This etching depicts the court scene of a Salem witch trial. I wasn’t able to gather much information on the image itself. I’m interested in the absurdity of the scene. To me, it is an unrealistic image— a witch breaking her chains with lightning she summoned through the window, a man struck down to the floor by her powers— but at the time a picture like this could be taken to be a factual document (this specific image was created sometime much later), a record of what happened in the courtroom of a witch trial. From a young age I’ve been interested in the Salem witch trials. In part because of local lore (I grew up in New England), but I think I was mostly fascinated by the horror and irrationality of the trials and the hysteria that surrounded them. The Salem witch trials catalyzed my interest in history. I remember in third grade checking out every book in the school library on the topic. A bit morbid, but it fostered a love of independent research and study of history.