The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials

Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack
  • 5.0 (4)
  • History
  • Updated Weekly

Witch trials shaped colonial America, and the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693 produced the largest witchcraft accusation outbreak in American history. The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials examines a different topic, person, or place connected to the Salem witch hunt each week, with witch trial descendants and experts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack joined by guest historians, authors, and researchers. At 15 minutes a week, it is one of the most focused in-depth guides to Salem witch trials history available. Also from the hosts: Salem Witch Trials Daily and The Thing About Witch Hunts. #witch

  1. 3d ago

    Witch Trial Stories Across the River from Salem in Historic Beverly with Roger Herson

    Project 1692: Beverly’s Hidden Salem Witch Trials Story with Descendant Tour Guide Roger Herson Crowds flood Salem, Massachusetts each October, but across the river, Beverly holds key Salem Witch Trials history—home to Reverend John Hale’s later writing and to figures and events often mislabeled as “Salem” stories. We talk with lifelong North Shore guide and 12th-generation Massachusetts native Roger Herson, a descendant of the trials (including Thomas Oliver, husband of Bridget Bishop), who leads visitors through court records to replace folklore with documented truth. Roger shares how DNA research revealed multiple ancestral ties to the accused, why original documents matter, and what common misconceptions persist—about Bridget Bishop, Sarah Bishop, alleged stepchild accusers, and John Hale’s influence. He highlights Beverly’s overlooked roles, from William Griggs’s residence to Dorcas Hoar’s complex story, and previews Historic Beverly’s Thursday-night Project 1692 walking tours as a quieter, research-grounded alternative to Salem’s October crush. 00:00 Beverly Beyond Salem 02:06 Meet Roger Herson 02:42 DNA Discovery Story 05:26 Bridget Bishop Myths 09:23 Beverly Role in 1692 12:28 John Hale Reckoning 18:20 Dorcas Hoar Legend 19:35 Project 1692 Tour 24:42 How to Visit 25:22 Closing Thanks  Links Historic Beverly: https://historicbeverly.net Ancestry Tour Agents: https:// ancestrytouragents.com  Salem Witch Trials History YouTube: https://youtube.com/@aboutwitchhunts The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.com Salem Witch Trials Daily: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/ The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com

    Witch Trial Stories Across the River from Salem in Historic Beverly with Roger Herson

  2. Sep 14

    Confessions and Tragedy: The Andover Witch Hunt

    Andover’s Witch Hunt: Coerced Confessions, Family Betrayals, and the Touch Test 45 of the total 150–200 accused witches in the Salem Trials came from a single town that bordered Salem—Andover, where nearly 10% of the town population was accused of witchcraft and a lethal rumor spread: confess and live. Grounded in the real1692 examination transcripts and contemporary accounts from writers like Robert Calef, we trace how Martha Carrier’s May 1692 arrest ignited a wider dragnet, then how Elizabeth Ballard’s sudden illness brought Ann Putnam Jr. and Mary Walcott to Andover and triggered the infamous meetinghouse touch test rooted in beliefs about effluvia. As coerced confessions multiplied, family networks collapsed under pressure—from Ann Foster and the Mary Laceys to the torture-driven confessions of Carrier’s sons—and accusations surged through Reverend Francis Dane’s kin, fueling sensational claims of diabolical plots. 00:00 Welcome and Andover Focus 02:01 Martha Carrier Accused 02:37 Defiant Courtroom Exchange 04:41 Ballard Illness and Touch Test 06:33 Confess and Live Rumor 07:22 Lacey Family Interrogations 09:37 Carrier Children Tortured 10:50 Dane Family Targeted 12:35 Sabbaths and Hell Crowns 13:43 Mather Versus Carrier 14:15 Elizabeth Johnson Testimony 15:13 Execution and Closing . The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com Salem Witch Trials History YouTube: https://youtube.com/@aboutwitchhunts The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.com Salem Witch Trials Daily: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/ People Accused of Witchcraft in 1692: http://www.17thc.us/primarysources/accused.php Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619 Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780190627805 Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781589791329 Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780375706905 Richard Hite, In the Shadow of Salem: The Andover Witch Hunt of 1692: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781594164378

    Confessions and Tragedy: The Andover Witch Hunt

  3. Sep 1

    Ann Putnam's Apology with Writer and TV Producer Tom Phillips and Dr. Hogan Sherrow

    Why Did Ann Putnam Jr. Accuse? Evolutionary Behavioral Reconstruction and the Human Story Behind SalemWe welcome producer-director Tom Phillips and evolutionary anthropologist Dr. Hogan Sherrow to explore the psychological research informing Phillips’ project Aftermath and to confront a question that has lingered for more than 330 years: why 12-year-old Ann Putnam Jr., a central accuser in the Salem witch trials and the only known accuser to publicly apologize, did what she did. Using Sherrow’s “evolutionary behavioral reconstruction,” they examine Ann as a human being shaped by life history, Puritan cultural context, family pressures, possible mental or behavioral conditions, and the community’s belief in the devil as an everyday reality. They discuss how children’s networks, prior witchcraft cases, and Samuel Parris’s library may have supplied models to imitate, how grief and household instability may have acted as triggers, and how Ann’s courtroom influence helped reverse Rebecca Nurse’s verdict, while weighing whether Ann was deluded, mistaken, manipulated, or lying and scrutinizing the language and signature of her 1706 apology.00:00 Welcome and Setup00:27 Why Ann Putnam01:35 Project and Method03:55 Reconstruction Basics06:03 Age and Puritan Context08:17 Witchcraft Idea Spreads13:50 Triggers and Family Grief17:24 Courtroom Power19:29 Mental Health Possibilities21:52 The 1706 Apology24:33 Signature Doubts27:31 Aftermath Monologue29:50 Closing and Call to Share

    Ann Putnam's Apology with Writer and TV Producer Tom Phillips and Dr. Hogan Sherrow

  4. Aug 25

    Salem Witch Trial Descendants at History Camp Boston, Connecticut Witch and Culture Fest, and Salem

    New England Pilgrimage: Salem Witch Trials Sites, History Camp Boston, and Connecticut Witch & Culture Fest We share highlights from our New England trip for The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials, including visiting key Salem Village and Danvers sites with our colleague Mary Louise Bingham, paying respects at the Danvers Witch Trial Victims Memorial, and standing together as descendants of Mary Esty at her home site. We reflect on places central to 1692, such as the Samuel Parris parsonage site, the meetinghouse replica at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead, Ingersoll’s Tavern property, Essex Street, the Salem 400 exhibit, Charter Street Cemetery, and the Salem Witch Trials Memorial. We also recount presenting at sold-out History Camp Boston on how English witch-hunting manuals shaped deliberate New England legal proceedings, and staffing a history and remembrance booth at the Connecticut Witch and Culture Festival with tribute cloth signings, remembrance ceremonies, volunteer presentations, and connections to World Day Against Witch Hunts and modern anti-witch-hunt advocacy. 00:00 New England Trip Intro 01:06 Danvers Memorial Visit 02:04 Meetinghouse Replica 03:53 Parsonage Site Tour 06:56 Pastors Pasture Stories 08:28 Tituba Tribute Brick 10:14 Salem Streets And Exhibit 12:20 Charter Street Memorial 14:37 History Camp Talk 16:38 Meeting Fellow Historians 21:13 Other History Camp Sessions 22:43 Hartford Festival Booth 23:57 Tribute Cloth Remembrance 24:55 Festival Highlights 27:19 Alice Young Play News 28:42 World Day Against Witch Hunts 30:40 Modern Witch Hunts Today 32:17 Wrap Up And Dates  Links: World Day Against Witch Hunts:  https://endwitchhunts.org/day  The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com Salem Witch Trials History YouTube: https://youtube.com/@aboutwitchhunts The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.com Salem Witch Trials Daily: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/ Hexenverfolgung heute | missio: https://www.missio-hilft.de/informieren/wofuer-wir-uns-einsetzen/gegen-hexenverfolgung/

  5. Jul 26

    What Historic Records are Available from the Salem Witch Trials?

    Where the Salem Witch Trials Records Really Come From (and What’s Missing) We dig into the biggest surprise at the heart of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials: the official Court of Oyer and Terminer record book is gone, and what people call “trial records” are mostly pretrial examinations, warrants, depositions, bills, diaries, and printed observers’ accounts. We explain how magistrates like John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin shaped the surviving dialogue-style transcripts, why those documents get mistaken for trial proceedings, and what sparse trial records typically looked like by comparing to the surviving 1693 Superior Court files. We trace how writers such as Cotton Mather, Robert Calef, Thomas Brattle, John Hale, Increase Mather, and others preserved competing narratives, and how Samuel Sewall’s diary fills crucial gaps. We spotlight the decade-long scholarly effort behind the 2009 Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt, the myths it overturns (including confessors being tried and executed), and how New England and even Scotland show how missing records can distort history for centuries. 00:00 What Records Survive 01:09 Examinations Not Trials 03:07 How Trials Worked 04:31 Published Accounts Clash 06:31 Proving Records Existed 08:37 Where Records Went Missing 09:52 Scribes Shape History 11:38 Records of the Salem Witch Hunt 13:58 Myths the Paperwork Busts 14:44 Beyond Salem and Abroad 16:59 Other Sources and Daily Paper 18:20 The Devil’s Book That Never Was 19:50 Voices of the Accused 20:26 Why Records Matter  End Witch Hunts: https://www.endwitchhunts.org The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.com Connecticut Witch Trials History: https://connecticutwitchtrials.org Watch us on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@aboutwitchhunts Samuel Wyllys Papers (CT State Library): https://ctdigitalarchive.org/node/3907524 Samuel Wyllys Papers (Brown University): https://www.riamco.org/render?eadid=US-RPB-mswyllys&view=inventory#ref15 Salem Witch Trials Documents - High Quality Scans: https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection Buy Books from our Bookshop: https:/bookshop.org/shop/endwitchhunts

  6. Jul 12

    Salem Witch Trials: Witchfinder Roger Toothaker and His Family

    The Toothaker Family: Folk Magic, Witchfinding, and Tragedy in the Salem Witch TrialsA folk healer known as “Dr. Toothaker,” Roger Toothaker was the only male healer/physician accused of witchcraft in 17th-century New England, and his story pulls our Salem Witch Trials podcast into a web of witchfinding, fear, and family fallout. After leaving his wife Mary Allen Toothaker and their children behind in Billerica, Roger was arrested in May 1692 for allegedly afflicting Salem Village girls and died in Boston jail; testimony linked him to diagnosing victims under an “evil hand” and to a “witch bottle” said to kill a witch. Soon Mary Toothaker and their young daughter Margaret were accused, and daughter Martha Toothaker Emerson was jailed after dramatic examinations and spectral allegations, while son Allen testified against aunt Martha Carrier. Though Mary and Martha were ultimately cleared, war violence later killed Mary and took Margaret captive, underscoring how folk magic, Andover/Salem Village accusations, and ties to Carrier made the Toothakers prime targets. 00:00 Meet the Toothakers 00:13 Roger's Early Life 01:05 Healer Turned Accused 01:51 Testimony and Witch Bottle 03:05 Mary and Margaret Accused 04:07 Roger Dies in Jail 05:01 Martha Emerson Arrested 06:59 Specters and Confession 08:04 Mary Toothaker Confesses 09:25 Allen Testifies Against Carrier 10:20 Acquittals and Release 10:54 War and Aftermath 11:47 Legacy and Reading List

    Salem Witch Trials: Witchfinder Roger Toothaker and His Family

  7. Jun 14

    Anatomy of a Witch Trial: The Case Against Bridget Bishop

    We dig into original Salem Witch Trials documents to map, step by step, how Bridget Bishop moved from first mention to execution—and how “evidence” worked in 1692. Using the arrest warrant (April 18, 1692), competing examination records by Ezekiel Cheever and Samuel Parris, and a trail of statements, depositions, and jail paperwork, we trace the case built on spectral evidence, old grievances framed as supernatural harm, and accusations drawn from other prisoners’ confessions. We follow Bridget through transfers between Salem and Boston jails, the June 2 physical search for “witches’ teats,” five indictments for afflicting the core afflicted girls, and the death warrant ordering her hanging on June 10. We also track the long aftermath, from missed restitution efforts to her eventual naming in Massachusetts’ 2001 exoneration act. 00:00 Anatomy of a Trial 01:02 Arrest Warrant Breakdown 02:47 Preliminary Examination 05:19 Spectral Evidence Claims 06:49 Past Harm Testimony 08:52 Confessions Implicate Bridget 09:31 Jail Transfers and Records 10:43 Witch Marks and Indictments 12:42 Death Warrant and Execution 16:39 Costs and Restitution 17:53 Exoneration in 2001 19:06 Subscribe and Closing  Links: Salem Witch-Hunt Facebook Page: https://facebook.com/salemwitchhunt High Quality Scans of Original Court Documents - Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection: https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619⁠ Salem Witch Trials History YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCliis4vjMIUgg3wcA0pXeYQ/ ⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/⁠ ⁠The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.com⁠ ⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com⁠ ⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780375706905⁠ ⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience:  https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780190627805⁠ ⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781589791329⁠

    Anatomy of a Witch Trial: The Case Against Bridget Bishop

  8. Jun 7

    Bridget Bishop: The First Person Executed in the Salem Witch Trials

    Step into Salem in 1692 as we follow Bridget Bishop from her life in Salem Town to the courtroom that condemned her. She was the first person executed in the Salem Witch Trials, convicted on testimony about specters, poppets, an “unnatural mark,” and long-running neighborhood quarrels—despite insisting she had never harmed the accusers and did not even know them. We trace her documented history from England to Massachusetts, her three marriages, earlier accusations that faded for lack of evidence, and the legal machinery that made her case the opening death sentence for the Court of Oyer and Terminer. We also confront how Bridget has been misremembered, explore modern portrayals like Cry Innocent and screen adaptations, and highlight memorials, exoneration, and the living legacy of her descendants. 00:00 Bridget Bishop Introduced 00:40 Life Before 1692 02:24 Arrest And Examination 04:47 Spectral Evidence Piles Up 06:08 Trial And Execution 07:04 Myths And Mixups 07:36 Remembering Bridget Today 09:02 Stage And Screen Portrayals 09:57 Memorials And Exoneration 10:49 Legacy And Descendants  End Witch Hunts:  https://endwitchhunts.org  The Thing About The Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.com The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com Salem Witch Trials History: https://youtube.com/@aboutwitchhunts Buy A Book About The Salem Witch Trials: https://bookshop.org/lists/the-salem-witch-hunt-collection-curated-by-the-thing-about-salem-podcast ⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/⁠ ⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780375706905⁠ Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619⁠ ⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience:  https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780190627805⁠ ⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781589791329⁠ High Quality Scans of Original Court Documents - Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection: https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection

    Bridget Bishop: The First Person Executed in the Salem Witch Trials
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Witch trials shaped colonial America, and the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693 produced the largest witchcraft accusation outbreak in American history. The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials examines a different topic, person, or place connected to the Salem witch hunt each week, with witch trial descendants and experts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack joined by guest historians, authors, and researchers. At 15 minutes a week, it is one of the most focused in-depth guides to Salem witch trials history available. Also from the hosts: Salem Witch Trials Daily and The Thing About Witch Hunts. #witch

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