by Susan T. Williams

I am not usually a book reviewer, but every now and then a literary work comes along that really grabs my attention and gets me fired up enough to write about it. "Disguised As The Devil: How Lyme Disease Created Witches And Changed History" by M.M. Drymon is one of those books.

When I first heard about this paperback, which was released in early 2008, I admit to being skeptical. Oh brother, I thought, not another crazy thing that Lyme is going to blamed for! Being a voracious reader of anything concerning tick-borne illnesses, however, I picked up a copy and plunged in.

I was not far into the introduction before the intrigue set in. Hmmm, maybe the author has something here after all, I had to admit begrudgingly. And before I reached the end of the book, I found myself nodding in agreement with many of the passages, caught up in the author's hypothesis and meticulous research.

Most modern academics believe that there was no biological factor behind the "witches" of the colonial time period. They ascribe to the notion that these people were motivated to such behavior by social factors such as spite, a need for attention, hysteria, or a psychosomatic disorder. In other words, even to this very day, people are still accusing these "witches" of "faking it". That is an accusation that almost every Lyme sufferer has heard at least once! Indeed, many have made the comparison that the persecution against present-day Lyme patients and their doctors is akin to a modern-day "witch hunt".

Ms. Drymon, however, believes that there may be more to it than mere social factors. Could there indeed be some type of biological factor behind these odd behaviors? 

"When I started my Masters in New England American studies, I just happened to read an experience of one of the girls in Salem. She talked about feeling like someone was tapping her on the back but, when she would turn around, no one would be there. I thought that sounded familiar as a Lyme symptom, and I know what that feels like," Drymon recounted during a personal interview. "I followed that lead and read other experiences. When I got to where they were talking about the red marks on the skin, for me, that was the clincher." 

She also found that "most of these afflicted people also developed neurological symptoms, like seizures, hallucinations, brain fog, and lethargy, as well as joint swellings." As Drymon states on page 10, "Using the tools available to them within their own particular culture or social paradigm, they labeled and understood the disease as a variety of named afflictions."

While the author has promised that "a portion of the proceeds from this work will go towards Lyme disease research and advocacy", the book itself is thought-provokingly dedicated to one of the author's own ancestors who was herself accused of witchcraft and died while in prison.

Ms. Drymon spent over five years researching and writing this controversial book, a fascinating "medical mystery" of sorts that is certain to provoke debates and heated arguments. Aware of the controversy, she hopes that readers will be open-minded enough to think outside the current medical box that so many are trapped in. 

"I do think it's a disease with a history. We're in lockstep with a lot of people who have really suffered in the past, and we need to remember that," Drymon noted. "We've been put ten years or more behind in research because of all the squabbling, the nonsensical stuff that goes on in terms of time and money and so forth."

Drymon explained, "I wrote this book to provoke discussion because having this ancient disease being treated as something that was discovered by doctors who present themselves as the second coming of Galileo gives them enormous power to control the disease - hinting that they may have gotten their history wrong may help lessen that grip that controls so many lives." 

Ms. Drymon is first and foremost a professional historian who has dedicated her career to public history. She worked for over ten years as a museum curator, educator, and public historian, and has articles published in a variety of places, including the New York Times. She is a Ph.D. (ABD), having recently completed all required coursework and passed all qualifying exams. Perhaps secondary is that Drymon has also suffered from Lyme disease, making her uniquely qualified to discover the possible relationship between these situations.

Drymon does not jump to conclusions but uses every possible historical record available, including some rather unconventional ones, to ferret out the facts. "Disguised As The Devil" is not a conspiracy-theory laden book, nor filled with the histrionics of the angry and desperately ill. Quite the opposite, in fact, the author lays out the hypothesis and evidence in a very rational and analytical manner. I was extremely impressed by the exhaustive research and copious citations and references from a huge variety of sources, some of which were first-hand witness accounts. Yet even with this vast amount of information, in no way does any of it seem excessive or unnecessary.

When presented with the daunting task of relating so much information, many authors tend to throw it at their readers all at once, leaving the reader gasping for breath and feeling as if they have just been plunged into a deep pool of icy water without a lifejacket. Fortunately, Drymon does not resort to this tactic. Rather, she takes the reader by the hand and gently leads along, step by step, while being careful to keep the history concise enough for even the most historically-challenged individual (such as myself) to understand.

Drymon discusses the cultural habits and beliefs of the time, the geography, climate, politics, and other influential factors in their social context. She seems to anticipate every question that readers might come up with (Why were so many more women affected than men? Why were they often depicted as old hags?) and uses the same calm logic to answer those questions.

More than once during my course of reading, I experienced an "A-ha!" moment in which the information made so much sense and seemed so obvious that I could not believe it had never occurred to me before. For example, witches have historically been associated with "familiars", that is, supposed demons in the form of various animals (usually dogs, cats, birds and the like). When one realizes that family pets such as dogs and cats can bring ticks into our homes and thus into closer proximity to us, this "superstitious" association suddenly takes on new meaning. There are many other fascinating comparisons to be found in this book, but I will allow the reader to discover them on his or her own.

Additionally, all Lyme disease aspects aside, I learned more about the witch trials from this single book than I ever did in all any school classes. While we may never know for certain what afflictions or behaviors led to the witch trials, it certainly seems that Ms. Drymon has uncovered a very striking possibility.

As Drymon concludes with a discussion of present-day Lyme politics and the battle that many Lyme sufferers undergo in order to obtain proper diagnosis and treatment, it occurred to me that not much has really changed in the last 350 years or so. Sure, we no longer burn so-called "witches" at the stake… instead, we throw them to the wolves known as IDSA and Big Pharma or tell them that "it's all in their heads". 

Perhaps the colonists were not so primitive in their beliefs as we would like to think. Perhaps they were really not all that different from us. And perhaps the old adage that "Those who do not learn from history will be doomed to repeat it" has never been truer.