Martha Carrier

Martha Carrier

Martha Carrier was a woman who lived in the 17th century and she, according to our writer Cotton Mather, was a witch that harmed many people in the period that she lived. In his work "The Wonders of the Invisible World" Cotton Mather uses two types of evidence; "ad hominem" and post hoc after ergo hoc" to prove that Martha Carrier was a witch.

"Ad hominem" means believing in something, just because enough people say that it is true. Most important example of this type of evidence is the confessions. There were confessions in the trial of Martha Carrier and even her children confessed. Her two children said that their mother is a witch and she made them witches. They confessed so many details including some meetings, journeys and they confessed the exact times and places that these occasions happened. It was a huge evidence to prove Martha Carrier as a witch.

Apart from her children there were huge numbers of people saying that Martha Carrier is a witch. The people around Martha Carrier all confessed something that proves Martha as a witch. For example, Allin Tooth taker made an interesting confession during the trial. He was in the army in the time of wars and he received wounds during these wars. He confessed that Martha said to him, he should never be cured. After these words till the capture of the Martha Carrier, his wounds were never healed. Another example is the John Roger's confession about his cattle. He said that Martha bewitched her cattle.

The "ad hominem" type of evidence is not only used in the story of Martha Carrier. We can still see some examples of "ad hominem" in our lives. For example, everybody said to me that the dog would bite me if I didn't finish my meal when I was a child. Although it was very stupid to believe I believed it because there were enough people saying to me that it is real. It was the "ad hominem" type of evidence from my life and I believed it till I get to the age that I was able to understand the truth.

Finally, we can see that if there are enough people that say something is true it is easier for people to believe that thing, but it is not true to believe something for this reason. We should always be inquisitive in our lives.