August 31, 2025 • 14 mins
What happens when your only defense against a death sentence is a handwritten letter? In 1692 Salem, petitions became lifelines for the accused, their families, and entire communities caught in the witch trial hysteria.
In this episode, we explore:
Mary Esty's remarkable final petition that prioritized saving others over herself
The creative legal strategies colonists used to challenge "spectral evidence"
How torture was used to extract confessions (and documented in writing)
The economic reality of having family members imprisoned for witchcraft
Community petitions that reveal the social chaos engulfing entire towns
Why some people recanted their confessions—and what that tells us about coercion
From character witness statements to desperate pleas from prison, these historical documents reveal the human cost of mass hysteria and the courage it took to speak truth to power with nothing but ink and parchment.
Plus: The meaningful modern connection—how middle schoolers in 2022 successfully petitioned to clear a victim's name, and why there's still a bill before Massachusetts legislature today.
Perfect for history buffs, true crime fans, and anyone fascinated by how ordinary people navigate extraordinary circumstances.
Keywords: Salem witch trials, historical petitions, spectral evidence, Mary Esty, colonial justice system, Massachusetts history
Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project
Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt
The Thing About Salem YouTube
The Thing About Salem Patreon
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I petition your honors not for my own life, for I know I must
die, and my point in time is set.
But the Lord He knows it is thatif it be possible, no more
innocent blood may be shed, which undoubtedly cannot be
avoided in the way. And course you go in.
I question not, but your honors does to the utmost of your
(00:23):
powers in the discovery and detecting of witchcraft and
witches, and would not be guiltyof innocent blood for the world.
But by my own innocency I know you are in the wrong way.
The Lord in His infinite mercy direct you in this great work.
If it be his blessed will that no more innocent blood be shed.
(00:44):
Those powerful words came from apetition written by Mary Este.
Welcome to the thing about Salem.
I'm Josh Hutchinson. And I'm Sarah Jack.
During the Salem Witch Trials, dozens of petitions were
submitted that still exists today in records of the Salem
Witch Hunt for all of us to read.
(01:06):
In this place and time, a petition was one of the few ways
an accused person could defend themself.
The first known petition of the Salem Witch Trials was submitted
on an unknown date between March23rd and May 14th, testifying to
the innocence of Rebecca Nurse. And then weeks passed before the
(01:28):
next petition appeared at the end of June.
June 25th. In all, only 7 still existing
petitions were submitted throughAugust of 1692.
By the time we get to September 1692, there are 6 more petitions
and more through fall and winteras people felt like they needed
(01:49):
to use their voices to advocate.And the last petition that we
have in records of the Salem Witch Hunt was dated March 28th,
1750. And here's a very recent date.
On January 16th, 2025, Representatives Steven Owens
submitted House Bill 1927, whichcontains A provision to take
(02:13):
away the disgrace from all accused of witchcraft across
Massachusetts, including at Salem.
And that was in response to a petition which you can sign at
change.org/witchtrials. These petitions were variously
sent to the Court of Lawyer and Terminer, the General Court
(02:35):
Ministers or Governor Phipps. And the petitioners asked for a
wide variety of things. Some of these petitions were
character witness testimonies. You had multiple petitions
vouching for the good character of accused individuals like
Rebecca Nurse, Mary Bradbury, and John and Elizabeth Proctor.
(02:58):
They emphasize the accused Christian behavior, community
standing and lack of any previous suspicion.
A pair of these character witness petitions were submitted
to support John and Elizabeth Proctor.
The first one was dated August 5th and it was signed by 21
neighbors who said that they hadnever heard of any accusations
(03:22):
of witchcraft against the Proctors and that the Proctors
had lived a good life. And in that second one,
inhabitants of Ipswich, where John was from, the petition was
dated also August 5th. The neighbors say that the devil
may be impersonating the proctors.
If you've listened to our previous episodes, we've
discussed the spectral impersonation that the community
(03:46):
was trying to evaluate. Is this happening?
The petition went on to say God permits Satan to impersonate
innocent people and the temptingof Job and the abuse of Samuel
is evidence of that in the Old Testament.
And the neighbors said that theywere compelled by charity to do
whatever they could to establishthe innocence of their
(04:10):
neighbors, the proctors. They even said there's no
abominable wickedness known of the proctors witchcraft
accusations. You know, it's an abominable
wickedness that people are beingaccused of and the neighbors are
saying no, no, no, that that's not the proctors and they've
only had minor sins like everybody else.
(04:31):
And the proctors, they're totally innocent of witchcraft.
And John was raised among these neighbors in Ipswich by
religious parents. And this petition was signed by
32 men. Another type of petition, we
want to tell you about our procedural challenge petitions.
One of these petitions came froma Baptist minister named William
(04:55):
Milbourne, who submitted this June 25th petition questioning
the validity of the spectral evidence that we've been talking
about. And spectral evidence, again is
where witnesses claimed the accused appeared to them in
dreams or in visions, causing harm to them.
Everyone knew it was impossible to verify if the Spectres were
(05:17):
the accused or the devil. They weren't really worrying
about whether the accused were seeing Spectres.
That wasn't in question. In this petition, William
Melbourne said therefore requests that the validity of
Spectre testimony may be weighedin the balance of your grace and
(05:39):
solid judgments, It being the womb that hath brought forth
inextricable damage and misery to this province.
This act of public dissent landed him in jail.
So this petition really represents an early example of
legal religious criticism of witch trial evidence procedures
(05:59):
in Massachusetts Bay Colony at the end of the 17th century.
And a number of the petitions were personal pleas written
while the accused were in prison.
One of these was a petition thatAnne Putiater wrote challenging
the false testimony against her.Anne Putiater contested the
(06:22):
credibility and accuracy of witness statements, and she did
argue that accusers have provided inconsistent or
fabricated testimony, which we've all read and talked about.
Anne was first accused as a witch on May 12th, 1692 and
(06:42):
sadly she was executed September22nd along with Mary Estee and
six others. This petition represents an
attempt to counter the accusations through legal
challenge rather than confession.
Another major form of petition was the Family advocacy
petition, which was very prominent in the fall and winter
(07:08):
of 1692. You had multiple petitions come
in from husbands, children, parents seeking the release of
family members from terrible jail conditions.
On October 12th there was a petition of John Osgood, senior
John Fry, John Marston for theirwives and daughters.
(07:28):
It was signed by 8 men and they say they are distressed by the
distressed conditions of their distressed loved ones.
The triple distress. In the petition, they emphasize
the needs of their loved ones inthe jails.
They need food to stave off starvation, and they need warmth
(07:49):
in the coming winter so they don't freeze to death in these
unheeded jails. This was during a period of high
tax burdens and public debt, andthey were put to great personal
expense to care for their incarcerated family members.
Families had to bring in fresh clothing, straw for bedding,
blankets, better foods than whatthe jails were serving, and they
(08:14):
had to pay the jail fees and some of them struggled to afford
those. The men who wrote this petition,
they asked for their family members, who they described as
being approved as penitent confessors, to be released on
bond and placed in the supervision of their husbands or
(08:35):
fathers until their next court date.
Community petitions are well known, we know the signatures of
the community who signed to support Rebecca Nurses on her
monument at the homestead and also there were community
petitions from Andover and Ipswich.
On October 18th, 1692, a petition was filed by 26 Andover
(09:01):
men concerning townspeople accused of witchcraft.
So these weren't necessarily their own family members, it was
just everybody in their community that they wanted to
speak up about. And so this was signed by both
of the Andover ministers, ThomasBarnard and Francis Dane, as
well as 24 other prominent Andover men.
(09:24):
There were community leaders signing this, people with a lot
of weight. And those 26 men call the
accusers distempered. I think that's worth noting.
Yeah, because they're saying that they're not thinking
clearly and they shouldn't be trusted.
But the men say that while they're not defending any people
(09:47):
who are actually guilty of witchcraft, so they're saying
that witchcraft is real. We acknowledge that, but we're
not defending the people who arereally guilty, but we believe
that these people from Andover have been misrepresented and
that they need speaking up for. They also go on to blame the
(10:10):
devil, like many leaders do during this time, during the
actual trials, and after, when they're in the aftermath of the
trials trying to come to terms with what has happened.
The devil is to blame, and they say in this petition, we know
not who can think himself safe, if the accusations of children
and others who are under a diabolical influence shall be
(10:32):
received against persons of goodfame.
Wow. So the afflicted children and
the other accusers, they're not just distemper, they're
diabolically being manipulated to say these things that they're
saying. In addition to themselves, the
(10:53):
Andover men knew of several honorable and worthy men of
other places whose names were also tarnished by accusations of
afflicted people in Andover. And so they asked the court to
consider their low and distressed estate.
Pardon, request petitions. It's interesting that we would
(11:14):
call them that sense here in theUS when we're seeking to clear
names of the accused now in 2025, we're not seeking A
pardon, we're seeking an exoneration.
But these were pardon requests. Abigail Faulkner and Rebecca
Eames. They were seeking pardons.
Eames explicitly recanted her forced confession.
(11:38):
In December, 4 months after her arrest, Faulkner petitioned the
governor, pleading for clemency.She explained that her husband
was an invalid and though his condition had been stable, her
arrest caused him to suffer a relapse, leaving her children
with no caretaker and quote little or nothing to subsist on.
He granted her request. The release her name was not
(12:01):
cleared at that time, so she kept petitioning the court and
in 17 O 3A bill reversing the attainters of Abigail Faulkner,
Elizabeth Proctor and Sarah Wordwell was passed by the
Massachusetts General Court. This cleared their names.
It reversed and nullified the charges against them.
(12:22):
And those were three women who were convicted, who could have
been hanged if the hanging hadn't stopped.
A 1511 bill for reversals of attainder cleared another 21
people who had been convicted ofwitchcraft.
And it cleared Abigail Faulkner a second time.
Yeah, she got double covered, soshe's extra clear.
(12:44):
And families and survivors petitioned for restitution
payments in the year 17 O 9 through 1711.
Many received meager financial payouts in 1712.
As mentioned earlier, families of those accused of witchcraft
continued to fight for reparations as late as 1750.
(13:04):
Reverend George Burroughs and Phillip English's families were
particularly active during that period.
And the petition story isn't over just yet.
Coming to the 20th century, in the 1950s, a petitioner asked
the Massachusetts General Court to reverse the attainder of Ann
Pudiator and the legislature granted.
(13:27):
This petition included Ann Pudiator and quote certain other
persons which were not named. Then, in response to a 2001
petition, the General Court cleared the names of Bridget
Bishop, Susanna Martin, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott and
(13:47):
Wilmont Red. And three years ago, 2022, the
legislature cleared Elizabeth Johnson Junior, who was the last
of those convicted in Salem. To be clear, this followed A
petition and letter writing campaign by middle school
students from North Andover, MA.And a bill is under
(14:10):
consideration by the Legislatureright now to clear the names of
all accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts.
Ever. Like the eight who were
convicted in Boston, who have never had their names cleared.
So again, go to change.org/witchTrials to show your support by
signing the petition. Come have more fun with us on
(14:32):
Patreon. Go to patreon.com/about Salem
and join in the chat about this episode and our other shows that
we've done so far.
I petition your honors not for my own life, for I know I must
die, and my point in time is set.
But the Lord He knows it is thatif it be possible, no more
innocent blood may be shed, which undoubtedly cannot be
avoided in the way. And course you go in.
I question not, but your honors does to the utmost of your
(00:23):
powers in the discovery and detecting of witchcraft and
witches, and would not be guiltyof innocent blood for the world.
But by my own innocency I know you are in the wrong way.
The Lord in His infinite mercy direct you in this great work.
If it be his blessed will that no more innocent blood be shed.
(00:44):
Those powerful words came from apetition written by Mary Este.
Welcome to the thing about Salem.
I'm Josh Hutchinson. And I'm Sarah Jack.
During the Salem Witch Trials, dozens of petitions were
submitted that still exists today in records of the Salem
Witch Hunt for all of us to read.
(01:06):
In this place and time, a petition was one of the few ways
an accused person could defend themself.
The first known petition of the Salem Witch Trials was submitted
on an unknown date between March23rd and May 14th, testifying to
the innocence of Rebecca Nurse. And then weeks passed before the
(01:28):
next petition appeared at the end of June.
June 25th. In all, only 7 still existing
petitions were submitted throughAugust of 1692.
By the time we get to September 1692, there are 6 more petitions
and more through fall and winteras people felt like they needed
(01:49):
to use their voices to advocate.And the last petition that we
have in records of the Salem Witch Hunt was dated March 28th,
1750. And here's a very recent date.
On January 16th, 2025, Representatives Steven Owens
submitted House Bill 1927, whichcontains A provision to take
(02:13):
away the disgrace from all accused of witchcraft across
Massachusetts, including at Salem.
And that was in response to a petition which you can sign at
change.org/witchtrials. These petitions were variously
sent to the Court of Lawyer and Terminer, the General Court
(02:35):
Ministers or Governor Phipps. And the petitioners asked for a
wide variety of things. Some of these petitions were
character witness testimonies. You had multiple petitions
vouching for the good character of accused individuals like
Rebecca Nurse, Mary Bradbury, and John and Elizabeth Proctor.
(02:58):
They emphasize the accused Christian behavior, community
standing and lack of any previous suspicion.
A pair of these character witness petitions were submitted
to support John and Elizabeth Proctor.
The first one was dated August 5th and it was signed by 21
neighbors who said that they hadnever heard of any accusations
(03:22):
of witchcraft against the Proctors and that the Proctors
had lived a good life. And in that second one,
inhabitants of Ipswich, where John was from, the petition was
dated also August 5th. The neighbors say that the devil
may be impersonating the proctors.
If you've listened to our previous episodes, we've
discussed the spectral impersonation that the community
(03:46):
was trying to evaluate. Is this happening?
The petition went on to say God permits Satan to impersonate
innocent people and the temptingof Job and the abuse of Samuel
is evidence of that in the Old Testament.
And the neighbors said that theywere compelled by charity to do
whatever they could to establishthe innocence of their
(04:10):
neighbors, the proctors. They even said there's no
abominable wickedness known of the proctors witchcraft
accusations. You know, it's an abominable
wickedness that people are beingaccused of and the neighbors are
saying no, no, no, that that's not the proctors and they've
only had minor sins like everybody else.
(04:31):
And the proctors, they're totally innocent of witchcraft.
And John was raised among these neighbors in Ipswich by
religious parents. And this petition was signed by
32 men. Another type of petition, we
want to tell you about our procedural challenge petitions.
One of these petitions came froma Baptist minister named William
(04:55):
Milbourne, who submitted this June 25th petition questioning
the validity of the spectral evidence that we've been talking
about. And spectral evidence, again is
where witnesses claimed the accused appeared to them in
dreams or in visions, causing harm to them.
Everyone knew it was impossible to verify if the Spectres were
(05:17):
the accused or the devil. They weren't really worrying
about whether the accused were seeing Spectres.
That wasn't in question. In this petition, William
Melbourne said therefore requests that the validity of
Spectre testimony may be weighedin the balance of your grace and
(05:39):
solid judgments, It being the womb that hath brought forth
inextricable damage and misery to this province.
This act of public dissent landed him in jail.
So this petition really represents an early example of
legal religious criticism of witch trial evidence procedures
(05:59):
in Massachusetts Bay Colony at the end of the 17th century.
And a number of the petitions were personal pleas written
while the accused were in prison.
One of these was a petition thatAnne Putiater wrote challenging
the false testimony against her.Anne Putiater contested the
(06:22):
credibility and accuracy of witness statements, and she did
argue that accusers have provided inconsistent or
fabricated testimony, which we've all read and talked about.
Anne was first accused as a witch on May 12th, 1692 and
(06:42):
sadly she was executed September22nd along with Mary Estee and
six others. This petition represents an
attempt to counter the accusations through legal
challenge rather than confession.
Another major form of petition was the Family advocacy
petition, which was very prominent in the fall and winter
(07:08):
of 1692. You had multiple petitions come
in from husbands, children, parents seeking the release of
family members from terrible jail conditions.
On October 12th there was a petition of John Osgood, senior
John Fry, John Marston for theirwives and daughters.
(07:28):
It was signed by 8 men and they say they are distressed by the
distressed conditions of their distressed loved ones.
The triple distress. In the petition, they emphasize
the needs of their loved ones inthe jails.
They need food to stave off starvation, and they need warmth
(07:49):
in the coming winter so they don't freeze to death in these
unheeded jails. This was during a period of high
tax burdens and public debt, andthey were put to great personal
expense to care for their incarcerated family members.
Families had to bring in fresh clothing, straw for bedding,
blankets, better foods than whatthe jails were serving, and they
(08:14):
had to pay the jail fees and some of them struggled to afford
those. The men who wrote this petition,
they asked for their family members, who they described as
being approved as penitent confessors, to be released on
bond and placed in the supervision of their husbands or
(08:35):
fathers until their next court date.
Community petitions are well known, we know the signatures of
the community who signed to support Rebecca Nurses on her
monument at the homestead and also there were community
petitions from Andover and Ipswich.
On October 18th, 1692, a petition was filed by 26 Andover
(09:01):
men concerning townspeople accused of witchcraft.
So these weren't necessarily their own family members, it was
just everybody in their community that they wanted to
speak up about. And so this was signed by both
of the Andover ministers, ThomasBarnard and Francis Dane, as
well as 24 other prominent Andover men.
(09:24):
There were community leaders signing this, people with a lot
of weight. And those 26 men call the
accusers distempered. I think that's worth noting.
Yeah, because they're saying that they're not thinking
clearly and they shouldn't be trusted.
But the men say that while they're not defending any people
(09:47):
who are actually guilty of witchcraft, so they're saying
that witchcraft is real. We acknowledge that, but we're
not defending the people who arereally guilty, but we believe
that these people from Andover have been misrepresented and
that they need speaking up for. They also go on to blame the
(10:10):
devil, like many leaders do during this time, during the
actual trials, and after, when they're in the aftermath of the
trials trying to come to terms with what has happened.
The devil is to blame, and they say in this petition, we know
not who can think himself safe, if the accusations of children
and others who are under a diabolical influence shall be
(10:32):
received against persons of goodfame.
Wow. So the afflicted children and
the other accusers, they're not just distemper, they're
diabolically being manipulated to say these things that they're
saying. In addition to themselves, the
(10:53):
Andover men knew of several honorable and worthy men of
other places whose names were also tarnished by accusations of
afflicted people in Andover. And so they asked the court to
consider their low and distressed estate.
Pardon, request petitions. It's interesting that we would
(11:14):
call them that sense here in theUS when we're seeking to clear
names of the accused now in 2025, we're not seeking A
pardon, we're seeking an exoneration.
But these were pardon requests. Abigail Faulkner and Rebecca
Eames. They were seeking pardons.
Eames explicitly recanted her forced confession.
(11:38):
In December, 4 months after her arrest, Faulkner petitioned the
governor, pleading for clemency.She explained that her husband
was an invalid and though his condition had been stable, her
arrest caused him to suffer a relapse, leaving her children
with no caretaker and quote little or nothing to subsist on.
He granted her request. The release her name was not
(12:01):
cleared at that time, so she kept petitioning the court and
in 17 O 3A bill reversing the attainters of Abigail Faulkner,
Elizabeth Proctor and Sarah Wordwell was passed by the
Massachusetts General Court. This cleared their names.
It reversed and nullified the charges against them.
(12:22):
And those were three women who were convicted, who could have
been hanged if the hanging hadn't stopped.
A 1511 bill for reversals of attainder cleared another 21
people who had been convicted ofwitchcraft.
And it cleared Abigail Faulkner a second time.
Yeah, she got double covered, soshe's extra clear.
(12:44):
And families and survivors petitioned for restitution
payments in the year 17 O 9 through 1711.
Many received meager financial payouts in 1712.
As mentioned earlier, families of those accused of witchcraft
continued to fight for reparations as late as 1750.
(13:04):
Reverend George Burroughs and Phillip English's families were
particularly active during that period.
And the petition story isn't over just yet.
Coming to the 20th century, in the 1950s, a petitioner asked
the Massachusetts General Court to reverse the attainder of Ann
Pudiator and the legislature granted.
(13:27):
This petition included Ann Pudiator and quote certain other
persons which were not named. Then, in response to a 2001
petition, the General Court cleared the names of Bridget
Bishop, Susanna Martin, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott and
(13:47):
Wilmont Red. And three years ago, 2022, the
legislature cleared Elizabeth Johnson Junior, who was the last
of those convicted in Salem. To be clear, this followed A
petition and letter writing campaign by middle school
students from North Andover, MA.And a bill is under
(14:10):
consideration by the Legislatureright now to clear the names of
all accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts.
Ever. Like the eight who were
convicted in Boston, who have never had their names cleared.
So again, go to change.org/witchTrials to show your support by
signing the petition. Come have more fun with us on
(14:32):
Patreon. Go to patreon.com/about Salem
and join in the chat about this episode and our other shows that
we've done so far.
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