The More Women, the More Witches: Gender and Witchcraft

John Bradstreet came before a Massachusetts court in 1652 on “suspicion of hav[ing] familiarity with the devil” after stating before several witnesses that he had consulted “a book of magic” in order to invoke a demonic spirit. Two years later, Lydia Gilbert faced trial in Connecticut for having “killed the body of Henry Stiles” and committing “other witchcrafts.” Bradstreet’s alleged crime may appear trivial compared to Gilbert’s, but in the Puritan colonies where witchcraft was legally defined as a compact with the Devil, the charge laid against him was just as serious as murder and should have led to a