Salem Witch Trials Daily

John Willard Faces Hathorne as Salem’s Accusations SwellWe head straight into the chaos of Salem Village as accusations spill onto Samuel Parris’s pasture and the court finally brings John Willard in for examination. We follow the tricks and pressures that defined these hearings—fits on cue, the touch test, the Lord’s Prayer trap, and Magistrate John Hathorne’s relentless insistence that flight equals guilt and confession equals salvation—while Willard refuses to bend and declares his innocence. We also track the widening net of warrants and depositions, including the arrest of healer and self-styled witch finder Roger Toothaker, and the rapid movement of prisoners to Boston jail. Against the day’s mounting testimony, one sudden reversal stands out: Mary Esty walks free when most accusers stop claiming she afflicts them.00:00 Daily Trials Update00:23 Specters at Parris Pasture00:44 Roger Toothaker Arrested01:33 Willard Faces Court02:33 Fits and Touch Test05:03 Lords Prayer Pressure06:08 More Depositions Filed07:06 Transfers and Releases

May 17, 1692: Daniel Wilkins’ Death Ruled Diabolical as Spectral Accusations MultiplyWe follow the explosive events of Tuesday, May 17, 1692, when a coroner’s jury—stacked with familiar Salem Village names—rules that Daniel Wilkins died by “witchcraft or diabolical art,” citing bruises and puncture-like wounds. As fear intensifies, new warrants target fugitives Elizabeth Colson, Daniel Andrew, and George Jacobs Jr., while Susannah Sheldon unleashes a sweeping, vivid account of relentless spectral assaults, threats to sign the devil’s book, and encounters involving Philip English, Sarah Buckley, Mary Whitteridge, Bridget Bishop, Giles and Martha Corey, Mary English, and others. We also track marshal George Herrick’s and Benjamin Wilkins’ statement tying John Willard and Goodwife Buckley to Wilkins’ final days, as Mercy Lewis and Mary Walcott claim they witnessed the accused specters killing him—just hours before his death.00:00 Welcome and Setup00:10 Wilkins Inquest Verdict01:16 New Warrants and Claims02:04 Colson and Jacobs Attacks02:52 Philip English Specter03:40 Buckley Abduction Story04:17 Rescue in the Thicket04:35 Devil Book and Familiars05:40 Food Choking and Bites06:16 Martha Corey Pig Familiar07:20 Herrick Statement Filed08:11 Timeline of Wilkins Death08:38 Specters Named Before Death

May 16, 1692: Power Shifts, a Death at the Wilkins House, and Susannah Martin’s “Puppies”We follow an action-packed May 16, 1692, as Massachusetts’ new government takes office under Governor William Phips, with William Stoughton as lieutenant governor, while the Salem witchcraft crisis escalates. Daniel Wilkins dies after Mercy Lewis and Mary Walcott claim to witness John Willard’s apparition choking him, and Willard is arrested about 40 miles west in Lancaster a week after his first warrant. Susannah Sheldon reports being pressured by George Jacobs Jr. and Rebecca to sign the devil’s book and describes assaults by Rebecca, Elizabeth Colson, and Elizabeth Procter. Ann Putnam Jr. describes being tortured by an unidentified Lynn figure called “Old Father Pharaoh,” with Thomas Putnam and Robert Morey supporting her account, and she also accuses Elizabeth Hart. John Kimball adds vivid depositions against Susannah Martin involving disputed cattle, sudden livestock losses, and terrifying “black puppy” apparitions.00:00 Welcome and Setup00:12 New Government Takes Office00:39 Daniel Wilkins Death01:31 Susannah Sheldon Attacked02:02 Old Father Pharaoh03:24 Ann Putnam Accuses Hart03:43 Kimball Cattle Curse05:19 Puppies and Black Cloud06:53 Spectral Puppy Assault08:16 Aftermath and Rumors

Specters in the Meetinghouse and a Copy-Paste ClueWe follow the strange events of Sunday, May 15, 1692, when specters disrupted worship in Salem Village and Andover, with accusations tying Sarah Buckley, Martha Carrier, and George Jacobs Jr. and his wife Rebecca to attacks and temptations to sign the devil’s book. As Thomas Fuller Jr. and Benjamin Wilkins Sr. escalate their complaint against John Willard for afflicting Bray and Daniel Wilkins, Magistrates Hathorne and Corbin issue a second warrant that sets up Willard’s capture on May 17. Our look at later depositions brings Will’s Hill into focus, where Ann Putnam Jr. reports Willard’s specter tormenting the Wilkins family and claiming he would seek greater power from George Burroughs. We also uncover a strikingly identical line shared between Ann Putnam Jr.’s and Mercy Lewis’s May 18 depositions—despite differing dates—raising sharp questions about how these accounts were formed.00:00 Salem Witch Trials Daily00:04 Specters Disrupt Worship00:42 New Willard Complaint00:56 Willard Specter at Wills Hill01:15 Matching Deposition Lines

New Warrants, Missing Suspects, and a Spectral “Prediction”

We follow Elizabeth Hart as she confronts Ann Putnam Jr. after being accused of afflicting her, only for Ann to claim Hart’s specter returned to torment her and push her to write it down. Tension spikes as Nathaniel Ingersoll and Thomas Putnam push fresh complaints naming eight new suspects and one already-arrested target, with oddly incomplete warrants leaving some women’s first names blank. Arrests unfold unevenly: some are taken, others vanish—including Elizabeth Colson, who slips away toward Boston and buys months of freedom—while Hart and Thomas Farrar Sr. are seized without trouble. We also track Mercy Lewis’s deposition about John Willard’s specter and the conveniently timed claim that Daniel Wilkins would die within two days, alongside eerie testimony against Dorcas Hoar and the arrival of Increase Mather and Governor William Phips in Boston with a new charter in hand.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:12 Hart Confronts Putnams

00:42 New Suspects Named

01:37 Warrants and Arrests

02:44 Willard Specter Claim

03:44 Dorcas Hoar Deposition

04:41 Mather and Phips Return

04:51 Closing Tease 

LinksSalem Witch Trials History YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCliis4vjMIUgg3wcA0pXeYQ/

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/⁠

⁠The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.com⁠

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com⁠

⁠Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619⁠

Emerson W. Baker and John G. Reid, The New England Knight: Sir William Phips, 1651-1695: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780802081711

⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience: 

https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780190627805⁠

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781589791329⁠

High Quality Scans of Original Court Documents - Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection: https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection

Friday the 13th: Abigail Soames, Mary Warren, and the Courtroom “Touch Test” CircusWe head straight into a Friday the 13th examination where Abigail Soames is hauled to a tavern, searched, and pressed under relentless questioning while Mary Warren’s dramatic fits drive the room. A stray needle, whispered biographical “facts,” spectral accusations, and the infamous touch tests turn the hearing into a performance that reveals how easily a proceeding could be shaped by expectation and fear. The tension escalates as claims multiply—pins, bites, threats of murder, and even courtroom observers treating eye contact like proof of guilt—before the record widens to eerie depositions against Susannah Martin and Thomas Hardy, featuring night terrors, strange meetings, and disturbing transformations. It’s a fast, unsettling look at how testimony, spectacle, and superstition fed the Salem crisis.00:00 Welcome and Hosts00:10 Abigail Soames Arrest00:37 Examination Begins01:00 Needle and Accusations03:05 Touch Test Drama04:58 Courtroom Circus06:22 Other Specters Named06:58 Rings Depose Martin07:32 Sleep Paralysis Explained08:41 Joseph Ring Secret Party09:36 Hardy Hauntings Continue11:12 Mute and Devil Book11:42 Closing and Next Episode

Links

Salem Witch Trials History YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCliis4vjMIUgg3wcA0pXeYQ/

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/⁠

⁠The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.com⁠

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com⁠

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780375706905⁠

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619⁠

⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience: 

https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780190627805⁠

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781589791329⁠

High Quality Scans of Original Court Documents - Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection: https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection

Poppets, Confessions, and New Arrests: Salem, May 12, 1692

We head to Salem on May 12, 1692, as magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin issue an arrest warrant for Ann Pudeator and Alice Parker and question Abigail Hobbs, Pudeator, Parker, and Mary Warren while specters torment Mary Walcott, Mercy Lewis, and Ann Putnam Jr. Hobbs details poppets, thorns, and covenants with the devil, tying her actions to George Burroughs in Falmouth, Maine and naming deaths she claims resulted. Warren levels a cascade of accusations against Parker, Pudeator, and the Proctors—ships cast away, poisonings, drownings, and threats with needles and images—while testimonies collide with contradictions and spectral claims. We close with the aftermath of Sarah Osburn’s death in the Boston jail and unanswered questions about her body, mourners, and disputed property linked to the Putnams.

00:00 May 12 Overview

00:36 Abigail Hobbs Confession

02:03 Alice Parker Accused

03:22 Mary Warren Poppets

04:47 Proctors and Devils Book

05:29 Shipwrecks and Murders

06:52 Osburn Aftermath 

Links

Salem Witch Trials History YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCliis4vjMIUgg3wcA0pXeYQ/

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/⁠

⁠The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.com⁠

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com⁠

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780375706905⁠

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619⁠

⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience: 

https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780190627805⁠

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781589791329⁠

High Quality Scans of Original Court Documents - Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection: https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection

May 11, 1692: Willard’s Dish Crossing and the Jacobs & Martin DepositionsWe take you straight into May 11, 1692, as Susannah Sheldon claims she saw accused witch John Willard and an old man cross water in a dish and later tempt her with the devil’s book, while Elizabeth Hubbard reports Willard’s apparition tormenting her to sign. Salem magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin press George Jacobs Sr. amid violent fits, pin-pulling accusations, and long-running claims that he has practiced witchcraft for decades, alongside fresh depositions from Ann Putnam Jr., Thomas Putnam, and John Putnam Jr. We then shift to Salisbury testimony revived against Susannah Martin—nighttime spectral assaults, mysterious blood in a bucket, bewitched lights on the road, and a prolonged affliction doctors call supernatural—linking earlier accusations to her 1692 conviction and July 19 execution.00:00 Welcome and Hosts00:10 Willard Apparitions Reported00:47 George Jacobs Examined01:53 Depositions Against Jacobs02:34 Peach vs Susannah Martin04:05 Corn Husking Threat05:03 Pressy Haunted by Light07:06 Brown Family Affliction09:31 Old Charges Resurface10:00 Outcome and Wrap Up

Links

Salem Witch Trials History YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCliis4vjMIUgg3wcA0pXeYQ/

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/⁠

⁠The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.com⁠

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com⁠

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780375706905⁠

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619⁠

⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience: 

https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780190627805⁠

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781589791329⁠

High Quality Scans of Original Court Documents - Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection: https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection

Spectral Evidence and the First Death: Salem, May 10, 1692We’re visit Salem and Boston on May 10, 1692, as warrants fly, accusations harden into “evidence,” and a single day reshapes lives. George Jacobs Sr. and Margaret Jacobs are hauled to Thomas Beadle’s Tavern, where Jacobs—an elderly man with two walking sticks—spars with Hathorne and Corwin while Sarah Churchill and Mercy Lewis describe chilling spectral attacks and pressure to sign the devil’s book. The theological fight over whether Satan can assume an innocent person’s likeness turns deadly in practice, especially when Jacobs falters on the Lord’s Prayer under scrutiny. John Willard bolts rather than face arrest.

The day closes with a grim milestone: Sarah Osburn dies in the Boston jail after weeks of harsh confinement, becoming the first victim of the Salem witchcraft panic without ever being tried or convicted.00:00 Warrants and Arrests00:28 Willard on the Run00:51 Jacobs Examined02:36 Spectral Evidence Debate03:32 Prayer Test and Jail04:27 Mercy Lewis Deposition05:47 Abigail Names Names06:14 Sarah Osburn Dies

May 9, 1692: George Burroughs Faces Salem’s MagistratesChaos erupts as Salem magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, joined by William Stoughton and Samuel Sewall, interrogate former Salem Village minister George Burroughs and then confront him with a roomful of afflicted accusers. After a private courtesy interview, Burroughs denies key allegations and admits lapses in communion and baptisms—then the spectral testimony begins: Susannah Sheldon, Mercy Lewis, Mary Walcott, Elizabeth Hubbard, and Ann Putnam Jr. describe Burroughs’ “book,” violent torment, threats, and vivid claims that the ghosts of his first two wives accused him of murder and demanded vengeance. Additional testimony comes from multiple townspeople and captains, and Burroughs is bound over for jail. We also point to essential sources for May 9, including Marilynne K. Roach and the legal record collection edited by Bernard Rosenthal.00:00 Welcome to the Show00:11 May 9 Interrogations Begin00:31 Private Exam of Burroughs01:11 Afflicted Chaos Erupts01:34 Mercy Lewis Mountain Vision02:37 Mary Walcott Murder Claims03:17 More Spectral Book Threats04:07 Ann Putnam Ghostly Parade05:37 Magistrates Question Burroughs05:58 Other Witnesses and Jail06:17 Missing Records and Reading List