Susanna Martin, Werecat of Salem
Susannah Martin (née North, baptized September 30, 1621 – July 19, 1692) was one of fourteen women executed for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of colonial Massachusetts.
The following is from the 1692 testimony of Robert Downer in Cotton Mather’s The Wonders of the Invisible World:
That this Prisoner being some Years ago prosecuted at Court for a Witch, he then said unto her, He believed she was a Witch. Whereat she being dissatisfied, said, That some She-Devil would shortly fetch him away! Which words were heard by others, aw well as himself.
The Night following, as he lay in his Bed, there came in at the Window, the likeness of a Cat, which flew upon him, took fast hold of his Throat, lay on him a considerable while, and almost killed him. At length he remembered what Susanna Martin had threat’ned the Day before; and with much striving he cried out, Avoid, thou She-Devil! In the Name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Avoid! Whereupon it left him, leap’d on the Floor, and flew out at the Window.
And there also came in several testimonies, that before ever Downer spoke a word of this Accident, Susanna Marin and her Family had related, How this Downer had been handled (Wedeck 163, 164)!
