Salem Witch Trials Daily

We track a pivotal shift on Friday, April 8, 1692, when Salem’s usual rush to warrants pauses and the Governor’s Council of Assistants decides to investigate the accusations themselves. After Jonathan Walcott and Nathaniel Ingersoll’s April 4 complaint against Sarah Cloyce and Elizabeth Proctor sat without action, Salem magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin issue warrants only once the council schedules an April 11 hearing, ordering Marshal George Herrick to bring both women to the larger Salem Town meetinghouse—moving proceedings out of Salem Village. Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth travels with key assistants, marking the first major Boston government move in the witch-hunt and a sharp contrast to his portrayal in The Crucible. We also question where the “panic” was, arguing authorities sought careful felony prosecutions rather than haste.00:00 Welcome and Date00:21 Complaint and Delay00:51 Council Steps In01:03 Warrants and Venue Shift01:39 Danforth and the Assistants02:55 Why So Little Panic03:06 Accusations Timeline04:31 Slow but Serious Justice04:48 Closing ThoughtsLinks

Examination of Sarah Cloyse and Elizabeth Procter

A Brief and True Narrative by Deodat Lawson

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims

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The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub

⁠The Thing About Salem

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

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

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege

High Quality Scans of Original Court Documents - Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

We revisit April 7, 1692, when Benjamin Gould reportedly experienced another wave of spectral visitations—an account he later shared during the April 11 examinations of Sarah Cloyce and Elizabeth Procter. We explore the striking list of alleged specters said to appear in his room, including Martha and Giles Cory, Elizabeth and John Procter, Sarah Cloyce, Rebecca Nurse, and the surprising inclusion of Rachel Griggs. We dig into why this is the only known moment Rachel Griggs is ever linked to spectral activity, how nothing ultimately came of the claim, and what her connection to physician William Griggs and afflicted Elizabeth Hubbard may suggest about the wider Salem story.

00:00 Welcome and Hosts

00:11 Gould Sees Specters

00:45 Rachel Griggs Mention

00:53 No Charges Filed

01:01 Doctor Griggs Context

Examination of Sarah Cloyse and Elizabeth Procter

A Brief and True Narrative by Deodat Lawson:

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims

Find My Massachusetts Legislators

The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub

⁠The Thing About Salem

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

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

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege

High Quality Scans of Original Court Documents - Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

April 6, 1692: Pinches, Apparitions, and Deodat Lawson’s First Published AccountIn this episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we take you to Wednesday, April 6, 1692, as reports of pinching and spectral torment continue to ripple through Salem Village. We discuss an April 19 deposition in which farmer Benjamin Gould says Martha and Giles Cory appeared at his bedside and he felt two pinches as they left, along with accounts that Abigail Williams was pinched by John Proctor’s shape and that Ann Putnam Sr. and Jr. remained afflicted. We also share the conclusion of Minister Deodat Lawson’s A Brief and True Narrative, newly finished and soon to be published, highlighting his detailed “remarks” about the afflicted and the accused—including the witches’ book, mutual “curing,” apparitions in the meetinghouse, the witch cake, and claims about the accused gathering in company—while exploring why Lawson’s report matters as an early surviving published description of events.00:00 Welcome and Date00:15 Corys Visit and Pinches00:51 Spectral Attacks Spread01:08 Lawson Narrative Begins01:32 Afflicted Persons Remarks03:04 Prayer and Signing Book03:36 Accused Persons Remarks03:43 Witch Cake and Examinations04:17 Satanic Muster and Rituals05:05 Keeble Statutes Criteria06:02 Why Lawson Report Matters06:33 Closing Thoughts

Links

A Brief and True Narrative by Deodat Lawson: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A49794.0001.001/1:3?rgn=div1;view=fulltext

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims: https://change.org/witchtrials

Find My Massachusetts Legislators: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator

The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCliis4vjMIUgg3wcA0pXeYQ/

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

⁠The Thing About Salem: 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 the Original Court Documents - Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection: https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection

The latest updates from the Salem Witch Trials. We check in on Salem Village, where a committee purchases land for a future school building, and head to Boston, where former Salem Village minister Deodat Lawson returns home after his stay and finishes writing his account of events, with a pamphlet expected soon. We also report from the Boston Jail, where keeper John Arnold buys two blankets for an infant confined with her mother, witchcraft suspect Sarah Good. Join us again tomorrow as we continue following the unfolding Salem Witch Trials day by day.

00:00 April 5 1692 Update

00:13 Salem School Land

00:18 Lawson Returns Boston

00:38 Blankets at Boston Jail

00:51 Wrap Up and Tomorrow

A Brief and True Narrative by Deodat Lawson

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims

Find My Massachusetts Legislators

The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub

⁠The Thing About Salem

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

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

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege

High Quality Scans of the Original Court Documents - Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

April 4, 1692We walk through the latest developments in the Salem Witch-Hunt, as new testimony and complaints target recent suspects. We cover a reported spectral attack involving the shape of John Proctor afflicting Abigail Williams, then dig into multiple depositions against Rachel Clinton, including claims of meetinghouse disturbances, strange animal apparitions, a mysterious loss of beer, and a tense late-night confrontation followed by an apparent affliction and near-death of Betty Fuller. We also examine Mercy Lewis’s statements about being bitten, pinched, choked, and urged to “write in a book,” attributed to the shape of four-year-old Dorothy Good and to Sarah Osburn. Finally, we follow new complaints filed against Sarah Cloyce and Elizabeth Proctor, including an early mention of John Indian among the afflicted.

00:00 April 4 Overview

00:23 Proctor Spectral Attack

00:38 Boarman vs Clinton

01:49 Beer Barrel Curse

02:56 Edwards Livestock Losses

04:38 Fuller Night Visit

06:10 Dorothy Good Accusation

06:34 Osburn Book Pressure

06:54 New Complaint Filed

07:19 Afflicted List Update

A Brief and True Narrative by Deodat Lawson: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A49794.0001.001/1:3?rgn=div1;view=fulltext

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims: https://change.org/witchtrials

Find My Massachusetts Legislators: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator

The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCliis4vjMIUgg3wcA0pXeYQ/

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

⁠The Thing About Salem: 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 the Original Court Documents -Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection: https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection

Did the afflicted girls fake their symptoms?

We explore a striking claim from within the crisis itself: that the afflicted may have been “dissembling.” We revisit Sunday, April 3, 1692, when Samuel Parris read aloud a note Mary Warren had posted at the Salem Village meetinghouse, inviting the congregation to offer prayers of gratitude for her deliverance—yet the note’s contents are unknown because Parris never copied it into his church record book. We also examine the puzzling gaps in Parris’s records during the most active months of the trials, raising questions about what was happening in the meetinghouse. Finally, we tease an April 19 court record showing Elizabeth Hubbard accusing Mary Warren of making the “dissemble” remark, which we’ll dig into next.

00:00 Afflicted Dissembling

00:10 Daily Show Intro

00:17 Mary Warren Note

00:42 Parris Missing Records

01:22 Silence Raises Questions

01:38 Hubbard Accusation Tease

A Brief and True Narrative by Deodat Lawson

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims

Find My Massachusetts Legislators

The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub

⁠The Thing About Salem

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

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

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege

High Quality Scans of the Original Court Documents -Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

In today’s Salem Witch Trials Daily, we walk through Saturday, April 2, 1692, focusing on Abigail Williams’ claims that the specters of Elizabeth Procter and Rebecca Nurse repeatedly afflicted her in March and April, including being “grievously pinched” and tempted with fine things to sign the book. We also explore how accusers often listed dates of spectral attacks and why our day-by-day approach helps reveal what life was like during the witch-hunt. Elsewhere in Salem Village, we cover Mary Warren’s recovery and her meetinghouse note requesting prayers of gratitude—then hint at the serious drama that follows when, in Mary’s later testimony, Elizabeth Procter reportedly appeared to her that night in “her bodily person” and confessed to witchcraft.

00:00 Daily Introduction

00:14 Abigail's Spectral Attacks

00:26 Why Track Day by Day

00:59 Temptation to Sign the Book

01:06 Mary Warren's Note

01:27 Elizabeth Appears Bodily

01:46 Spectral vs Physical Assaults

A Brief and True Narrative by Deodat Lawson

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims

Find My Massachusetts Legislators

The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub

⁠The Thing About Salem

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

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

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege

Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

In our April 1, 1692 episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we explore how the afflictions continue to mislead people in Salem and nearby communities through the reported testimony of Mercy Lewis. We recount her vivid description of being taken to a “glorious place” filled with light, where she saw a multitude in white robes singing from Revelation 5:9, Psalm 110, and Psalm 149—passages we connect to the religious climate of the moment, including Samuel Parris’s recent focus on Psalm 110. We also follow Mercy’s reluctance to leave the vision and discuss Deodat Lawson’s report that a recurring “white man” foretold the timing of future fits, which he claimed happened as predicted.

00:00 April Fools Intro

00:30 Mercy Lewis Vision

01:02 Revelation New Song

01:20 Psalm 110 Footstool

02:09 Parris Sermon Context

02:28 Psalm 149 Vengeance

03:19 Lawson Closing Note

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims

Find My Massachusetts Legislators

The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub

⁠The Thing About Salem

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

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

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege

Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

Fast Day in Salem: Prayer, Fasting, and Abigail Williams’ Witch Feast VisionIn this episode, we follow Thursday, March 31, 1692, as Salem observes a Puritan fast day while Abigail Williams reports seeing about 40 witches feasting near the Salem Village parsonage of minister Samuel Parris and claims the specter of Rebecca Nurse attacks her. We explore how Puritans in New England viewed prayer and fasting—grounded in the Gospel of Mark—as powerful defenses against demonic possession and witchcraft, from private household fasts like those held for the Goodwin children in 1688 and the Parris family earlier in 1692, to government-ordered public fasts during crises, including the 1697 fast when Judge Samuel Sewall’s apology was read aloud. We also preview Abigail’s testimony pattern, listing multiple March and April dates when she says Nurse afflicted her.00:00 Fast Day in Salem00:33 Why Puritans Fasted00:54 Private Fasts and Afflictions01:31 Public Fast Days02:15 Witches Sabbath Allegation03:05 Rebecca Nurse Specter Claims03:18 Testimony Timeline Wrap UpLinks

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims

Find My Massachusetts Legislators

The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub

⁠The Thing About Salem⁠

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

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

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege

Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

In this episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we cover Wednesday, March 30, 1692, when Rachel Clinton—arrested the day before—was slated for examination, though no record of that hearing survives. We focus on three depositions made against her that day: Thomas Burnam Jr. describes watching for a cow-milker he associates with Clinton and claims the figure vanished and later turned into a gray cat; Mary Fuller Sr. recounts Clinton confronting her at home amid a crisis involving her niece Betty Fuller, who later indicated Clinton was responsible; and Thomas Knowlton Jr. reports an incident at the John Rogers household involving demands for food, insults, a thrown stone followed by severe toe pain, and earlier claims about his daughter being harmed by Clinton’s specter. We also discuss how wartime language and imagery appear in these records.

00:00 Welcome and Date

00:15 Rachel Clinton Arrested

00:43 Burnam Cow Milking Tale

01:36 Fuller Family Accusation

02:42 Knowlton Confrontation

03:40 Specter Pricking Threats

04:03 Warfare Imagery Context

04:30 Closing Reflections

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims

Find My Massachusetts Legislators

The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub

⁠The Thing About Salem

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

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

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege

Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection