Whether or Not the Machines of the Industrial Revolution Were At First Regarded as

Related historical timeline created with Timeliner (Nobles grad, Tom Snyder)

SATANIC

When you look at the giant looms that were first built in the early part of the 19th century, you can't help getting an eerie feeling that you are watching something controlled by something inhuman. As Ira Peck said, "machines did practically all the work," so they give off an atmosphere of being completely autonomous. Superstition was still rampant during the Industrial Revolution, and belief in witchcraft was not uncommon. Hence, it does not seem unlikely that people might have regarded these giant pulsating machines as works of the Devil.

However, reference to such superstitions is sparse. One particular quote (referenced here and here) refers to "dark satanic mills," but this seems in context to be more of a condemnation of the evils of capitalism and wage slavery than the evils of witchcraft. Very little other evidence exists to support such an idea.

©1998 Alex Temple, Class of 2000 at Noble and Greenough School, U.S. History student of L.E. Hartmann.