The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials

In this episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we revisit Sunday, March 13, 1692, as Salem Village gathers at the meetinghouse and extraordinary claims disrupt worship after Samuel Parris begins his sermon, including an incident involving Bathsheba Pope and Martha Corey’s alleged specter. We also discuss the next day’s dramatic demonstration by Ann Putnam Jr. that draws attention from multiple adults. Back at the Thomas Putnam household, we cover Ann Putnam Jr.’s report of being assaulted by an unknown specter and how, with prompting from Ann Putnam Sr. and Mercy Lewis, she ultimately identifies the figure as Rebecca Nurse—marking a rapid escalation in accusations immediately following Martha Corey’s identification.

00:00 Salem Meetinghouse Sunday

00:13 Spectral Blinding Incident

00:31 Ann Putnam Hands Stuck

01:01 Rebecca Nurse Accused

01:36 Witch Hunt Escalates

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The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub

⁠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

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 March 12, 1692, when the witch-hunt expands with an unlikely new suspect and a new accuser. Ann Putnam Jr. claims she is afflicted by Martha Corey, wife of Giles Corey, prompting Deacon Edward Putnam and Ezekiel Cheever to visit Ann and then question Martha directly. We discuss an attempted “experiment” involving what Ann could see, and we share how Martha responds to their concerns about the accusations, witches, and the church. After the visit, Ann initially says Martha has not hurt her, but later reports renewed nighttime afflictions. Meanwhile, Mary Warren, a servant in the Proctor household, also complains that Martha Corey is afflicting her, widening the dragnet to more church members.

00:00 A New Suspect Named

00:25 Testing Martha Corey

01:31 Confronting Martha at Home

02:58 Martha Denies Witchcraft

03:37 Ann Putnam’s Night Affliction

03:54 Mary Warren Joins In

04:05 Witch Hunt Widens

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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

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

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

⁠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 nightmare in Salem Village is only just beginning. Join us, Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack, as we recount the chilling events of March 11, 1692. While the first three accused women—Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne—languish in heavy iron shackles in a Boston dungeon, the terror back home hasn't faded. If anything, the "invisible specters" seem more active than ever.

In this episode, we take you inside the cramped, tense parsonage of Reverend Samuel Parris. Desperate to save his household from what he believes is an "evil hand," Parris has called for spiritual reinforcements. We discuss the solemn day of fasting and prayer held by several area ministers who gathered to witness the girls' afflictions firsthand.

We explore the haunting observations made by those in the room, including:

• The eerie silence that fell over the afflicted girls during active prayer.

• The immediate eruption of "strange, ridiculous" behavior the moment the ministers finished.

• The specific, terrifying physical fits of Abigail Williams, whose limbs were seen twisting in unnatural directions.

A major focus of today’s episode is the presence of Reverend John Hale of Beverly. At this moment in March, Hale is a staunch supporter of the proceedings, comparing the girls' torments to famous past cases of witchcraft. However, we also touch on the tragic irony of his story—how his perspective will eventually shatter when the hunt hits too close to home, leading him to write one of the most significant reflections on the "innocent blood" shed in Salem.

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: https

⁠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

Welcome back to Salem Witch Trials Daily. In today’s episode, we take a breath as the legal records in Salem Village go quiet for a moment. While the "machinery" of the trials has already been set in motion, March 10th, 1692, left behind no new warrants or examinations.

Instead of focusing on the quiet in the village, we are stepping back to look at the broader, often unstable colonial legal world that surrounded the accused.

• A Quiet Day in Salem: Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba remain in custody as the community processes the initial examinations.

• Lessons from Virginia: We look back 36 years to a 1656 law in the Colony of Virginia regarding the right of suffrage.

• The Concept of Standing: We discuss how the legal system was built around a narrow category of "freemen" and why that left women like Sarah Good and Tituba completely outside the circle of protection.

• Legal Instability: A look at how rights in colonial America—from the franchise to the court systems—were constantly negotiated and renegotiated by those already in power.

• A Colony in Flux: Why the timing of the witchcraft accusations was particularly dangerous given that Massachusetts was operating under a brand-new provincial charter.

"The gap between who the legal system was built to protect and who it was fully capable of punishing is one of the defining features of the world that produced the Salem crisis."

The quiet won't last long. Join us tomorrow as we cover the developments of March 11th and see how the community continues to react to the growing crisis.

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims

Find My Massachusetts Legislators

The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel⁠Salem 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

⁠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 today's episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we delve into the grim reality of life behind bars for those accused of witchcraft in 1692. Following their transfer to Boston just a few days ago, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne begin to experience the true misery of 17th-century imprisonment.

We explore the harrowing conditions of the Boston dungeon—a place defined by darkness, overcrowding, and a constant battle against filth and vermin. But the physical environment was only part of the ordeal.

• The Restraints of March 9th: We mark the specific day jail keeper John Arnold purchased the heavy iron chains that would bind Good and Osborne for months.

• The Price of Imprisonment: We look into the "jail bills" system, where prisoners were forced to pay for their own shackles and daily survival.

• Specters and Iron: We examine the Puritan belief that physical chains could actually contain a witch's invisible spirit, or "specter," from harming the community.

• A Universal Hardship: How these brutal measures were applied to everyone accused, including the youngest and most vulnerable victims of the crisis.

Even with these heavy restraints in place, the accusations and reported torments in Salem were far from over. Join us as we uncover the heavy physical and financial toll placed on the accused during this dark chapter of history.

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims

Find My Massachusetts Legislators

The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel⁠Salem 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

⁠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 explore the intersection of local government and the unfolding crisis in 1692. As Salem held its annual town meeting, the community elected leaders who would soon find themselves on opposite sides of the prisoner bars. We also look beyond the 17th century to honor International Women’s Day by discussing the ongoing global struggle against witchcraft accusations.

• The Salem Elections: We look at the town meeting on March 8, 1692, where residents voted for new selectmen and constables. We highlight how several of these newly elected officials, such as Philip English and Daniel Andrew, transitioned from positions of authority to being the accused.

• Divided Families and Neighbors: We examine the complex roles of other elected men, including the son of Salem Town’s senior minister and members of the Putnam and Porter families, whose involvement ranged from making accusations to defending the innocent.

• Reflecting on Gender and Misogyny: For International Women’s Day, we reflect on our past conversations regarding the patriarchal hierarchies and fears of female independence that fueled historic witch hunts.

• The Modern Crisis: We discuss the critical need for intersectional approaches to protect vulnerable women today. We also share details about our upcoming special live panel focused on achieving justice for women currently accused of witchcraft in Africa.

We invite you to join us this Sunday for our special Zoom panel, "Justice for Women Accused of Witchcraft in Africa," featuring a distinguished group of activists, magistrates, and journalists.

• When: Sunday, March 8th at 6:30 PM GMT. Join with the Zoom link at endwitchhunts.org/iwd.

For International Women's Day and Women's History Month, The Thing About Salem takes a deep look at one of the Salem witch trials' most fascinating and misrepresented figures: Tituba Indian. Who was she, and why have writers, scholars, and storytellers kept returning to her story for two centuries?

Joining Josh and Sarah is Samaine Lockwood, associate professor of English at George Mason University and the 2026 Fenwick Fellow, whose forthcoming book traces Tituba's transformation as an American cultural figure from 1820 to the present.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why Tituba is largely absent from 19th-century Salem novels, and what her absence reveals about race and citizenship in post-Civil War America

• How wrongfully accused white women in historical fiction were shaped into symbols of ideal democratic citizenship, while Tituba was cast as their opposite

• Which overlooked novels and authors are essential to understanding how Salem has been reimagined across American literary history

• Why Black feminist writers like Ann Petry and Maryse Conde were the first to place Tituba at the center of the story, and why that matters

• What Samaine's research trip to Salem will examine about how Tituba is represented in today's memorial and tourist spaces

This episode also includes an invitation to the live International Women's Day panel Justice for Women Accused of Witchcraft in Africa, taking place Sunday, March 8th at 6:30 PM GMT. Join Dr. Leo Igwe, Chief Magistrate Safiya Musa Salihu, Dr. Barrister Dise Ogbise Goddy Harry, broadcast journalist Hauwa Mundi, and Maimonat Mohammad for a conversation on gender, justice, and witchcraft accusations today. Register at endwitchhunts.org/iwd.

Links

Publications by Samaine Lockwood

University Libraries has named Samaine Lockwood, associate professor of English, the 2026 Fenwick Fellow

Buy Books Mentioned in Today's Episode

Sign the Petition to Exonerate the Boston 8

The History of Witch Trial Exonerations in Massachusetts

About the MA Witch Hunt Justice Project

Purchase a MA Witch Hunt Justice Project Memorial Pin
Attend Free Event March 8 2026: Woman Accused of Witchcraft in Africa

In this episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we dive into the pivotal events of March 7, 1692, a day that marked a massive shift in the escalating crisis of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. We explore how the absence of stable leadership and a deep-seated spiritual dread created the perfect storm for the tragedies that followed.

• A Colony in Limbo: We discuss the long journey of Reverend Increase Mather and the future governor, Sir William Phips, as they departed London with a new charter in hand. We look at how the lack of a formal government in Massachusetts during their absence allowed the witch hunt to spiral out of control without legal oversight.

• The Ministers’ Meeting: We take you to Cambridge, where local ministers gathered to grapple with what they perceived as a literal demonic invasion. We examine the "city upon a hill" worldview and the apocalyptic fears that led the clergy to interpret strange behaviors as a diabolical conspiracy.

• The Road to Boston: We follow the first group of accused women—Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne—as they are ordered to be transferred from Salem Village to the horrific conditions of the Boston jail.

• The Human Cost: We touch upon the devastating impact these transfers had on the accused and their families, including the heartbreaking presence of Sarah Good’s infant daughter and the later imprisonment of her four-year-old, Dorothy.

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

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

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

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

⁠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 discuss Ann Putnam Jr.’s March 1692 claims that the apparition of “Goody Proctor” attacked her by choking, biting, and pinching, and that she later identified Elizabeth Proctor as the specter’s owner, alleging pressure to sign a book. We then introduce Elizabeth Proctor’s background beyond later fictional portrayals: her birth as Elizabeth Bassett in Lynn, her family connection to Ann Burt who had faced a witchcraft accusation in 1669, and how beliefs about inherited witchcraft could fuel suspicion. We also cover her 1674 marriage to John Proctor, their large blended household on the rented Downing farm in Salem Farms, their choice to worship in Salem Town, the presence of servant Mary Warren, and hints of domestic tension that will shape our ongoing timeline.

00:00 Accusation Begins

00:22 Testimony Details

00:59 Who Was Proctor

01:17 Family Background

01:51 Marriage And Home

02:17 Servant And Tensions

02:35 Closing And Subscribe

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

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

⁠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 cover March 5, 1692, when authorities transferred Sarah Good from the Ipswich Jail to the Salem Jail and magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin questioned her, while Tituba again repeated her confessions. We also discuss how William Allen, William Good, John Hughes, and Samuel Braybrook submitted a statement against Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba, and we read from the original text describing alleged strange noises, apparitions, animals, lights, and other incidents connected to the accused. Braybrook’s account includes details from transporting Sarah Good to Ipswich and her remarks about the evidence against her. We note that while the accusations began with afflicted girls, by this point adults in the community were making similar claims and filing complaints that led to warrants.

00:00 March 5 Interrogations

00:46 Reading the Statement

00:54 Allen and Hughes Testimony

02:07 Witch Mark Allegation

02:23 Hughes Dog and Cat

03:05 Braybrook Escort Account

03:45 How Accusations Spread

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

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

⁠The Thing About Salem: https

⁠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