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removing the human witches who were apparently causing Kate’s affliction. Their next task was to discover who was tormenting their servant and making her unfit to carry out her duties. They wanted to end Kate’s ordeal as quickly as possible, for their sake as much as for hers, and they wanted those responsible to be made incapable of ever again afflicting a member of their household.

    At first Kate was extremely vague in describing those who tormented her, but about three weeks after the fits began, she became much more informative. Kate told the Wescots that she had seen the specter of a woman in the house wearing a silk hood and a blue apron. That evening, she went out of doors, apparently calm in spirits, but a few moments later ran back inside, clearly terrified, and grabbed Daniel Wescot around his waist. When he asked her what had happened, Kate told him that she had seen an old woman at the door with two firebrands in her forehead. Her master asked what kind of clothes the woman wore. Kate said that the woman was wearing two homespun coats, one tucked up around her, the other hanging down.
    It was on the following day that Kate first named one of the women afflicting her: Goody Clawson. This revelation came as no surprise to the Wescots. Elizabeth Clawson, a woman in her early sixties, had lived in Stamford with her husband Stephen ever since their marriage in 1655. Goody Clawson was suspected by many of having occult powers and of using them against her enemies. She was no friend of the Wescots. The Wescots had quarreled with Goody Clawson almost a decade before over the weight of some flax that she had supplied to them. Stamford’s barter economy depended on the exchange of goods and labor. Flax, a fiber, was used to make cloth and also wicks for candles and lamps.
    Since their disagreement over the flax, Goody Clawson had carried a grudge against the Wescots, especially Abigail, and leapt at any opportunity to insult her. On one occasion, as Kate’s mistress passed by the Clawsons’ house, Goody Clawson came outside and threw stones at her. Abigail Wescot had good reason to believe that Clawson resented the status that she enjoyed as the wife of a prominent householder. Mistress Wescot was one day visiting the home of Stephen Clawson, Jr., when Goody Clawson followed her into the house, demanded to know why she did not visit her, and then became verbally abusive. “Proud slut!” she declared. “You’re fond of your fine clothes and you love to be mistress, but you never will be mine!”
    It was soon after this altercation that the Wescots’ eldest daughter Joanna began to suffer from strange pains and nightmarish visions. At the time, the Wescots had suspected that their vicious and vindictive neighbor was somehow responsible for Joanna’s afflictions. It now appeared that she was turning her bile against their servant.
    “There she is,” Kate cried, “sitting on the spinning wheel!” Later she saw Clawson perched on the back of a chair. “I’m sure you are a witch,” she declared, “else you could not sit so.”
    During the days that followed, the woman whom Kate named as Goodwife Clawson appeared to her over and over again. On one such occasion the afflicted servant declared, “Goody Clawson, let’s have a turn, heels over head. Shall you go first, or shall I?”
    A brief silence followed. “Well, if I go first, you shall do it after.” And having said that, Kate turned heels over head two or three times and lay down on the floor, saying, “Come, if you won’t do it, I’ll beat your head against the wall!” Having spoken these words, Kate got up and looked around. “She’s gone,” she declared, and then fell into convulsions.
    On another occasion Kate described the woman’s attire in detail. Mister Wescot went outside immediately after Kate had spoken and saw Goodwife Clawson in the street, dressed exactly as Kate had described.

    Soon after, Kate cried out during one of her fits