The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials

Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack
  • 5.0 (3)
  • HISTORY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials is your in-depth guide to the largest witchcraft accusation outbreak in American history. Witch trial descendants and experts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack examine a different topic, person, or place connected to the Salem witch hunt of 1692–1693, featuring guest historians, authors, and experts. 15 minutes a week answers all your Salem Witch Trials questions. Also from the hosts: Salem Witch Trials Daily and The Thing About Witch Hunts. #SalemWitchTrials #1692 #witchcraft #history #Salem #colonialamerica #historypodcast #truecrime #puritans #newengland

  1. Salem Witch Trials Judge Coerces Confessions from Teens: The April 19, 1692 Story

    1D AGO

    Salem Witch Trials Judge Coerces Confessions from Teens: The April 19, 1692 Story

    On April 19, 1692, Salem witch trials magistrates conducted their busiest day of examinations yet. Four accused witches appeared before the court in colonial Massachusetts. Two confessions were recorded. And the Puritan legal proceedings that would lead to nineteen executions shifted into a dangerous new phase. In this episode of The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials, Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack break down the examinations of Giles Cory, Abigail Hobbs, Mary Warren, and Bridget Bishop using the firsthand courtroom notes of Samuel Parris and Ezekiel Cheever. If you love American history, colonial history, or the true story behind one of the most dramatic legal crises in Puritan New England, this episode is for you. In this episode you'll learn: What Giles Cory said under examination, why his answers about a cow house drew the magistrates' suspicion, and how the afflicted responded to Giles Cory's every movement in the courtroom How Abigail Hobbs became the first confessor since Tituba, what her confession revealed about life on the colonial Maine frontier, and why Abigail Hobbs' testimony produced the first legal accusation against Sarah Wildes of Topsfield What Mary Warren claimed about the afflicted accusers that the Salem witch trial court chose to ignore, and why Mary Warren's examination collapsed across four separate appearances before the magistrates How Bridget Bishop defended herself against charges of witchcraft in 1692, what the cuts in Bridget Bishop's coat had to do with spectral evidence, and why her answer about not knowing what a witch was became a trap that led to her hanging The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials is hosted by Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack of End Witch Hunts nonprofit and The Thing About Witch Hunts podcast. For day-by-day coverage of the 1692 Salem witch trials, follow Salem Witch Trials Daily podcast. Salem Witch Trials Daily Videos & Course The Thing About Salem Website ⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts YouTube⁠ ⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts Website Sign the Petition: MA Witch Hunt Justice Project Massachusetts Witch-Hunt Justice Project Support the nonprofit End Witch Hunts Podcasts and Projects

    27 min
  2. Salem Witch Trials Survivor: Sarah Cloyce's Story

    APR 12

    Salem Witch Trials Survivor: Sarah Cloyce's Story

    What does the American Red Cross have to do with the Salem Witch Trials? The answer runs through one of the most defiant women of 1692. Sarah Cloyce was the youngest of the three Towne sisters, the sibling who survived when Rebecca Nurse and Mary Easty did not. Born in Salem in 1642, Sarah lived a relatively ordinary Puritan life until March 1692, when her sister Rebecca was arrested for witchcraft and Reverend Samuel Parris delivered a sermon that changed everything. Sarah's response, walking out of the meetinghouse and reportedly slamming the door behind her, put a target on her back. Eight days later, she was formally accused. Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack tell the full story of Sarah Cloyce's accusation, her examination at the Salem Town meetinghouse on April 11, 1692, and her nine months of imprisonment in chains before the charges against her were finally dismissed in January 1693. They also cover the joint petition Sarah authored with her sister Mary Easty while both were imprisoned, Peter Cloyce's remarkable devotion to his wife throughout her ordeal, and the family's journey west to what would become Framingham, Massachusetts, where Salem End Road still marks the path the witch trial refugees traveled. And that famous descendant? Sarah Cloyce's daughter Hannah married Samuel Barton, and five generations later, Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, was born in Oxford, Massachusetts on Christmas Day 1821. What You Will Learn: What one act in a church doorway made Sarah Cloyce a target of the accusations What role the afflicted claimed she played at the devil's sacrament Why one of the most active accusers of 1692 held back when it came to Sarah What her husband did during her nine months of imprisonment that set him apart Why Sarah survived when her sisters did not Where Sarah and the other Salem refugees went, and what they left behind How Sarah Cloyce's bloodline connects directly to one of the most celebrated women in American history The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials is hosted by Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack, descendants of Salem Witch Trial victims. New episodes every week. Also mentioned: the PBS miniseries Three Sovereigns for Sarah (1985) starring Vanessa Redgrave, authors Antonio Stuckey and Janice C. Thompson, and Salem Witch Trials Daily, the companion daily podcast.  Visit aboutsalem.com for more  Visit youtube.com/@aboutwitchhunts for The Salem Witch Trials Daily Podcast

    15 min
  3. Salem Witch Trials: Was Mercy Lewis the Ringleader of the Afflicted Girls?

    APR 7

    Salem Witch Trials: Was Mercy Lewis the Ringleader of the Afflicted Girls?

    She accused 16 people, was named a victim in 13 indictments, and may have been the most powerful force driving the Salem witch trials of 1692. So why does history overlook Mercy Lewis? What You'll Learn Why some historians consider Mercy Lewis the ringleader among the afflicted girls How surviving the Wabanaki wars shaped her role in the Salem witch trials The full content of her April 1st visions, including the biblical passages a glittering multitude sang What she claimed George Burroughs offered her on top of a high mountain How her near-death episode sent the Marshal of Essex County riding through the night to re-arrest Mary Esty Why former employers testified she was a pathological liar At 19, Mercy Lewis was a maidservant in the Thomas Putnam household, carrying the trauma of war, probable orphanhood, and displacement from Maine. Her visions were among the most vivid and theologically detailed of the entire crisis. Her accusations helped send people to the gallows. Were those visions vivid dreams, trauma responses, or deliberate fabrications? Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack dig into the evidence. Follow 1692 day by day on Salem Witch Trials Daily Podcast. Resources and episodes at www.aboutsalem.com. Links Buy the Books Mentioned in this Episode Salem Witch Trials Daily Videos & Course The Thing About Salem Website ⁠The Thing on YouTube ⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts Website Sign the Petition: MA Witch Hunt Justice Project www.massachusettswitchtrials.org Support the nonprofit End Witch Hunts Podcasts and Projects

    19 min
  4. Witchcraft, UFOs, and Blood Pudding: Salem Witch Trials Daily April 4, 1692

    APR 5 ·  BONUS

    Witchcraft, UFOs, and Blood Pudding: Salem Witch Trials Daily April 4, 1692

    Follow the events of April 4, 1692, as new testimony and complaints target recent suspects. We cover a reported spectral attack involving the shape of John Proctor afflicting Abigail Williams, then dig into multiple depositions against Rachel Clinton, including claims of meetinghouse disturbances, strange animal apparitions, a mysterious loss of beer, and a tense late-night confrontation followed by an apparent affliction and near-death of Betty Fuller. We also examine Mercy Lewis’s statements about being bitten, pinched, choked, and urged to “write in a book,” attributed to the shape of four-year-old Dorothy Good and to Sarah Osburn. Finally, we follow new complaints filed against Sarah Cloyce and Elizabeth Proctor, including an early mention of John Indian among the afflicted. 00:00 April 4 Overview 00:23 Proctor Spectral Attack 00:38 Boarman vs Clinton 01:49 Beer Barrel Curse 02:56 Edwards Livestock Losses 04:38 Fuller Night Visit 06:10 Dorothy Good Accusation 06:34 Osburn Book Pressure 06:54 New Complaint Filed 07:19 Afflicted List Update A Brief and True Narrative by Deodat Lawson Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims Find My Massachusetts Legislators The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel ⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub ⁠The Thing About Salem⁠ ⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts ⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt ⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience ⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege High Quality Scans of the Original Court Documents -Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

    8 min
  5. Were the Afflicted Girls Faking? Salem Witch Trials Daily April 3, 1692

    APR 4 ·  BONUS

    Were the Afflicted Girls Faking? Salem Witch Trials Daily April 3, 1692

    We explore a striking claim from within the crisis itself: that the afflicted may have been “dissembling.” We revisit Sunday, April 3, 1692, when Samuel Parris read aloud a note Mary Warren had posted at the Salem Village meetinghouse, inviting the congregation to offer prayers of gratitude for her deliverance—yet the note’s contents are unknown because Parris never copied it into his church record book. We also examine the puzzling gaps in Parris’s records during the most active months of the trials, raising questions about what was happening in the meetinghouse. Finally, we tease an April 19 court record showing Elizabeth Hubbard accusing Mary Warren of making the “dissemble” remark, which we’ll dig into next. Note: We will soon publish Salem Witch Trials Daily only to its own podcast feed 00:00 Afflicted Dissembling 00:10 Daily Show Intro 00:17 Mary Warren Note 00:42 Parris Missing Records 01:22 Silence Raises Questions 01:38 Hubbard Accusation Tease A Brief and True Narrative by Deodat Lawson Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims Find My Massachusetts Legislators The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel ⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub ⁠The Thing About Salem ⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts ⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt ⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience ⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege High Quality Scans of the Original Court Documents -Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

    2 min
  6. Abigail Williams is Afflicted and Mary Warren is Not Afflicted Anymore: Salem Witch Trials Daily April 2, 1692

    APR 3 ·  BONUS

    Abigail Williams is Afflicted and Mary Warren is Not Afflicted Anymore: Salem Witch Trials Daily April 2, 1692

    In today’s Salem Witch Trials Daily, we walk through Saturday, April 2, 1692, focusing on Abigail Williams’ claims that the specters of Elizabeth Procter and Rebecca Nurse repeatedly afflicted her in March and April, including being “grievously pinched” and tempted with fine things to sign the book. We also explore how accusers often listed dates of spectral attacks and why our day-by-day approach helps reveal what life was like during the witch-hunt. Elsewhere in Salem Village, we cover Mary Warren’s recovery and her meetinghouse note requesting prayers of gratitude—then hint at the serious drama that follows when, in Mary’s later testimony, Elizabeth Procter reportedly appeared to her that night in “her bodily person” and confessed to witchcraft. 00:00 Daily Introduction 00:14 Abigail's Spectral Attacks 00:26 Why Track Day by Day 00:59 Temptation to Sign the Book 01:06 Mary Warren's Note 01:27 Elizabeth Appears Bodily 01:46 Spectral vs Physical Assaults A Brief and True Narrative by Deodat Lawson Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims Find My Massachusetts Legislators The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel ⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub ⁠The Thing About Salem ⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts ⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt ⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience ⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

    2 min
  7. Mercy Lewis takes a Trip to Heaven: Salem Witch Trials Daily April 1, 1692

    APR 2 ·  BONUS

    Mercy Lewis takes a Trip to Heaven: Salem Witch Trials Daily April 1, 1692

    In our April 1, 1692 episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we explore how the afflictions continue to mislead people in Salem and nearby communities through the reported testimony of Mercy Lewis. We recount her vivid description of being taken to a “glorious place” filled with light, where she saw a multitude in white robes singing from Revelation 5:9, Psalm 110, and Psalm 149—passages we connect to the religious climate of the moment, including Samuel Parris’s recent focus on Psalm 110. We also follow Mercy’s reluctance to leave the vision and discuss Deodat Lawson’s report that a recurring “white man” foretold the timing of future fits, which he claimed happened as predicted. 00:00 April Fools Intro 00:30 Mercy Lewis Vision 01:02 Revelation New Song 01:20 Psalm 110 Footstool 02:09 Parris Sermon Context 02:28 Psalm 149 Vengeance 03:19 Lawson Closing Note Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims: https://change.org/witchtrials Find My Massachusetts Legislators: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCliis4vjMIUgg3wcA0pXeYQ/ ⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/⁠ ⁠The Thing About Salem: 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 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 Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection: https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection Links

    4 min
  8. Abigail Williams and the Witches’ Sabbath

    MAR 31 ·  BONUS

    Abigail Williams and the Witches’ Sabbath

    Fast Day in Salem: Prayer, Fasting, and Abigail Williams’ Witch Feast Vision In this episode, we follow Thursday, March 31, 1692, as Salem observes a Puritan fast day while Abigail Williams reports seeing about 40 witches feasting near the Salem Village parsonage of minister Samuel Parris and claims the specter of Rebecca Nurse attacks her. We explore how Puritans in New England viewed prayer and fasting—grounded in the Gospel of Mark—as powerful defenses against demonic possession and witchcraft, from private household fasts like those held for the Goodwin children in 1688 and the Parris family earlier in 1692, to government-ordered public fasts during crises, including the 1697 fast when Judge Samuel Sewall’s apology was read aloud. We also preview Abigail’s testimony pattern, listing multiple March and April dates when she says Nurse afflicted her. 00:00 Fast Day in Salem 00:33 Why Puritans Fasted 00:54 Private Fasts and Afflictions 01:31 Public Fast Days 02:15 Witches Sabbath Allegation 03:05 Rebecca Nurse Specter Claims 03:18 Testimony Timeline Wrap Up Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims Find My Massachusetts Legislators The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel ⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub ⁠The Thing About Salem ⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts ⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt ⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience ⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

    3 min
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The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials is your in-depth guide to the largest witchcraft accusation outbreak in American history. Witch trial descendants and experts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack examine a different topic, person, or place connected to the Salem witch hunt of 1692–1693, featuring guest historians, authors, and experts. 15 minutes a week answers all your Salem Witch Trials questions. Also from the hosts: Salem Witch Trials Daily and The Thing About Witch Hunts. #SalemWitchTrials #1692 #witchcraft #history #Salem #colonialamerica #historypodcast #truecrime #puritans #newengland

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