In our February 26, 1692 episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we look at the moment the Salem Witch Trials escalated when the first specific accusation of witchcraft was made. We discuss how neighboring ministers and gentlemen visited Samuel Parris at the Salem Village parsonage, witnessed Betty and Abigail’s afflictions, and concluded Satan’s hand was involved while advising caution. We also cover what was learned from Tituba during this visit, including her connection to the witch cake attempt and what she said about learning methods to discover witches. Finally, we follow how the afflicted girls’ finger-pointing began in the Parris household, setting the stage for arrests that would soon follow.

00:00 Late February Recap

00:45 Ministers Visit Parris

01:31 Tituba And The Witch Cake

02:00 First Accusations Begin

02:44 What Happens Next

02:49 Where To Follow

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Salem Witch Trials Daily Course Week 7: Families, Geography, and the Machinery of Accusation, February 9-15, 2026: https://aboutsalem.com/week-7-blog-families-geography-and-the-machinery-of-accusation-february-9-15-2026/

⁠The Thing About Salem: https://aboutsalem.com⁠

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⁠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

Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection: https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection

In this episode, we revisit Thursday, March 24, 1692, when Salem Village’s packed meetinghouse witnessed chaotic examinations that sent Rebecca Nurse and the very young Dorothy Good toward jail. We follow how accusations and courtroom theatrics escalated under Magistrates Hathorne and Corwin, with Reverend Parris recording the proceedings and the afflicted reacting violently to the accused’s movements. We also discuss the troubling scrutiny of Dorothy Good, including claims about bite marks and a “snake” on her finger, and the decision to imprison her. After the examinations, we cover former Salem Village minister Deodat Lawson’s lecture, “Christ’s Fidelity the Only Shield Against Satan’s Malignity,” his warnings about Satan and spectral affliction, and his rejection of countermagic in favor of prayer. We end with how depositions and suspicions—reaching even Giles and Martha Corey—deepened the village’s panic.

00:00 Welcome and Setup

00:27 Rebecca Nurse Arrives

01:22 Accusations Erupt

02:51 Spectral Chaos in Court

04:37 Nurse Jailed and Defended

04:55 Dorothy Good Examined

06:04 Lawson Thursday Lecture

06:58 No Countermagic Warning

08:17 Evening Fallout and New Targets

08:49 Day Ends in Dread

Examination of Rebecca Nurse

Statement of Giles Cory Regarding Martha Cory

Deodat Lawson, Christ’s Fidelity the Only Shield

Deodat Lawson, A Brief and True Narrative

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

We focus on Wednesday, March 23, 1692, a day of intense spiritual conflict and the issuing of startling arrest warrants. We describe how Ann Putnam Sr. claims the specters of Rebecca Nurse and Martha Cory torment her, as Reverend Deodat Lawson observes the Putnam household during and after frightening fits and a dramatic confrontation with Nurse’s supposed apparition, including the use of a verse from Revelation. We also note that other afflicted persons report Nurse’s specter, adding to mounting accusations. We follow Edward and Jonathan Putnam as they travel to Salem Town to file complaints with magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, leading to warrants for both Rebecca Nurse and four-year-old Dorothy Good. We also touch on guarded voyages from Boston involving Captains John Alden and James Converse and a hostage exchange mission to St. John, Canada.

00:00 March 23 Overview

00:27 Putnam Fit Begins

02:08 Scripture Versus Specter

03:08 Other Girls Afflicted

03:22 Warrants Issued

04:08 Coastal Ransom Mission

Deposition of Ann Putnam Sr. v. Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse, and testimony of Ann Putnam Jr. v. Rebecca Nurse, Martha Cory, and Sarah Cloyce

Warrant for the Apprehension of Rebecca Nurse

Warrant for the Apprehension of Dorothy Good

Deodat Lawson, A Brief and True Narrative

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 March 22, 1692 episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we cover a Salem town meeting that resolves long-running tension between Salem and Salem Village by keeping the Village part of Salem while easing obligations on both sides: villagers no longer support the town’s ministers or maintain the town meetinghouse, and townspeople are no longer required to fund Village roads. We also discuss Ann Putnam, Sr.’s account of being tormented by the apparition of Rebecca Nurse, who urges her to sign a red book. Finally, we follow a committee visit to the real Rebecca Nurse, who is recovering from illness and praying for the afflicted, but is unaware of rumors accusing her until friends inform her she is a suspect, leaving her stunned as she insists on her innocence.

00:00 Daily Introduction

00:14 Town Meeting Compromise

01:02 Ann Putnam Specter Attack

01:58 Friends Visit Rebecca Nurse

02:42 Accusation Revealed

03:08 Nurse Proclaims Innocence

Deposition of Ann Putnam Sr. v. Martha Corey and Rebecca Nurse, and testimony of Ann Putnam Jr. v. Rebecca Nurse, Martha Cory, and Sarah Cloyce

Deodat Lawson, A Brief and True Narrative

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

The Witch Cake That Sparked Salem’s Panic

We revisit the crisis in Reverend Samuel Parris’s Salem Village household in February 1692, when his daughter Betty and niece Abigail Williams suffered violent fits and a doctor declared they were under an “evil hand.” With no natural cure, neighbor Mary Sibley intervened while the Parrises were away, directing Tituba and John Indian to make a traditional witch cake using rye flour and the girls’ urine, then feed it to the family dog as a form of sympathetic counter-magic. We discuss the folk beliefs behind this practice and why it failed to help the girls, who soon began naming alleged tormenters. We also cover Parris’s furious reaction and his condemnation of using folk magic as sinful in the Puritan worldview.

00:00 Fits in Salem Village

00:35 Witch Cake Countermagic

01:16 How the Cake Was Supposed to Work

01:54 Accusations Ignite

02:07 Parris Condemns Folk Magic

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We introduce the early events that sparked the Salem witch trials, focusing on January and February 1692 in Reverend Samuel Parris’s Salem Village household. Parris’s 9-year-old daughter Betty and 11-year-old niece Abigail began exhibiting alarming, inexplicable behaviors and violent physical afflictions. The family has tried prayer, fasting, and medical treatment without relief, and around February 24 a local physician (widely believed to be Dr. William Griggs) examines the girls and finds no natural cause, concluding they are under an “evil hand.” We focus on later accounts by ministers John Hale and Deodat Lawson describing preternatural fits, invisible biting and pinching, contorted movements, choking, and apparent conversations with unseen “appearances.” With the community quickly concluding the girls are bewitched, the episode turns toward how this diagnosis shifts attention from medicine to the question of who was responsible. We originally shared this episode on our podcast, The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials. Also check out The Thing About Witch Hunts for expert interviews and analysis of witch hunts past and present.

00:00 Mysterious Afflictions Begin

00:18 Bizarre Symptoms in Parris Home

01:01 Prayer and Medicine Fail

01:07 Doctor Declares Evil Hand

01:34 Hale Describes Torments

02:15 Lawson Witnesses the Fits

03:10 Meaning of Bewitchment

03:39 Who Is Responsible

Sign the petition to exonerate

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The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub

Salem Witch Trials Daily Course Week 7: Families, Geography, and the Machinery of Accusation, February 9-15, 2026

⁠The Thing About Salem

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts