You've heard the theory: ergot-poisoned rye bread caused hallucinations that sparked the Salem witch trials. It sounds so logical, so scientific, so... wrong.
When the afflicted girl Elizabeth Hubbard accused alleged witch Sarah Good of witchcraft through spectral torture - pinching, pricking, and demanding she sign the devil's book - was she describing a fungal poisoning? Or something far more complex?
Join Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack as they finally address one of the most popular silver bullet "explanations" for the Salem Witch Trials. They'll show you why this tidy medical explanation crumbles: convulsive ergotism is actually a syndrome with a constellation of symptoms and variables.
This episode will sharpen your critical thinking. The ergot theory's problems show us how easily we can be drawn to explanations that sound scientific but don't actually fit the evidence and why we need to dig deeper than the theories that simply make us feel better about difficult history.
Linnda R. Caporael, “Ergotism: The Satan Loosed in Salem?”
Nicholas P. Spanos and Jack Gottlieb Rebuttal, “Ergotism and the Salem Village Witch Trials”
Mary K. Matossian, "Views: Ergot and the Salem Witchcraft Affair "
Nicholas P. Spanos, “Ergotism and the Salem Witch Panic”
Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project
Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt:
The Thing About Salem YouTube
The Thing About Salem Patreon
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