HEAVEN (Jacob’s Ladder)

Belief in God and eternal peace in heaven after life was almost universal among Colonial Americans. Any loss or lessening of access to this final reward would have been unthinkable. In an environment of harsh conditions and the constant threats of frontier existence, the notion that a whole life of Christian sacrifice, religious devotion, and good works could be easily ripped from oneself and utterly destroyed by the machinations of the devil must have been a most horrific circumstance to contemplate.

Almost worse punishment than the execution of 20 witches was their excommunication from the church, and that of other accused witches breaking off their ladder to heaven.