
that is what my argument is trying to spark.
Witches of East End. Dir. Maggie Friedman. Perf. Julia Ormond, Jenna Dewan Tatum, and
Rachel Boston. Fox 21. 2 Jan. 2016. Netflix.
Witches of East End is a television show that aired on Fox and is also on Netflix. It is a story of a
mother, Joanna, and her two daughters, Freya and Ingrid. They lead a normal and low on the

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radar life until the discover their past and destiny that their mother has so successfully hidden
from them. They are witches. Joanna, the mother, has the power to heal people and bring back
those who are deceased. Ingrid, the first daughter, can tell the future and weave magical
knotwork. Lastly, Freya, the second daughter, has the abilities to craft potions and make charms.
They struggle to control their newly found powers, but when their aunt Wendy shows up she
offers some guidance with their mothers approval. In their journey, the strive to break the curse
that has been cast on their family, decided between the trickster and the king, and keep innocent
citizens from getting caught in the crossfire and heal the ones who do.
The strengths of this television show are that is displays more of the true qualities on witches. It
does not illustrate them as monsters or cannibals. It shows the audience how kind and nurturing
they are, and how they really do want to help the people around them. This show also depicts
how it is still necessary in this day in time to keep your gifts out of the known. It could still be
quite dangerous to let a large group know what they really are and though they can not control it.
A weakness of this television show is that after two seasons Fox stopped airing it. Though it is
no longer playing on screen, there have been books written that can finish the story for those
interested.
I can see this source helping support my argument that witches are not as many see them today
or have seen them in the past. They are real, and a real religion. It can also help support my
research that witches powers thrive off of mother nature and this show talks about being one
with the universe and that are action has a reaction. Mother nature will always balance back out
for the good or bad.