October 11, 2025 • 14 mins
In this episode of 'The Thing About Salem,' hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack explore the various ways the Salem Witch Trials have been depicted in films and TV shows over the decades. They discuss the historical and fictional elements in productions like 'The Crucible,' 'Maid of Salem,' the 'Bewitched' TV series, and 'Hocus Pocus,' highlighting how these portrayals have shaped and transformed Salem's image in popular culture. The episode also covers works such as 'The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina' and 'Three Sovereigns for Sarah,' emphasizing the ongoing cultural fascination with this dark chapter in American history.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Salem in Pop Culture
01:04 Maid of Salem and The Crucible
02:37 Salem Witch Trials miniseries and Hocus Pocus
05:01 Bewitched and Sabrina the Teenage Witch
10:07 The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and Three Sovereigns for Sarah
13:49 Conclusion: The Legacy of Salem in Pop Culture
Links
The Thing About Salem Patreon
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to The Thing about Salem.
I'm Josh Hutchinson. Today, we're examining how the
Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693 have been reimagined,
reinterpreted, and sometimes completely reinvented by
Hollywood. Hi, I'm Sarah Jack.
From serious historical dramas to Disney comedies to teen
(00:21):
supernatural series, Salem has become shorthand for witchcraft
in American popular culture. But how accurate are these
portrayals, and what do they reveal about her ongoing
fascination with this dark chapter in American history?
We can't cover all of the hundreds and hundreds of pop
culture depictions of Salem in just 15 minutes, so we'll focus
(00:45):
on a selection of films and TV shows that are emblematic of the
treatment Salem has received over the decades.
When did Salem pop culture startand where do we begin our
discussion of it? With the Crucible.
Oh wait, was there something before the Crucible you just
watched? I just watched Made of Salem
(01:07):
from 1937. The Made of Salem.
It's interesting. It features Fred McMurray and
Claudette Colbert, and a lot of us remember Fred from things
like My Three Sons and that one about the dog and that other one
Flubber that he was in. It's interesting.
He's a young leading man in thisone, and Claudette Colbert falls
(01:32):
for him. But then she gets caught up in
this witch trial and it's entirely fictitious, the whole
story. But they do bring in some
elements of truth by actually quoting from the records and
from Cotton Mather's writings about witch trials.
(01:54):
And then, as we mentioned, The Crucible, which is historical
fiction, was really a statement about the political climate in
the United States of the 1950s as much as it was about a witch
hunt. It's timeless lessons in not
jumping to conclusions and pointing fingers at people
(02:16):
without solid evidence. Those kinds of lessons, they
still are good for today, and wecan still get a lot of value out
of the Crucible. Unfortunately, a lot of schools
use the Crucible as a substitutefor the real history lessons.
(02:37):
Jumping all the way to 2003, there was a production called
Salem Witch Trials. It was an American Canadian
miniseries starring Christie Alley and Alan Bates, and the
aim of this production was for historical authenticity while
(02:58):
adding dramatic elements. And it was dramatic.
It is dramatic. Is dramatic, but the story that
it's based off of the Salem witch trials?
Highly dramatic event, I'd have to say.
But Hollywood's relationship with Salem took a much more
playful turn. Enter Disney magic, and one
(03:23):
that's about Salem, or at least that in Salem and features the
Salem Witch Trials is Hocus Pocus, the hilarious Disney romp
featuring Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica
Parker, who is a real Salem Witch Trials descendant of
Esther Elwell of Gloucester. That movie is so hilarious.
(03:48):
I watch it every single year. Can't get enough of it.
Disney released this Salem inspired film but it initially
bombed, possibly losing 16,000,000.
But it has become beloved. In fact, when we started our
podcast, we kicked it off with ahistorical commentary recording
(04:10):
between Josh and I on Hocus Pocus.
We were excited about Hocus Pocus 2 having been released and
so we that's how we celebrated Halloween in 2023 with our
podcast. It was such a wonderful time
with Hocus Pocus 2 coming out. I absolutely love so many fun
things in these movies. But it basically follows this
(04:35):
villainous comedic trio of witches who are inadvertently
resurrected by a teenage boy in Salem on Halloween night when he
lights the black flame candle. And this narrative really
transformed Salem from the tragic historical reputation
(04:57):
into a magical tourist destination.
Now let's talk about television.TV has provided a rich medium
for exploring Salem's witch trial legacy, allowing for
deeper character development andmore complex historical
exploration than a short movie can.
(05:17):
I don't know if you're like me, but I grew up watching Bewitched
and laughing at the antics of Samantha's family.
But they did take on some serious issues and one of them
was the Salem Witch Trials. Season 7 they went and they
filmed 8 episodes in 1970 because the fire had shut down
(05:42):
the Hollywood set. When you're watching those
episodes, you get to see them tour the House of the Seven
Gables and criticize the logo. I love that part when they roll
into town and her mother and herare just like, well, this isn't
going to do. And you are expecting, well,
(06:03):
maybe because in modern times, you know, there could be
criticism to the logo if you're wanting to feel more of the
history aesthetic versus the popculture aesthetic.
But you expect when they change the logo, maybe to take the
witchiness away, but they just made her cuter.
(06:24):
And so in one of the episodes, they actually go back in time to
1692 Salem and have a witch trial.
You think that maybe Samantha's going to get tried, but they
pulled the old switcheroo and it's Darren Stevens on trial for
witchcraft for lighting a match in 1692.
(06:47):
And he also lent A ballpoint pento Samantha, who was a barmaid
at the moment, not realizing whoshe was.
And she offered it to the community.
And they were like, this is a piece of magic.
This is from the devil. So that was fun.
In the actual Salemich trials, we know that they were doing
experiments with magic, basically to test whether
(07:10):
someone was a witch. That's part of the record.
But in this episode, she's like,I'm going to prove I'm a witch.
And her shackles come off, and at one point they disappear.
So she like, I don't know. I just found that ironic.
Yeah, that she proves that Darren's not a witch, but that
(07:32):
she is a witch. So it's a very different take on
a witch trial. The plaintiff in the case takes
the match from Darren that he's already used.
Darren is used and they challenge him to light a fire
with it to show that anybody cando it.
(07:52):
It's not witchcraft. And then that's when she goes
wiggle wiggle on her nose and throws the spell out there and
shoots up a flame from a dead match.
It's really great to recollect those pieces of the Bewitched
(08:13):
stories because when you see herin Salem right now is this
beautiful statue. She would her character would be
thrilled to see that there. It's the right representation of
a witch, according to Samantha. People love to stop and pose for
pictures with it. It's right downtown, very
(08:33):
popular destination, but it was controversial when it was put in
place in 2005. It was interestingly financed by
TV Land cable network and it's located at the corner of
Washington and Essex streets. So next time you go to Salem, be
sure to keep your eye out for that.
(08:54):
And Bewitched isn't the only show that decided to have a
witch trial in Old Salem. In Sabrina the Teenage Witch,
the Sabrina character actually goes on a field trip with her
class and they have a mock witchtrial.
The teacher hands out cards in envelopes to all the students
(09:17):
and says that some of you are going to get a cart that says
witch and the others of you are to determine who is the witch
among you and try them and see if you've got the right person.
So they try Sabrina's friend Jenny and put her through this
(09:40):
real trial. One of the other girls gets real
mean and just starts acting likeshe's an afflicted person in
blaming everything that she's seeing, all these terrible
spectres tormenting her that she's seeing.
She's blaming on Jenny. And then Sabrina steps in to try
to help her friend and she gets caught up in it.
(10:02):
And in the end, I don't know if they learn a lesson or not.
So we definitely need to mentionThe Chilling Adventures of
Sabrina, but we are working on episode completely dedicated to
that story, so we'll just touch on her.
(10:23):
Yeah, The Chilling Adventures ofSabrina is based off of a comic,
just like the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch was based off
of a comic in the archery series.
And so Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, the show follows the
same character who's also in theshow, Riverdale, and they
(10:47):
present a darker, more chilling version of witchcraft and the
powerful evil forces that Sabrina has to contend with.
Like the previous Sabrina, it isa coming up age and the reason
we can enjoy making an episode about it is because there is an
(11:10):
endless amount of tropes just inthat first season that we can
tie back to how we look at the witch and define the witch as a
culture across history. And so the chilling adventures.
It is dark, but so is the actualhistory of Salem and the
previous witch trials. And if you really think about
(11:32):
some of those episode themes, they're not much darker than the
reality. For a more serious portrayal,
which actually brings you the emotions that were really
experienced by the people involved in the actual Salem
(11:53):
witch trials, look no further than the PBS miniseries 3
Sovereigns for Sarah. It follows the story of Sarah
Kloice, the sister of Rebecca Nurse and Mary Estie, and
Rebecca and Mary were executed for witchcraft in Salem.
Sarah Kloice survived and. This movie is about the struggle
(12:15):
to get some recognition that a wrong was done to her and to get
some restitution for her suffering because she was in
horrible jail conditions for months and months awaiting trial
and witnessing her two sisters leave the jail one last time.
(12:38):
And this film, which stars Vanessa Redgrave as Sarah
Kloice, was actually filmed largely in Danvers and Salem.
And the meetinghouse that's usedis a replica of the original
(12:58):
meetinghouse of Salem Village that was built in 1672 on Joseph
Hutchinson's land. And they built this replica
meeting house for this movie. They put it on the Rebecca Nurse
Homestead, and you can actually go to it today.
It's very like historically trueand accurate.
(13:20):
They use the exact dimensions that are referenced in the Salem
Village Church record book and so that you can get a real
perspective of what it might have been like to be in the
meeting house during those examinations of the suspects
while the afflicted girls were wailing and convulsing and
(13:43):
accusing people of being spectres and all of that stuff
they were doing. Salem and pop culture serves as
an ongoing conversation between past and present.
Even when the portrayals are historically inaccurate or
purely fictional, they keep the conversation alive about
persecution, justice, and the importance of protecting those
(14:07):
who are different. The challenge for future
creators will be finding ways tocontinue to honor both the
historical reality and the cultural legacy that has grown
up around it. Thanks for joining us on this
journey through Salem's pop culture evolution.
Whether you prefer your Salem stories serious or supernatural,
(14:29):
historical or comedic, the important thing is remembering
the real people at the heart of these tales.
Welcome to The Thing about Salem.
I'm Josh Hutchinson. Today, we're examining how the
Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693 have been reimagined,
reinterpreted, and sometimes completely reinvented by
Hollywood. Hi, I'm Sarah Jack.
From serious historical dramas to Disney comedies to teen
(00:21):
supernatural series, Salem has become shorthand for witchcraft
in American popular culture. But how accurate are these
portrayals, and what do they reveal about her ongoing
fascination with this dark chapter in American history?
We can't cover all of the hundreds and hundreds of pop
culture depictions of Salem in just 15 minutes, so we'll focus
(00:45):
on a selection of films and TV shows that are emblematic of the
treatment Salem has received over the decades.
When did Salem pop culture startand where do we begin our
discussion of it? With the Crucible.
Oh wait, was there something before the Crucible you just
watched? I just watched Made of Salem
(01:07):
from 1937. The Made of Salem.
It's interesting. It features Fred McMurray and
Claudette Colbert, and a lot of us remember Fred from things
like My Three Sons and that one about the dog and that other one
Flubber that he was in. It's interesting.
He's a young leading man in thisone, and Claudette Colbert falls
(01:32):
for him. But then she gets caught up in
this witch trial and it's entirely fictitious, the whole
story. But they do bring in some
elements of truth by actually quoting from the records and
from Cotton Mather's writings about witch trials.
(01:54):
And then, as we mentioned, The Crucible, which is historical
fiction, was really a statement about the political climate in
the United States of the 1950s as much as it was about a witch
hunt. It's timeless lessons in not
jumping to conclusions and pointing fingers at people
(02:16):
without solid evidence. Those kinds of lessons, they
still are good for today, and wecan still get a lot of value out
of the Crucible. Unfortunately, a lot of schools
use the Crucible as a substitutefor the real history lessons.
(02:37):
Jumping all the way to 2003, there was a production called
Salem Witch Trials. It was an American Canadian
miniseries starring Christie Alley and Alan Bates, and the
aim of this production was for historical authenticity while
(02:58):
adding dramatic elements. And it was dramatic.
It is dramatic. Is dramatic, but the story that
it's based off of the Salem witch trials?
Highly dramatic event, I'd have to say.
But Hollywood's relationship with Salem took a much more
playful turn. Enter Disney magic, and one
(03:23):
that's about Salem, or at least that in Salem and features the
Salem Witch Trials is Hocus Pocus, the hilarious Disney romp
featuring Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica
Parker, who is a real Salem Witch Trials descendant of
Esther Elwell of Gloucester. That movie is so hilarious.
(03:48):
I watch it every single year. Can't get enough of it.
Disney released this Salem inspired film but it initially
bombed, possibly losing 16,000,000.
But it has become beloved. In fact, when we started our
podcast, we kicked it off with ahistorical commentary recording
(04:10):
between Josh and I on Hocus Pocus.
We were excited about Hocus Pocus 2 having been released and
so we that's how we celebrated Halloween in 2023 with our
podcast. It was such a wonderful time
with Hocus Pocus 2 coming out. I absolutely love so many fun
things in these movies. But it basically follows this
(04:35):
villainous comedic trio of witches who are inadvertently
resurrected by a teenage boy in Salem on Halloween night when he
lights the black flame candle. And this narrative really
transformed Salem from the tragic historical reputation
(04:57):
into a magical tourist destination.
Now let's talk about television.TV has provided a rich medium
for exploring Salem's witch trial legacy, allowing for
deeper character development andmore complex historical
exploration than a short movie can.
(05:17):
I don't know if you're like me, but I grew up watching Bewitched
and laughing at the antics of Samantha's family.
But they did take on some serious issues and one of them
was the Salem Witch Trials. Season 7 they went and they
filmed 8 episodes in 1970 because the fire had shut down
(05:42):
the Hollywood set. When you're watching those
episodes, you get to see them tour the House of the Seven
Gables and criticize the logo. I love that part when they roll
into town and her mother and herare just like, well, this isn't
going to do. And you are expecting, well,
(06:03):
maybe because in modern times, you know, there could be
criticism to the logo if you're wanting to feel more of the
history aesthetic versus the popculture aesthetic.
But you expect when they change the logo, maybe to take the
witchiness away, but they just made her cuter.
(06:24):
And so in one of the episodes, they actually go back in time to
1692 Salem and have a witch trial.
You think that maybe Samantha's going to get tried, but they
pulled the old switcheroo and it's Darren Stevens on trial for
witchcraft for lighting a match in 1692.
(06:47):
And he also lent A ballpoint pento Samantha, who was a barmaid
at the moment, not realizing whoshe was.
And she offered it to the community.
And they were like, this is a piece of magic.
This is from the devil. So that was fun.
In the actual Salemich trials, we know that they were doing
experiments with magic, basically to test whether
(07:10):
someone was a witch. That's part of the record.
But in this episode, she's like,I'm going to prove I'm a witch.
And her shackles come off, and at one point they disappear.
So she like, I don't know. I just found that ironic.
Yeah, that she proves that Darren's not a witch, but that
(07:32):
she is a witch. So it's a very different take on
a witch trial. The plaintiff in the case takes
the match from Darren that he's already used.
Darren is used and they challenge him to light a fire
with it to show that anybody cando it.
(07:52):
It's not witchcraft. And then that's when she goes
wiggle wiggle on her nose and throws the spell out there and
shoots up a flame from a dead match.
It's really great to recollect those pieces of the Bewitched
(08:13):
stories because when you see herin Salem right now is this
beautiful statue. She would her character would be
thrilled to see that there. It's the right representation of
a witch, according to Samantha. People love to stop and pose for
pictures with it. It's right downtown, very
(08:33):
popular destination, but it was controversial when it was put in
place in 2005. It was interestingly financed by
TV Land cable network and it's located at the corner of
Washington and Essex streets. So next time you go to Salem, be
sure to keep your eye out for that.
(08:54):
And Bewitched isn't the only show that decided to have a
witch trial in Old Salem. In Sabrina the Teenage Witch,
the Sabrina character actually goes on a field trip with her
class and they have a mock witchtrial.
The teacher hands out cards in envelopes to all the students
(09:17):
and says that some of you are going to get a cart that says
witch and the others of you are to determine who is the witch
among you and try them and see if you've got the right person.
So they try Sabrina's friend Jenny and put her through this
(09:40):
real trial. One of the other girls gets real
mean and just starts acting likeshe's an afflicted person in
blaming everything that she's seeing, all these terrible
spectres tormenting her that she's seeing.
She's blaming on Jenny. And then Sabrina steps in to try
to help her friend and she gets caught up in it.
(10:02):
And in the end, I don't know if they learn a lesson or not.
So we definitely need to mentionThe Chilling Adventures of
Sabrina, but we are working on episode completely dedicated to
that story, so we'll just touch on her.
(10:23):
Yeah, The Chilling Adventures ofSabrina is based off of a comic,
just like the original Sabrina the Teenage Witch was based off
of a comic in the archery series.
And so Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, the show follows the
same character who's also in theshow, Riverdale, and they
(10:47):
present a darker, more chilling version of witchcraft and the
powerful evil forces that Sabrina has to contend with.
Like the previous Sabrina, it isa coming up age and the reason
we can enjoy making an episode about it is because there is an
(11:10):
endless amount of tropes just inthat first season that we can
tie back to how we look at the witch and define the witch as a
culture across history. And so the chilling adventures.
It is dark, but so is the actualhistory of Salem and the
previous witch trials. And if you really think about
(11:32):
some of those episode themes, they're not much darker than the
reality. For a more serious portrayal,
which actually brings you the emotions that were really
experienced by the people involved in the actual Salem
(11:53):
witch trials, look no further than the PBS miniseries 3
Sovereigns for Sarah. It follows the story of Sarah
Kloice, the sister of Rebecca Nurse and Mary Estie, and
Rebecca and Mary were executed for witchcraft in Salem.
Sarah Kloice survived and. This movie is about the struggle
(12:15):
to get some recognition that a wrong was done to her and to get
some restitution for her suffering because she was in
horrible jail conditions for months and months awaiting trial
and witnessing her two sisters leave the jail one last time.
(12:38):
And this film, which stars Vanessa Redgrave as Sarah
Kloice, was actually filmed largely in Danvers and Salem.
And the meetinghouse that's usedis a replica of the original
(12:58):
meetinghouse of Salem Village that was built in 1672 on Joseph
Hutchinson's land. And they built this replica
meeting house for this movie. They put it on the Rebecca Nurse
Homestead, and you can actually go to it today.
It's very like historically trueand accurate.
(13:20):
They use the exact dimensions that are referenced in the Salem
Village Church record book and so that you can get a real
perspective of what it might have been like to be in the
meeting house during those examinations of the suspects
while the afflicted girls were wailing and convulsing and
(13:43):
accusing people of being spectres and all of that stuff
they were doing. Salem and pop culture serves as
an ongoing conversation between past and present.
Even when the portrayals are historically inaccurate or
purely fictional, they keep the conversation alive about
persecution, justice, and the importance of protecting those
(14:07):
who are different. The challenge for future
creators will be finding ways tocontinue to honor both the
historical reality and the cultural legacy that has grown
up around it. Thanks for joining us on this
journey through Salem's pop culture evolution.
Whether you prefer your Salem stories serious or supernatural,
(14:29):
historical or comedic, the important thing is remembering
the real people at the heart of these tales.
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