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Outrage! The Hidden Feuds That Killed 20 Witches (The Unbelievable Salem Court Lie)
Enjoying the show? Support our mission and help keep the content coming by buying us a coffee.
This program is a journey into one of the darkest chapters of early American legal history: the Salem Witch Trials of 1692–1693. This was not mere mob violence; it was a devastating failure of the legal system, resulting in the execution of 20 innocent people for the crime of witchcraft. We dissect the catastrophic legal, social, and psychological collapse that caused justice to become a murderous trap.
The tragedy began when the legal system abandoned centuries of established tradition by accepting spectral evidence—testimony based on invisible assaults, dreams, and visions that no one else could see.
The Law: The Puritan legal code, based on the English Witchcraft Act of 1604 and citing the Biblical command, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," defined witchcraft as a capital felony.
The Fatal Error: Governor Sir William Phipps, walking into political chaos, established the emergency Court of Oyer and Terminer with judges who lacked formal common law training. This court accepted spectral evidence, allowing accusers to claim they saw the spirit (specter) of the accused tormenting them. Since the alleged crime took place in the spiritual realm, the accused had no physical way to refute it. This decision set a disastrous precedent, immediately inverting the standard of proof from "innocent until proven guilty" to "accused is practically convicted."
The Horror of Giles Corey: We detail the unique, gruesome fate of 80-year-old farmer Giles Corey, who refused to enter a plea. To protect his family's property from forfeiture, he endured the ancient torture of peine forte et dure (being pressed to death with heavy stones), dying after two days with his final, defiant words: "More Weight." This single act remains a visceral indictment of the trial's inhumanity.
Final Question: We might not believe in spectral evidence today, but what are the deep-seated societal fears (economic, political, social) in our own time? How easily could accusations just as flimsy and unprovable—spread through modern means like social media—be weaponized to fuel a similarly destructive fire in the court of public opinion?
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By Conspiracy Decoded PodcastEnjoying the show? Support our mission and help keep the content coming by buying us a coffee.
This program is a journey into one of the darkest chapters of early American legal history: the Salem Witch Trials of 1692–1693. This was not mere mob violence; it was a devastating failure of the legal system, resulting in the execution of 20 innocent people for the crime of witchcraft. We dissect the catastrophic legal, social, and psychological collapse that caused justice to become a murderous trap.
The tragedy began when the legal system abandoned centuries of established tradition by accepting spectral evidence—testimony based on invisible assaults, dreams, and visions that no one else could see.
The Law: The Puritan legal code, based on the English Witchcraft Act of 1604 and citing the Biblical command, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live," defined witchcraft as a capital felony.
The Fatal Error: Governor Sir William Phipps, walking into political chaos, established the emergency Court of Oyer and Terminer with judges who lacked formal common law training. This court accepted spectral evidence, allowing accusers to claim they saw the spirit (specter) of the accused tormenting them. Since the alleged crime took place in the spiritual realm, the accused had no physical way to refute it. This decision set a disastrous precedent, immediately inverting the standard of proof from "innocent until proven guilty" to "accused is practically convicted."
The Horror of Giles Corey: We detail the unique, gruesome fate of 80-year-old farmer Giles Corey, who refused to enter a plea. To protect his family's property from forfeiture, he endured the ancient torture of peine forte et dure (being pressed to death with heavy stones), dying after two days with his final, defiant words: "More Weight." This single act remains a visceral indictment of the trial's inhumanity.
Final Question: We might not believe in spectral evidence today, but what are the deep-seated societal fears (economic, political, social) in our own time? How easily could accusations just as flimsy and unprovable—spread through modern means like social media—be weaponized to fuel a similarly destructive fire in the court of public opinion?