The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials

Follow the events of April 4, 1692, as new testimony and complaints target recent suspects. We cover a reported spectral attack involving the shape of John Proctor afflicting Abigail Williams, then dig into multiple depositions against Rachel Clinton, including claims of meetinghouse disturbances, strange animal apparitions, a mysterious loss of beer, and a tense late-night confrontation followed by an apparent affliction and near-...

We explore a striking claim from within the crisis itself: that the afflicted may have been “dissembling.” We revisit Sunday, April 3, 1692, when Samuel Parris read aloud a note Mary Warren had posted at the Salem Village meetinghouse, inviting the congregation to offer prayers of gratitude for her deliverance—yet the note’s contents are unknown because Parris never copied it into his church record book. We also examine the puzzlin...

In today’s Salem Witch Trials Daily, we walk through Saturday, April 2, 1692, focusing on Abigail Williams’ claims that the specters of Elizabeth Procter and Rebecca Nurse repeatedly afflicted her in March and April, including being “grievously pinched” and tempted with fine things to sign the book. We also explore how accusers often listed dates of spectral attacks and why our day-by-day approach helps reveal what life was like du...

In our April 1, 1692 episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we explore how the afflictions continue to mislead people in Salem and nearby communities through the reported testimony of Mercy Lewis. We recount her vivid description of being taken to a “glorious place” filled with light, where she saw a multitude in white robes singing from Revelation 5:9, Psalm 110, and Psalm 149—passages we connect to the religious climate of the mome...

Fast Day in Salem: Prayer, Fasting, and Abigail Williams’ Witch Feast Vision

In this episode, we follow Thursday, March 31, 1692, as Salem observes a Puritan fast day while Abigail Williams reports seeing about 40 witches feasting near the Salem Village parsonage of minister Samuel Parris and claims the specter of Rebecca Nurse attacks her. We explore how Puritans in New England viewed prayer and fasting—grounded in the Gospel of Ma...

In this episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we cover Wednesday, March 30, 1692, when Rachel Clinton—arrested the day before—was slated for examination, though no record of that hearing survives. We focus on three depositions made against her that day: Thomas Burnam Jr. describes watching for a cow-milker he associates with Clinton and claims the figure vanished and later turned into a gray cat; Mary Fuller Sr. recounts Clinton con...

We are so happy to introduce Salem Witch Trials Daily, our new podcast that follows the 1692 Salem Witch Trials in real time, day by day, court date by court date, through the documented record. In Salem, Massachusetts, 19 people were executed, one man was pressed to death for refusing trial, and more than a hundred others were accused and imprisoned, leaving a lasting mark on American history. Building on the extraordinary listene...

The Salem witch trials of 1692 were not driven by local grudges alone. Behind the arrests, examinations, and executions was a centuries-old theological framework that convinced educated elites, magistrates, and Puritan clergy that they were fighting a coordinated demonic war against the Christian church itself.

Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack trace the elaborated theory of witchcraft from its origins at the Council of Basel in the 14...

On Sunday, March 27, 1692, Reverend Samuel Parris led Salem Village through two Sabbath services shaped by the recent “dreadful witchcraft” crisis and the public suspicion of alleged witches. We cover how his sermon warned that Christ knows how many devils are in the church, prompting Sarah Cloyce—sister of Rebecca Nurse—to flee the meetinghouse, and we note later claims about what witnesses said happened after she left. We also di...

We revisit Mercy Lewis’s reported afflictions and connect them to later depositions involving Elizabeth Proctor and Martha Cory. We also discuss a pivotal event recorded by former Salem Village minister Deodat Lawson in A Brief and True Narrative, describing how magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, along with minister John Higginson, examined the youngest witchcraft suspect at the prison keeper’s house. We explore Lawson’...

Note: We are moving these daily episodes to a new Salem Witch Trials Daily podcast.

In this episode, we dig into Friday, March 25, 1692, as tensions surge in Salem Village and beyond. We discuss John Procter’s furious confrontation with Samuel Sibley at Walter Phillips’ Tavern over Mary Warren’s fits and his harsh skepticism toward the afflicted girls. Back in the village, we cover Ann Putnam Jr.’s reported violent spectral assault—...

In this episode, we revisit Thursday, March 24, 1692, when Salem Village’s packed meetinghouse witnessed chaotic examinations that sent Rebecca Nurse and the very young Dorothy Good toward jail. We follow how accusations and courtroom theatrics escalated under Magistrates Hathorne and Corwin, with Reverend Parris recording the proceedings and the afflicted reacting violently to the accused’s movements. We also discuss the troubling...

In this March 22, 1692 episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we cover a Salem town meeting that resolves long-running tension between Salem and Salem Village by keeping the Village part of Salem while easing obligations on both sides: villagers no longer support the town’s ministers or maintain the town meetinghouse, and townspeople are no longer required to fund Village roads. We also discuss Ann Putnam, Sr.’s account of being torm...

Episode Summary

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692 didn't emerge from nowhere. They emerged from a library. This episode traces the centuries of theological and legal texts that shaped how Salem's magistrates understood witchcraft, the demonic pact, and the infamous Devil's book.

From a 15th-century inquisitor's manual to a Scottish king's royal obsession to a Boston minister's bestseller, Josh and Sarah open the ...

We cover March 21, 1692, when Joseph Herrick arrests Martha Cory and notices an unusual ointment in her home that she says came from a recipe given by magistrate Major Bartholomew Gedney. We follow Cory to the packed Salem Village meetinghouse, where Nicholas Noyes opens with prayer and magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin question her while Samuel Parris records the interrogation and Deodat Lawson documents events. We des...

In this episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we revisit March 20, 1692, when guest preacher Deodat Lawson delivered a sermon in Salem Village and later described the day in A Brief and True Narrative. We share who Lawson observed attending the meeting, including several of the “afflicted persons,” and how their fits and interruptions disrupted public worship. We recount some of the remarks attributed to Abigail Williams and Mrs. Po...

We cover March 19, 1692, when Henry Kinney and Edward Putnam file a witchcraft complaint against Martha Corey for allegedly afflicting several Salem Village residents, leading magistrates to issue a warrant for her arrest and examination at Nathaniel Ingersoll’s tavern. We also follow reports from Ann Putnam Sr. of intense spectral torment attributed to Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse. Our story then turns to the arrival of former m...

In today’s March 18, 1692 episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we recount renewed spectral activity in Salem Village as Ann Putnam Senior describes being attacked and pressured to sign a book by the specter of Martha Corey while trying to rest. We also shift to Ipswich, where late-night fears of witchcraft accusations erupt when Rachel Clinton visits James Fuller, Jr. amid talk of fits in the community. After sudden news of Betty F...

In this St. Patrick’s Day episode, we explore overlooked trans-Atlantic links between Ireland and Colonial New England that helped shape the intellectual and theological foundations of the 1692 Salem Witch-Hunt, drawing on Katherine A. Hermes and Beth M. Caruso’s article on Thomas Thornton and the English Atlantic world. We follow Puritan networks forged during Cromwell’s 1650s conquest of Ireland, including the Mathers’ time in Du...