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that she could see a second specter in the form of a short and lame old woman. She called her “hook backed” and “crump backed.” This woman wore a homespun coat with a waistcoat underneath and a black cap. Kate confirmed the description on returning to her senses and the Wescots soon decided that the lame woman must be Goody Miller: she was, after all, the only person in Stamford who fit Kate’s description. Why Goody Miller wanted to bewitch their servant was a mystery since they had never quarreled with her and nor to their knowledge had Kate.
    During the weeks that followed, several neighbors watching over Kate reported that they also heard her name Goody Miller, sometimes calling her “Goody Crump” or “Goody Hipshod.” David Selleck and Abraham Finch watched in horror as Kate cried out during one of her fits, “Goody Miller, hold up your arm higher that the black dog may suck you better. Now I’m sure you are a witch for you’ve got a long teat under your arm.” Both David and Abraham had heard that witches fed demonic spirits in the form of animals—just as mothers fed their infant children, except that witches used a third nipple hidden somewhere on their bodies and nourished the familiars with blood, not milk. Once Kate came to her senses, the two men asked her what she had seen during her fit. She answered that she saw Goody Miller give suck to a black dog and that the witch had a long teat under her arm.

    Soon after Kate first named Goody Clawson and Goody Crump, Daniel Wescot had to leave for Hartford to attend a meeting of the colony’s representative assembly. During his absence, Kate was disturbed again by cats, one of which turned into a third woman.
    “Are you sure they were cats?” Abigail Wescot asked. “Couldn’t it have been your fancy?”
    “They were cats,” Kate answered firmly.
    “Well,” declared Mistress Wescot, “if they be cats they are no ordinary cats for ordinary cats can’t turn themselves into a woman and then into a cat again. What sort of a woman was it that you saw?”
    “She was a pretty tall woman.”
    “What was she wearing?”
    “Woolen cloth, the best quality homespun.”
    “Was there anything unusual about her face?”
    “Not really.”
    “What about her mouth?”
    “I think she had pretty thick lips.”
    Abigail Wescot saw that Kate’s eyes were once again glazing over: she was clearly no longer in her right senses. Mistress Wescot turned to Joseph Bishop, a neighbor who was also present in the room. She presumed that she could speak to him freely without Kate hearing.
    “I know a woman at Fairfield who was suspected formerly; she has thick lips. I suppose you know who I mean: Mercy Holbridge.”
    Kate started and gasped, “There she is again.”
    Mistress Wescot and her neighbor watched as Kate proceeded to ask the specter who she was. There followed a short silence, after which Kate announced that the woman’s name was Mercy Woodbridge, but then she paused. After a moment Kate said that she had misheard the name and that it was really Mercy Holbridge. She went on to ask where the woman lived. The specter replied that she lived at Compo. When Kate came out of her fit, she asked her mistress where Compo was. Abigail Wescot replied grimly that it was a village just outside Fairfield.
    Mistress Wescot knew Mercy Holbridge’s history. Originally from New Haven, she was now a resident of Compo and in her early fifties. The family was trouble. Mercy’s father, Arthur Holbridge, had been charged with theft and shady business dealings. Mercy had also been presented in court for various misdemeanors; Abigail recalled that Daniel had at one time given testimony against her. When Arthur Holbridge died, he left his family poverty-stricken and they became a charge upon the community. Mercy’s life had changed for the better when she married Thomas Disborough of Compo, but she was known to be a difficult and vindictive neighbor. This was not the first