About this episode

This episode explores the connections between Walpurgis Night, Salem witchcraft, and the cultural implications of Maypole celebrations in colonial New England.

Every April 30, bonfires burn across Europe on the same night witches were said to gather on a mountaintop and make their covenant with the devil. That image did not stay in Europe. It crossed the Atlantic, embedded itself in colonial New England theology and law, and by 1692 it was being sworn to in witchcraft trials that sent nineteen people to their deaths. In this episode, hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack follow that thread from a German mountain to a Danvers pasture — and the path runs straight through a Maypole, a folk magic discovery hidden inside a colonial home, a decades-old grudge over rancid butter, and a pear tree that has been standing since before the trials began and is still standing right now. In this episode, you will learn: Why Walpurgis Night and the Salem witchcraft sabbath descriptions share the same historical roots How one colonial settler's May Day celebration became a theological threat to Puritan authority What a single word in William Bradford's writing reveals about how Puritans understood folk magic and social control Why witchcraft gathering testimony carried such evidentiary weight in colonial Massachusetts courts — decades before Salem How…

People in this episode

Hosts: Josh Hutchinson, Sarah Jack

Topics covered

• Walpurgis Night
• Salem witch trials
• colonial New England
• folk magic
• Puritan authority
• Maypole celebration

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: William Bradford's writing

Places: Europe, New England, Danvers, Merrymount, Danvers parking lot

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