Witches have begun to proliferate online and making one's way to early modern witchcraft texts has never been easier. The Salem Witchcraft Documentary Archive and Transcription Project, available on the web through collaboration between the Danvers Archival Center and the University of Virginia, merited considerable international attention because of its flashy animations and its geographic information systems (GIS) (Losh 383). Since GIS is, put simply, "computer-linked large sets of data with spatial representation in maps" (Marchand and Winchel 175), the Salem Project's use of animated maps allows users to interact with spatial and temporal data about the Salem witch-hunts. The University of Exeter has produced electronic maps of early modern England, which can likewise facilitate the spatial positioning of English witchcraft texts and their contents for researcher and user. The recent release of full-text digitized witchcraft documents by Cornell University Library, the Text Creation Project (TCP) and Early English Books Online (EEBO), provides the data-set foundation for a GIS-based analysis of the evolution of English witchcraft. These projects help demystify early modern English witchcraft tracts by allowing researchers to navigate through a plethora of documents, organizing them by author and title, and exploring their contents through date, author, ESTC number, keyword searches, and paratextual inclusions. If we take the University of Exeter's digital maps, and the University of Virginia's work with GIS and visualization as an example, how can we work toward a system that takes advantage of the digitization of early English witchcraft tracts to help scholars effectively analyze the evolution of witches in early modern England and produce new research on their continued cultural resonance?

WEME Project Research Questions

1. How can we help users trace the series of accusations, cross-accusations, relationships, and gossips which turned a restless baby in 1657 into a double execution in March 1662?
2. How can we trace the various witch's familiars, which are supernatural creatures that will not even stay in the same shape?
3. How can we reconcile the meaning of a witch's mark, which keeps moving across the body, has its meaning morph over time, and also mutates its owner?