The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information
The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information
The Torturer's Dilemma: Analyzing the Logic of Torture for Information
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Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits. With Ma<strong>the</strong>r's impressive imprimatur, <strong>the</strong> elites could retain <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
authority, and bring <strong>the</strong> trials to a halt, by arguing that <strong>the</strong> afflicted were possessed – that is, <strong>the</strong>ir<br />
suffering was real, as was <strong>the</strong> Satanic involvement, but <strong>the</strong> specters seen by <strong>the</strong> afflicted, <strong>the</strong> evidence<br />
provided by <strong>the</strong> touch test, and <strong>the</strong> 'evil eye' that caused <strong>the</strong> girls to enter <strong>the</strong>ir fits were all caused by<br />
devils impersonating, and manipulating <strong>the</strong> innocent. Consequently, all involved could save face: <strong>the</strong><br />
judges had been tricked but by <strong>the</strong> Lord <strong>of</strong> Lies (and not by little girls); <strong>the</strong> afflicted were not lying, but<br />
were similarly being lie to. <strong>The</strong> accused, meanwhile, had simply had <strong>the</strong> bad luck to be <strong>the</strong> targets <strong>of</strong><br />
this Satanic attack on society.<br />
For this counter-narrative to have been an acceptable replacement <strong>for</strong> <strong>the</strong> narrative <strong>of</strong> witchcraft<br />
and spectral assault, however, <strong>the</strong> judges would first have to doubt <strong>the</strong> reality <strong>of</strong> witchcraft in <strong>the</strong>se<br />
cases. Here we must come to <strong>the</strong> incentives faced by <strong>the</strong> confessors: <strong>for</strong> as long as <strong>the</strong> accused were<br />
willing to prove <strong>the</strong> charges against <strong>the</strong>mselves (and consign <strong>the</strong>mselves to <strong>the</strong> gallows), <strong>the</strong> authorities<br />
would continue to be convinced that, whatever <strong>the</strong> shape or spectral nature <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> evidence against<br />
<strong>the</strong>m, witchcraft was real, and that those who had refused to confess were none<strong>the</strong>less guilty as<br />
charged. Why did <strong>the</strong> accused so frequently admit to witchcraft? One <strong>the</strong>ory that has characterized<br />
writings on <strong>the</strong> trials has been that those who confessed could not be killed – ra<strong>the</strong>r, <strong>the</strong>y would save<br />
<strong>the</strong>mselves by renouncing <strong>the</strong>ir sins, and be reintegrated into <strong>the</strong> community. But this could not be <strong>the</strong><br />
case at <strong>the</strong> outset – witchcraft was not a merely religious sin, it was rebellion against <strong>the</strong> state<br />
punishable by death. 62 That confession cannot have been seen at <strong>the</strong> start <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> trials as a means <strong>of</strong><br />
avoiding <strong>the</strong> gallows can be seen by <strong>the</strong> fact that every single confessed witch in <strong>the</strong> period leading up<br />
to <strong>the</strong> trials (beginning with <strong>the</strong> first confession by Mary Johnson in 1648) had been executed:<br />
confession, far from <strong>of</strong>fering salvation, merely ensured <strong>the</strong> confessors destruction. (Hall)<br />
And yet, it is true that, <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 19 executed, only one had confessed, Samuel Wardwell. 63<br />
Moreover, it is clear that by <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> summer, <strong>the</strong> link between refusing to confess and execution<br />
had been firmly established in <strong>the</strong> popular mind: when Mary Tyler was accused, her bro<strong>the</strong>r-in-law<br />
62 Witchcraft cases were prosecuted as a felony, punishable by death, by <strong>the</strong> civil authorities. “<strong>The</strong> means <strong>of</strong> execution was<br />
death by hanging, and never that <strong>of</strong> being burned at <strong>the</strong> stake.” (Hall, p. 11)<br />
63 Wardwell would fur<strong>the</strong>rmore take an active role in denouncing o<strong>the</strong>r witches and questioning <strong>the</strong>m as sharply as <strong>the</strong><br />
judges. (Roach, p. 270) He was none<strong>the</strong>less sentenced to death once his testimony had been given. <strong>The</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r accused<br />
had confessed at <strong>the</strong>ir arraignment or initial questioning – a fact intimately connected with explaining why <strong>the</strong> confessed<br />
tended to survive. While o<strong>the</strong>rs who had confessed were also condemned, <strong>the</strong>ir executions were ei<strong>the</strong>r not scheduled<br />
be<strong>for</strong>e <strong>the</strong> end <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> trials (as in <strong>the</strong> cases <strong>of</strong> Abigail Hobbs and Dorcas Hoar), or <strong>the</strong>y died in prison be<strong>for</strong>e sentence<br />
could be carried out (as in <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> Ann Foster).<br />
65