“He is marvellously afraid of you”: Demonic Possession and Emotional Experience in Early Modern Old and New England (1580–1700)

Although phenomena with independent histories and distinctive characteristics, demonic possession and witchcraft demonstrated a profound connection during the Early Modern period. Between 1500 and 1700, the well-known idea that demons could invade a human body was intertwined with the belief that such invasions could occur at the behest of a witch. In seventeenth-century Old and New England, the association between these two concepts was particularly strong: the terms ʽpossessedʼ and ʽbewitchedʼ practically became synonymous. Drawing on the analysis of demonological treatises and pamphlets on witchcraft and demonic possession, this article examines whether emotions played a significant role in the experiences of the possessed in England and the New England colonies. A review of the symptoms described in the aforementioned primary sources suggests that the emotions of demoniacs were not given explicit attention. Although they might foam at the mouth, consume unusual objects, experience muscular spasms, and lose consciousness for extended periods, possessed individuals did not appear to exhibit any emotional response. This study argues that the absence of references to emotions and affections can be attributed to a foundational principle of diabolical possession: demons were believed to exert complete control over the bodies they inhabited, including the areas from which human emotions originate. It was not that the victims of spiritual invasion did not express emotions; rather, these emotions were attributed to the malevolent spirit possessing them. Based on this subtle distinction, I propose that demonologists and pamphleteers deliberately excluded the feelings of demoniacs from the symptoms and experiences of diabolical possession because those emotions were not considered their own.