The catalyst for the Salem witch trials were the fits of nine y/o bewitched girls. The “Afflicted” would regularly vomit pins and needles in the court house as proof that they were being tortured by witches. Here, the accusations of the Afflicted take the form of the cross-stitched sampler, which girls learned to sew at around that age. As young girls learn to sew, so they learn to accuse.
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