Dr. William Griggs: the One that Diagnosed "Bewitchment"
Dr. William Griggs was the doctor in Salem, Massachusetts. When the girls fell into their first fits of hysteria he was there. Dr. Griggs is the one that diagnosed bewitchment. Some say he would tell how "big" the witches were and that he said that the girls were "under a evil hand". Another point of view, as shown in the paragraph below, William Griggs is the person that gave the girls the idea to claim bewitchment.
This was taken from an essay written by
Beckie Dashiell, an Undergraduate at the University of Virginia
Salem Witch Trials in History and Literature
Fall Semester 2006
Beckie Dashiell, an Undergraduate at the University of Virginia
Salem Witch Trials in History and Literature
Fall Semester 2006
"Dr. William Griggs is often cited in connection with the witchcraft hysteria
that plagued Salem Village in 1692 as the man who made the diagnosis which led
to accusations of witchcraft. As the only physician in the village, he was
called upon to examine the strange symptoms of the afflicted girls. His famous
diagnosis as cited by both John Hale in A Modest Enquiry and Charles Upham in
Salem Witchcraft – that the girls were “under an Evil Hand” – left the
residents of Salem to assume witchcraft. Mary Beth Norton claims that Griggs
was a supporter of Reverend Parris. So while the first afflictions occurred in
Parris’s own home, it seems likely he would turn to his friend and
church member Griggs for a consultation. Griggs and his wife are listed on the
pro-Parris petition of 1695, and Griggs’s support never wavered, even after
the witch trials. Dr. Anthony Patton also points to a close relationship
between Thomas Putnam Jr. and Griggs, in which Griggs sided with Thomas Putnam
in a probate dispute. Griggs supported Putnam heirs who tried to invalidate
the will of Mary Veren Putnam (Putnam’s step-mother) by testifying to the
incompetence of Mary Veren at the time she wrote her will. As court documents
show, Putnam was a supporter of the "afflicted" girls in Salem village,
the most prominent being his own daughter, Ann Putnam, Jr. Griggs’s own
great-niece, Elizabeth Hubbard, was a friend of Ann Putnam, Jr. and among the
most active of the young female accusers."
that plagued Salem Village in 1692 as the man who made the diagnosis which led
to accusations of witchcraft. As the only physician in the village, he was
called upon to examine the strange symptoms of the afflicted girls. His famous
diagnosis as cited by both John Hale in A Modest Enquiry and Charles Upham in
Salem Witchcraft – that the girls were “under an Evil Hand” – left the
residents of Salem to assume witchcraft. Mary Beth Norton claims that Griggs
was a supporter of Reverend Parris. So while the first afflictions occurred in
Parris’s own home, it seems likely he would turn to his friend and
church member Griggs for a consultation. Griggs and his wife are listed on the
pro-Parris petition of 1695, and Griggs’s support never wavered, even after
the witch trials. Dr. Anthony Patton also points to a close relationship
between Thomas Putnam Jr. and Griggs, in which Griggs sided with Thomas Putnam
in a probate dispute. Griggs supported Putnam heirs who tried to invalidate
the will of Mary Veren Putnam (Putnam’s step-mother) by testifying to the
incompetence of Mary Veren at the time she wrote her will. As court documents
show, Putnam was a supporter of the "afflicted" girls in Salem village,
the most prominent being his own daughter, Ann Putnam, Jr. Griggs’s own
great-niece, Elizabeth Hubbard, was a friend of Ann Putnam, Jr. and among the
most active of the young female accusers."