Character Catalog

Extraordinarily detailed oral confessions that Tituba gave during her public interrogation. This testimony, transcribed by court clerks, is the only document where her own voice — however filtered — is preserved, and it served as the direct trigger for the hysteria of the witch trials.

A novel by Guadeloupean Nobel Prize laureate Maryse Condé that gives Tituba a fictional voice, restoring her Caribbean, Indigenous, and feminine perspective. A landmark work of Francophone literature that helped rehabilitate Tituba's memory worldwide.

An American play that uses the Salem trials as an allegory for McCarthyism. Tituba appears as a secondary character; the play brought the Salem trials to worldwide audiences and cemented Tituba's place in collective cultural memory.

A critical edition of the original Salem trial documents, including transcriptions of Tituba's interrogations. These digitized archives are the essential primary source for any researcher studying Tituba.

A young adult novel that reconstructs Tituba's life before and during the trials. One of the first works to place Tituba as the central protagonist of the Salem story, written for a school-age audience.

Q: Why do you hurt these children? A: I do not hurt the children. Q: Who is it then? A: The Devil, for all I know. [...] He told me to serve him and to hurt the children.

Tituba, an Indian, servant to Mr. Samuel Parris, confessed to having made a pact with the Devil and having seen his mark in the Black Book; she described spirits in the form of cats and black dogs, and a man dressed in black who came from Boston.

The first accusations in this village began with an Indian slave named Tituba, who confessed to having been instructed by her mistress in Barbados in the art of discovering witches through certain ceremonies.

God forgive me for having contributed to the execution of innocent persons. I take upon myself the shame and blame, humbly praying that all the ignorance and error of these proceedings may be forgiven me.

Tituba's confession was the first stone of an edifice of accusations that ultimately collapsed upon itself; for this woman, schooled in the beliefs of her homeland, gave her judges exactly what they wished to hear, saving her own life at the cost of others'.

A Puritan farming community where the Parris family lived and where Tituba was accused. This is where the girls' fits began and the first arrests took place in February 1692.

A British island in the West Indies where Tituba was likely enslaved before becoming the property of Samuel Parris. It was there that she acquired her divination practices and knowledge of Caribbean plants.

A colonial jail where Tituba was transferred after her confession, where she remained imprisoned for over a year in miserable conditions, until she was sold to cover her detention costs.

The seat of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, which tried those accused of witchcraft. It was here that nineteen people were sentenced to death during the summer of 1692.

The execution site where those condemned in the Salem trials were hanged. Nineteen innocent people were executed there; Tituba, thanks to her confession, escaped this fate but remained imprisoned.