More than 150 people were accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Had the Court of Oyer and Terminer tried them all, they may all have been hanged.

They sat chained in dungeons to prevent their specters from roaming. They watched as friends and neighbors were dragged to the gallows. As the body count rose, the terror must have reached unimaginable levels. And yet the accusations kept coming.

How did an entire community participate in its own destruction?

In this essential introduction to The Thing About Salem, hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack explore what made Salem different from every other witch hunt in American history. The mystery isn’t what ailed the afflicted girls. Why were people at the highest levels of society accused right alongside the usual suspects?

This episode reveals the forces that turned Salem Village into America’s deadliest witch hunt: warfare closing in on Massachusetts settlements, economic devastation, the collapse of political and religious certainty, and the kind of existential terror that makes the unthinkable seem reasonable.

**Length:** 15 minutes

## What You’ll Learn

• Why 150+ people faced execution when typical New England witch hunts involved 2 to 3 accusations

• What conditions make rational people accept supernatural explanations for their suffering

• How fear and crisis override legal safeguards and community bonds

• Why focusing on the accusers matters more than diagnosing the afflicted

## Key Stats

• 150+ people accused in Salem

• 30 convictions (vs. 4 in Hartford’s 1662 witch panic)

• Only 1 witch hanged in Massachusetts in the 36 years before Salem

• People at the highest levels of society were named as witches

## Topics Covered

• The terror of Salem’s dungeons and the rising panic

• What made Salem different from other colonial witch hunts

• The perfect storm: war, disease, political collapse, and religious crisis

• Why popular theories like ergotism miss the point

• What Salem reveals about fear, judgment, and human nature

The Thing About Salem on YouTube

The Thing About Witch Hunts Website

Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project

Massachusetts Court of Oyer and Terminer Documents, ⁠The Salem Witch Trials Collection, Peabody Essex Museum

Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

Sign the Petition: MA Witch Hunt Justice Project

Massachusetts Witch-Hunt Justice Project