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