Expose of Newburyport Eccentricities, Witches and Witchcraft. The Murdered Boy, and Apparition of the Charles-St. School-House
6 x 9 inches, 24 pp, in original pictorial wrappers. One woodcut illustration. Some chipping and one short tear; very good. One of two sensational pamphlets published in the wake of an 1872 police investigation into mysterious sounds and sightings reported at a Newburyport, Massachusetts primary school. The first chapter offers a general history of the town's odder elements (eccentric citizens, unusual laws and punishments); the second gives an account of witchcraft accusations, arrests, and trials in the Puritan era; and the remainder is devoted to "Modern Witchcraft," namely ghostly manifestations and at the Charles Street Schoolhouse. These included the appearance of disembodied hands and faces, doors opening and bells ringing by themselves, unnatural illumination of the classroom, etc. Although the police soon determined all of these manifestations were the work of three mischievous boys, Davis knew a better story when he heard one. He reports that "it has been said" a boy was once whipped to death at the school, and "many believe that the Charles-Street School-House troubles arise wholly from this source."
Item #18037
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