The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials

We explore a striking claim from within the crisis itself: that the afflicted may have been “dissembling.” We revisit Sunday, April 3, 1692, when Samuel Parris read aloud a note Mary Warren had posted at the Salem Village meetinghouse, inviting the congregation to offer prayers of gratitude for her deliverance—yet the note’s contents are unknown because Parris never copied it into his church record book. We also examine the puzzling gaps in Parris’s records during the most active months of the trials, raising questions about what was happening in the meetinghouse. Finally, we tease an April 19 court record showing Elizabeth Hubbard accusing Mary Warren of making the “dissemble” remark, which we’ll dig into next.Note: We will soon publish Salem Witch Trials Daily only to its own podcast feed00:00 Afflicted Dissembling00:10 Daily Show Intro00:17 Mary Warren Note00:42 Parris Missing Records01:22 Silence Raises Questions01:38 Hubbard Accusation TeaseA Brief and True Narrative by Deodat LawsonSign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victimsFind My Massachusetts LegislatorsThe Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub⁠The Thing About Salem⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692Bernard 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 SiegeHigh Quality Scans of the Original Court Documents -Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

In our April 1, 1692 episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we explore how the afflictions continue to mislead people in Salem and nearby communities through the reported testimony of Mercy Lewis. We recount her vivid description of being taken to a “glorious place” filled with light, where she saw a multitude in white robes singing from Revelation 5:9, Psalm 110, and Psalm 149—passages we connect to the religious climate of the moment, including Samuel Parris’s recent focus on Psalm 110. We also follow Mercy’s reluctance to leave the vision and discuss Deodat Lawson’s report that a recurring “white man” foretold the timing of future fits, which he claimed happened as predicted.00:00 April Fools Intro00:30 Mercy Lewis Vision01:02 Revelation New Song01:20 Psalm 110 Footstool02:09 Parris Sermon Context02:28 Psalm 149 Vengeance03:19 Lawson Closing NoteSign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims: https://change.org/witchtrialsFind My Massachusetts Legislators: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislatorThe 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.com⁠⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com⁠⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780375706905⁠Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619⁠⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780190627805⁠⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781589791329⁠Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection: https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collectionLinks

In this episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we cover Wednesday, March 30, 1692, when Rachel Clinton—arrested the day before—was slated for examination, though no record of that hearing survives. We focus on three depositions made against her that day: Thomas Burnam Jr. describes watching for a cow-milker he associates with Clinton and claims the figure vanished and later turned into a gray cat; Mary Fuller Sr. recounts Clinton confronting her at home amid a crisis involving her niece Betty Fuller, who later indicated Clinton was responsible; and Thomas Knowlton Jr. reports an incident at the John Rogers household involving demands for food, insults, a thrown stone followed by severe toe pain, and earlier claims about his daughter being harmed by Clinton’s specter. We also discuss how wartime language and imagery appear in these records.00:00 Welcome and Date00:15 Rachel Clinton Arrested00:43 Burnam Cow Milking Tale01:36 Fuller Family Accusation02:42 Knowlton Confrontation03:40 Specter Pricking Threats04:03 Warfare Imagery Context04:30 Closing ReflectionsSign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victimsFind My Massachusetts LegislatorsThe Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub⁠The Thing About Salem⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692Bernard 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 SiegePeabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

The Salem witch trials of 1692 were not driven by local grudges alone. Behind the arrests, examinations, and executions was a centuries-old theological framework that convinced educated elites, magistrates, and Puritan clergy that they were fighting a coordinated demonic war against the Christian church itself.Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack trace the elaborated theory of witchcraft from its origins at the Council of Basel in the 1430s through the circulation of the Errores Gazariorum, the standardization of the witches' Sabbath concept, and the mass distribution of the Malleus Maleficarum following the invention of the printing press. By the late 17th century, this framework had transformed witchcraft from a personal crime of harmful magic into an existential conspiracy — witches organized under the devil, sworn to pull down the kingdom of Christ and replace it with a kingdom of Satan.In Salem, that theory played out in real time. Tituba's confession named nine witches in the devil's book. That number grew to forty, then a hundred, then three hundred alleged conspirators gathering in Samuel Parris's own pasture to consume red bread and blood wine in mockery of the Christian sacraments. Reverend George Burroughs was accused of leading the diabolical assembly. Coerced confessions described a formal pact to destroy the churches. Cotton Mather, in Wonders of the Invisible World, traced the conspiracy back more than forty years — to executions in Connecticut and Massachusetts that included Alice Young, Margaret Jones, and the Carringtons.This episode examines how fear of an anti-church conspiracy — not panic, but deliberate legal prosecution rooted in genuine theological terror — drove the witchcraft crisis and what that pattern of fear-driven scapegoating reveals about witchcraft accusation violence today.Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack are co-hosts of The Thing About Salem, The Thing About Witch Hunts, and Salem Witch Trials Daily. Both are descendants of families who experienced the Salem witch trials.📚 Full course and resources at aboutsalem.com 🌍 End Witch Hunts: endwitchhunts.orgLinksSalem 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 Project www.massachusettswitchtrials.org Support the nonprofit End Witch Hunts Podcasts and Projects

We revisit Mercy Lewis’s reported afflictions and connect them to later depositions involving Elizabeth Proctor and Martha Cory. We also discuss a pivotal event recorded by former Salem Village minister Deodat Lawson in A Brief and True Narrative, describing how magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, along with minister John Higginson, examined the youngest witchcraft suspect at the prison keeper’s house. We explore Lawson’s account of what the child said about a “little snake” and what investigators claimed to observe, as well as the allegation that the familiar came from the child’s mother, Sarah Good, who was already jailed.00:00 Welcome and Date00:15 Mercy Lewis Afflictions00:36 Lawson’s Jail Visit00:54 Dorothy Good Examined01:24 Snake Familiar Accusation01:32 Wrap Up and Meaning

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 Reverend 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 Setup00:27 Rebecca Nurse Arrives01:22 Accusations Erupt02:51 Spectral Chaos in Court04:37 Nurse Jailed and Defended04:55 Dorothy Good Examined06:04 Lawson Thursday Lecture06:58 No Countermagic Warning08:17 Evening Fallout and New Targets08:49 Day Ends in DreadExamination of Rebecca NurseStatement of Giles Cory Regarding Martha CoryDeodat Lawson, Christ’s Fidelity the Only ShieldDeodat Lawson, A Brief and True NarrativeSign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victimsFind My Massachusetts LegislatorsThe Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub⁠The Thing About Salem⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692Bernard 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 SiegePeabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

Episode SummaryThe Salem Witch Trials of 1692 didn't emerge from nowhere. They emerged from a library. This episode traces the centuries of theological and legal texts that shaped how Salem's magistrates understood witchcraft, the demonic pact, and the infamous Devil's book.From a 15th-century inquisitor's manual to a Scottish king's royal obsession to a Boston minister's bestseller, Josh and Sarah open the books that made Salem possible.Books and Sources CoveredMalleus Maleficarum (1486) — Heinrich Kramer's foundational witch-hunting manual codified the idea of a vast anti-Christian conspiracy sealed by a formal pact with the devil. It provided the theological and legal framework for prosecuting witchcraft across Europe for centuries.Daemonologie (1597) — Written by King James VI of Scotland (later King James I of England), this royal text argued that witches entered the devil's service through a pact alone. The king's authority gave the work enormous cultural weight, and his framework for the devil's covenant shaped New England Puritan thought directly.A Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft (1608) — William Perkins detailed the diabolical compact in legal terms, distinguishing between explicit verbal pacts and implicit ones inferred through action. He also established seven grounds for suspicion of witchcraft. During the Salem crisis, Cotton Mather specifically recommended judges follow the guidelines of Perkins and his successor Richard Bernard.A Guide to Grand Jury-men (1627) — Richard Bernard's practical manual for witch trial proceedings was among the texts Cotton Mather recommended to the Salem court.The Discovery of Witches (1647) — Matthew Hopkins, the self-styled Witch Finder General, ran one of the most lethal witch-hunting campaigns in English history across East Anglia. His methods, his obsession with the witch's mark, and the confessions he extracted helped cement the Devil's book as a recognizable cultural image decades before Salem.Hudibras (Samuel Butler, 17th century) — Butler's satirical poem mocked Hopkins by portraying him as a secret witch himself, hanged for possessing the very Devil's book he hunted. The satire is significant: it confirms the Devil's book was already deeply embedded in the popular imagination.Memorable Providences Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions (1689) — Cotton Mather's account of the Goodwin children's afflictions, attributed to an Irish woman named Goody Glover, circulated widely through New England. When Salem's afflictions began in 1692, the symptoms closely mirrored the Goodwin case. The Devil's Book at Salem: First AppearancesFebruary 27, 1692 — Ann Putnam Jr. claimed Sarah Good's specter tormented her and pressured her to sign the Devil's book. This is the first accusation involving the Devil's book in the Salem crisis. Elizabeth Hubbard named Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne as tormenters, alleging Osborne's specter urged her to write in the book.March 2, 1692 — Tituba confessed to making her mark in the Devil's book with blood and stated the book was already signed by nine witches, including Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. Seven signers remained unidentified, located in Roxbury, Salem, and Boston.March 14, 1692 — Abigail Williams claimed she was tempted to put her hand to the Devil's book and saw Martha Corey at a Devil's Sacrament. Mercy Lewis reported similar pressure to sign.LinksBuy Book: The Hammer of Witches, ed. Christopher S MacKayDaemonologie by King James VI/IThe Discovery of Witches by Matthew HopkinsHudibrasA Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft by William PerkinsMemorable Providences Relating to Witchcrafts and Possessions by Cotton MatherSalem Witch Trials Daily Videos & CourseThe Thing About Salem Website⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts YouTube⁠⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts WebsiteSign the Petition: MA Witch Hunt Justice ProjectMassachusetts Witch-Hunt Justice ProjectSupport the nonprofit End Witch Hunts Podcasts and Projects