At the end of the seventeenth century, in England, a student produced several portraits of some of the chief demons. He declared that they had been sketched from life. It has been noted that they are "not an attractive group," and that they "look a good deal more like a pack of English Highwaymen."
A Noted Demon Note
Supposedly, there are also many "specimens of demonic handwriting." One of these writings is said to have been signed by the demon Asmodeus. The writing, however, is so terribly misspelled that it is nearly unreadable. The explanation for this is that it isn't required of a demon to spell well--only to cast spells well and torment people.
Resume for a Demon or Devil
A resume for a demon or the devil would surely include that it could enter the body of a human and control it, a condition called "possession." The demon or devil could then make the possessed person "behave wildly and utterly without reason." It could cause the possessed to shout curses and "blasphemies," as well as make the person endanger the lives of other persons. The demon or devil could brag that in order to drive it out of a possessed person all the forces of religious power must be utilized.
What the Puritans Believed
The Puritans believed that they had to be very careful in order to avoid being swept up in the devil's clutches. The number of or the names of these devilish spirits the Puritans were nominally concerned about. They did care about such things as a good harvest and once received they thanked God and heaven for the blessing. However, if the crop was bad, or the barn burned, it was certainly the work of the devil. This work, of course, was probably, in the Puritan eye, the retaliation of some witch that the Puritan had offended, unaware that that person was a witch.
Recommeded Reading:
Cursed Be the Salem Poor: Getting Familiar with Dogs and Cats, available on October 17, 2006.
Growing Up in Salem, Massachusetts: Rebelling Against Adult Rule.
Sundays in Salem, Massachusetts:Droning Sermons and Hard Benches.
Sources:
Boyer, Paul. Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1974.
Jackson, Shirley. The Witchcraft of Salem Village. Random House, New York, 1956.
