TITUBAS CONFESSION - THE MULTICULTURAL DIMENSIONS OF THE 1692 SALEM WITCH-HUNT

This study examines Tituba's role in the Salem, Massachusetts, witch s care of 1692. It rejects the notion that Tituba was an African America n or was involved in occult activities prior to February 1692 but stre sses the multiethnic factors in her behavior and the influence of her American Indian background on the Puritan response. Her confession, bl ending elements from English, African, and American Indian notions of the occult and linking folk practices to an elite concept of the devil , was of particular significance in the shaping of this bizarre event.