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Speaker 1: Over three hundred, twenty five years ago, the community of Salem, Massachusetts,

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Speaker 1: was rocked by something that few ever thought possible. It's

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Speaker 1: been called an outbreak, a wave of hysteria, or the

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Speaker 1: perfect storm at the confluence of seemingly unrelated ideas, events,

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Speaker 1: and beliefs. Whatever we try to call it, though we

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Speaker 1: always seem to miss the mark. The Salem Which Trials

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Speaker 1: is equal parts universally known and barely understood by most people.

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Speaker 1: It's one of those subjects we quickly dismiss because of

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Speaker 1: its deceptive simplicity. Beneath that Veneer, however, is a dark

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Speaker 1: and complex tale of fear. It's easy to lose perspective

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Speaker 1: on history. The events of Salem took place over three

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Speaker 1: centuries ago. That's three hundred years of looking back, three

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Speaker 1: hundred years of storytelling, and three hundred years of preconceived

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Speaker 1: notions about what we think happened. From where we stand today,

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Speaker 1: we've forgotten more about Salem than we ever remember. Time

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Speaker 1: has taken it away from us. That's why this series exists.

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Speaker 1: Over the centuries, the Salem Which Trials have become obscured

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Speaker 1: by time and distance. It's mysterious and misunderstood by most people.

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Speaker 1: I want to clean that foggy window, to leave it

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Speaker 1: clear and understandable. Unobscured by digging deep and shedding light

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Speaker 1: on its darkest moments, by cutting through the confusion, by

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Speaker 1: letting the people and their stories move us forward. That's

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Speaker 1: how we can truly learn from such a dark moment

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Speaker 1: in history. Each episode of Unobscured blends my narrative approach

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Speaker 1: to complex historical events, interviews with renowned historians, and a

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Speaker 1: new hauntingly beautiful soundtrack by Chad Lawson. So join me

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Speaker 1: on October three as we crack open the dark pages

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Speaker 1: of history for the augural season of Unobscured. Learn more

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Speaker 1: and find links to subscribe over at History unobscured dot com.

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Speaker 1: M