Skip to main content

Primary sourceBook1870 (from manuscript draft)

The Witchcraft Delusion of 1692

Thomas Hutchinson · 1870 (from manuscript draft)

Hutchinson's own account of the Salem witchcraft trials, drawn from an early manuscript draft of his History of Massachusetts.

Written by Hutchinson himself, this is his own historical judgment on the Salem witch trials.

Ask Thomas Hutchinson about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Full text (public-domain edition)

About this source

What it is

This text is Thomas Hutchinson's account of the Salem witchcraft episode of 1692, taken from an early manuscript draft of his History of Massachusetts, kept among the Hutchinson papers in the Massachusetts Archives. It was privately printed in 1870 with notes by William Frederick Poole.

Why it matters

Hutchinson was a Massachusetts-born historian as well as a politician, and this account shows him trying to make sense of one of the colony's most troubling events decades after it happened. It reveals how an 18th-century colonial leader judged the actions of his own ancestors and government.

Look closer

  • Why might a governor-historian want to write about an episode that happened before he was born?
  • What does the manuscript's history — missing pages, a stamp-act riot — tell you about how fragile historical records can be?
  • What might Hutchinson have left out or softened in describing the trials?

This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Thomas Hutchinson on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Thomas Hutchinson sources

Meet the AI Thomas Hutchinson →
Front cover of a bound book with reddish-brown and cream marbled paper boards, dark brown leather spine and corners with gold tooling along the edges, photographed against a light background.Letter

Primary source

Hutchinson–Whately Letters

Thomas Hutchinson · 1767–1769 (published 1773)

Front cover of a dark brown leather-bound book with a thin gold-tooled border line inset around the edges. The spine is visible on the left side. No title or text is visible on the cover.Book

Primary source

The History of the Colony and Province of Massachusetts-Bay

Thomas Hutchinson · 1764, 1767, 1828

Oil painting of a young man with pale face, grey-powdered hair, and dark eyes, wearing a brown coat with gold embroidered waistcoat edge and a white cravat, against a dark brown background.Painting

Primary source

Portrait of Thomas Hutchinson

Edward Truman · 1741

Photograph of a handwritten letter on aged paper behind glass, headed 'Massachusetts Bay' and 'By the Governor', addressed to Iohn Hancock and the people assembled in Boston. Text has crossed-out words and a stain.Document

Primary source

Letter Directing the Old South Tea Meeting to Adjourn

Thomas Hutchinson · November 30, 1773

Black-and-white woodcut-style print. A skeleton figure labeled Death thrusts a spear toward a seated man in a wig and coat, who has a halo of light behind him. A horned devil holds a tablet reading "List of Crimes" and is behind the skeleton. A skull and a money bag are on a table. A caption below reads "The wicked Statesman, or the Traitor to his Country, at the Hour of Death."Painting

Primary source

The Wicked Statesman political cartoon

Paul Revere · published 1774

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Thomas Hutchinson now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions