October 30, 2024 • 31 mins
The REAL story behind the infamous Salem Witch Trials might surprise you ...
Noodles and I travel to the ruins where the first accusations of witchcraft were made in 1692.
In this bonus compilation - we revisit dark secrets, bizarre proceedings and ponder the enduring legacy of the trials.
Why did the Salem Witch happen? Join us at the ruins of the village parsonage to find out.
Noah and Noodles here!
We want to extend a heartfelt thanks to every listener of Backroad Odyssey.
Your support fuels our passion and inspires us to keep sharing stories and discover overlooked locations.
Follow each adventure visually at:
https://www.instagram.com/backroadsodyssey/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's Noah here.
With Halloween coming up, wewanted to do something special
here at Backroad Odyssey.
Many months ago, noodles and Iwent to Salem Massachusetts, to
explore the ruins of the housewhere the first accusations of
witchcraft were made.
After visiting the ruins, thenresearching the history of the
trials, we recorded two separateepisodes detailing our
(00:21):
experiences and the events ofthe trials themselves For
Halloween this year, this bonusepisode pulls together both of
these episodes into one singlenarrative.
Sit down, get spooky and enjoyWalking down the street.
I wonder where this road wouldlead.
(00:41):
So many possibilities.
Care to share what you think.
Oh noodles, what do you see?
(01:03):
Back road odyssey.
A false tongue will never makea guilty person.
Susanna Martin executed forwitchcraft.
Salem, massachusetts, july 19th1692.
A small shop is filled to thebrim with sage tarot cards and
spell books.
Thick incense obscures eagershoppers and visiting tourists.
In the bustle, a small bookcaptures your attention the
Witches Salem 1692.
(01:26):
The story contained within itspages began not in the bustling
modern town of Salem with itsshops and attractions, but miles
inland, in the small house of apastor.
The first accusations ofwitchcraft are made inside its
walls, stoking the fire ofcommunal hysteria, religious
(01:46):
zealotry and, ultimately, theconviction and execution of 20
individuals.
We visit the Dark StoneFoundation.
Far from the attractions ofSalem, we're currently standing
at the center of the villageparsonage just outside of Salem
modern Salem.
(02:06):
And what's wild is this is sohard to find.
To find the now called villageparsonage, you must actively
look for it.
The remains of the one-roombuilding lie tucked between
quaint residential houses inDanvers, massachusetts, formerly
known as Salem Village.
(02:27):
The road leading to the firstaccusation made within the
parsonage walls is long andrequires context.
For witchcraft, which is athing grown very common among us
, I know it to be the mostabominable sin and I have been
occupied these three quarters ofthe year for sifting out them
(02:47):
that are guilty herein.
King James VI of Scotland, 1591.
Going back as far as the 14thcentury, the concept of
witchcraft was commonplaceacross Europe.
The belief was that a person,commonly but not exclusively
female, would make a diabolicalpact with the devil.
(03:09):
The witch would then be able tounleash woes, channeling their
newfound evil powers upon peopleof their choosing.
Persecutions of these witchessurfaced in waves at different
times in different places theValalleus Trials in France and
Switzerland in 1428, the TrierTrials in 1580s, germany, and
(03:31):
eventually reaching London withthe Pendel Hill Trials in 1612
and beyond.
But interestingly, what wasaccepted for centuries back in
Europe was already fading fromthe public consciousness by 1690
.
The events of Salem then seemedto be the last labored breaths
of a tradition of persecutiongoing back centuries.
(03:53):
The hysteria at Salem and theviolence it brings can only be
understood by gaining a betterunderstanding of the community
that brought it about, of thecommunity that brought it about.
To me, there is nothing morefraught with mystery and terror
than a remote Massachusettsfarmhouse against a lonely hill.
Where else could an outbreaklike the Salem Witchcraft have
(04:16):
occurred?
Hp Lovecraft.
Salem Town was part of theoriginal Massachusetts Bay
Colony, which was established in1620.
As population increased,settlers moved west to farm the
less occupied but rough androcky New England soil.
In 1638, a group of farmerssettled in the Danvers Highlands
(04:37):
in what was first known asSalem Farms and later as Salem
Village.
This village, which was locatedabout five miles inland from
Salem Town at the coast, grew tobecome a relatively reclusive
community of some 500 by 1690.
And, as is common in smallcommunities, everyone in Salem
(05:00):
Village knows each other in somecapacity.
What is also commonspecifically in this time, in
this particular place, peoplestick to their own.
They're prone towards suspicionof others and ultimately will
do what it takes to survive.
With the onset of King William'sWar in 1689, a conflict in the
(05:22):
regions of upstate New York,quebec and Nova Scotia, the
movement of refugees southwards,including Salem Village,
disrupted the already delicatebalance of the community.
The growing population strainedan already tense economic
situation and provoked analready deeply paranoid people.
(05:43):
Paranoid people, limitedresources, growing population,
strong puritanical traditions,including the belief that God
and the devil tangibly affectthe world, and what amounted to
a theocratical judicial system.
What could go wrong?
I am not some preaching farmerwith a book under my arm.
(06:05):
I am a graduate of HarvardCollege, samuel Parris.
All right, let me describe whatI see.
The foundation is a collectionof dark rocks in the shape of
kind of a small rectangle.
I'm six feet tall, so lyingdown I'd probably take up a
large amount of the availablespace.
(06:26):
On either side of the rectanglethere is what?
Six people living here at thetime man.
There's also a stone staircaseleading into what amounts to be
a hole, so not much physically.
This site is kind of surroundedby suburban houses.
It literally could besomebody's backyard.
(06:48):
When I stopped to think aboutthe legacy of this place, the
pain it ended up causing people,the eventual impact it had on
all of our collectiveimagination.
That's what makes it one of themost interesting sites in and
around Salem.
In my experience, salem Villagefilters through parishioners
(07:11):
faster than most.
Some blame tensions within thecommunity, others credit the
location itself as beingundesirable.
Regardless, reverend SamuelParris enters Salem Village in
1689 after a slew ofshort-lasting parishioners, and
Parris was, by most accounts, agreedy and stubborn man, not
(07:35):
entirely respectable qualities.
When entering the social powderkeg of Salem Village, paris
combined evangelical enthusiasmand structural rigidity which
widened the already substantialdivides within the Salem Village
community.
Upon arriving, reverend Parisessentially made it harder to
become a full member of thechurch, which did two things.
(07:58):
One, it elevated the status forfull members of the church who,
by extension, supported Parisand his policies Because,
remember, this is a communitydeeply entrenched in rigid
Christian theology, unlikeBoston or more mercantile
communities, and to be respectedin the church was to be
(08:19):
respected in the village.
Secondly, previous full membersdissented and then found allies
among non-members whoconstituted a large amount and
influential portion of the Salemvillage community.
Within two years of Paris'sarrival, the conditions were
perfect for conflict and, asfate would have it, the source
(08:41):
of evil would arise not from thehouse of partial members or
deserters, but from the house ofthe reverend himself.
It's wild to think everybodyknows about the Salem witch
trial Few, including me, beforeI did research, knew what or who
really caused it, and theperson living inside of this
(09:03):
house was a big part of that.
And to walk where he walked,where he lived, is truly
remarkable.
And in the fact that everythingstems back to what happened,
feet around where I'm standingright now, many within Salem
(09:25):
Village came to believe that theincreased conflict was the work
of the devil.
This would be proven true intheir minds when, in January
1962, reverend Parrish'sdaughter Elizabeth, age nine,
and his niece, abigail Williams,age 11, start to have episodes
(09:45):
Without warning.
They would scream, producesounds and contort their bodies
in strange, seemingly impossiblepositions.
Soon after, another girl, annPutnam Jr, age 12, exhibited
similar behavior.
After some time, when noimprovements are shown, the
girls are taken to a doctor who,seeing no physical reason for
(10:06):
these episodes, cite thesupernatural as the main cause
of their conditions.
Witchcraft is here in SalemVillage.
This leads to the mostconsequential baking of a cake
in history baking of a cake.
In history.
Concerned by the diagnosis ofthe supernatural, likely
(10:27):
witchcraft, mary Sibley, aneighbor of Reverend Parris,
recommends the baking of a witchcake.
Basically, in what is awell-known folk practice in
English culture at the time, awitch cake is a cake or biscuit
that is made with rye flour andthe urine of the afflicted
person, namely one of the girls.
The cake was then naturally fedto a dog.
(10:52):
If the dog exhibits the samesymptoms as the ill person, the
presence of witchcraft is proven.
The dog is then expected topoint out the witch or witches
that are practicing their evilcrafts.
The baking of the witch cake inthis case predictably reveals
nothing, but ironically, it isin the baking of this witch cake
(11:15):
meant to help the problem wherethe seeds of paranoia are
deeply planted.
Reverend Parris denounces thebaking of the cake loudly to his
congregation, perhaps in a bidto steer suspicion away from
himself and his household wherethe cake was baked in the first
place.
This only fueled communalsuspicion within Salem Village.
(11:40):
It was Tituba, an enslavedBarbados woman to the Paris
family, that actually baked thewitch cake and fed it to the dog
that lived within Paris'household, to dire consequences,
sadly, for in the growingwitchcraft hysteria brought
about by the baking of thiswitch cake inside the Paris
(12:03):
household, the three afflictedgirls make the first of many
accusations Two locals, sarahGood and Sarah Osborne, and the
unfortunate Tituba.
I also think about just howpowerless people must have felt,
thinking that they could benext, and as I kept looking into
(12:29):
who was accused.
As is kind of so often inhistory, it's usually the people
at the fringes of society thatfall first and just deeply feel
for all of those who caught upin the middle of this.
(12:50):
The first three to be accusedare not the first to face the
gallows.
The cracks in Salem society arebeginning to show themselves.
Bridget Bishop, on her thirdhusband, unliked largely by the
community and more outspokenthan is desirable for women of
the time, was an easy firsttarget.
(13:12):
Rumors start to spread that sheis the one responsible for the
deaths of her first two husbands.
Others claim that small itemsgo missing when Bishop is around
.
All in all, she did not fit inthe rigorous social structure
enforced in Salem Village.
She was brought to trial onJune 2nd, convicted of
(13:34):
witchcraft and sentenced todeath by hanging.
Bridget Bishop is the first tobe executed in the summer of
1692, but she would not be thelast.
The paranoia is just starting.
A small stone foundation restsin silence.
(13:56):
Cars pass nearby in the gloomygray light.
I walk to the rocky center ofthe structure.
A somber feeling washes over mein the quiet.
This is the real Salem, I thinkto myself.
A dark cloud gathers over SalemVillage.
(14:33):
The hanging of Bridget Bishop,the first of what would be many
victims of the trials, onlydeepened the tensions within the
community.
All right, I'm going to sit downa bit.
I'm about five feet from thevillage Parsonage, just sitting
on the grass which is slightlyovergrown.
(14:57):
The dark stones and thelocation as a whole is kind of
in total contrast of thesurrounding suburban houses and
the busy roads.
I don't know.
As I started to pack up my gear, I thought of a question that I
think is worth exploring.
If the first accusations werenever made, if Reverend Paris
(15:17):
didn't break the already fragilesocial contract that Salem
Village had, if the communityliked each other, if they were
more cohesive, could death havebeen avoided at all?
Or was everything already inplace for something like the
trials to occur?
Were the trials themselvesinevitable?
(15:41):
If a man or woman be a witch,that is hath consulteth with a
familiar spirit, they shall beput to death.
The 1641 Body of Liberties, thefirst legal code established in
New England.
Just what did the legal systemin 1692 Salem look like?
(16:03):
More specifically, once anaccusation of witchcraft was
made, how was due justicecarried out In practice?
Few witches were actuallyexecuted in colonial America
prior to the witch trials,because clear and convincing
proof of a crime, including thatof witchcraft, was needed for a
conviction.
(16:23):
However, in addition to growingtensions between neighbors, a
strict, puritan-influencedsocial structure strengthened by
Reverend Paris, and an influxof witchcraft accusations led by
the so-called afflicted, thosetargeted and tormented by the
witches, the trials followed atemporary suspension of the
(16:44):
Massachusetts colony charter dueto political tensions with
England at the time.
So laws that would haveprovided necessary due process
were now argued over and deeplyuncertain.
To provide clarity during thislapse in order, governor William
Phipps established the Court ofOyer and Terminer, which would
(17:08):
preside over the growingwitchcraft accusations
throughout the colony Withoutthe strict system of law and
order in place under theprevious charter.
This court would rely uponthree kinds of evidence
Confessions by the accused,innocent or guilty.
Testimony by eyewitnesses toany act of witchcraft.
(17:30):
Most controversially, the courtaccepted the use of spectral
evidence.
I saw the apparition of SarahGood, who did most grievously
afflict me by pinching andpricking me, and so she
continued hurting me till thefirst day of March, sarah Good
being accused of spectralattacks by Elizabeth Hubbard.
(17:55):
Spectral evidence at its core isassertion without physical
evidence.
It is evidence based on visions, hallucinations, dreams of the
accused witch's specter orspirit.
It is essentially a testimonyabout what the accused person's
spirit did, rather than theactions of the accused person
(18:18):
physically.
With the help of the devil, inorder to torment their chosen
victims, witches were thought toproject these apparitions at
will and punch, pinch, bite,choke and otherwise harass their
chosen enemies.
The court would then usewitness testimony the spectral
(18:40):
evidence, to support awitchcraft conviction and,
tragically, spectral evidencewas used widely and deliberately
.
By the end of the trials, 156were indicted for witchcraft
directly following reports ofspectral attacks, some of which
would happen during the actualcourt proceedings.
(19:02):
The accuser would wail andcomplain of this ghostly
harassment, unseen by everyoneelse Invisible, yes, unprovable,
most definitely Admissible incourt, irrefutably.
Just how fast systems cancollapse in a society is
(19:23):
something that I findfascinating.
You know, even with all thecontext, the growing resentments
in the community, theintroduction of Reverend Paris,
the refugees coming south intoSalem Village, dwindling
resources all of it stilldoesn't really explain how an
otherwise relatively reasonablegroup of people support the use
(19:49):
of spectral evidence.
You know, imagine you'resitting in court.
You're accused of maybepunching someone in the face,
not because you actuallycommitted the offense, but
because that person accuses yourspirit of doing so.
Then you're found guilty withno physical evidence and
(20:10):
everyone just accepts this asthe norm.
It's just overlooking anysemblance of due process, even
by the standards of the time.
So my question now is how doesit go from several accusations
made in the spot right in frontof me to ghosts, punching
(20:32):
accusers, mid-trial and everyonebelieving it?
You taxed me for a wizard, yetyou may as well tax me for a
buzzard.
I have done no harm.
George Jacobs Sr.
Accused and executed forwitchcraft.
No harm, george Jacobs Sr.
Accused and executed forwitchcraft.
When accused, after receiving awarrant for your arrest,
multiple intrusive examinationsand testimonies, you would then
(20:56):
be taken to the Salem Courthouseto stand before the court of
Oyer Interminer.
Ironically, though, if youconfessed to witchcraft before
the court, you often were spareda hard sentence owing to the
Puritan belief that they wouldreceive their due punishment by
God.
It was those who insisted upontheir innocence that often met
(21:18):
the gallows.
But what of those who refusedeither option?
More weight, more weight.
These are the reported words ofGiles Corey, who was slowly
crushed to death over the courseof three days.
After refusing to pleadinnocent or guilty for
witchcraft, giles was forced tostrip naked by officials while
(21:40):
stone weights were slowly addedto a board atop his faltering
body.
He wanted death to come quickly, but that would not be the case
.
I am no more a witch than youare a wizard, and if you take
away my life, god will give youblood to drink.
The words of Sarah Good, whowas quickly convicted and sent
(22:02):
to the gallows after severalafflicted girls claimed could
specter attacked, she was hungalongside an elderly
church-going grandmother namedRebecca Nurse.
I would rather die than confessa falsehood so filthy.
The last words of MarthaCarrier, convicted after her
(22:25):
teenage sons were tortured intoconfessing for witchcraft
implicating their mother.
John Proctor, featured inArthur Miller's the Crucible and
Reverend.
George Burroughs, suspected tobe the ringleader of the Salem
witches, were executed on thesame day.
All the stories told about thetrials, people confessing,
(22:49):
proclaiming innocence, turningon neighbors, turning on friends
or just even refusing to takeplace in the trials at all.
They all kind of seemoutlandish and insane, frankly,
especially if you ignore context, the reasons behind everything.
The witch trials enjoynear-mythical status in the
(23:15):
American consciousness.
But what actually caused thetrials in Salem 400 years ago?
Three prominent theories areoften brought up.
Theory number one cold weather.
This theory asserts that mosthistorical witchcraft trials
coincide with a 400-year periodof lower-than-average
(23:38):
temperatures, known byclimatologists as the Little Ice
Age.
The year of the trials happenedto fall in the middle of a
particularly cold 50-year spellfrom 1680 to 1730.
In the midst of such stunningweather patterns, which led to
crop failure and colder seasyielding less fish, people start
(24:02):
to look for scapegoats, reasonsfor their misfortune.
Who was thought to have theability to control weather and
destroy crops?
Witches.
The second theory Simple boredom.
This is a time and place thatrestricted almost all forms of
(24:24):
play for children.
You were expected to do yourchores, study the Bible and
otherwise, do as you're told andbe quiet.
Any child facing such a scenewould look for other outlets to
escape the monotony.
Betty Parris and AbigailWilliams, two of the very first
to be afflicted, becameinterested in fortune-telling
(24:47):
introduced to them by theaforementioned Tituba, the Paris
family slave.
It may be that theirinvolvement in such forbidden
activities, as well as thecoinciding guilt for
participating in them, that mayhave contributed to their
strange behavior and theaccusations that followed.
(25:08):
Finally, perhaps the mostpervasive theory of all, the
ergot or moldy bread theory.
Ergot is a fungus that grows ongrain, especially rye.
It produces neurotoxins thatremain in the bread that you
make from the infected grainwhen ingested.
Ergot poisoning leads toconvulsions, vomiting, prickling
(25:31):
sensations under your skin andvivid hallucinations, all
symptoms associated with theafflicted.
The theory maintains that thoseafflicted, as well as a
substantial portion of thecommunity, ingested the
contaminated grain, which wouldexplain the sudden shift into
communal hysteria.
(25:51):
According to this theory, theabrupt end of the witch trials
happened quite simply becauseSalem ran out of the
contaminated grain.
However, this is the onlytheory I'll push against.
To start, entire families wouldhave to have eaten the same
infected source of rye.
In turn, everyone would havebeen susceptible to the effects
of the poisoning, would havebeen susceptible to the effects
(26:14):
of the poisoning.
In the Paris household, forexample, a house with four
adults and four children, onlytwo became sick and showed
symptoms associated with ergotpoisoning.
Secondly, afflictions andaccusations were spread well
beyond Salem Village and town.
In fact, the highest rate ofaccusations and afflictions
(26:36):
occurred 20 miles northwest ofSalem.
Throughout this wide area,afflictions were sporadic and
spread far beyond singularlocations where infected grain
would have been stored andingested.
Lastly, cases of outrightfakery existed.
An afflicted witness claimed tosee a specter but later
(26:59):
admitted she did it for sport.
This is by no means an isolatedcase.
Still the Urgot theorycontinues in prevalence and in
some cases is included in schoolcurriculums as an explanation
for the Salem Witch Trials.
(27:20):
It's easy to sit here by theparsonage some 400 years later
and condemn all these stories,the trials, everything as a
foregone era of superstition.
But the more I look into thecauses, the context and the more
(27:43):
I consider human nature, youknow the need for safety, for
acknowledgement, for standing inthe community.
The less strange this storybecomes, you know, the more
familiar everything feels.
The General Court ofMassachusetts declares its
(28:05):
belief that such proceedings,even if lawful under the
province charter and the law ofMassachusetts as it was then,
were and are shocking and theresult of a wave of popular
hysteria, fear of the devil inthe community.
The formal apology ofMassachusetts, made in 1957.
(28:26):
The trials came to an end afterGovernor William Phipps' own
wife was accused of witchcraft.
He promptly orders the court ofOyer and Terminer to disband
and replaces it with another,more reasonable court, which
forbid the use of spectralevidence in court, all but
(28:46):
ending the tide of accusations,executions and hysteria.
No further executions tookplace after September 22nd, just
over three months after thehanging of the hysteria's first
victim.
In the end, 19 victims werehanged near Gallows Hill, one
(29:07):
crushed to death, four died injail awaiting trial, and more
than 200 were accused For what?
And more than 200 were accusedFor what?
Although it's tempting toattribute just one cause to the
Salem Witch Trials, the realityis its implications are much
(29:28):
more complex.
What happened in Salem Villagein 1692 is both strange and
familiar, ridiculous andunderstandable, outlandish and
conventional.
More than anything, the storyof the trials, with its showings
of fear, courage, cruelty,unpredictability, showcase the
(29:49):
deepest parts of human nature inus all.
Dark clouds linger above theruins of the parsonage.
Its heavy stone foundation,ingrained in the ground itself,
starts to glisten under thestarting rain.
Despite the passing carssurrounding houses, new
buildings and a nearby swing set, the location emanates a legacy
(30:14):
that still echoes miles southin the busy shops, museums and
bars of Salem.
It's Noah.
Here again, noodles, and Iappreciate every single minute
(30:36):
you spend listening to this showGenuinely.
It means the world to us If youfind value in the show and
continue to find value.
Rating and reviewing is thebest way to help us continue to
put the amount of work we'd liketo into the show.
Stay tuned later this week forspooky content as we explore a
famous cursed object in acemetery in iowa city.
(31:00):
Be good to each other.
Where to next.
It's Noah here.
With Halloween coming up, wewanted to do something special
here at Backroad Odyssey.
Many months ago, noodles and Iwent to Salem Massachusetts, to
explore the ruins of the housewhere the first accusations of
witchcraft were made.
After visiting the ruins, thenresearching the history of the
trials, we recorded two separateepisodes detailing our
(00:21):
experiences and the events ofthe trials themselves For
Halloween this year, this bonusepisode pulls together both of
these episodes into one singlenarrative.
Sit down, get spooky and enjoyWalking down the street.
I wonder where this road wouldlead.
(00:41):
So many possibilities.
Care to share what you think.
Oh noodles, what do you see?
(01:03):
Back road odyssey.
A false tongue will never makea guilty person.
Susanna Martin executed forwitchcraft.
Salem, massachusetts, july 19th1692.
A small shop is filled to thebrim with sage tarot cards and
spell books.
Thick incense obscures eagershoppers and visiting tourists.
In the bustle, a small bookcaptures your attention the
Witches Salem 1692.
(01:26):
The story contained within itspages began not in the bustling
modern town of Salem with itsshops and attractions, but miles
inland, in the small house of apastor.
The first accusations ofwitchcraft are made inside its
walls, stoking the fire ofcommunal hysteria, religious
(01:46):
zealotry and, ultimately, theconviction and execution of 20
individuals.
We visit the Dark StoneFoundation.
Far from the attractions ofSalem, we're currently standing
at the center of the villageparsonage just outside of Salem
modern Salem.
(02:06):
And what's wild is this is sohard to find.
To find the now called villageparsonage, you must actively
look for it.
The remains of the one-roombuilding lie tucked between
quaint residential houses inDanvers, massachusetts, formerly
known as Salem Village.
(02:27):
The road leading to the firstaccusation made within the
parsonage walls is long andrequires context.
For witchcraft, which is athing grown very common among us
, I know it to be the mostabominable sin and I have been
occupied these three quarters ofthe year for sifting out them
(02:47):
that are guilty herein.
King James VI of Scotland, 1591.
Going back as far as the 14thcentury, the concept of
witchcraft was commonplaceacross Europe.
The belief was that a person,commonly but not exclusively
female, would make a diabolicalpact with the devil.
(03:09):
The witch would then be able tounleash woes, channeling their
newfound evil powers upon peopleof their choosing.
Persecutions of these witchessurfaced in waves at different
times in different places theValalleus Trials in France and
Switzerland in 1428, the TrierTrials in 1580s, germany, and
(03:31):
eventually reaching London withthe Pendel Hill Trials in 1612
and beyond.
But interestingly, what wasaccepted for centuries back in
Europe was already fading fromthe public consciousness by 1690
.
The events of Salem then seemedto be the last labored breaths
of a tradition of persecutiongoing back centuries.
(03:53):
The hysteria at Salem and theviolence it brings can only be
understood by gaining a betterunderstanding of the community
that brought it about, of thecommunity that brought it about.
To me, there is nothing morefraught with mystery and terror
than a remote Massachusettsfarmhouse against a lonely hill.
Where else could an outbreaklike the Salem Witchcraft have
(04:16):
occurred?
Hp Lovecraft.
Salem Town was part of theoriginal Massachusetts Bay
Colony, which was established in1620.
As population increased,settlers moved west to farm the
less occupied but rough androcky New England soil.
In 1638, a group of farmerssettled in the Danvers Highlands
(04:37):
in what was first known asSalem Farms and later as Salem
Village.
This village, which was locatedabout five miles inland from
Salem Town at the coast, grew tobecome a relatively reclusive
community of some 500 by 1690.
And, as is common in smallcommunities, everyone in Salem
(05:00):
Village knows each other in somecapacity.
What is also commonspecifically in this time, in
this particular place, peoplestick to their own.
They're prone towards suspicionof others and ultimately will
do what it takes to survive.
With the onset of King William'sWar in 1689, a conflict in the
(05:22):
regions of upstate New York,quebec and Nova Scotia, the
movement of refugees southwards,including Salem Village,
disrupted the already delicatebalance of the community.
The growing population strainedan already tense economic
situation and provoked analready deeply paranoid people.
(05:43):
Paranoid people, limitedresources, growing population,
strong puritanical traditions,including the belief that God
and the devil tangibly affectthe world, and what amounted to
a theocratical judicial system.
What could go wrong?
I am not some preaching farmerwith a book under my arm.
(06:05):
I am a graduate of HarvardCollege, samuel Parris.
All right, let me describe whatI see.
The foundation is a collectionof dark rocks in the shape of
kind of a small rectangle.
I'm six feet tall, so lyingdown I'd probably take up a
large amount of the availablespace.
(06:26):
On either side of the rectanglethere is what?
Six people living here at thetime man.
There's also a stone staircaseleading into what amounts to be
a hole, so not much physically.
This site is kind of surroundedby suburban houses.
It literally could besomebody's backyard.
(06:48):
When I stopped to think aboutthe legacy of this place, the
pain it ended up causing people,the eventual impact it had on
all of our collectiveimagination.
That's what makes it one of themost interesting sites in and
around Salem.
In my experience, salem Villagefilters through parishioners
(07:11):
faster than most.
Some blame tensions within thecommunity, others credit the
location itself as beingundesirable.
Regardless, reverend SamuelParris enters Salem Village in
1689 after a slew ofshort-lasting parishioners, and
Parris was, by most accounts, agreedy and stubborn man, not
(07:35):
entirely respectable qualities.
When entering the social powderkeg of Salem Village, paris
combined evangelical enthusiasmand structural rigidity which
widened the already substantialdivides within the Salem Village
community.
Upon arriving, reverend Parisessentially made it harder to
become a full member of thechurch, which did two things.
(07:58):
One, it elevated the status forfull members of the church who,
by extension, supported Parisand his policies Because,
remember, this is a communitydeeply entrenched in rigid
Christian theology, unlikeBoston or more mercantile
communities, and to be respectedin the church was to be
(08:19):
respected in the village.
Secondly, previous full membersdissented and then found allies
among non-members whoconstituted a large amount and
influential portion of the Salemvillage community.
Within two years of Paris'sarrival, the conditions were
perfect for conflict and, asfate would have it, the source
(08:41):
of evil would arise not from thehouse of partial members or
deserters, but from the house ofthe reverend himself.
It's wild to think everybodyknows about the Salem witch
trial Few, including me, beforeI did research, knew what or who
really caused it, and theperson living inside of this
(09:03):
house was a big part of that.
And to walk where he walked,where he lived, is truly
remarkable.
And in the fact that everythingstems back to what happened,
feet around where I'm standingright now, many within Salem
(09:25):
Village came to believe that theincreased conflict was the work
of the devil.
This would be proven true intheir minds when, in January
1962, reverend Parrish'sdaughter Elizabeth, age nine,
and his niece, abigail Williams,age 11, start to have episodes
(09:45):
Without warning.
They would scream, producesounds and contort their bodies
in strange, seemingly impossiblepositions.
Soon after, another girl, annPutnam Jr, age 12, exhibited
similar behavior.
After some time, when noimprovements are shown, the
girls are taken to a doctor who,seeing no physical reason for
(10:06):
these episodes, cite thesupernatural as the main cause
of their conditions.
Witchcraft is here in SalemVillage.
This leads to the mostconsequential baking of a cake
in history baking of a cake.
In history.
Concerned by the diagnosis ofthe supernatural, likely
(10:27):
witchcraft, mary Sibley, aneighbor of Reverend Parris,
recommends the baking of a witchcake.
Basically, in what is awell-known folk practice in
English culture at the time, awitch cake is a cake or biscuit
that is made with rye flour andthe urine of the afflicted
person, namely one of the girls.
The cake was then naturally fedto a dog.
(10:52):
If the dog exhibits the samesymptoms as the ill person, the
presence of witchcraft is proven.
The dog is then expected topoint out the witch or witches
that are practicing their evilcrafts.
The baking of the witch cake inthis case predictably reveals
nothing, but ironically, it isin the baking of this witch cake
(11:15):
meant to help the problem wherethe seeds of paranoia are
deeply planted.
Reverend Parris denounces thebaking of the cake loudly to his
congregation, perhaps in a bidto steer suspicion away from
himself and his household wherethe cake was baked in the first
place.
This only fueled communalsuspicion within Salem Village.
(11:40):
It was Tituba, an enslavedBarbados woman to the Paris
family, that actually baked thewitch cake and fed it to the dog
that lived within Paris'household, to dire consequences,
sadly, for in the growingwitchcraft hysteria brought
about by the baking of thiswitch cake inside the Paris
(12:03):
household, the three afflictedgirls make the first of many
accusations Two locals, sarahGood and Sarah Osborne, and the
unfortunate Tituba.
I also think about just howpowerless people must have felt,
thinking that they could benext, and as I kept looking into
(12:29):
who was accused.
As is kind of so often inhistory, it's usually the people
at the fringes of society thatfall first and just deeply feel
for all of those who caught upin the middle of this.
(12:50):
The first three to be accusedare not the first to face the
gallows.
The cracks in Salem society arebeginning to show themselves.
Bridget Bishop, on her thirdhusband, unliked largely by the
community and more outspokenthan is desirable for women of
the time, was an easy firsttarget.
(13:12):
Rumors start to spread that sheis the one responsible for the
deaths of her first two husbands.
Others claim that small itemsgo missing when Bishop is around
.
All in all, she did not fit inthe rigorous social structure
enforced in Salem Village.
She was brought to trial onJune 2nd, convicted of
(13:34):
witchcraft and sentenced todeath by hanging.
Bridget Bishop is the first tobe executed in the summer of
1692, but she would not be thelast.
The paranoia is just starting.
A small stone foundation restsin silence.
(13:56):
Cars pass nearby in the gloomygray light.
I walk to the rocky center ofthe structure.
A somber feeling washes over mein the quiet.
This is the real Salem, I thinkto myself.
A dark cloud gathers over SalemVillage.
(14:33):
The hanging of Bridget Bishop,the first of what would be many
victims of the trials, onlydeepened the tensions within the
community.
All right, I'm going to sit downa bit.
I'm about five feet from thevillage Parsonage, just sitting
on the grass which is slightlyovergrown.
(14:57):
The dark stones and thelocation as a whole is kind of
in total contrast of thesurrounding suburban houses and
the busy roads.
I don't know.
As I started to pack up my gear, I thought of a question that I
think is worth exploring.
If the first accusations werenever made, if Reverend Paris
(15:17):
didn't break the already fragilesocial contract that Salem
Village had, if the communityliked each other, if they were
more cohesive, could death havebeen avoided at all?
Or was everything already inplace for something like the
trials to occur?
Were the trials themselvesinevitable?
(15:41):
If a man or woman be a witch,that is hath consulteth with a
familiar spirit, they shall beput to death.
The 1641 Body of Liberties, thefirst legal code established in
New England.
Just what did the legal systemin 1692 Salem look like?
(16:03):
More specifically, once anaccusation of witchcraft was
made, how was due justicecarried out In practice?
Few witches were actuallyexecuted in colonial America
prior to the witch trials,because clear and convincing
proof of a crime, including thatof witchcraft, was needed for a
conviction.
(16:23):
However, in addition to growingtensions between neighbors, a
strict, puritan-influencedsocial structure strengthened by
Reverend Paris, and an influxof witchcraft accusations led by
the so-called afflicted, thosetargeted and tormented by the
witches, the trials followed atemporary suspension of the
(16:44):
Massachusetts colony charter dueto political tensions with
England at the time.
So laws that would haveprovided necessary due process
were now argued over and deeplyuncertain.
To provide clarity during thislapse in order, governor William
Phipps established the Court ofOyer and Terminer, which would
(17:08):
preside over the growingwitchcraft accusations
throughout the colony Withoutthe strict system of law and
order in place under theprevious charter.
This court would rely uponthree kinds of evidence
Confessions by the accused,innocent or guilty.
Testimony by eyewitnesses toany act of witchcraft.
(17:30):
Most controversially, the courtaccepted the use of spectral
evidence.
I saw the apparition of SarahGood, who did most grievously
afflict me by pinching andpricking me, and so she
continued hurting me till thefirst day of March, sarah Good
being accused of spectralattacks by Elizabeth Hubbard.
(17:55):
Spectral evidence at its core isassertion without physical
evidence.
It is evidence based on visions, hallucinations, dreams of the
accused witch's specter orspirit.
It is essentially a testimonyabout what the accused person's
spirit did, rather than theactions of the accused person
(18:18):
physically.
With the help of the devil, inorder to torment their chosen
victims, witches were thought toproject these apparitions at
will and punch, pinch, bite,choke and otherwise harass their
chosen enemies.
The court would then usewitness testimony the spectral
(18:40):
evidence, to support awitchcraft conviction and,
tragically, spectral evidencewas used widely and deliberately
.
By the end of the trials, 156were indicted for witchcraft
directly following reports ofspectral attacks, some of which
would happen during the actualcourt proceedings.
(19:02):
The accuser would wail andcomplain of this ghostly
harassment, unseen by everyoneelse Invisible, yes, unprovable,
most definitely Admissible incourt, irrefutably.
Just how fast systems cancollapse in a society is
(19:23):
something that I findfascinating.
You know, even with all thecontext, the growing resentments
in the community, theintroduction of Reverend Paris,
the refugees coming south intoSalem Village, dwindling
resources all of it stilldoesn't really explain how an
otherwise relatively reasonablegroup of people support the use
(19:49):
of spectral evidence.
You know, imagine you'resitting in court.
You're accused of maybepunching someone in the face,
not because you actuallycommitted the offense, but
because that person accuses yourspirit of doing so.
Then you're found guilty withno physical evidence and
(20:10):
everyone just accepts this asthe norm.
It's just overlooking anysemblance of due process, even
by the standards of the time.
So my question now is how doesit go from several accusations
made in the spot right in frontof me to ghosts, punching
(20:32):
accusers, mid-trial and everyonebelieving it?
You taxed me for a wizard, yetyou may as well tax me for a
buzzard.
I have done no harm.
George Jacobs Sr.
Accused and executed forwitchcraft.
No harm, george Jacobs Sr.
Accused and executed forwitchcraft.
When accused, after receiving awarrant for your arrest,
multiple intrusive examinationsand testimonies, you would then
(20:56):
be taken to the Salem Courthouseto stand before the court of
Oyer Interminer.
Ironically, though, if youconfessed to witchcraft before
the court, you often were spareda hard sentence owing to the
Puritan belief that they wouldreceive their due punishment by
God.
It was those who insisted upontheir innocence that often met
(21:18):
the gallows.
But what of those who refusedeither option?
More weight, more weight.
These are the reported words ofGiles Corey, who was slowly
crushed to death over the courseof three days.
After refusing to pleadinnocent or guilty for
witchcraft, giles was forced tostrip naked by officials while
(21:40):
stone weights were slowly addedto a board atop his faltering
body.
He wanted death to come quickly, but that would not be the case
.
I am no more a witch than youare a wizard, and if you take
away my life, god will give youblood to drink.
The words of Sarah Good, whowas quickly convicted and sent
(22:02):
to the gallows after severalafflicted girls claimed could
specter attacked, she was hungalongside an elderly
church-going grandmother namedRebecca Nurse.
I would rather die than confessa falsehood so filthy.
The last words of MarthaCarrier, convicted after her
(22:25):
teenage sons were tortured intoconfessing for witchcraft
implicating their mother.
John Proctor, featured inArthur Miller's the Crucible and
Reverend.
George Burroughs, suspected tobe the ringleader of the Salem
witches, were executed on thesame day.
All the stories told about thetrials, people confessing,
(22:49):
proclaiming innocence, turningon neighbors, turning on friends
or just even refusing to takeplace in the trials at all.
They all kind of seemoutlandish and insane, frankly,
especially if you ignore context, the reasons behind everything.
The witch trials enjoynear-mythical status in the
(23:15):
American consciousness.
But what actually caused thetrials in Salem 400 years ago?
Three prominent theories areoften brought up.
Theory number one cold weather.
This theory asserts that mosthistorical witchcraft trials
coincide with a 400-year periodof lower-than-average
(23:38):
temperatures, known byclimatologists as the Little Ice
Age.
The year of the trials happenedto fall in the middle of a
particularly cold 50-year spellfrom 1680 to 1730.
In the midst of such stunningweather patterns, which led to
crop failure and colder seasyielding less fish, people start
(24:02):
to look for scapegoats, reasonsfor their misfortune.
Who was thought to have theability to control weather and
destroy crops?
Witches.
The second theory Simple boredom.
This is a time and place thatrestricted almost all forms of
(24:24):
play for children.
You were expected to do yourchores, study the Bible and
otherwise, do as you're told andbe quiet.
Any child facing such a scenewould look for other outlets to
escape the monotony.
Betty Parris and AbigailWilliams, two of the very first
to be afflicted, becameinterested in fortune-telling
(24:47):
introduced to them by theaforementioned Tituba, the Paris
family slave.
It may be that theirinvolvement in such forbidden
activities, as well as thecoinciding guilt for
participating in them, that mayhave contributed to their
strange behavior and theaccusations that followed.
(25:08):
Finally, perhaps the mostpervasive theory of all, the
ergot or moldy bread theory.
Ergot is a fungus that grows ongrain, especially rye.
It produces neurotoxins thatremain in the bread that you
make from the infected grainwhen ingested.
Ergot poisoning leads toconvulsions, vomiting, prickling
(25:31):
sensations under your skin andvivid hallucinations, all
symptoms associated with theafflicted.
The theory maintains that thoseafflicted, as well as a
substantial portion of thecommunity, ingested the
contaminated grain, which wouldexplain the sudden shift into
communal hysteria.
(25:51):
According to this theory, theabrupt end of the witch trials
happened quite simply becauseSalem ran out of the
contaminated grain.
However, this is the onlytheory I'll push against.
To start, entire families wouldhave to have eaten the same
infected source of rye.
In turn, everyone would havebeen susceptible to the effects
of the poisoning, would havebeen susceptible to the effects
(26:14):
of the poisoning.
In the Paris household, forexample, a house with four
adults and four children, onlytwo became sick and showed
symptoms associated with ergotpoisoning.
Secondly, afflictions andaccusations were spread well
beyond Salem Village and town.
In fact, the highest rate ofaccusations and afflictions
(26:36):
occurred 20 miles northwest ofSalem.
Throughout this wide area,afflictions were sporadic and
spread far beyond singularlocations where infected grain
would have been stored andingested.
Lastly, cases of outrightfakery existed.
An afflicted witness claimed tosee a specter but later
(26:59):
admitted she did it for sport.
This is by no means an isolatedcase.
Still the Urgot theorycontinues in prevalence and in
some cases is included in schoolcurriculums as an explanation
for the Salem Witch Trials.
(27:20):
It's easy to sit here by theparsonage some 400 years later
and condemn all these stories,the trials, everything as a
foregone era of superstition.
But the more I look into thecauses, the context and the more
(27:43):
I consider human nature, youknow the need for safety, for
acknowledgement, for standing inthe community.
The less strange this storybecomes, you know, the more
familiar everything feels.
The General Court ofMassachusetts declares its
(28:05):
belief that such proceedings,even if lawful under the
province charter and the law ofMassachusetts as it was then,
were and are shocking and theresult of a wave of popular
hysteria, fear of the devil inthe community.
The formal apology ofMassachusetts, made in 1957.
(28:26):
The trials came to an end afterGovernor William Phipps' own
wife was accused of witchcraft.
He promptly orders the court ofOyer and Terminer to disband
and replaces it with another,more reasonable court, which
forbid the use of spectralevidence in court, all but
(28:46):
ending the tide of accusations,executions and hysteria.
No further executions tookplace after September 22nd, just
over three months after thehanging of the hysteria's first
victim.
In the end, 19 victims werehanged near Gallows Hill, one
(29:07):
crushed to death, four died injail awaiting trial, and more
than 200 were accused For what?
And more than 200 were accusedFor what?
Although it's tempting toattribute just one cause to the
Salem Witch Trials, the realityis its implications are much
(29:28):
more complex.
What happened in Salem Villagein 1692 is both strange and
familiar, ridiculous andunderstandable, outlandish and
conventional.
More than anything, the storyof the trials, with its showings
of fear, courage, cruelty,unpredictability, showcase the
(29:49):
deepest parts of human nature inus all.
Dark clouds linger above theruins of the parsonage.
Its heavy stone foundation,ingrained in the ground itself,
starts to glisten under thestarting rain.
Despite the passing carssurrounding houses, new
buildings and a nearby swing set, the location emanates a legacy
(30:14):
that still echoes miles southin the busy shops, museums and
bars of Salem.
It's Noah.
Here again, noodles, and Iappreciate every single minute
(30:36):
you spend listening to this showGenuinely.
It means the world to us If youfind value in the show and
continue to find value.
Rating and reviewing is thebest way to help us continue to
put the amount of work we'd liketo into the show.
Stay tuned later this week forspooky content as we explore a
famous cursed object in acemetery in iowa city.
(31:00):
Be good to each other.
Where to next.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Intentionally Disturbing
Join me on this podcast as I navigate the murky waters of human behavior, current events, and personal anecdotes through in-depth interviews with incredible people—all served with a generous helping of sarcasm and satire. After years as a forensic and clinical psychologist, I offer a unique interview style and a low tolerance for bullshit, quickly steering conversations toward depth and darkness. I honor the seriousness while also appreciating wit. I’m your guide through the twisted labyrinth of the human psyche, armed with dark humor and biting wit.