對人類來說視覺和聽覺或許是最重要的兩感，少了其中之一的難處不言而喻，現在我們所生活的地方大部分都充滿著光線，甚至多到產生光害，我們對於黑暗的懼怕也是由此而生，想像著進入伸手不見五指的森林或是迷航在沒有燈塔照明的海域對許多人來說都會帶來不安和恐懼的感受。因此，將一些怪力亂神的故事與夜晚結合是在自然不過的事情。
不幸的是，我們通常過於放大這種恐懼，其中一件著名的案件便是發生於1692年的塞勒姆審巫案。位於美國麻薩諸塞州塞勒姆在1692年已經非常繁榮。1689年，這個鎮被允許建立自己的教堂。前商人塞繆爾帕里斯成為牧師。1692年2月，帕里斯牧師9歲的女兒貝蒂和外甥女阿比蓋爾得了一種奇怪的病。她們開始呈現昏睡狀態。姑娘們發出尖叫聲，亂扔東西。有時身體抽筋並發出痛苦的呻吟聲。接著，其他女孩也出現同樣的症狀，恐慌籠罩了整個小鎮。帕里斯牧師請來醫生格里戈。醫生診斷說，這些女孩受到巫術的蠱惑。幾個牧師來到小鎮為病人祈禱，沒有任何效果。於是牧師們要求女孩必須指出哪些是使用巫術的人。當時人們普遍認為：惡魔是通過一個人傳遞到另一個人的。也就是惡魔必須讓一個人充當它的代理人。惡魔便以代理人的面目出現去傷害他人。幽靈只有受害人看得見。正是這種「幽靈證據說」被法庭所接受。一開始，女孩們指出三個女人是女巫：女奴提圖芭；薩娜古德，一個女乞丐；薩娜奧斯本，一個與契約勞工結婚並很少參加教會集會的女人。到了1692年5月，塞勒姆鎮和波士頓的監獄裡等待審判的巫術嫌疑犯人是人滿為患。大約有200多人被指控使用巫術罪，其中女人多於男人。隨著女巫案情不斷擴大，有些人開始懷疑這些女孩指控的真實性。在1692年的夏季，6個女巫的絞刑並沒有使麻薩諸塞地區的女巫審判案終止。愈來愈多的人出現病魔折磨的症狀，於是對女巫的指控和審判也來愈來愈多。不論貧富，農民或商人均有人被指控。沒有人能夠倖免被指控為巫術師。
造成女巫身上出現奇怪症狀的原因仍然使人感興趣。研究人員提供了多種理論來解釋女巫身上出現的症狀。包括對印第安襲擊的不能控制的歇斯底里激動情緒；或者是吃了被真菌感染的黑麥麵包，真正的禍首很可能是一種寄生於黑麥麥角的真菌，麥角菌。這種麥角菌會產生一種類似於現在的毒品LSD的毒素，抵抗力較低的人會產生幻覺。塞勒姆少女的奇怪症狀，其實是一種麥角菌中毒；或者是鳥類傳染的流行性腦炎的蔓延；以及用夢遊症和睡眠癱瘓症來解釋有些被控告者的夜間襲擊行為。其他現代的歷史學家則對生物學解釋不以為然，他們認為塞勒姆少女的行為是由嫉妒、憎恨、以及想要被關注等原因造成的。
還是孩童時期的我也對黑暗有著抗拒，我要求母親讓床頭燈保持明亮，我仍記得我為了不在去上廁所的途中被惡靈捉走而被窩中憋尿直到黎明。我雙親名下有一棟二戰時期所建的房子，在後院有一個防空洞，我有次我和朋友在玩捉迷藏時被他裝出的幽靈聲嚇得魂飛魄散。
另外一件發生在我身上的趣事是關於我第一任還未成為女朋友的親密友人Cindy Gowan，當時我既期待又怕受傷害的帶她和我父母相見，期望著我們之前的關係能被認同，但在母親與Cindy在一旁單獨談話時我發現母親的面色有點不尋常，結束談話後母親隨即請我下達逐客令，我無法理解的詢問母親，「她說他想成為女巫」母親焦慮地說道。在那個時代有一些孩子視撒旦聖經為力量，但那卻是社會上的禁忌話題，而Cindy和我從未討論過這件事，我人生的第一段關係就在奇妙而錯愕下畫下休止符。這段故事似乎滑稽，但在四十五年後的今天想起來卻是帶有一點毛毛的感覺。
As human beings, our most important senses, arguably, are our sense of sight and our sense of hearing; when either of these is stifled, we feel “ill at ease,” to say the least. Most of us now live in a world filled with light: light pollution, as we have spoken of before, is rather the norm than the exception. Our historical fear of the dark grew in a concomitant relationship to the expansion of light: the fire, the torch, the lighted street lamp, etc. The endlessness of the impenetrable forest or the indigo black of the baffling ocean was unfathomable and foreboding to most people: Hence our traditional fear of the dark. It then became very easy to add on the ghosts and goblins that we associate with the night, nature’s nocturnal sounds only lending credence to their reality.
Sadly, we have acted on this fear in far too many instances. One of the more infamous episodes in modern Western history is the misogynistic Salem Witch Trials between 1692 and 1693. (1) Here in the tiny state of Massachusetts, USA, twenty people were executed by various means. There guilt was undoubtedly based on religion and a fear of the supernatural. “Surely the Devil had come to Salem. Young girls were screaming and barking like dogs; there were reportedly strange dances in the woods! This was behavior hardly becoming of virtuous teenage maidens. The town doctor was called onto the scene. After a thorough examination, he concluded quite simply — the girls were bewitched. Whoever was responsible for this outrage must be brought to justice. No one knows the truth behind what happened in Salem. … The motives of the young girls themselves who accused their peers of witchcraft can be questioned. In a society where women had no power, particularly young women, is it understandable how a few adolescent girls, ‘drunk’ with unforeseen attention, allowed their imaginations to run wild.
The cause of the symptoms of those who claimed affliction continues to be a subject of interest to this day. Various medical and psychological explanations for the observed symptoms have been explored by researchers: hysteria, convulsive ergotism, (2) caused by eating rye bread, an epidemic of bird-borne encephalitis lethargica or sleeping sickness, (3) and sleep paralysis to explain the nocturnal attacks alleged by some of the accusers are but a few. Many modern historians, however, see ulterior motivations such as jealousy, spite, and a need for attention.” As a child I was also filled with the fear of the dark and my mother left the requisite bedroom lamp on. I recall many a night; however, that I stayed safely tucked in my bed rather than take a chance being caught by the boogeyman on the way to the bathroom. My parents owned a home that was built during the Second World War. It had a bomb shelter in the back garden. I recollect almost beating my friend Reginald senseless because, when we were in the structure playing hide and seek, he made ghoulish sounds that terrified me.
My most telling trip down this strange memory lane was with my very first female friend, Cindy Gowan: this was quite an accomplishment because she had become my “girl” (not yet girlfriend) and I still didn’t own a car. I took her home to meet my moderately religious mother and father. I was extremely shy and hoping for that sign of endorsement of our relationship that everyone expects from their parents. My mother took Cindy aside and in what seemed like seconds she softly whispered to me her eyes enlarged like saucers that my girlfriend had to leave our home “immediately.” I was totally flummoxed. “Why? I inquired, rather sheepishly? “She wants to be a witch,” my distraught mother replied. This was the era of the Satanic Bible and Anton LaVey, (4) some kids saw it as power and a break with the conservatism of our society. This was all news to me: Cindy and I had never discussed this concept before. My first relationship ended rather hastily, to put it mildly, my mother assisting in the transition. This misunderstanding now seems quite funny, but forty-five years ago it was “deathly” serious. The author, poet and transcendentalist, Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), leaves us with a thought: In human intercourse the tragedy begins, not when there is misunderstanding about words, but when silence is not understood.
A small joke: Two not-so-clever bank robbers were on the fourth floor of a bank trying to open the vault: they heard the police coming. “We had better jump out the window,” one of them said. “But we are on the fourth floor,” his co-conspirator replied. “Look!” the other man replied, “This is no time for superstition.”
This week, please think of your own fears as a child and how you dismissed or overcame them.
Every day look for something magical and beautiful.
Quote: The beauty of being alive is that everything is self-contained: my fears, my apprehensions, my joys and my state of euphoria. I can choose to be the person I want to be. To achieve happiness, however, requires personal effort and commitment.
Footnotes:
2) Ergotism
4) Anton LaVey