The Thing About Salem

Exonerating Massachusetts Witch Trial Victims

Before Salem: Boston’s Forgotten Witchcraft Victims and the Push for ExonerationWe open with a 1692 London story involving Increase and Samuel Mather and a warning that supposed ghosts could be devils deceiving the grieving. Then we share an update on Massachusetts bill H.1927 to exonerate people accused of witchcraft in Boston and elsewhere: it has been favorably reported out of the Judiciary Committee, is headed to the full House, and has technical language changes with a new bill number pending. We explain that Salem wasn’t the start of witch-hunting in Massachusetts, highlighting earlier Boston-area cases—including those executed and others convicted but not executed—that helped establish the fears, evidence, and methods later seen in 1692. We close with clear calls to action: sign the petition at change.org/witchtrials, contact your Massachusetts representative and senator to urge support, share the episode, and encourage people in Massachusetts to get involved as the bill moves forward.00:00 Ghosts and Devils01:01 Bill H 1927 Update02:06 Boston Before Salem02:48 Margaret Jones 164803:53 Kendall and Lake04:37 Anne Hibbens 165605:05 Goody Glover 168805:44 Other Convictions06:15 Eunice Cole Fight07:14 Elizabeth Morse Case07:55 Take Action NowSign the petition to exonerateFind My Massachusetts LegislatorsThe Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily HubSalem Witch Trials Daily Course Week 7: Families, Geography, and the Machinery of Accusation, February 9-15, 2026⁠The Thing About SalemThe Thing About Witch Hunts

Surviving the Salem Witch Trials

Eight Survival Strategies in the Salem Witch TrialsWe look at how accused people tried to stay alive during the 1692 Salem witch panic, when witchcraft convictions often led to the gallows. We outline eight strategies that were used to delay or avoid execution—ranging from confession and pregnancy to seeking spiritual reprieves, accusing others, presenting as afflicted, and leaning on petitions and character witnesses. We also discuss why fleeing could be the most effective option, and how timing and luck often mattered more than justice, as many still died by hanging, pressing, or harsh jail conditions.00:00 Welcome & the brutal reality of 1692 accusations00:54 Strategy #1: Confess to buy time (and why it worked)01:59 Strategy #2: “Plead the belly” — pregnancy as a legal delay02:46 Strategy #3: A minister’s petition for time to repent (Dorcas Hoar)03:22 Strategy #4: Accuse others first — even your own family04:13 Strategy #5: Become “afflicted” to avoid being the witch04:56 Strategies #6–7: Petitions & character witnesses from the community05:44 Strategy #8: Run away — the most effective way to survive06:37 Conclusion: Luck, late timing, and the true death toll⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-HuntThe Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily HubSalem Witch Trials Daily Course Week 7: Families, Geography, and the Machinery of Accusation, February 9-15, 2026⁠The Thing About Salem⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege⁠Ben Wickey, More Weight: A Salem StoryPeabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials CollectionThe Sermon Notebook of Samuel Parris, 1689–1694 - Colonial Society of MassachusettsRichard Hite, In the Shadow of Salem: The Andover Witch Hunt of 1692

Salem Witch Trials: Nothing But Putnams

The Putnam Family's Role in the Salem Witch TrialsNo family is more associated with the Salem Witch Trials than the Putnams. And for good reason. One man in this family filed complaints against 35 people. His wife, his daughter, and their maid were all among the afflicted. The depositions, the courtroom drama, the relentless momentum of accusation after accusation. The Putnams were not bystanders to any of it.So it would be easy to close the book on them there. Villains. Next chapter.Except the same family also signed the petition defending Rebecca Nurse. Some members testified against the accused in the morning and put their names on her defense in the afternoon. One branch quietly took in Dorothy Good in the years after the trials, when almost no one else would. And one Putnam kept his horse saddled for months, ready to ride at a moment's notice, because he was openly opposing the trials and he knew what that could cost him.In This EpisodeThree branches of the Putnam family, three generations, and a cast of individual’s history has flattened into footnotes. Josh and Sarah trace who accused, who defended, who did both, and who walked a quieter path that history almost forgot. The story of Ann Putnam Jr. and the only public apology to come out of the entire crisis. The Putnam descendants who shaped American history long after 1692. And the harder question underneath all of it: when a community turns on itself, what does it take to be one of the people who helped it happen, and what does it take to be one of the people who doesn't?About The Thing About SalemThe Thing About Salem takes the Salem Witch Trials seriously as history. That means going beyond the names everyone knows, sitting with the complexity, and treating the people involved as real human beings rather than symbols. Hosted by Sarah Jack and Josh Hutchinson, the podcast draws on decades of research, firsthand expertise, and a genuine commitment to getting it from the records. New episodes every week.LinksSalem Witch Trials Daily Videos & Course The Thing About Salem Website⁠The Thing on YouTube⁠!⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts WebsiteSign the Petition: MA Witch Hunt Justice Projectwww.massachusettswitchtrials.orgSupport the nonprofit End Witch Hunts Podcasts and Projects ⁠Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

Were witch judges to blame for the destruction of English settlements in Maine?

We look back to May 1690, two years before the Salem witch trials, to examine the fall of Falmouth and Fort Loyal and how it helped fuel an atmosphere of fear in New England. We trace Boston’s wartime strategy in King William’s War, including plans for offensives against Port Royal and Montreal, and the council’s tendency to blame frontier settlers for raids. We follow John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin’s inspection of Maine’s defenses and the decision that led to Captain Simon Willard’s 60 soldiers being withdrawn from Fort Loyal—just before a large Wabanaki and French force attacked, besieged the settlement, and devastated the captives after surrender. We also cover the shockwaves that followed, the refugee crisis and abandoned settlements, and the stark contrast between frontier catastrophe and Boston’s celebration of Phips’ successful raid, setting a grim prelude to 1692.00:00 Welcome & Why 1690 Matters Before Salem00:54 Boston’s Big Offensive Plans in King William’s War01:24 Victim-Blaming the Frontier: ‘Negligence’ as Policy01:59 New York Talks: Promising Troops for Montreal02:32 Hathorne & Corwin Inspect Maine—and Make a Fateful Call03:39 Fort Loyal Emptied: The Catastrophic Withdrawal03:54 The Fall of Falmouth: Siege, Surrender, and Massacre04:39 Shockwaves Across New England—and Boston’s Mixed Reaction05:16 From Falmouth to 1692: How Trauma Followed Salem⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-HuntThe Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily HubSalem Witch Trials Daily Course Week 7: Families, Geography, and the Machinery of Accusation, February 9-15, 2026⁠The Thing About Salem⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under SiegePeabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

Portland, Maine's ties to the Salem Witch Trials

We discuss how Maine, then part of Massachusetts, was a war-torn frontier during the years surrounding the Salem Witch Trials and show that refugee movements, fear, and trauma from frontier conflict contributed to the Salem panic. The hosts focus on Salem figures connected to Falmouth (now Portland), including minister George Burroughs, afflicted witness Mercy Lewis, and confessor Abigail Hobbs, emphasizing how their experiences in Maine intersected with events and testimony in 1692. It ends by noting that magistrates Hathorne and Corwin also had a connection to the fall of Falmouth.Links⁠Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-HuntThe Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily HubSalem Witch Trials Daily Course Week 7: Families, Geography, and the Machinery of Accusation, February 9-15, 2026⁠The Thing About Salem⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692Ben Wickey, More Weight: A Salem StoryPeabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials CollectionThe Sermon Notebook of Samuel Parris, 1689–1694 - Colonial Society of MassachusettsRichard Hite, In the Shadow of Salem: The Andover Witch Hunt of 1692