Confessing To Familiarity With The Devils, Mary Johnson, A Servant, Was Executed By Connecticut Officials In 1648. A Prosperous Boston Widow, Ann Hibbens, Was Hanged In 1656 By The Magistrates Of Massachusetts Bay For Afflicting Her Neighbors Through Supernatural Means. In 1662 Ann Cole Was Taken With Very Strange Fits. She Succumbed To Possession By The Devil, And Fueled An Outbreak Of Witchcraft Accusations In Hartford A Generation Before The Notorious Events In Salem. Why? More Than Three Hundred Years Later This Question Still Haunts Us. Why Were Mary Johnson And Ann Hibbens Likely Witches? Why Were Certain People Vulnerable To Accusations Of Witchcraft? Why Were Ann Cole And Others Susceptible To Possession? In This New Account Of Women And Their Status In Colonial Society And Culture, Carol Karlsen Reveals The Identity Of New England's Witches. --from Publisher Description. New England's Witchcraft Beliefs -- The Demographic Basis Of Witchcraft -- The Economic Basis Of Witchcraft -- Handmaidens Of The Devil -- Handmaidens Of The Lord -- New England's Well-ordered Society -- Brands Plucked Out Of The Burning. Carol F. Karlsen. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. 265-342.