have not seen the completed manuscript, however, I must
absolve them from blame if anyone disagrees with my
own diagnosis of the afflicted girls.

Dr. Robert E. Moody of Boston University, College
of Liberal Arts, encouraged me with this project and
guided me during early phases of the research. I profited
much from critical readings of the completed manuscript
by Mr. Laurence L. Winship of the Boston Globe, Dr.
Odell Shepard, Dr. Kenneth Murdock, Dr. Gerald War-
ner Brace, Mr. Louis Bromfield, and Mr. Arthur Schles-
inger, Jr. Mr. Henry Harris of the Boston Globe advised
me on several legal technicalities involved in the witch-
craft prosecution. In the grind of preparing the manu-
script for the press, I am indebted to my father, Mrs.
Edward Beyer, Miss Barbarann Read, Mrs. Albert S.
Daddario, Miss Julia Imbriaco, and Mrs. Elsie M.
Bueter.

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