The Salem Witchcraft, the Planchette Mystery, and Modern Spiritualism

Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811 - 1896) and Samuel Robert Wells (1820 - 1875)

The object in reprinting this most interesting review is simply to show the progress made in moral, intellectual, and physical science. The reader will go back with us to a time—not very remote—when nothing was known of Phrenology and Psychology; when men and women were persecuted, and even put to death, through the baldest ignorance and the most pitiable superstition. If we were to go back still farther, to the Holy Wars, we should find cities and nations drenched in human blood through religious bigotry and intolerance. Let us thank God that our lot is cast in a more fortunate age, when the light of revelation, rightly interpreted by the aid of Science, points to the Source of all knowledge, all truth, all light.

When we know more of Anatomy, Physiology, Physiognomy, and the Natural Sciences generally, there will be a spirit of broader liberality, religious tolerance, and individual freedom. Then all men will hold themselves accountable to God, rather than to popes, priests, or parsons. Our progenitors lived in a time that tried men’s souls, as the following lucid review most painfully shows. (Summary by Samuel Robert Wells)

Genre(s): Religion, Social Science (Culture & Anthropology)

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Title, Introduction Nichole Di Dio
00:03:25
Play 02 Salem Witchcraft: The Place - Trouble in the Church Nichole Di Dio
00:30:48
Play 03 Salem Witchcraft: Rev. Mr. Burroughs - Depositions of Parris and his Tools Nichole Di Dio
00:37:13
Play 04 Salem Witchcraft: Goody Nurse’s Excommunication - The Views of Modern Investigators Nichole Di Dio
00:53:07
Play 05 Salem Witchcraft: Importance of the Subject Nichole Di Dio
00:10:27
Play 06 CONTENTS OF THE PLANCHETTE MYSTERY. What Planchette Is and Does - Third—The Devil Theory. Nichole Di Dio
00:54:08
Play 07 CONTENTS OF THE PLANCHETTE MYSTERY. Theory of a Floating, Ambient Mentality. - Theory of the Agency of Departed Spirits. Nichole Di Dio
00:26:08
Play 08 CONTENTS OF THE PLANCHETTE MYSTERY. Planchette's Own Theory. - How to Work Planchette. Nichole Di Dio
00:56:53
Play 09 Spiritualism Nichole Di Dio
00:46:37
Play 10 Dr. Doddridge's Dream Nichole Di Dio
00:06:40