August 6, 2025 • 25 mins
Join hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack as they sit down with fellow End Witch Hunts nonprofit board member Mary Bingham for a powerful discussion about modern-day witch hunts and spiritual ritual abuse in the United States. In this special episode commemorating World Day Against Witch Hunts (August 10th), we explore the devastating reality of supernatural fears that continue to harm vulnerable people in over 60 countries worldwide.
What You'll Learn
The connection between historical witch trials and contemporary spiritual abuse cases
How modern witch hunts manifest in the United States and globally
The devastating impact on society's most vulnerable members
Personal insights from descendants of Salem witch trial victims
Actionable ways to combat these harmful practices through education and awareness
Featured GuestMary Bingham - End Witch Hunts nonprofit board member and advocate. Mary's compelling research draws crucial connections between historical persecution and contemporary cases of harm inflicted on those believed to be spiritually or diabolically possessed.
Key Topics Discussed
Spiritual and Ritual Abuse: Understanding how supernatural fears manifest in harmful practices today
Global Crisis: The scope of witch hunt-related violence across 60+ countries
Historical Connections: How past and present persecution share common roots
Personal Impact: Why this work holds deep meaning for Salem descendants
Path Forward: Education and awareness as tools for change
Important DatesWorld Day Against Witch Hunts: Sunday, August 10th
About The Thing About Witch HuntsHosted by Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack, this podcast examines the historical and contemporary reality of witch hunts, exploring their impact on vulnerable communities worldwide and advocating for education and awareness to end these harmful practices.
About End Witch HuntsEnd Witch Hunts is a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about modern-day witch hunts and working to raise awareness about supernatural-based persecution and violence.
About World Day Against Witch Hunts
About Spiritual and Ritual Abuse
Attend the Online Expert Panel Event August 10th
Read Article: Salem to San Jose by Mary Bingham
Read Blog Post: Understanding Ritualistic Crime
Ghana: Branded for Life Report https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2025/04/ghana-branded-for-life/
Global Review: Addressing Harmful Practices Related to Witchcraft Accusations
Content WarningThis episode discusses violence and harm against vulnerable individuals, including cases of spiritual and ritual abuse that may be disturbing to some listeners.
If you found this episode meaningful, please share it to help raise awareness about World Day Against Witch Hunts and the ongoing work to end these harmful practices.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to The Thing about WitchHunts podcast.
I'm Josh Hutchinson. And I'm Sarah Jack.
Today we're joined by our fellowand Witch hunts nonprofit board
member, Mary Bingham to discuss the critical work being done to
raise awareness about modern daywitch hunts and spiritual ritual
abuse. This upcoming Sunday, August
(00:21):
10th, is World Day Against WitchHunts.
Another form of supernatural fear which occurs in the United
States and around the world is spiritual and ritual abuse.
As Sarah mentioned, this includes things like harming
people who are believed to be spiritually or diabolically
possessed. Mary has been creating powerful
daily videos remembering the people who have died as a result
(00:44):
of this abuse in the United States in recent years, and
she's written compelling articles drawing connections
between historical witch trials and contemporary exorcism cases.
As descendants of those accused in the Salem witch trials, this
work holds deep personal meaningfor all three of us, but more
importantly, it addresses an ongoing crisis happening in over
(01:07):
60 countries today, with devastating consequences for the
most vulnerable members of thosesocieties.
And now, let's get to our conversation with Mary about why
World Day Against Witch Hunts matters and how we can all play
a role in ending these harmful practices through education and
awareness. Welcome back to the Thing About
(01:29):
Witch Hunts podcast, Mary Bingham.
Hello everybody, I'm so glad to be back.
Hi, Mary. Hello.
It's so great to have you back. Thank you.
The organization that we all volunteer at and Witch Hunts Non
Profit addresses harmful practices related to witchcraft
(01:50):
accusations through education and awareness campaigns.
As a member of the executive board, what would you say to
people who may not realize why this mission is so important in
today's world? So.
We are a board of five people who volunteer our time daily to
expose the ongoing witch hunts happening in over 60 countries
(02:12):
with devastating consequences. Our mission of awareness and
education is important regardingthis matter because awareness
challenges the lack of scientific education in the
community is where witch huntingis prevalent, allowing
superstitious beliefs to prevail.
(02:33):
Education opens the mind and challenges these old
superstitions by creating an awareness of mental health
issues and other phenomena such as sickness, weather, crop
failure that are historically mistaken for bewitchment.
They foster fear and suspicion. Oftentimes a person who is
(02:55):
accused, most likely a woman, believes they don't have any
legal option. In addition, the perpetrators
aren't afraid of being held responsible and will sometimes
exploit their supernatural beliefs for monetary gain.
Again, education is the key end.Witch hunts will always educate
(03:17):
on historic witch hunts because disturbing patterns have weaved
their way from the earliest witch hunts in Europe, which
date back to the 15th century, through the modern day
scapegoating and the persecutionof marginalized people.
When you run into people and youtalk about this, what kind of
(03:37):
response do you get? I generally get really positive
inquisitive response. I do as well, but I also get a
response of I don't believe thatshe's still happening in today's
world. But when I do tell people,
because I where I work, I come into contact with a lot of
(03:59):
people every day. And when I'm at the Rebecca
Nurse Homestead and I'm talking about this, everyone seems
interested and they're like, what's going on?
Why is this still happening? So able to engage with people
and educate them, which is wonderful.
Yeah, I find we get a lot of curious reactions from people
(04:19):
like I agree with both of you what you've said.
I've had that same response of Idon't believe this is happening
right now, but once we lay out the details, people believe it
and a lot of people get interested in getting involved
in doing something about it. Even if that's just speaking
(04:43):
with other people in their circle, which is a very
important thing to do because a message coming from somebody in
your own circle rings louder with you.
Exactly. Absolutely.
And what are the things that wasreally important to me when I
started this journey three yearsago, when we started working to
(05:06):
get an exoneration with the Connecticut Project, I talked
about my descendancy a lot, thatI had ancestors that went
through witchcraft accusations and suffered.
And I think sometimes I tend to not bring that up in the
conversation as quickly, but when I remember to do it, it's
so significant to the people whoare listening.
(05:28):
And that happened to me again yesterday.
It was like in a follow up conversation that I had with the
individual that I mentioned it and they're like, oh wow, I
can't really see why this resonates with you.
Do you talk about your ancestorswhen you talk about it?
Yeah, people are so fascinated by family connections to the
(05:48):
witch trials, especially when we're interacting with people
from other nations outside of the United States, where it's
less common. In many cases in even Europe,
where there were so many witch trials going on, it's less
common for people to know if their ancestor was accused.
(06:10):
Especially we hear that from people in Scotland all the time
that they just don't have records of that time period of
the witch trials that give you enough specifics about who was
being accused to actually make those family connections.
So people react with that curiosity again and they want to
(06:32):
know more and then understand, like you said, I see why you
feel so strongly about this. You've got your ancestral
connection. But for me, it's also just, I
think once you hear and understand what's happening
today, I don't see how anybody can just walk away from that and
(06:55):
not do anything. I agree.
I agree. And I find that when I mentioned
that I have ancestors that were hanged or accused, sometimes
people will look at me like wow,like how do you know that?
What? How do you know what you know?
(07:16):
And sharing the history and the research and everything so.
You do such a great job at that.So we're here today to talk
about August 10th, which is World Day Against Witch Hunts.
As an organization, we're doing several things to raise
awareness about that day. Having an event, a live event
(07:37):
that listeners can tune into. We'll have that link for you.
Mary. Why is this day important to
you? So the World Day Against Witch
Hunts is important to me for many reasons, but three I'll
name here. I am a descendant of Sarah
Wilde's Mary Este, Susanna Martin and Esther Elwell, who
(07:59):
were all accused of the felony crime of witchcraft in 1692, of
whom the first three mentioned were hanged.
The industries of their circumstances need to be told
older and over again and repeated down through the
generations so as to have an effect against future
accusations. Not only that, but we need to
(08:22):
memorialize the people accused in colonial times who have yet
to be memorialized, by having a place to visit, a beautiful
physical tribute to stand in front of, to touch, to listen to
their stories, to read their words, gives those of us living
today something of substance by which to remember them.
(08:45):
The second reason is that spiritual and ritual abuse is,
for lack of a better word, rampant in the United States
today. And Witch Hunt has tracked over
110 legal cases that have eitherbeen tried or about to be tried
before the court. It's all over the country.
One of many elements which ties this thread back to colonial New
(09:08):
England is fear of the devil andsuperstitions that have
absolutely no foundation. In fact, in colonial times,
though a good education existed for some of the elite, mainly
for the men, bewitchment was still very prevalent belief even
among the most learned of the society or the colony.
And this is because the Puritansbelieve that the physical and
(09:31):
invisible worlds were intertwined.
And for all of our advances in education, superstition with
regards to those innocent victims believed to be possessed
by a demon, it is still a factorin the US today.
Why? Because the assailant believed
that a demon needed to be exercised, often resulting in
(09:53):
death. The third reason is to have
another day to honor the memories of those lives lost in
America. We know the dates of May 26th,
July 19th, August 19th, September 19th and September
22nd. And now we have another day,
August 10th, to bring forth the narratives of those people of
(10:16):
whom are lesser known, those that have died as a result of
worldwide witch hunts as recent as maybe 2 weeks ago.
Can you tell us what those otherdates mean that you shared with
us? Those are the dates that are
important to us because of thoseare the dates that our ancestors
and these innocent victims were hanged.
(10:39):
Like you're saying, it's so important to raise awareness
that these things are happening still today because people tend
to look, at least in America, what I've experienced is that
people believe that the witch trials were all in the deep,
deep past before America became the United States, and they want
(11:06):
to relegate it to history. And then you try, you point out
that it's happening today. It causes a little bit of a
mental contradiction for people.How do they recognize that what
you're sharing is true when they've got this preconceived
notion? So the raising awareness is
absolutely critical for people to get involved.
(11:29):
They have to know that this is going on and how serious it is.
So I thank you for all that you've been doing to do that, to
get the message out there. And how are you raising
awareness of these modern day witch hunts and spiritual and
ritual abuse for this August 10th?
(11:52):
So I am raising awareness by posting a daily video
remembering the more than 66 people who have died as a result
of spiritual and ritual abuse from the United States on my
YouTube channel. And my channel is Sarah Wilds
1692 and the playlist for those videos is titled World Day
(12:13):
Against Witch Hunts, August 10th2025.
When we're raising awareness about these type of violent
crimes here in the US, we're notjust saying, hey, a child was
abused. We're like, if it's a child,
sometimes it's not. Sometimes these victims are
(12:35):
grandparents. We're saying this is how they
were killed and the fear of the demonic or the fear of a curse
played into the crime in this matter.
So your videos that you're sharing are the ending stories
(12:55):
of these families who sadly havehad witchcraft accusations
devastate their family. So thank you for that.
And you also use articles to bring out the layers of this.
Would you like to tell us about those?
(13:18):
I've just started to publish articles and the first one is
Witch Hunting from Salem to San Jose, Dorothy Good and Airly
Proctor, which chronicles the similarities of two very young
children who were accused of diabolical alignment, Dorothy in
1692 and Airly in 2021. And Airly sadly died at the
(13:42):
hands of her mother, uncle and her grandfather.
And their case is set to go to trial, hopefully in early 2026.
I will say that the the hearing to set the date for the trial
keeps getting pushed back. It was supposed to be June 4th.
(14:02):
Now it's pushed out to September.
So we need to get that trial date set and get this thing
going so that early gets the justice that she deserves.
And my next article to be published has yet to be titled,
but it chronicles the mental health issues of two women that
(14:23):
are possible factors in them as accusers.
And the first woman is Anne Karpatnam, who accused quite a
few people in 1692, which led tothe hanging of three of those
that she accused. And the second woman is Angela
Flores, who murdered her own children on Mother's Day of 2022
(14:47):
because she believed they were possessed by a demon.
And Angela's trial is also stillpending.
We're still waiting to hear about an arraignment date for
her. So that could be a couple of
years down the road. And these are just two stories
that you're comparing to Salem. You have over 60 of these videos
(15:10):
of a new story every single day of a situation like this from
the US. They're a few minutes long, so
it doesn't take long to tell these stories.
And then you also provide links to the news and court
information. Yes, to the best of my ability.
We are lucky that we have a lot of these court records available
(15:34):
to us online. But there's one case that the
police incident report is over 73 pages long and poor Josh is
just about to get that in the mail next couple of days.
But it's front to back Josh. So it's only 47 pages for you.
(15:55):
I mean, that's what we're looking at.
And by looking at those police incident reports gives us a lot
more information that was sharedin the news.
So really get to dive into what actually happened to these poor
victims and. When we look at these stories,
in each circumstance that leads to this boiling point, there's a
(16:17):
lot of different things that influence this happening.
When you look at these stories, what do we see that is
consistent? I am seeing a lot of pastors or
people that have these religiousbeliefs that are performing and
(16:40):
then quote, UN quote, exorcisms through starvation.
That's really interesting effect.
The video that I'm going to put up tomorrow is the third
sequential video of those poor victims having the effects of
death due to starvation. So that's really interesting.
(17:00):
The other thing, Sarah, you pointed out a few days ago is
the object, the belief that objects can also become
possessed that we see in the onewho tried to burn her son alive
or was involved in that particular incident.
And then that's also in the caseof Airily Proctor as well, where
(17:23):
the mother and the uncle removedall the objects from the ruin
because they believe that those were also possessed by demons.
So it's interesting to see how these superstitions kind of come
through. It is.
And there's so many connections between the past witch trials
(17:44):
and these modern day cases. A lot of the beliefs are the
same or very similar because youhad a lot of bewitched items,
allegedly bewitched items like puddings and cheeses and all
these things that were cursed and you had to throw them in a
fire to get rid of, to break thecurse and number of those cases
(18:09):
in 1692 and before. We also see cases too, in 1692
where people that are offering depositions or a couple of them
are described as being sad, depressed, as in the case of
Christian Trask, who offered a deposition against Sarah Wilde's
(18:32):
Bishop and later committed suicide.
And we see that that mental health kind of come down through
the ages too. Of course, back in those days,
they didn't have diagnosis that we have today.
And people that were acting out of the ordinary will seem to be
so different and they were just being marginalized because
(18:57):
people didn't understand what was going on with them.
So if they can't find a diagnosis then like the doctor
did in February of 1692, oh, it's got to be bewitchment.
Yeah, yeah. We see that with
misunderstandings around dementia and Alzheimer's and
other common enough medical conditions.
(19:22):
But there's still misunderstood in many, many communities, and
this is around the globe. Exactly.
What is your hope that your videos and your articles?
What is your hope from those? How do you want individuals to
respond? Where do you want the message to
(19:45):
go? In terms of responding, I think
I would like to see a response not to me individually, but just
like responding, like paying it forward, like there's the
information. And have people talk about it
amongst themselves, their peers talk about it on social media.
(20:08):
I think that's my goal and just again to educate and if people
do want to reach out to me, theyare more than welcome to they
can reach out to me on my YouTube channel and I will be
happy to answer any questions that they have You're.
Also really great at writing letters.
There's been so many times over the last few years that you have
(20:31):
written people in positions of authority, those who are taking
action or investigating some of these crimes.
You've sent letters and that's something that other people can
do as well. Yes.
So if they do get in touch with End Witch Hunts, I'm more than
happy to provide information, especially when things come up
(20:56):
because we know our friend and advocate, Doctor Leo Igway is
always telling us about certain things that are happening.
And actually last summer, because of the letters that he
sent and I sent from here, I mean, he was even active on the
ground over there, he was able to basically stop an
(21:20):
organization from accusing people or naming people as
witches in Nigeria. So it's just the whole thing,
the letter writing and making and the things that if we write
from here in the United States or in other countries to these
countries where these things arehappening, then they're noticing
(21:44):
that, hey, the world is taking notice of what we're doing.
So maybe we better, you know, step up to the plate.
Yeah, yeah. And it's definitely going to
take a lot of people getting involved to solve this crisis.
Great. Getting the word out.
(22:05):
And I encourage people do come forward and talk to Mary and
find out ways that you can help.She'll gladly send you an e-mail
when there's a need that comes up.
Then be very happy to help out. Is there anything else either
one of you want to share? I want to say that I am blessed
(22:26):
to have the support of an executive board that is out of
this world. Josh Hutchinson, Sarah Jack, Jen
Stevenson and Beth Caruso. You guys are all awesome.
Couldn't work with a better crewof people.
Thank you, Mary. It's been a really incredible
(22:47):
journey. We started this organization
together while we're learning toadvocate for this crisis, and
it's so rewarding, but it has taken a lot of time and energy
from each of us. I'm very grateful to what both
of you give to the projects. Thank you.
(23:07):
Thank. You so much.
World Day Against Witch Hunts isa really important date for
spreading the word, understanding and then
continuing the conversation is where meaningful change starts.
We hope to see you at our onlineevent August 10th.
Bring a friend. Every day you can check out our
(23:28):
other podcasts, The Thing About Salem for all of your Salem
Witch Trials needs. And join our Patreon to view
bonus content and engage with usin chats.
Join our organization in Witch hunts Live on World Day Against
Witch Hunts to learn from leading experts about the
survivors of witchcraft accusations in Ghana outcast
(23:51):
camps. Sunday August 10th and Witch
Hunt Events is bringing togetherspecialist from Amnesty
International, the Sonnet Institute, the Total Life
Enhancement Center, Ghana ActionAid and San Taba for a crucial
discussion on supporting survivors of witchcraft
(24:12):
accusations with a special focuson women and children in Ghana's
outcast camps. The World Day Against Witch
Hunts isn't just about history, it's about understanding a
crisis happening right now. Vulnerable people, especially
women and children, still face violence in exile due to
(24:32):
witchcraft accusations in communities that desperately
need our support. This is your opportunity to
learn directly from researchers,advocates, and organizations
working directly in these communities to address their
needs. Events are happening globally to
honor this day of Remembrance and Education.
(24:53):
Please share the event details with your network.
You can register for free at EndWitch hunts.org Flash Day, and
attending this event will help you gain insights that can help
turn awareness into meaningful action.
Because understanding and then starting an important
conversation is where meaningfulchange starts.
(25:17):
Here the special expert panel this Sunday, August 10th, 2025
at 5:30 PM GMT. That's 1:30 PM EDT.
Find the link to this free online webinar at End Witch
hunts.org/day. Have a great today and a
beautiful tomorrow.
Welcome to The Thing about WitchHunts podcast.
I'm Josh Hutchinson. And I'm Sarah Jack.
Today we're joined by our fellowand Witch hunts nonprofit board
member, Mary Bingham to discuss the critical work being done to
raise awareness about modern daywitch hunts and spiritual ritual
abuse. This upcoming Sunday, August
(00:21):
10th, is World Day Against WitchHunts.
Another form of supernatural fear which occurs in the United
States and around the world is spiritual and ritual abuse.
As Sarah mentioned, this includes things like harming
people who are believed to be spiritually or diabolically
possessed. Mary has been creating powerful
daily videos remembering the people who have died as a result
(00:44):
of this abuse in the United States in recent years, and
she's written compelling articles drawing connections
between historical witch trials and contemporary exorcism cases.
As descendants of those accused in the Salem witch trials, this
work holds deep personal meaningfor all three of us, but more
importantly, it addresses an ongoing crisis happening in over
(01:07):
60 countries today, with devastating consequences for the
most vulnerable members of thosesocieties.
And now, let's get to our conversation with Mary about why
World Day Against Witch Hunts matters and how we can all play
a role in ending these harmful practices through education and
awareness. Welcome back to the Thing About
(01:29):
Witch Hunts podcast, Mary Bingham.
Hello everybody, I'm so glad to be back.
Hi, Mary. Hello.
It's so great to have you back. Thank you.
The organization that we all volunteer at and Witch Hunts Non
Profit addresses harmful practices related to witchcraft
(01:50):
accusations through education and awareness campaigns.
As a member of the executive board, what would you say to
people who may not realize why this mission is so important in
today's world? So.
We are a board of five people who volunteer our time daily to
expose the ongoing witch hunts happening in over 60 countries
(02:12):
with devastating consequences. Our mission of awareness and
education is important regardingthis matter because awareness
challenges the lack of scientific education in the
community is where witch huntingis prevalent, allowing
superstitious beliefs to prevail.
(02:33):
Education opens the mind and challenges these old
superstitions by creating an awareness of mental health
issues and other phenomena such as sickness, weather, crop
failure that are historically mistaken for bewitchment.
They foster fear and suspicion. Oftentimes a person who is
(02:55):
accused, most likely a woman, believes they don't have any
legal option. In addition, the perpetrators
aren't afraid of being held responsible and will sometimes
exploit their supernatural beliefs for monetary gain.
Again, education is the key end.Witch hunts will always educate
(03:17):
on historic witch hunts because disturbing patterns have weaved
their way from the earliest witch hunts in Europe, which
date back to the 15th century, through the modern day
scapegoating and the persecutionof marginalized people.
When you run into people and youtalk about this, what kind of
(03:37):
response do you get? I generally get really positive
inquisitive response. I do as well, but I also get a
response of I don't believe thatshe's still happening in today's
world. But when I do tell people,
because I where I work, I come into contact with a lot of
(03:59):
people every day. And when I'm at the Rebecca
Nurse Homestead and I'm talking about this, everyone seems
interested and they're like, what's going on?
Why is this still happening? So able to engage with people
and educate them, which is wonderful.
Yeah, I find we get a lot of curious reactions from people
(04:19):
like I agree with both of you what you've said.
I've had that same response of Idon't believe this is happening
right now, but once we lay out the details, people believe it
and a lot of people get interested in getting involved
in doing something about it. Even if that's just speaking
(04:43):
with other people in their circle, which is a very
important thing to do because a message coming from somebody in
your own circle rings louder with you.
Exactly. Absolutely.
And what are the things that wasreally important to me when I
started this journey three yearsago, when we started working to
(05:06):
get an exoneration with the Connecticut Project, I talked
about my descendancy a lot, thatI had ancestors that went
through witchcraft accusations and suffered.
And I think sometimes I tend to not bring that up in the
conversation as quickly, but when I remember to do it, it's
so significant to the people whoare listening.
(05:28):
And that happened to me again yesterday.
It was like in a follow up conversation that I had with the
individual that I mentioned it and they're like, oh wow, I
can't really see why this resonates with you.
Do you talk about your ancestorswhen you talk about it?
Yeah, people are so fascinated by family connections to the
(05:48):
witch trials, especially when we're interacting with people
from other nations outside of the United States, where it's
less common. In many cases in even Europe,
where there were so many witch trials going on, it's less
common for people to know if their ancestor was accused.
(06:10):
Especially we hear that from people in Scotland all the time
that they just don't have records of that time period of
the witch trials that give you enough specifics about who was
being accused to actually make those family connections.
So people react with that curiosity again and they want to
(06:32):
know more and then understand, like you said, I see why you
feel so strongly about this. You've got your ancestral
connection. But for me, it's also just, I
think once you hear and understand what's happening
today, I don't see how anybody can just walk away from that and
(06:55):
not do anything. I agree.
I agree. And I find that when I mentioned
that I have ancestors that were hanged or accused, sometimes
people will look at me like wow,like how do you know that?
What? How do you know what you know?
(07:16):
And sharing the history and the research and everything so.
You do such a great job at that.So we're here today to talk
about August 10th, which is World Day Against Witch Hunts.
As an organization, we're doing several things to raise
awareness about that day. Having an event, a live event
(07:37):
that listeners can tune into. We'll have that link for you.
Mary. Why is this day important to
you? So the World Day Against Witch
Hunts is important to me for many reasons, but three I'll
name here. I am a descendant of Sarah
Wilde's Mary Este, Susanna Martin and Esther Elwell, who
(07:59):
were all accused of the felony crime of witchcraft in 1692, of
whom the first three mentioned were hanged.
The industries of their circumstances need to be told
older and over again and repeated down through the
generations so as to have an effect against future
accusations. Not only that, but we need to
(08:22):
memorialize the people accused in colonial times who have yet
to be memorialized, by having a place to visit, a beautiful
physical tribute to stand in front of, to touch, to listen to
their stories, to read their words, gives those of us living
today something of substance by which to remember them.
(08:45):
The second reason is that spiritual and ritual abuse is,
for lack of a better word, rampant in the United States
today. And Witch Hunt has tracked over
110 legal cases that have eitherbeen tried or about to be tried
before the court. It's all over the country.
One of many elements which ties this thread back to colonial New
(09:08):
England is fear of the devil andsuperstitions that have
absolutely no foundation. In fact, in colonial times,
though a good education existed for some of the elite, mainly
for the men, bewitchment was still very prevalent belief even
among the most learned of the society or the colony.
And this is because the Puritansbelieve that the physical and
(09:31):
invisible worlds were intertwined.
And for all of our advances in education, superstition with
regards to those innocent victims believed to be possessed
by a demon, it is still a factorin the US today.
Why? Because the assailant believed
that a demon needed to be exercised, often resulting in
(09:53):
death. The third reason is to have
another day to honor the memories of those lives lost in
America. We know the dates of May 26th,
July 19th, August 19th, September 19th and September
22nd. And now we have another day,
August 10th, to bring forth the narratives of those people of
(10:16):
whom are lesser known, those that have died as a result of
worldwide witch hunts as recent as maybe 2 weeks ago.
Can you tell us what those otherdates mean that you shared with
us? Those are the dates that are
important to us because of thoseare the dates that our ancestors
and these innocent victims were hanged.
(10:39):
Like you're saying, it's so important to raise awareness
that these things are happening still today because people tend
to look, at least in America, what I've experienced is that
people believe that the witch trials were all in the deep,
deep past before America became the United States, and they want
(11:06):
to relegate it to history. And then you try, you point out
that it's happening today. It causes a little bit of a
mental contradiction for people.How do they recognize that what
you're sharing is true when they've got this preconceived
notion? So the raising awareness is
absolutely critical for people to get involved.
(11:29):
They have to know that this is going on and how serious it is.
So I thank you for all that you've been doing to do that, to
get the message out there. And how are you raising
awareness of these modern day witch hunts and spiritual and
ritual abuse for this August 10th?
(11:52):
So I am raising awareness by posting a daily video
remembering the more than 66 people who have died as a result
of spiritual and ritual abuse from the United States on my
YouTube channel. And my channel is Sarah Wilds
1692 and the playlist for those videos is titled World Day
(12:13):
Against Witch Hunts, August 10th2025.
When we're raising awareness about these type of violent
crimes here in the US, we're notjust saying, hey, a child was
abused. We're like, if it's a child,
sometimes it's not. Sometimes these victims are
(12:35):
grandparents. We're saying this is how they
were killed and the fear of the demonic or the fear of a curse
played into the crime in this matter.
So your videos that you're sharing are the ending stories
(12:55):
of these families who sadly havehad witchcraft accusations
devastate their family. So thank you for that.
And you also use articles to bring out the layers of this.
Would you like to tell us about those?
(13:18):
I've just started to publish articles and the first one is
Witch Hunting from Salem to San Jose, Dorothy Good and Airly
Proctor, which chronicles the similarities of two very young
children who were accused of diabolical alignment, Dorothy in
1692 and Airly in 2021. And Airly sadly died at the
(13:42):
hands of her mother, uncle and her grandfather.
And their case is set to go to trial, hopefully in early 2026.
I will say that the the hearing to set the date for the trial
keeps getting pushed back. It was supposed to be June 4th.
(14:02):
Now it's pushed out to September.
So we need to get that trial date set and get this thing
going so that early gets the justice that she deserves.
And my next article to be published has yet to be titled,
but it chronicles the mental health issues of two women that
(14:23):
are possible factors in them as accusers.
And the first woman is Anne Karpatnam, who accused quite a
few people in 1692, which led tothe hanging of three of those
that she accused. And the second woman is Angela
Flores, who murdered her own children on Mother's Day of 2022
(14:47):
because she believed they were possessed by a demon.
And Angela's trial is also stillpending.
We're still waiting to hear about an arraignment date for
her. So that could be a couple of
years down the road. And these are just two stories
that you're comparing to Salem. You have over 60 of these videos
(15:10):
of a new story every single day of a situation like this from
the US. They're a few minutes long, so
it doesn't take long to tell these stories.
And then you also provide links to the news and court
information. Yes, to the best of my ability.
We are lucky that we have a lot of these court records available
(15:34):
to us online. But there's one case that the
police incident report is over 73 pages long and poor Josh is
just about to get that in the mail next couple of days.
But it's front to back Josh. So it's only 47 pages for you.
(15:55):
I mean, that's what we're looking at.
And by looking at those police incident reports gives us a lot
more information that was sharedin the news.
So really get to dive into what actually happened to these poor
victims and. When we look at these stories,
in each circumstance that leads to this boiling point, there's a
(16:17):
lot of different things that influence this happening.
When you look at these stories, what do we see that is
consistent? I am seeing a lot of pastors or
people that have these religiousbeliefs that are performing and
(16:40):
then quote, UN quote, exorcisms through starvation.
That's really interesting effect.
The video that I'm going to put up tomorrow is the third
sequential video of those poor victims having the effects of
death due to starvation. So that's really interesting.
(17:00):
The other thing, Sarah, you pointed out a few days ago is
the object, the belief that objects can also become
possessed that we see in the onewho tried to burn her son alive
or was involved in that particular incident.
And then that's also in the caseof Airily Proctor as well, where
(17:23):
the mother and the uncle removedall the objects from the ruin
because they believe that those were also possessed by demons.
So it's interesting to see how these superstitions kind of come
through. It is.
And there's so many connections between the past witch trials
(17:44):
and these modern day cases. A lot of the beliefs are the
same or very similar because youhad a lot of bewitched items,
allegedly bewitched items like puddings and cheeses and all
these things that were cursed and you had to throw them in a
fire to get rid of, to break thecurse and number of those cases
(18:09):
in 1692 and before. We also see cases too, in 1692
where people that are offering depositions or a couple of them
are described as being sad, depressed, as in the case of
Christian Trask, who offered a deposition against Sarah Wilde's
(18:32):
Bishop and later committed suicide.
And we see that that mental health kind of come down through
the ages too. Of course, back in those days,
they didn't have diagnosis that we have today.
And people that were acting out of the ordinary will seem to be
so different and they were just being marginalized because
(18:57):
people didn't understand what was going on with them.
So if they can't find a diagnosis then like the doctor
did in February of 1692, oh, it's got to be bewitchment.
Yeah, yeah. We see that with
misunderstandings around dementia and Alzheimer's and
other common enough medical conditions.
(19:22):
But there's still misunderstood in many, many communities, and
this is around the globe. Exactly.
What is your hope that your videos and your articles?
What is your hope from those? How do you want individuals to
respond? Where do you want the message to
(19:45):
go? In terms of responding, I think
I would like to see a response not to me individually, but just
like responding, like paying it forward, like there's the
information. And have people talk about it
amongst themselves, their peers talk about it on social media.
(20:08):
I think that's my goal and just again to educate and if people
do want to reach out to me, theyare more than welcome to they
can reach out to me on my YouTube channel and I will be
happy to answer any questions that they have You're.
Also really great at writing letters.
There's been so many times over the last few years that you have
(20:31):
written people in positions of authority, those who are taking
action or investigating some of these crimes.
You've sent letters and that's something that other people can
do as well. Yes.
So if they do get in touch with End Witch Hunts, I'm more than
happy to provide information, especially when things come up
(20:56):
because we know our friend and advocate, Doctor Leo Igway is
always telling us about certain things that are happening.
And actually last summer, because of the letters that he
sent and I sent from here, I mean, he was even active on the
ground over there, he was able to basically stop an
(21:20):
organization from accusing people or naming people as
witches in Nigeria. So it's just the whole thing,
the letter writing and making and the things that if we write
from here in the United States or in other countries to these
countries where these things arehappening, then they're noticing
(21:44):
that, hey, the world is taking notice of what we're doing.
So maybe we better, you know, step up to the plate.
Yeah, yeah. And it's definitely going to
take a lot of people getting involved to solve this crisis.
Great. Getting the word out.
(22:05):
And I encourage people do come forward and talk to Mary and
find out ways that you can help.She'll gladly send you an e-mail
when there's a need that comes up.
Then be very happy to help out. Is there anything else either
one of you want to share? I want to say that I am blessed
(22:26):
to have the support of an executive board that is out of
this world. Josh Hutchinson, Sarah Jack, Jen
Stevenson and Beth Caruso. You guys are all awesome.
Couldn't work with a better crewof people.
Thank you, Mary. It's been a really incredible
(22:47):
journey. We started this organization
together while we're learning toadvocate for this crisis, and
it's so rewarding, but it has taken a lot of time and energy
from each of us. I'm very grateful to what both
of you give to the projects. Thank you.
(23:07):
Thank. You so much.
World Day Against Witch Hunts isa really important date for
spreading the word, understanding and then
continuing the conversation is where meaningful change starts.
We hope to see you at our onlineevent August 10th.
Bring a friend. Every day you can check out our
(23:28):
other podcasts, The Thing About Salem for all of your Salem
Witch Trials needs. And join our Patreon to view
bonus content and engage with usin chats.
Join our organization in Witch hunts Live on World Day Against
Witch Hunts to learn from leading experts about the
survivors of witchcraft accusations in Ghana outcast
(23:51):
camps. Sunday August 10th and Witch
Hunt Events is bringing togetherspecialist from Amnesty
International, the Sonnet Institute, the Total Life
Enhancement Center, Ghana ActionAid and San Taba for a crucial
discussion on supporting survivors of witchcraft
(24:12):
accusations with a special focuson women and children in Ghana's
outcast camps. The World Day Against Witch
Hunts isn't just about history, it's about understanding a
crisis happening right now. Vulnerable people, especially
women and children, still face violence in exile due to
(24:32):
witchcraft accusations in communities that desperately
need our support. This is your opportunity to
learn directly from researchers,advocates, and organizations
working directly in these communities to address their
needs. Events are happening globally to
honor this day of Remembrance and Education.
(24:53):
Please share the event details with your network.
You can register for free at EndWitch hunts.org Flash Day, and
attending this event will help you gain insights that can help
turn awareness into meaningful action.
Because understanding and then starting an important
conversation is where meaningfulchange starts.
(25:17):
Here the special expert panel this Sunday, August 10th, 2025
at 5:30 PM GMT. That's 1:30 PM EDT.
Find the link to this free online webinar at End Witch
hunts.org/day. Have a great today and a
beautiful tomorrow.
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