Tituba of Salem Village

Rumors about Mercy’s encounter with Satan swirl around Salem. Tituba doubts the story. When Mercy visits and shows her the haircut, Tituba tells her that she suspects Pim was involved. Mercy confesses what happened and how she got caught up in making up the story.

But as the weeks pass and the girls get together at the parsonage, they act as if they are possessed, running about, flapping their arms, screaming. Abigail appears the most possessed and begins to mess with burning logs in the fireplace. Even Tituba thinks, “You could really believe [Abigail] was bewitched” (171). The town grows concerned. Determined to get to the bottom of the mystery, a neighbor, Mistress Sibley, tells Tituba that the next time the Reverend Parris is out of town, they will gather the girls and bake a witch cake to determine who is possessing the girls.

When Reverend Parris is in Boston, Mistress Sibley gathers four of the girls in the parsonage. She mixes rye meal with the girls’ urine into a batter and bakes the batter into a cake after first stopping up the chimney. As the cake bakes, the kitchen clouds with thick smoke. Mistress Sibley’s dog eats the cake, and Tituba, not buying into the witch cake idea, heads outside for air where she meets first Sarah Good, who comes by to say she is following Tituba’s prophecy and leaving Salem; then another neighbor, the ancient Mistress Osburne, arrives looking for some of Tituba’s herbs for medicinal tea.