Episode 23: The Salem Witch Trials | Morbid

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I have been listening to the Martha's Vineyard Beach and Book Club, which actually Elena recommended to me.

She did not listen to it, but she said, girl, this title sounds so you.

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Shopify.com slash listen. That was extraterrestrial.

That was me being spooky. Oh, you sounded more like alien-esque.

Damn it. Idiot. What's up? We're here. Here we are.

No, we're alone. Yeah. We don't have guests this time around.

Just Dani on the flow. Just Dani on the flow.

Oh, look at that sly-ass face she just made.

Too bad this ain't a visual podcast. We had a lot of fun collaborating with Oops!

We Watched It Again in the Right Wrong Turn podcast. head over to their pages and give them a follow and listen to our episode with them.

Yay. It was so much fun. We gave you a little taste with the Right Wrong Turn episode of Salem, but today we're going to take a super deep dive.

Into the Salem Witch Trials. Woo! And we just went to Salem.

Yeah, we did. To get research. We wanted to be authentic, so we went all the way to Salem.

We walked in a graveyard. We did. We walked in the old burial ground on Howard Street.

I thought the memorial was really cool. The memorial is super heavy.

Super heavy. Like very heavy. And we'll talk about it later because I have it down when it was dedicated and all that.

But when you stand in, you look at it from the middle.

Because the memorial in Salem for all the victims of the witch trials that were executed is like this semicircle. of just stone benches with their names and the date they were executed.

There's always like a bunch of flowers and stuff.

Yeah, and people leave flowers and stuff.

But when you look at all the, because you know it happened.

Right, but it makes it real. And you know it's real.

But when you stand there and see all the benches and you see how many people were just hung for no fucking reason at all.

Like, we will get into this in... This infuriated me.

These little bitches. But it's so heavy.

You're just like, holy shit. It's wild. They killed all these people.

You know what, though? When we learned about the Salem Witch Trials and like, I think they like dabble in like third or fourth grade.

They like blow past it in school. Like we learn about it because it's our state.

Yeah. But they don't like spend weeks and weeks on it.

But I remember like thinking I was a witch in third grade.

I was like, oh, I'm a witch. yeah i got ash a book of shadows way too early and the principal called my mom and was like uh your daughter tried to turn one of the girls into a frog And also she has a coven and isn't letting everyone in.

So I was so proud of you. I remember it was actually fourth grade. because my teacher mrs gavin found like a list of all the people in my coven because of course i kept it fucking organized And she was like, there was two Ashleys in my class.

And I wrote like, Ashley's coven. Ashley's coming and she was like can both of the Ashley's come to my desk um before recess so all the other kids got to go to recess has a coming And that's pretty much what she said.

And I was like, oh, it me. Oh, it me. Like, watch yourself, Miss G.

And then I got home and my mom was like, did you try to turn somebody into a frog?

And I was like, hell yeah, mom. And she was like, all right.

My favorite part about that whole story, I remember specifically, because I remember your mom, my sister, being like...

Yeah, I don't see the problem. Because was she successful?

Did she turn the person into a frog? And your teacher was like, well, no.

And she was like, then I don't see the problem.

Why are you calling me at work, bitch? And I was like, that's actually a great way to handle that.

Yeah, it was. It really was. Props to my mom.

Hey-o. Hey-o. Anyways. So, yeah. We were... I was like... a super witchy bitch.

Oh, hell yeah. And so I was super into that aesthetic.

In fact, I don't think my friend Leah listens to this podcast.

But maybe I'll tell her to. Because Leah and I had our own little two-person coven.

Yeah. and we like tried to make an altar and stuff we were like really into it i just remember like collecting rocks at recess and being like i'll use these for a spell these are my altar yeah Yeah, for sure.

I think everybody kind of had like a moment where they wanted to be a witch.

I'm actually a witch though right now. One time Annie's brother said that I was a white witch.

You've said that on like six different podcasts.

Because it made my entire life. I have six different episodes.

Good. Don't edit it out. Because one time Annie's brother said I was a white witch.

Whoa. I'm gonna get it tattooed on my butt. not just white witch just get one time no yeah that's what i'm saying I'll sip my tea now.

It actually is not tea. Oh, I was gonna say she's literally sipping tea, but apparently it's not tea.

It's a latte with skim. Oh, that's nice.

Yeah. Yeah, it's not skim because it's like trendy to drink skim milk because I think skim milk kind of sucks.

I think skim milk is ass. Whole milk makes my tum-tum hurt.

It's like skim milk to me is just cloudy water.

Oh. I'm not badass enough for whole milk.

We have, because we didn't get to thank our newest Patreons in the collab episodes because we didn't want to take over their podcast.

Right, exactly. And we wanted to be able to like sit down and actually thank you instead of speeding through it.

Yeah. So we're going to go ahead and catch up and thank our newest.

Patreon members. Are you ready to rumble?

Okay, so. So who are they? Our weirdos this week are Candice Leigh.

Thanks, Candace. I like that you spell Candace with a K. I was going to say, isn't it Candace with a K?

Sure is. I like it. Thank you, Candace. Thanks, Candace.

And we have another weirdo, Lee Stewart.

Thanks, Lee. Thank you. I like the name Lee.

Yeah, I do too. It's just a nice, it's just a name.

Yeah. Hi, I'm Lee. It's a good name. I like it.

Like, I don't think I've met a Lee that I didn't like.

We have a lot of names this week that I like.

I thought you were just going to say, we have a lot of names.

Yeah, we have so many names. No, we have a lot of names this week that I would consider for a future bibbit.

A future bibbit. Did I say my number one baby name on air before?

I think you did. I think I did too. It's Cleo.

Bye. In the window-latching coven, we have... Alright, so me and Alina had a debate about this name.

So is your name Addie, or is it... 80, you thought it was?

I think it's 80 only because it's A-I-D-E-E and my name is spelled A-L-A-I-N-A.

And if there's no I, it's Alana. But because there's an I, it's Alayna.

And that was this week's episode of Phonics with Alayna.

This is just how my brain reasoned that out.

All right, well, maybe she's right. So ADDS, thank you.

We love you and thank you so much. Now we have Mackenzie Ashley.

Ashley is like one of my favorite names.

I don't know if you know. I guess it's all right.

It's pretty cool. Thanks, Mackenzie. Thanks, Mackenzie.

You're the bomb.com. Hell yeah. Then we have Alexandra Schwan.

Alexandra, I love you. you that's elena's middle name kinda kinda see i'm gonna break into a very quick story quick quick My middle name is actually not Alexandra, but my mom told me for a long time that it was Alexandra.

And she only told me this because that's the name she wanted to give me for a middle name, but my dad wanted another middle name, so...

Legally. I thought for a long time that my middle name was Alexandra and it's not.

Didn't you find out when you were like going to get married?

I think I was going to do something. No, it was before that.

But I was going to do something like legal that I needed like my legal name.

Maybe like registering to vote or something.

Yeah, something like that. And they were like, yeah, that's not your name.

Which everyone should do. Go register to vote.

Yes, go register to vote. Our next donator is Lo Tilden.

Thanks, Lo. And I really like the name Lo.

Yeah, or the hills. Same thing. Which one?

Our next Madonna sponsor, Patreon, is just Adriana. adriana thank you so hot adriana madonna thank you so much adriana thank you you're the best we then have michelle hannah Thank you, Michelle.

We have a lot of people with like two first names.

I was just going to say with two first names.

But it's probably just like their first and middle name.

Yeah. I have three first names you're connecting with all these people with first names connect connect connect first names Then we have Ashley Flott.

Thanks, Ashley Flott. We then have Emily Blalock.

Thank you, Emily Bullock. And then we have Jason Hodges.

Thank you, Jason Hodges. We then have somebody you know, Bria Milbury.

Bria! Did I say that right? You did. Cool.

Thank you so much, Bria. I love your face off.

Any friend of Elena's a friend of mine. Bria's wonderful.

Do your friends think I'm funny? No. Oh.

Then we just have KC. What up, KC? Not Casey.

It's KC. KC. Like Kansas City. The entire... population of kansas city is our sponsor patreon then we have um the evil onion category and our first evil onion is shannon von alt Hey-o, Shannon.

I love your last name, girl. Yeah, I always say that I would like a Vaughn in my name.

Even though Ashley Vaughn Kelly wouldn't make any sense.

It would be awesome, though. It'd be fucking lit.

It always makes you sound like a really cool ancient vampire. when you have on your last name it's like yeah do so maybe if you if you are a very cool ancient vampire shannon let us know Hit us up.

Cause we appreciate it. Even if you're not, we appreciate it, but it would be cool.

We then have Taya Edwards. Thank you so much, Taya.

I also love that name. Yeah, that's a really cute name.

And then we have J Little Gala. Thank you, J. Little Gala.

Not Gala. Not Gala. I got a very hilarious message from him and I need to respond to him.

I meant to. But I love it because he said... his name is pronounced Gala, not Gala, even though he is, he, and I think he wrote, even though I am very homosexual, it is not pronounced Gala.

And I laughed very hard. Retweet. And then we have a jagged little bitch that is very near and dear to my spooky ass heart.

My spooky soul sister, Alexa Gagnon. Thanks, Alexa Gagnon.

I love you. See you at dinner tomorrow.

I love you too. I don't know you, but thank you so much.

You've never met Alexa. You're the best.

She's great. And then we have a custom Patreon, Maria LaPenta.

Maria, thank you so much. Thank you. For your custom donation, girl.

Oh, if anybody watches Big Mouth, I just sounded like the dad.

Thank you. Thank you. That's a great show.

It's so fucking good. Go watch that, guys.

Go watch it right now. Also Dark Tourist.

Hey, do you like Dark Tourist? I do. So...

Thank you so much to our new Patreons and to our existing Patreons.

You guys are fucking amazing. continuously blow our minds.

We appreciate you. We really do. And we have some cool stuff in store.

I've been sharing some of the little sneaky peekies.

From our artiste Vasco Vaz. We have a fucking artist.

He's so badass, too. His shit is so good.

Yeah, I say we just start this thing right off.

Let's get to it. So yeah, like we said today, we're going to cover the Salem Witch Trials.

Spook, spook, spook. And I know a lot of people think they might know what's going on here, but when you really dive into this shit, it is bonkers.

Not bananas. No, this is bonkers. This is like a whole other level of banana.

Another tier. Bonkers. Like, I'm gonna use that word a lot, because there's a lot of bonkers shit in here.

And there's some banana shit. So... I know we covered with the Right Wrong Turn podcast the story.

Now I've heard... Giles Corey and Giles Corey.

I called him Giles because I've heard that.

I'm going to keep calling him Giles. Okay.

Because I want to. So maybe it's Giles. I don't know.

Either way, you know who he is. This is your podcast, bro.

It is. It's my podcast. I get to name him.

Whatever. What if you were just like, so I heard it called Giles and Giles, but we're just going to call him Hank.

Yeah, we're just going to call him Hank, Corey.

But we covered the story of Giles Corey, the unfortunate story.

And the Joshua Ward house. We talked about George Corwin, who was the sheriff who presided over all of these things.

He was the one who arrested him. Just want to catch you up so you're up to speed.

He was the one who arrested all the accused.

He's the one who interrogated a lot of the accused.

He tortured them. And he was the one who carried out the executions.

So he's a big dick. He was a real bad guy.

Now... I'm just gonna lay this all out right now.

There's a lot of people in this story that are like legendary assholes. legendary.

When you actually research this, you're like, wow, these people were straight up garbage people.

Should we put that on a shirt? Legendary asshole.

Legendary asshole. I would wear that. Right?

I think we should. These were just like malfunctions of the human genome of the highest order.

Okay. Like this, it'll piss you off. Genome.

Yeah, it was just real bad. So let's start it off, shall we?

Here we go. So these trials officially began in February 1692. and ended in 1693 when the last remaining accused were released from jails.

So a little, you know, over a year. But that was it.

So it doesn't seem like a long period of time, but they really like used that time.

It was a hellish year. It was a year. Now, it's important to note before we go into this that this was 17th century in America.

So there wasn't a good solid legal system in place yet.

There was no checks and balances. And the colonies were still just trying to figure out what the fuck was going on with themselves.

Right. And we were still in the process of aggressively stealing this land from the Native Americans who rightfully owned that shit.

So everything was kind of a hot mess at this point.

Now, records show that 200 people were accused during this short period of time.

Between 140 and 150 were actually arrested for it.

20 people were executed. 14 were women, 6 were men, and somewhere around 13 more people died while in jail awaiting their trials.

Oh, and two dogs were accused of witchcraft and they were shot and killed. know that because salem was bonkers as fuck here two dogs how do you witchcraft as a dog Well, and I'm going to get more into it lately, but they use dogs a lot in these.

I think at one point somebody said that they believed that dogs had a close relationship with the devil.

That's weird. Which is weird because you'd think they'd really think cats would.

Well, there's a weird thing about black dogs being like the undertakers.

Hey, maybe they are. Well, I want a black lab, so I hope not.

We have black labs, like, all in our family.

I love them. Yeah. But if they were the undertakers of the underworld, I'd be like, that's badass.

Yeah, I'd be like, don't take me there. I feel like it's cool.

Keep doing you, dog. Now, all but Guile's quarry were hanged.

These hangings occurred on a place called Proctor's Ledge, which is at the base of Gallows Hill.

The ledge is not at the top of the hill, which a lot of people assume it was, because they weren't going to cart all these people up a hill.

So this was at the bottom of Gallows Hill.

Why did they not, you maybe said this in the last podcast, did you say why they didn't hang Giles?

Yes. And it was mainly because he didn't confess to witchcraft and he also didn't deny it.

He refused to enter a plea. So if you entered a plea, you just got hanged.

Everyone who was killed entered a plea of innocent, which is crazy.

But everybody who was executed denied that they were witches.

Every single one. And Giles Corey refused to enter a plea at all, so he was...

That wasn't meant to technically, like they weren't doing that as execution.

They were doing it as interrogation. Okay, got it.

Because he just died as a result. Got it, got it.

We'll go back into him a little bit later.

Now, Proctor's Ledge, which is at the bottom of Gallows Hill in Salem, is... was seen as a good place to do this because it was visible to a lot of the town.

Oh, that's lovely. So whoever was hanged could be seen swinging from A tree.

Because they didn't use actual gallows. They just hung the cues from one of the trees on the ledge.

Jesus. Yeah. Now, no one was burned at the stake, which is a common misnomer.

Not in Massachusetts or in America, actually.

That's more of a European thing. We like to...

To hang our witches. They like to burn theirs.

Okay. According to historyofmassachusetts.org, which is a really interesting website.

Probably not for anybody but us in Massachusetts, but whatever.

The reason for no one being burned at the stake here is because English law only allowed death by burning to be used against men who committed high treason.

And only after they had been, which we talked about in the torture episode, hung till almost dead, quartered, and drawn.

The English considered it unacceptable to burn a woman because it involved nudity.

So they were like, it's cool that we kill her, but like...

We can't see her naked. Yeah, we can't see those boobies.

Put your tits away. Unless we're about to rip them off.

Yeah, exactly. So go back to our torture episode if you want to hear about that.

I.E. torture episode. So burning at the stake was more popular in countries with a strong Catholic church because it did not involve the shedding of blood.

And that's because according to the Roman Catholic doctrine, they didn't want any shedding of blood. it which is weird because i'm like burning does shed blood just in a different way yeah uh but whatever And it also ensured the burning at the stake ensures that the person doesn't have a body to take back to the... afterlife like they don't have to do anything yeah so they don't really have to do anything so that's more with like roman catholic shit Plus, you don't really have to think about where the remains are going.

Yeah, because they're just going to be a pile of dust.

Exactly. So none of the people, like I said, none of the people who were executed confessed to witchcraft.

And none of them initially received a proper burial after being executed.

They were all buried in random unmarked graves all over the area.

No one knows where these fucking graves are.

So most people think a lot of them might, or at least a few of them, might still be buried somewhere on Gallows Hill, but like...

Where? Nobody fucking knows. According to William P. Upham.

Upham? Yeah, I think it's Upham. for the Peabody Historical Society in 1903.

He said, quote, It is well known that the victims executed as witches on Gallows Hill in Salem in 1692 were were thrown into mere shallow graves or crevices in the ledge under the gallows, where the nature of the ground did not allow complete burial. so that it was stated at the time that portions of the bodies were hardly covered at all.

So they either threw them in a shallow hole on the execution site, or they threw their bodies into fucking crevices in the rocks near the gallows.

Jesus. Fucking wild. That's bananas. Now I don't get this.

Because if they were so scared of witches, then why wouldn't they make sure that the bodies were properly entombed so they couldn't come back?

Yeah. You would think they'd be scared. Because on top of that, one of the dogs that was shot and killed after...

One of those little shithead girls that was running around accusing everybody.

I hate that. Accused her neighbor's dog of being a witch.

After she accused it of being a witch, they shot it immediately.

Because apparently dogs don't get trials.

I don't know. He died immediately as a result.

And Cotton Mather, who is a reverend, who we'll get to late in a second, but he's a dick.

He was like, oops, that probably wasn't a witch because the devil doesn't die.

So we made a mistake. So why are they hanging people and just dropping them into rock quarries if the devil doesn't die?

Why are you doing any of this? Right. That doesn't make any sense.

So you can see right there that none of their shit was making sense.

They were just bored. They didn't have any Yeah, like they didn't have any rhyme or reason.

They didn't keep to specific rules with this shit.

It was kind of like whatever they fit what they needed at the moment.

So it's like, they were just a bunch of dicks.

I hate them. They were a bunch of dicks.

So. So like Ash mentioned, some of the victims' families did come and retrieve their bodies from the execution sites. to like bring them back to their house to secretly give them a burial at their house.

Only two victims have actual known marked grave sites and they are Rebecca Nurse and George Jacobs Sr.

This was because their families were two of the ones that came back to take them.

Right. Now, all the accusers, the accusers, not the accused.

All of the accusers were women who were between the ages of 9 and 20 years old.

This is odd because this isn't the case for other historical witch trials.

Other witch trials mostly had men accusing women of witchcraft.

So Salem was like, Progressive? I guess if you want to say that.

Progressive in like the most fucked up way you can be progressive.

It's like, you know what? We're going to have women accusing women.

We're going to ratchet it up a notch. Yikes.

Now, if you had denied the accusations against you, you were likely executed.

But again, if you confessed, nine times out of ten, you were set free.

What did they do with them when they set them free?

Well, they would have their land taken from them.

So they would kind of be set free into like... poverty, like extreme poverty, like straight up.

So no wonder people were like, no, I'm not.

And I think people were just like. no i'm not a fucking witch like fuck you and they didn't know at the time they were like do i deny it or do i i don't know what the right thing to do here is what's gonna get me not hanging from a tree Right, you would think that if you were like, I'm not a witch, they wouldn't hang you.

They would be like, oh. Oh, cool, glad that you're not a witch.

Exactly, like, awesome. So, most historians think that a lot of families in Salem, particularly the fucking Putnam family, who are a bunch of... rock hard douchebags I just I can't even I'm like I'm trying to they're fucking hemorrhoids it's just a bunch of family of fucking rock hard hemorrhoids that's what the putnams are they're dicks i'm gonna start calling people hemorrhoids and traffic call them rock hard hemorrhoids I love that.

Feels good. So the Putnams were fucking rock hard hemorrhoids.

Okay. They took advantage of the hysteria and started accusing neighbors and just like people they didn't like.

Like, anyone they had any beef with, they were like, you're a witch.

And I know if I say that, you're going to hang from a tree.

That's so scary. I would have been so nice to everyone back then.

Shit. I would have been so angry. You know how many people today would accuse me of being a witch?

Do you know how many people today would accuse me of being a witch?

And we're on the air saying that we're witches.

And do you know that redheads were immediately accused of being a witch?

Well, that's fucked up. Yeah. So just my head would make me a witch, never mind my entire existence, which would just confirm there. their fears that sucks yeah that sucks whatever fuck these people um So basically anyone who didn't follow their crazy ass Puritan code and religious requirements got accused of being a witch.

Most of the accused women happen to be outspoken.

Or they... Or the men and women were Quakers and people who didn't agree with the witch trials.

Like, people who came out and were like, this is fucking nuts. what are we doing, Salem?

They were like, which? Which? Like, immediately.

Now, right before the trials started tearing this place apart, another curse took up residence in Salem Village.

Ooh, there was a smallpox outbreak right before all this began.

And it certainly helped to like stoke the flames of hysteria that the devil was working on.

In Salem Village. Okay. Somewhere around 500 people died of the outbreak, which is bananas.

Yeah, that's insane. And this had to be blamed on someone, not lack of medical technology.

They weren't like, oh, we just don't know what vaccines are yet.

They were like, nope, someone did this. Now, Reverend Cotton Mather, not to be confused with Cotton Weary.

I was going to say that. was a real fucker.

Well, his name's Cotton, so what did you expect?

He's a dick. quickly threw the blame for the smallpox outbreak onto a Salem resident named Martha Carrier, claiming she brought the pox upon Salem Village.

He is on historical record as calling her a, quote, rampant hag and, quote, queen of hell, which I'd be like, hey, yo.

Can we make a shirt that says that? I would get that emblazoned on, like, my fucking cotton Puritan dress.

Queen of health. Like, fuck the scarlet letter.

I would, like, own that shit. We should put that on.

I would wear that. I would wear a Queen of Hell t-shirt.

So the Salem documents themselves say that obviously she was not just a rampant hag in The Queen of Hell.

She was accused by Cotton Mather because she was, quote, she had an independence of mind and an unsubmissive character.

Oh, well. So basically she was a badass bitch who was like, fuck all y'all.

Even now people get mad at that. Yeah, exactly.

I'm like, what year is this again? 1492.

No. 1692. Well, no, right now. I was making a joke.

Well, it would be 1692. Yeah, no, I know that's when this happened.

I was just thinking about Columbus. I like it, though.

Thanks, bye. Thanks, bye. When your joke doesn't land.

When I got too logical about it, it was my fault.

So... In 1542, so a little while before this, this is when this kind of seed of witchcraft kind of really took hold.

In 1542, the UK Parliament passed a law called the Witchcraft Act.

No way. Yes. Shit was fucking wild back then.

This act outlawed the act of witchcraft and anything that seemed like witchcraft and made it punishable by death.

So that's what they were working off of here.

They were like, nope, we can kill people who we think are doing witchcraft.

They would have executed my third grade ass.

Exactly. Of course, this is what set off the notion to them that they were doing God's work because Parliament was telling them this is what you need to do.

Yeah, Parliament says some shit. Yeah. It was so serious that by 1644, the English government had created an official position called the Witchfinder General. geez this is real life this is like a jk rowling like world i don't even know what to do with this rolling i think i said her name wrong rolling um In January 19, or 16, I keep saying 19.

What an idiot you are. In January 1692 is when this all began in Salem.

Okay. little shit face nine-year-old elizabeth paris was her first name little shithead nine-year-old yes okay i got it middle name elizabeth And other little shit face, 11-year-old Abigail Williams.

Twins? Twins. Twinsies! Who were the daughter and niece, respectively, of Salem Village's first ordained minister, Reverend Samuel Parris. began having strange fits and exhibiting behavior that was atypical.

Now, the girls were said to have started... This is what they were afflicted with.

They were started to make weird sounds and screaming randomly, contorting their bodies in unnatural ways and throwing things.

This sounds like typical toddler behavior to me, but maybe I'm just momming too hard right now.

Right? Maybe just give them a timeout. I don't know.

What I would say to Salem back then is like, maybe don't take these girls at their word about this behavior being the work of witches.

Yeah, nine-year-olds say some shit. So 11-year-old Ann Putnam and a few other gals in Salem also started exhibiting this strange behavior.

And I'm kind of thinking this is like the first pregnancy pact.

Remember that? Oh my God, yes. That it was like Gloucester High School.

They had, these girls had this like pregnancy pact and it was a huge thing.

Yeah, that was fucking weird. And it was weird.

They all wanted to get pregnant at 15. They were just making a pact about it.

Yeah. And instead of a pregnancy pact, I think this was just like these girls just decided to get a bunch of innocent people packed.

Like, I think a pregnancy pact would have been better.

I mean, I think a pregnancy pact is snappier sounding, for sure, instead of a get innocent people hanged pact.

But, you know. It's a lot to write down.

1692. We weren't as snappy and witty back then.

You had to do something. Yeah, you gotta do something.

I mean, they were bored as fuck. And we will talk about that later as...

That's possibly part of the reason this started.

Oh, I think that's why it started. They were bored and bratty.

Yeah, literally. So now instead of just being like girls chill, they were seen by the doctor. who was thought to be, they aren't positive of his name, but they think his name was Dr. William Griggs.

I say the doctor because this dude was straight up the only doctor in all of Salem.

Normal. This physician said that these girls were not showing any physical ailments, so they were clearly suffering from a chronic case of bewitchment.

Oh, you know. I'm going to blame all my asshole moods on that.

Like, I'm just bewitched. I'm not PMSing.

I'm just fucking bewitched. I'm just fucking bewitched.

And then wrinkle my nose a little. Exactly.

And since no one else was around to give a second opinion, the people of the town were like, yup, that's it.

Makes sense. These bitches being bewitched.

Bitches bewitching. So this alone would just be like, what?

Like, what? What are you doing, Salem? Like, sure, they're bewitched.

Get them a snappy sitcom, you know, but no.

The townspeople were like, all right. But who bewitched them?

Let's bring some more people into this madness real quick.

So the town magistrates. People who are supposed to be like, with it.

John Corwin and John Hathorne told the girls...

Start naming names. Oh no. Like adults. Looked at these fucking children.

These fetuses. And were like... Tell us he's bewitching you.

Like, that's smart. Also, as if you know.

Well, that's what I'm saying. So these girls started accusing people.

I'd be with you. They're like, okay, I'll just start pointing at people.

Is this where my girl Tituba comes in? Tituba does come in.

Poor Tituba. Yeah. So first, they immediately pointed to Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good, and a woman named Tituba.

Tituba. Tituba was the slave of Reverend Paris and actually confessed to bewitching the girls.

But it is thought pretty hard that she confessed after being beaten. severely and tortured she was probably just like okay I fucking did it and you know what she got out she got off good so good for her man She said in her confession, quote, the devil came to me and bid me to serve him.

I mean like respect. She was just straight up.

I'd be like, you know what? I did it. Well, I just respect, she didn't dance around it.

Like she wasn't like, maybe I'm doing something. mystical she was like oh hell no the devil came to me and he was like do this and i was like yeah i was like okay so all right She keeps it 100.

Now, the bummer is that she also said that there were other witches in Salem that were trying to harm the Puritans.

So they were like, welp, gotta flush them out.

Oh, Tituba. Oh, Tituba. You tried, honey.

I get it. So, May 27th, 1692, the very special and very interesting...

The infamous court of Oyer and Terminer, which translates to hear and determine, was created by Governor William Phipps, who was the governor of Massachusetts at the time.

Now, this court consisted of eight judges.

They were Jonathan Corwin, Bartholomew Gedney, If you want to know what that's about, listen to our other episode.

John Hathorne, John Richards, William Stoughton. who was the chief magistrate, Samuel Seawall, Peter Sergent, and Waitstill Winthrop.

That's a great name. Winthrop. It's a lot of Johns.

So many Johns. Sounds like our family. Yeah.

This court was not exactly how we think of courts and trials and justice and shit today.

There wasn't any lawyers or any evidentiary rules.

It also was much more guilty until proven innocent kind of situation where if accused, you were not likely to... prove your innocence.

No bueno. Now, suddenly after this happened, nine Salem girls were afflicted.

Oh, weird. You want to be famous? They were.

They were Elizabeth Booth, Elizabeth Hubbard, Mercy Lewis, Betty Parris, Ann Putnam Jr., Susanna Sheldon, Abigail Williams, Mary Walcott, and Mary Warren.

Mary, Mary, Elizabeth, Mary, and Elizabeth.

Literally. So they all started throwing out accusations left and right. in court someone would suddenly say that a witch was like doing their business and suddenly the girls would all start like having fits and acting crazy because they were straight up, these girls suck.

This sometimes included the accusers breaking into fevers, which sounds legit.

Well, you probably just work yourself. You can work yourself up.

Well, that's the thing. You have to remember that there weren't digital thermometers back in the 1600s.

They were just moving a lot, so they got hot.

Yeah, exactly. They could have increased body temp just because they were having fucking fits.

Right. It's like working yourself up. When you work out or something, you're going to be warmer.

Your body temperature rises. It's just the way it is.

Science. So I think they worked their shit up.

They came off probably flushed and a little overheated, and they were like, Phoebus.

Oh, no. Certainly they were Southern. I don't know.

That happens. So, as was super official the ways of the 1600s Salem hysteria.

Pretrial examinations were held at the Salem Village Meeting House in Reverend Samuel Parris' house in Salem Village.

In Ingersoll Tavern at Salem Village. The tavern.

And in Beatles Tavern in Salem Village. Okay.

Super official. Pour one out for these Salem witches.

Literally. It was during the very first trial of this court of Oyer and Terminer. that Bridget Bishop was found guilty of witchcraft.

Bridget was the first to be hanged during the Salem witch trials, but she wasn't the first to be accused.

She just was the first to be hanged between the months of july and september 1692 18 more people were found guilty of witchcraft and executed after her Was Bridget the one that they just said was too like lusty?

They said she was lusty and then apparently she was like a gossip. and that's why oh my god i would have been like hanged straight away hang my Of course, they weren't just going to go off the crazy notions of children, right?

No, they did. Of course not. I don't think they did.

No. The good people of Salem at this time created a series of highly scientific tests to determine whether or not The Sarah of the Hour was Dancing with the Devil?

The Sarah of the Hour. Because all of these girls were named Sarah.

I swear, like, everybody. If your name was Sarah back then, you were a fucking witch.

Sarah, Mary, and Elizabeth. But yeah, and especially Sarah.

There's like 14 Sarahs that were, it's insane.

But they wanted to see if she was just merely... you know, pissing off her neighbors by not being a submissive Puritan or she was dancing with the devil.

So the tests for this... Were the first one was the infamous water test.

I'm sure people know of this or have at the very least heard of it.

Maybe in like popular culture, popular culture.

I wanna be popular wicked another witch musical look at that thank you I like it you're welcome so The accused would be tied up, but not in the way you're thinking.

One finger would be tied to the opposite toe and then they would be slowly lowered into the water.

What? If they floated, then they were a damn witch.

But if they sank, they weren't. But they were also drowning, so that sucks.

Like, if they floated to the top, they were like, witch.

But if you fucking sank to the bottom because you were in a ball tied up, they were like, oh, you're not a witch.

So that's fun. So either way, you died.

Yeah. So the whole thing, the whole reasoning behind this, because you're like, how the fuck did they come up with that?

Like how, why do witches float? Well, the whole reason was witches were thought to have spurned the sacrament of baptism so they would be rejected by water and thus float.

So the second test is called Witch Cakes.

Witch cakes? That sounds cute, right? Yeah.

It's not cute. Oh. Let's make them. Yeah.

You won't want to make them after you hear what they are.

Oh, okay. So you might not know this one because I didn't know this one.

They would make a basic cake from flour and rye.

And then they would just, you know, mix in the urine of the person that was supposedly bewitched.

So just a basic cake. Ew. Just a basic cake.

And then the witch had to eat it? No. Then they would feed this culinary abomination to a fucking dog.

If the dog showed the same symptoms as these assholes, then it had to have been a witch.

But the dog's always just running around and being crazy.

But you know what? Good news. Because they weren't just like, oh, it was a witch.

The dog would then tell them who the witch was.

How? By pointing. With its fucking fingers?

Either with its paw or its nose. The hell?

Yeah, it makes sense. You know, Salem. Salem logic back then.

Makes sense. 1600 Salem logic. Seriously.

Now everybody's cool in there. So the next test was the touch test.

It was thought that while the bewitched person was having one of their witch-induced fits, the fit would suddenly stop if they were touched by the witch who afflicted them.

Makes total sense, right? Yeah. So they would just have the accused touch the accuser.

And of course, because these girls were Fucking assholes.

Then they would stop. They would always stop having fits.

And then they would point at the person and say, she's the witch who did it.

Now, just because you weren't executed for witchcraft, that doesn't mean you got out scot-free.

The accused were often landowners and they would have their land seized by the government if they were accused.

Wow. Just for being accused. So this would make them homeless forever.

Out of the blue. Like, right away. That's so fast.

And back then, land was everything. Yeah.

It was like all your money worked for land and then it just got taken away from you.

Like what the fuck? The accused were held in jails all over Salem, Boston, and Ipswich because there were just so many of them that they couldn't all fit in one place.

Whoa. They were considered super dangerous prisoners and were relegated to the basements and dungeons of these places.

Whew. In a book called A Delusion of Satan, The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials, it's described as, quote, As the most dangerous inmates, the witches were kept in the dungeons.

These were perpetually dark, bitterly cold and so damp that water ran down the walls.

They reeked of unwashed human bodies in excrement.

They enclosed as much agony as anywhere human beings could have lived.

The stone dungeons of Salem Town Prison were discovered in the 1950s. in St.

Peter Street when the site was excavated to build a New England telephone company building.

In 1692, they stood under a wooden structure 20 feet square, known as the, quote, witch jail.

Uh-huh. but accused witches were worse off than the other unfortunate prisoners.

Their limbs were weighted down and their movements were restricted by manacles chained to the walls that their specters could easily could less easily escape to wreak havoc oh my god so they weren't just like thrown in these basements they were chained to shit and weighted down wow yeah The town of Agde in France is famous for sun, sand, sea and sex.

But lately, life on the coast has taken a strange turn.

The town's mayor, a respected pillar of the community, has been arrested for corruption.

His wife claims he's been bewitched by a beautiful clairvoyant.

Then there's the mysterious phone calls that local people have been getting.

I am the Archangel Michael. The whole town has been thrown into chaos.

As the mayor is unable to carry out his duties, I would like to address you all.

Legal proceedings have been initiated. Join me, Anna Richardson, and journalist Leo Schick for The Mystic and the Mayor as we investigate a story of power, corruption, and magic.

Binge all episodes of The Mystic and the Mayor exclusively and ad-free right now on Wondery Plus.

Start your free trial in Apple Podcasts, Spotify or the Wondery app.

Now, those who were jailed obviously came out.

If they came out of it and were free, they were fucked up for life.

Duh. I'll fuck you up. Such is the case with one girl named Dorothy Good.

History calls her Dorkus Good. yikes but they that's not from what I read her name was Dorothy I don't know how Dorcas was a name back then so I don't know if they just got it wrong Well, this girl was the daughter of Sarah Good.

March 3rd, 1692. And fucking... Putnam was deposed and claimed this, quote, who did immediately almost choke me and tortured me most grievously.

And so she hath several times since tortured me by biting and pinching and almost choking me. tempting me also to write in her devil's book.

And also on the day of her examination, the apparition of Dorothy Good tortured me during the time of her examination and several times since that sounds like a big bunch of bullshit are you ready to hear how much of a vicious cunt Ann Putnam is I'm ready Now, March 24, 1692, Dorothy was taken into custody and examined, quote, on suspicion of witchcraft.

Examined meant she was literally chained up in the dungeon in Nipswitch jail.

Oh, Dorothy was four fucking years old. She was four?

Yep. Oh, I think I remember hearing about that.

Ann Putnam accused a four-year-old. of witchcraft, and this four-year-old was locked up alone in a dungeon.

That's horrible. That's how evil these people are.

I can't even. She was chained up in the dungeon from March 24th to December 10th. after they hanged her mother for witchcraft.

They forced her poor father, who was poor, they were, like, living on the streets... to scrounge up $50, which was like a billion dollars back then, to release her.

Oh, my God. She suffered such psychological damage while imprisoned as a four-year-old. that she was said to be completely insane after her release.

Like, they had to pay someone to take care of her.

Oh, my God. Yeah. Four-year-old. What, was she like five when she got released?

She probably was close to five. Oh my god.

Or at least five. But after all, like I said, prison sucked ass.

So while awaiting trials in prison... the accused were repeatedly not only waited down, starved, all that good stuff, They were repeatedly humiliated as well by being forced to undergo physical examinations of their bodies. ew now there was something called the mark of the devil that they looked for and basically it was like any mark mole anything like that that they said the accused got branded with when they made the pact with the devil.

So it was like an abnormal thing. Yeah, like anything.

Could be a mole, a beauty mark, a birthmark.

I have a birthmark on my stomach. Yeah, they would have.

You're redheaded and you have that. They'd be like, yeah, no.

They also would look for a teat, from which the witch's familiar was believed to have nursed from.

Yes. They were looking for her another booby?

They were looking for a teat that appeared somewhere on these people's bodies from which a spirit animal would drink from. reality was not something that the Salem Puritans were very close with.

So you're telling me they were looking for a third boob.

A third nipple. Oh, that's weird. They were looking for a third nipple from which a witch's familiar would come and drink from.

They ever find that? Nah. Didn't think so.

Nah. Weirdly enough, no. He's still looking.

So when this was done, the accused were stripped naked in front of a group of people and their bodies were just like poked and prodded.

If any suspicious marks were found, they were pricked with needles.

The female prisoner's boobs were often examined multiple times a day.

Ready? For any sign of lactation or breastfeeding and the appearance of their breasts were recorded and discussed in the courtroom.

What if they were pregnant? Well, some of them were.

Yeah, I know. Sarah Good gave birth to an infant in jail.

Yeah, and Goody Proctor was too. She had her baby after she got...

It's fucked up. Damn. Yeah. There even started forming at this time actual witch hunters who would go door to door in Salem and ask people to accuse other people of witchcraft. what like they would just be like tell me somebody who did witchcraft and these people were so fucking scared they were like oh that person well you probably want to accuse somebody right if you don't accuse somebody they might be like Hmm.

You might be a witch then. Right. Like, anything.

Any little thing. I would have moved. Seriously, it's like, that's terrifying.

Now... Those that were accused were not just tested brutally, but also tortured in order to extract confessions, a la George Corwin.

We talked about him in the other episode, that he was infamous for being a brutal interrogator during this time.

And the methods include cutting, dunking, the heretic's fork, which we talked about in the torture episode.

The pair of anguish, which is a device placed into a person's orifice and gradually expanded. sleep deprivation, and more.

George Corwin's famous method of getting a confession, was to tie the accused's neck to their ankles and then slowly pull until a stream of blood shot out of their nose.

And then they died, probably. So he was a really good guy.

Now let's just go quickly through, because I want to mention who was executed.

Bridget Bishop was the first one. Her age was somewhere in the 50s.

Oh, wow. Bridget... Now, there was a lot of elderly people that got...

Yeah, that's wild. Because back then you probably didn't live crazy long, but a lot of people were here.

And they were cut short by fucking executions.

It sucks. So, Bridget Bishop was a widow who lived in Salem.

She had a bad reputation around town because she had been accused of witchcraft before all this.

Because she had, like, run-ins with the law.

She was a gossip. She was just, like, a fun lady.

I was going to say, she sounds like a good time.

And she wasn't the first person accused, like I said, but she was the first person tried because it was believed the case against her was going to be super easy to win.

Okay. Because everybody thought she was a witch anyway.

Right. Bridget was accused by five of the afflicted girls, Abigail Williams and Putnam Jr., Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, and Elizabeth Hubbard, who stated that she had physically hurt them and tried to make them sign a pact with the devil.

During her trial, Bishop repeatedly said, I am innocent.

I know nothing of it. I have done no witchcraft.

I am as innocent as the child unborn. She was brought to trial on June 2nd, found guilty quickly and became the first person hanged during the witch trials when she was hanged on June 10th, 1692.

Wow. The next one is Sarah Good. She was 39 years old.

She lived in Salem Village, was the wife of William Good.

She was poor and pregnant. And this is the mother of Dorothy Goode.

She was poor and pregnant with another baby.

And she would often go door to door in Salem begging for food and anything, like just handouts, while her husband worked as a laborer just to try to make ends meet.

So her neighbors were annoyed with her. So I think they just were like, yeah, accuse her.

Um, she was one of the first people accused by the original two bitches.

Uh, This was along with Sarah Osborne and Tituba.

The three of them were the first ones. Sarah Good was brought to trial June 29th and executed on July 19th, 1692.

The next one is Elizabeth Howe. She was 57 years old.

She lived in Topsfield and was the wife of farmer James Howe.

She had been accused of witchcraft before, like Bridget Bishop, but nothing really happened out of that because it wasn't crazy then.

No charges were ever brought about the other one, but she later was refused admittance into the Ipswich church because she was accused before.

Oh, that's fucked up. I know. In May of 1692, she was accused by the afflicted girls in Salem Village.

She was arrested, brought to trial on June 29th, and executed July 19th.

How'd they even know her? I know. A lot of people from outside of Salem were accused.

That's weird. Prominent people, too. Oh, that's why they knew who they were.

This next one is kind of crazy. This is George Burroughs.

It's weird that men were executed. It's very rare.

George Burroughs was a Harvard-educated minister. who was accused by other alleged witches from Andover of being their mastermind.

During the trial, accusers said he was biting them while they testified.

And he was, like, standing there being like... And they're like, where are the bite marks?

Well, and then they produced bite marks.

And it was said that they had matched with Burrow's teeth...

So basically, they literally bit themselves before the trial and then showed them.

That's wicked stupid. So they Bundied him way before Bundy Bundied himself.

But yeah, so that's the thing. So people in court, even outside of the accusers, started claiming that while he was being...

Tried that they saw spirits in the room and one of them was saying that they were the spirits of burrows dead wives Oh shit Then they went full JK Rowling and said he was using an invisibility cloak that was given to him by the devil.

Shut the fuck up. Now, who said this? No, not the little children.

And continent. The chief justice said that.

The chief fucking justice was like... invisibility cloak I bet it's an invisibility cloak right like that makes sense typical Before his execution, Burroughs recited the Lord's Prayer perfectly without any mistakes.

Witches are said to be unable to achieve this.

So people who were watching... Because, of course, hangings were the social events of the season.

And so the crowd that had gathered... suddenly was like, wait a second, he's not supposed to be able to do that if he's a witch.

But they had the gallows all rigged up, so they were like, and they just hung them anyway.

Oh my god. So he proved it. This is what I mean by they went against their own rules all the fucking time.

That's why they were even worse monsters.

Because it's like they made these rules and then they continuously broke them.

Yeah, that's sad. Just to fuck with people.

It's like, what? Um, so the next one was Susanna Martin, who's 71 years old.

Oh. Yeah. Susanna Martin was a poor widow who lived in Amesbury at the time.

Much like Bridget, she had also been accused of witchcraft before.

In the previous case, she was accused of infanticide and tormenting people with her specter.

What's infanticide? Killing an infant, your child.

The charges were dropped and dismissed, because obviously they were like, you didn't kill a child. she was accused of witchcraft by the afflicted girls in the spring of 1692 and She was taken to Salem Village from Amesbury, brought to trial on June 29th, and executed on July 19th.

So these trials and executions also were like, boom.

Yeah. You got tried, you got... Charged and you were executed.

The next one is Rebecca Nurse, who is 71 years old.

Rebecca was an elderly grandmother from Salem and the wife of farmer Francis Nurse.

She was pious. She was popular with everybody.

Everyone loved her. But... She had a feud with the fucking Putnam family.

Oh, no. Over what? Over border boundaries between their lands.

You're kidding. She also disapproved of the appointment of Samuel Parris, who was a close friend of the Putnams.

Samuel Parris is the father of the girl who started this whole shit.

Oh. Yeah. So the Putnams were Rebecca's main accusers during the witch trials.

Oh, imagine that. Yeah, and many of them testified against her.

Now, during her trial, during the Salem witch trials, like during this time, she was found guilty.

Or, I'm sorry, she was found not guilty.

Okay. at the end of her trial in late June.

But when that verdict was read out loud in the court, the afflicted girls started flipping the fuck out, falling over and screaming.

And they asked the jury to reconsider the decision.

So she was found not guilty. And they flipped out.

What? So the jury reconsidered and came back and told us she was guilty.

How is that even allowed? It doesn't make any sense.

She was executed on July 19th, 1692. And this execution was when a lot of people in Salem started being like, I don't think this is right.

Like, this is not right. She was found not guilty.

These little bitches have a shit fit in court.

Right. And they're just like, okay, guilty.

Let's hang her. That's right. And you're like counting on nine and 10 and 11 year olds.

Yeah, a little. I want to retroactively just kick them all in the fucking teeth.

I know, I want to get to the end because I don't remember if anything happens to them.

So the next one's Sarah Wilds, who is age 65.

She lived in Topsfield, too, and was the wife of a local judge, John Wilds.

This is what, like... prominent people started getting accused here.

She had a kind of a bad reputation because she had some brushes with the law, kind of like That's a fun gal.

In 1649, she was accused of fornicating out of wedlock with Thomas Wardwell.

And in 1663, she was accused of, ready, wearing a silk scarf.

What a bad bitch. Woo, Sarah. Don't be wearing that silk scarf.

It's getting hot in here. We're helter-sweltering in here with that scandal.

Imagine if you had to go to trial for that.

Because you wore it. And also, I love that you didn't, it wasn't like she wore one.

She might have. She might have worn that.

Like, woo! Woo! You doggy. I know. I'm stressed.

So after she married widower John Wilds in 1663...

John Gould and Mary Gould Reddington, who are the brother and sister of John Wilde's late wife.

So, like, her in-laws. They hated her. So in 1670, they began spreading rumors that she was a witch.

This was obviously before the trials began.

They probably meant to say bitch. They probably did.

And they got misheard. This was in 1670, so it was before the trials began.

So they were just like, this bitch is a witch.

I think they were just like, everyone. Fuck her.

They didn't know that she was going to be hung on a tree.

So the rumors... obviously continued for years.

And finally, Sarah Wilds got so pissed at Mary Gould Reddington, her, like, somewhat sister-in-law that she physically attacked her on the road good pulling her off her horse and throwing her to the ground which i'm like It claps for you.

I would have done the same exact thing. You know what?

You can only push someone so far. Now, even after Mary Gould Reddington died from natural causes years later, Mary's friends continued to harass and torment Sarah.

Oh my god. So she was just getting bullied because they didn't like her.

The Gould family... Ready? They were close friends with the Putnams.

And shortly after the Salem Witch Trials began, the Putnam family was like, Sarah Wild's a witch.

Fucking pot gnomes. I'm so angry at the pot gnomes.

She was arrested in April 1692. John Wilde's daughter from a previous marriage and son-in-law, who are Sarah and Edward Bishop. were also arrested at this time, as was John's other daughter, Phoebe Wilds.

Sarah Wilds was brought to child June 29th and executed July 19th.

Wow. A lot of people were executed on July 19th.

I know, that was like a very busy day for the tree.

Yeah. But, uh... And also a lot of like, if one person in a family was accused, a lot of the times it would like the rest of the family would get accused.

I mean, it sort of makes sense in a fucked up way.

Yeah, they would just be like, all of you did it.

The next one is Martha Carrier, age 33. she's the one that uh cotton mather originally was like you caused the smallpox oh yeah martha carrier lived in andover and was the wife of thomas carrier She was also the niece of an outspoken opponent of the Salem Rich Trials.

Reverend Frances Dane of Andover, and the sister of accused witch Mary Toothaker of Billerica.

Carrier was the first person in Andover accused during these trials.

She was accused by her neighbor, Benjamin Abbott. after the two had a dispute over land and abbot immediately fell ill oh her children were also accused And then they were coerced into testifying against her.

Oh. So Carrier was brought to trial on August 5th and executed August 19th.

So her kids testified against her because they kind of made them.

And they did that a lot. That's so fucked up.

Yeah. The next one is John Willard, who was about 30 years old.

He was the deputy constable in Salem at the time.

He was one of the first people in Salem to speak out against the witch trials.

He was responsible for helping to arrest the accused witches, but soon he started to be like, whoa, this is fucked up.

So he quit his job in protest. Oh, wow.

Which, like, what a badass stand-up dude.

Yeah. Like, way to put your money where your mouth is.

Shortly after all this, he was accused of witchcraft by... Ann Putnam.

Ann Putnam Jr. Bitch face. who also accused him of beating her baby sister to death.

Whoa. Willard was not immediately arrested, but his in-laws, the Wilkins family, began to suddenly be suspicious of him.

Wait, did she have a baby sister that died?

I think she did, but it was probably just because it was the 1600s and everybody died.

Right. Willard was accused a second time by his wife's grandfather, Bray Wilkins, after Wilkins fell ill upon receiving a cross look.

From Willard. Oh, God. He probably just had a sneeze or something.

Right. So just a few days later in May 1692, Bray's grandson, Daniel Wilkins, was found dead. his body was bloody beaten like brutally and according to the court records it says quote to the best of our judgment we cannot but apprehend, but that he died an unnatural death by some cruel hands of witchcraft or diabolical act.

Wow. So an arrest warrant was issued for John Willard because they were like, it had to have been him.

Ridiculous. he had already fled Salem so he was smart he was like I'm getting out of here But a second arrest warrant was issued for him, and he was hunted down in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Oh, wow. During his examination, which is at Beatles Tavern in Salem, the incident with Bray Wilkins and Daniel Wilkins was brought up.

So they were like, he's just an awful devil.

Several confessed witches testified against Willard.

And the afflicted girl, Ann Putnam Jr., testified that she saw many ghosts of the people Willard allegedly killed.

So John Willard was brought to trial on August 5th and executed on August 19th.

Jesus. None of those charges were ever proven.

Good. They were just all levied against him, but nothing was ever proven.

Next one is George Jacobs Sr., age 72. He was accused by several people, including his granddaughter, Margaret Jacobs.

He was a reluctant churchgoer, is what he's... Same.

Same, dude. And he was also an outspoken critic of the trials.

Good. He was first accused by his servant, Sarah Churchill, but then was also accused by Margaret Jacobs, his granddaughter.

Then his son, George Jacobs Jr., was accused as well, but he evaded arrest.

Oh. So a lot of people testified against him.

Almost all the members of the Putnam family.

Putnam family. Almost all of them, all the members of the Putnam family said that That he came to them in spectral form and beat them with a cane.

As one does. That sounds legit. I would have fucking came to them in spectral form and beat them with more than a cane.

I want to now. And I bet the people were like, the judges were like, you know what?

He has a cane. He did it. That checks out.

Yeah, I get it. He was found guilty on August 5th and executed August 19th.

Jacob's family was one of the ones who retrieved his body from the execution site and buried him.

He's one of the only two that has an actual mark grave.

The next one you might remember from The Crucible because it's just like the name everyone remembers, John Proctor.

I remember him. Age 61, he was a wealthy farmer who lived on the outskirts of Salem Village.

He was an outspoken critic of the witch trials, and he often threatened to beat or whip the afflicted girls for their role in the witch trials, which I think is hilarious.

I think that's hilarious too someone needs to punch them in the face For real.

So after his wife, Elizabeth Proctor, was arrested on charges of witchcraft in April of 1692.

And she was preggers. Yeah. Well, then the girls decided to turn on John Proctor.

During Elizabeth's examination... is when they suddenly were like he's also a witch so it was like he was there just to like support his wife and they were like you too you're a witch like right in the middle of the thing oh my god So then his entire family was eventually arrested for witchcraft.

Holy shit. Proctor knew that now he knew that Salem was clearly in the middle of fucking hysteria.

Like he could see it. Obviously he was like, this is insane.

So he wrote a letter to the Boston clergy in July asking that they intervene.

And he was like, please move these trials.

Because they're going to wipe out a whole town.

When he was like, this is insane. Like, no one can stop this.

And he was like, can you move the trials to Boston?

Because at least there, it could be fair.

The clergy did respond, but they said it was too late to save Proctor, who was brought to trial on August 5th and executed August 19th.

Another day that was really busy. The 19th is big.

His remaining family members were either never charged or found guilty and eventually pardoned.

So Proctor's body was reportedly retrieved from the execution site and secretly buried, but no one's ever found it.

Oh. Next one is Alice Parker. Her age is unknown.

She was the wife of fisherman John Parker.

They lived in Salem town where Alice was known as a pious and honest woman.

She also had a reputation of like being clairvoyant.

And on one occasion successfully predicted that a friend's husband had died at sea.

Oh. So that's no good. Yeah, don't be doing that.

Don't have special abilities. Just cook and clean and say your prayers.

Don't be different or special in any way.

Don't do it. In May of 1692, afflicted girl Mary Warren suddenly was like, Alice Parker is a witch.

During her trial, she made... Warren made several weird-ass accusations against...

Of course she did. She claimed that Alice had bewitched her mother to death, made her sister ill, and had drowned several men and boys at sea.

Casual. Yeah. So she was brought to trial on September 9th and executed on September 22nd.

The next one is Mary Parker, who was about 40.

She was a widow from Andover. She was accused by Sarah Phelps and Martha Sprague of Andover, and it's not really known why.

So she stated during her examination that there was another woman in Andover named Mary Parker and suggested maybe it was, like, a mistaken identity thing.

That's what I would have said. Like, good play, girl. i would have been like there's another ash probably her yeah um definitely wasn't me so uh but then i'll go exactly i'm gonna leave now But then Martha Sprague was like, nope, you're her.

Oh no. So she was brought to trial September 17th and executed on September 22nd.

Apparently they just like put aside a few days, like a day a month.

They probably did because there was probably so many.

Well, there was so many people. It's insane.

The next one is Ann Putiter, I think it is.

She was in her 70s. She was a widow who lived in Salem.

A lot of them were widows. I know, that's really sad.

She also worked as a nurse and midwife, but she had a reputation for being, quote, sharp-tongued.

She was just another girl trying to have a good time.

She was just like... Fuck this. She would just tell you how it is.

Yeah. I mean, she's seen some shit. She was a nurse and a midwife in the 1600s.

Let her be sharp tongue. She's seen shit.

I would have been sharp tongued. Yeah. She was accused in May by Sarah Churchill and several other bitches.

Some of her medical supplies, such as foot ointments, were confiscated.

And they were like, look, this is from the occult.

I'd be like, yeah, I was a fucking nurse and that's gold bond.

I'm helping you assholes. I've been helping you and healing you.

During her trial, she was like, and she was like sharp tongue to the end.

She was like, they are lying. They're liars.

Good. She made sure to say it. She was brought to trial on September 9th and executed on September 22nd.

The next one is Wilmot Redd. I don't know her age.

She lived in Marblehead and was the wife of fisherman Samuel Red.

Like Bridget and a few of the other ones, she had been accused of witchcraft before, I think in 1687.

She was unpopular because she kind of had like an abrasive personality.

It happens. Again, it's just like... Her daughter was the wife of fellow accused witch Reverend George Burroughs.

So that's a little connection there. She was accused in May.

She was brought to the Ingersoll Tavern in Sandmill Village for her examination.

She had actually never met any of the afflicted girls before.

And when asked why they were afflicted, she stated they were in a sad condition.

What? So she was like, I don't know these bitches.

And they were like, so somebody was like, well, why are they afflicted then?

And she was like, I don't know. They're in a sad condition.

Like, I don't give a fuck. Right. She was just like, whatever.

She's like, they're fucked up. She was indicted.

And several... Apparently several Marblehead residents testified against her because, again, this is like mass hysteria.

Everybody's just pointing fingers. She was brought to trial on the 17th of September and executed on the 22nd of September.

Next one is Margaret Scott. She was 77 years old.

Damn, that's wild for 1690s. I know. She was a widow from Rowley, and she had seven children, but only three survived childhood because 1600s, man.

Her husband had died in 1671, and after that she was left super poor and had to beg from her neighbors, so they all hated her.

Because how dare her be poor? Yeah. She was accused by two of Rowley's most notable families, the Wycombs and the Nelsons.

Okay. A member of the Nelson family also sat on the grand jury that convicted her.

That makes sense, right? I was going to say, that was allowed?

Yeah, that's fine. Everything was allowed.

She was brought to trial on September 17th and executed on the 22nd.

Whoa! The next one was Samuel Wardwell, age 49.

He was a carpenter from Andover. He was a fortune teller, and he practiced folk magic.

That's kind of what led to his accusation, unfortunately.

He wasn't doing anything wrong. He was just having fun.

He was jailed in Salem, which is a particularly rough jail.

After he was arrested, his wife and his daughters were also arrested.

They immediately pointed to his fortune telling and... like magic dabbling and said the devil may have taken advantage of him for these reasons.

He then confessed to making a pact with the devil, but later recanted that confession.

He was brought to trial in mid-September and executed on September 22nd.

Oh, big day. Next one is Martha Corey, age 72.

This is Giles' wife. um she had a reputation her reputation was being a pious member of the church and community and everybody liked her yeah Like, I think I mentioned on the other episode, she had a child out of wedlock in the 1670s before marrying Giles.

But even despite that, everybody was like, she's really nice. no she's like a churchgoer she's great she was also an outspoken opponent of the witch trials and she stated many times that she thought the girls that were accusing were liars Oh, wow.

So of course they turned right on her. And during her own examination, she told the judge, quote, we must not believe all these distracted children and what they say.

It's true, though. Preach, girl. Um, now Giles actually ended up testifying against her in court stating, and he said that she may have bewitched his farm animals and himself.

Jesus. Now, she was brought to trial on September 9th and executed on September 22nd. just three days after Giles had been tortured to death for refusing to enter a plea.

Next one is Mary Easty, age 58. Mary Easty was the sister of accused witches Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Cloyce.

She lived in Topsfield. Again, she was considered pious.

She was well respected. She was well liked.

Mary, she was accused of witchcraft, arrested, but then released in May.

But she was accused again a few days after her release and was arrested again.

So she was found not guilty. Everything was finally let her out and then they immediately brought her back in.

She was examined and indicted on two charges of witchcraft.

She was brought to trial on September 9th and executed on September 22nd.

Knew it. The last one that was executed is Giles Corey.

He was in his 80s. That's so fucked up. That's wild.

Yeah, it's insane. So we kind of talked about him on the last episode, but basically he didn't want to enter a plea.

Damn. And Robert Califf said, this guy was like present for it.

He said, quote, in the pressing, Giles Corey's tongue was pressed out of his mouth.

The sheriff with a cane forced it back in again.

Oh. Brutal. In a small victory, though, because he didn't enter a plea, the government could not take his estate.

And so he died in full possession of his land and assets, which were given to his heirs.

That was likely his intention doing this.

Because if he entered a plea, they took all the land.

No one would have been able to have it. Corey was noted by witnesses at his torture as saying with his last dying breath... quote, damn you, Sheriff, I curse you in Salem.

Four years later, at age 30, Sheriff George Corwin... who had arrested, brutally tortured, and executed the accused during the trials, had a fatal heart attack and died.

In Haunted Happenings, a book by Robert Ellis Cahill, who is a former high sheriff of Essex County, noted... that every sheriff since Corwin, including himself, a period of almost 300 years, all headquartered at the Salem jail overlooking the spot where Corey was pressed to death, had died while in office, or had been forced out of his post, because of heart or blood ailments.

That's wild. It's like a legit curse. I'm mad because I meant to. take a picture of it when we were in Salem and I thought that's what I was just looking for but one of the women said like I curse you and like you'll die with blood in your mouth yes yes yes yes and then one guy had like a mouth ulcer or something hemorrhage of some sort and died with blood in his mouth Yeah, I remember reading about that one.

Isn't that crazy? Yeah, that's a crazy one.

It's karma. It is so karma. So October 3rd, 1692, finally, an intelligent gentleman named, uh, who was minister of Increase Mather.

His name was Increase Mather. On October 3rd, he asked me what day it was.

He did. It was October 3rd. Increase Mather tried to convince the court to stop taking spectral evidence as actual evidence in the court anymore.

Because it was dumb AF. Spectral evidence means the accusers were claiming that the accused came to them in like spirit or ghost form.

Yeah. So after a full year of allowing this shit to go on... They were like, you're right.

Well, suddenly Governor Phipps' wife, Mary... all of a sudden got brought in and was interrogated on suspicion that she was a witch after this the governor was like no he decided out of the goodness of his heart That he should set the accused free and stop the trials.

So he dismantled the court of Oyer and Terminer. and he replaced it with the Superior Court of Judicature.

This court was different because they were forbidden from taking spectral evidence into consideration.

So they actually put a rule on them. The judges for this new court were William Stoughton, Thomas Danforth, John Richards, Waitstill Winthrop, and Samuel Seawall.

So... Eventually, by May 1693, Governor Phipps pardoned all the remaining accused.

October 17, 1711, the surviving accused and some of the victims' families convinced the colony To pass a bill that cleared some of the accused and executed victims' names.

They should. These victims and families were also paid restitutions.

Good. That's good. In 1957, so jumping up a little bit, Massachusetts Governor Foster Furkelow... signed a bill into law that officially apologized for the Salem witch trials.

I just think that's so funny. It's like... Yeah, we're sorry.

Whoops. Our bad. Yeah, your apologies are totally great.

A little late. Yeah, thank you for that.

So did anything ever happen to Ann Putnam and any of the bitchy girls?

They just got to live their lives? Yeah.

No one was mean to them? No. Not that I mean maybe, but... That would have been real mean to them.

Well, luckily this bill that they signed in 1957... officially cleared the name of some of the remaining victims that weren't listed in the original 1711 law.

Oh, that's good. In 1992, on the 300th anniversary of the trials, the city of Salem built the Salem Witch Trials Memorial.

And the city of Danvers built the Salem Village Witchcraft Victims Memorial in honor of all the victims.

And like we were saying, it's really spooky and heavy if you like stand in the middle of that shit.

It's crazy. And just like see how many. It's just really, it's a lot.

On October 31, 2001, the state amended the 1957 apology clearing the names of all remaining victims.

Oh, wow. What it says is, quote, Chapter 145 of the Resolves of 1957 is hereby amended by striking out in line one the words one and two. and certain other persons, which is what the original one said, and inserting in place They're of the following words, Ann Putiter, Bridget Bishop, Susanna Martin, Alice Parker, Margaret Scott, and Wilmot Redd, because those are the ones that were left out.

Of the original one. So, theories for why this all happened in the first place?

Boredom. Because, like, how the fuck does this start?

Well, a behavioral scientist, Linda Caporell, suggested something that's like kind of... Makes sense.

It holds weight. It holds water. They think that the afflicted girls may have been exposed to a fungus called ergot.

The fungus can grow on grains like rye, which were very common used in Salem in this time period.

This fungus can be called convulsive ergotism, which can cause someone to have hallucinations, muscle contractions similar to seizures.

Vertigo and crawling or tingling sensation.

So this sounds like a lot what the girls were dealing with.

The fact that Rye Supplies had a long storage life back then...

And there was a lot of moisture due to this like tiny ice age that was going on back then.

It was like super cold. Yeah. So it was a lot of moisture in the air. that could have caused this fungus to grow and they wouldn't have known back then that you're not supposed to eat that.

So do you think that happened and then they went too far with it?

Well, that could have been part of it, but the girls didn't show any of the physical symptoms of ergot, convulsive ergotism, because...

It sometimes includes like literal disintegrating fingertips.

And they didn't have any of that. so it's like I don't know it makes sense to a point now another theory is just straight up hysteria And the reason for the hysteria could be attributed to, I mean, in one instance, Robert Califf, who was a Salem merchant. accused Samuel Parris, who was the original accuser's father.

Yeah. using the witch trials to get back his power that he was losing in the village.

And he claimed that Paris must have forced his slave Tituba to confess.

Thus starting the whole thing off. Right.

Now in 1684, right before the trials, King Charles II revoked the Massachusetts Bay Colony's royal charter, which was a legal document granting the colonists permission to colonize the area.

The charter was revoked because the colonists were said to have violated a lot of the rules that were set out in the Charter, which include basing laws on religious beliefs and discriminating against Anglicans.

A newer, more anti-religious charter was replaced in 1691 and also combined the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, and several other colonies into one.

So the Puritans who had left England due to religious persecution started thinking their religion was going to be attacked again because of this.

So they all got worried about losing control of the colony... political instability and now the threat to their religion again that made this feeling of uneasiness and anxiety so that's all happening And then on top of that...

What was going on back then was King Philip's War.

Which was real fucked up. Exactly. What was ongoing at this time.

And the front lines of that were only like 70 miles away from it. from salem oh wow so most of the people of salem had seen some of the shit that was going on in the wars like they'd seen really fucked up shit And then they were also fearing that Native American attacks were going to happen at any time. so Several of the afflicted girls had witnessed a lot of atrocities and shit.

Oh, so they were like, maybe it's post-traumatic stress and that would cause this hysteria, because we're still going on the hysteria theory.

And on top of that, children at this time... were restricted from almost all forms of play.

They were expected to really just do chores and study their Bible.

And that sounds fucking awful. So of course they're going to be bored as fuck. which is going to cause hysteria.

And also on top of that, the stress of living in such a rigid religious society. on this dangerous place that's sitting right next to a fucking war that's going on could make this happen.

And, I mean, if you really look at what hysteria is...

Defined as, it's quote, a condition affecting a group of persons categorized by excitement or anxiety. irrational behavior or beliefs or inexplicable symptoms of illness or Another definition of it is basically the same.

It just says, basis in such episodes psychological distress is converted or channeled into physical symptoms wow So my money is on hysteria.

Yeah. Stemming from all of those things.

Stemming from boredom. Boredom. It was really cold.

They were going through a crazy like long cold spell at that point.

There's just a ton of shit going on. people thinking their religion was being attacked.

I think all of that made Hysterica, Hysterica, hysteria happen and that's what caused this i like the ergot poisoning but it doesn't add up completely maybe it contributed to it a little sure who knows Boredom hysteria with a little touch.

With a little dash. Touch of fungal infection.

Exactly. Just a little dash of fungal infection.

Just like, poof, if we're making a... If we're making a potion.

If we're making a potion. Which we're not.

It's a little pinch. I'm not doing it. Pinch of it.

Just a little pinch. Now, if you want the legitimate full transcripts of the entire Salem witch trials and all the accused... go to salem.lib.virginia.edu And they have literally the transcripts of everything, like all the court trials and everything.

It's actually fascinating. I feel like that would be so much, but go there if you really want to see what's going on.

And, um, Yeah. So that is that. That is the Salem Witch Trial.

So that was a lot to take in, but... Don't accuse your neighbors.

Yeah. The moral of the story is if somebody's name is Putnam, be wary.

Hell yeah. Be caught and wary of that bitch.

Be caught and wary of the Putnams. You should be.

So right now we are off to a haunted house, but we will be back with a brand new wrap.

A brand new wrap. We'll tease you out the next subject of the next episode.

Maybe I'll pick. I wish you could see Vash's face there.

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But not weird enough that you get hung. hanged hang i always say hung it's okay it doesn't even sound right hanged sounds better so i don't know why i go to hung Yeah.

It's like drink, drink, drunk. I don't know which one is right.

It's hard. English is hard. English is a weird fucking language.

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Oh, don't do it. Don't accuse dogs of witchcraft.

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[The Dark History of the Salem Witch Trials: A Deep Dive into Hysteria and Injustice]-[Episode 23: The Salem Witch Trials]

📋 Summary

The Salem Witch Trials: A Study in Institutional Madness

The Mechanics of Persecution

The Victims and the "Legendary Assholes"

The Role of Misogyny and Social Instability

Theories of Origin: Hysteria and Ergotism

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript