1 00:00:11,200 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: If what happened in the meeting house on the first 2 00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: day of examinations was an explosion, the after shock echoed 3 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: far and wide. In fact, a number of reverberations can 4 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:26,680 Speaker 1: still be found in the pages of history. That evening, 5 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: the three women were carted off to jail where they 6 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:32,720 Speaker 1: could be held for further questioning and an actual trial. 7 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:36,600 Speaker 1: Sarah Osburne and Tituba were taken to the Salem jail, 8 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:40,480 Speaker 1: while Sarah Good was transported to the nearby Ipswich Jail, 9 00:00:40,760 --> 00:00:44,600 Speaker 1: where Constable Joseph Herrick, a relative of hers, could keep 10 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:49,400 Speaker 1: an eye on her. After the magistrates and accused left 11 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:52,560 Speaker 1: the meeting house, though, that's when the shock waves began 12 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 1: to spread. The place had been packed. Some estimates placed 13 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 1: the crowd at nearly six d people, more than the 14 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:04,160 Speaker 1: real population of Salem Village itself. Those people left for 15 00:01:04,240 --> 00:01:06,840 Speaker 1: homes and taverns, taking the news of what they had 16 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:10,480 Speaker 1: witnessed out into the world, and news, as we all know, 17 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: has a way of spreading like a wildfire. Some of 18 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:19,000 Speaker 1: them stayed behind, though a small group of Salem village 19 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,479 Speaker 1: men remained in the meeting house to discuss the matter 20 00:01:21,560 --> 00:01:25,320 Speaker 1: in a more official capacity. Among them were two Putnam's, 21 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:28,759 Speaker 1: the uncle and cousin of Thomas Jr. Father of one 22 00:01:28,760 --> 00:01:31,640 Speaker 1: of the afflicted, and they decided to send these two 23 00:01:31,680 --> 00:01:36,000 Speaker 1: men south to Boston for help. The most significant gathering 24 00:01:36,080 --> 00:01:39,120 Speaker 1: happened over at the home of Dr William Griggs. He 25 00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:41,839 Speaker 1: was the closest thing the village had to a medical doctor, 26 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:44,600 Speaker 1: and was a good friend of the Reverend Samuel Paris. 27 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 1: He was a devout Puritan, an educated man, and a 28 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: rational thinker, but he also suspected something less natural was 29 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: behind the events of the past few days. He and 30 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: a number of neighbors huddled together that evening inside griggs 31 00:02:00,920 --> 00:02:04,040 Speaker 1: house to discuss what they had learned. They arrived at 32 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: the meeting house that day believing that there might be 33 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:09,640 Speaker 1: three witches in Salem Village, and left with news that 34 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: there were in fact five of them. Three were in custody, sure, 35 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: but there were still two at large, hiding in plain 36 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:22,079 Speaker 1: sight and continuing their dark, dangerous attacks. Those attacks were 37 00:02:22,200 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: still hitting home too, quite literally. Living in the home 38 00:02:26,200 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: of William Griggs was his niece, Elizabeth Hubbard, who was 39 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: one of the four girls making all of the accusations. 40 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: So while the gathering was mostly a moment for everyone 41 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:39,000 Speaker 1: to process and regroup. They were also watching over her, 42 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:43,639 Speaker 1: making sure the witches left her alone. When the attacks 43 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: began again, there were fresh eyes packed inside the house 44 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:50,359 Speaker 1: to witness it. This time, Elizabeth began to cry out 45 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,440 Speaker 1: in pain. She claimed someone invisible was pinching and stabbing 46 00:02:54,480 --> 00:02:57,880 Speaker 1: at her with the sharp object. Everyone could see it too. 47 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,600 Speaker 1: The girl was writhing in pain and flinching away from 48 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:05,000 Speaker 1: an unseen attacker. It must have been horrifying to watch. 49 00:03:06,160 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: And then the girl froze and pointed toward the table 50 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: everyone had gathered around. There, she shouted, there stands Sarah Good. 51 00:03:16,400 --> 00:03:19,760 Speaker 1: Elizabeth described how the invisible witch was standing naked on 52 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:23,280 Speaker 1: the table. Her feet and legs were bare, as was 53 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:28,480 Speaker 1: her chest. Oh, nasty slut, the girl cried out. If 54 00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:32,320 Speaker 1: I had something, I would kill you. Samuel Sibley was 55 00:03:32,360 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: seated at the table and watched it all in horror. 56 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:38,240 Speaker 1: His wife was Mary Sibley, the woman who had instructed 57 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: Tituba and John Indian on how to make the witch 58 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,760 Speaker 1: cake just days before. Maybe he felt a need to 59 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: atone for his wife's sins, or perhaps he was just 60 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 1: so gripped with fear that he simply fell in line. 61 00:03:51,320 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: Whatever the reason was, he stood up and swung his 62 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:58,520 Speaker 1: walking stick at the empty air above the table. You 63 00:03:58,560 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: have hit her right across the back, Elizabeth declared, you 64 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: have almost killed her. Miles away in Ipswich, unaware of 65 00:04:08,480 --> 00:04:11,440 Speaker 1: what was transpiring inside the Grigs home, one of the 66 00:04:11,480 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 1: guards standing outside Joseph Herrick's barn glanced inside the check 67 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: on Sarah Good and felt the hair on the back 68 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 1: of his neck. Stand up. She was gone, vanished into 69 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,000 Speaker 1: the night, as if she had magically melted into the air, 70 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: and all that was left of her or her shoes 71 00:04:29,120 --> 00:04:32,599 Speaker 1: and her stockings. When they found her the next morning, 72 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:36,839 Speaker 1: everyone held their breath. There was blood on her arm, 73 00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:44,360 Speaker 1: as if she had been struck. This is unobscured. I'm 74 00:04:44,440 --> 00:05:18,840 Speaker 1: Aaron Manky. The night of the gathering at Dr William 75 00:05:18,839 --> 00:05:22,720 Speaker 1: Griggs house, that moment of reflection and panic. After a 76 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:27,040 Speaker 1: day of examinations inside the meeting house, everyone dispersed to 77 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: go home. Two of those men were William Allen and 78 00:05:30,680 --> 00:05:33,919 Speaker 1: John Hughes, who lived in the same direction. They bundled 79 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 1: up against the cold and then walked off into the 80 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:40,279 Speaker 1: night down the road. After a few minutes of brisk, 81 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 1: silent walking. Both of the men claimed they heard a 82 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,120 Speaker 1: noise ahead of them down the road. It wasn't the 83 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: sound they could identify, and it kept repeating itself over 84 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 1: and over, but they needed to get home, so they 85 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 1: pressed on. That didn't mean it was easy, though. Soon 86 00:05:57,000 --> 00:05:59,839 Speaker 1: a dark shape began to materialize in the darkness ahead. 87 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: They slowed their pace, believing there was some sort of 88 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:07,039 Speaker 1: animal hunched over beside the road. A moment later, that 89 00:06:07,160 --> 00:06:11,039 Speaker 1: shape exploded upward, and as it did, it unraveled into 90 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:14,039 Speaker 1: the forms of three people women. If the men had 91 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:17,640 Speaker 1: to guess, they vanished almost as quickly as they had appeared. 92 00:06:18,040 --> 00:06:21,360 Speaker 1: But as they did, both men were certain they recognized 93 00:06:21,400 --> 00:06:26,599 Speaker 1: all three of them, Sarah Good, Sarah Osburne, and Tituba. 94 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: Sarah Good, however, was miles away in an Ipswich jail 95 00:06:32,240 --> 00:06:35,159 Speaker 1: along with her baby. Actually that jail was the barn 96 00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:39,279 Speaker 1: belonging to her relative Joseph Herrick and his brother Zachariah, 97 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:42,920 Speaker 1: and there was a bit of irony in her new situation. Remember, 98 00:06:43,040 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: Sarah and William Good weren't doing so well financially. They've 99 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:49,000 Speaker 1: lost all of their land and had no way to 100 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: provide for themselves. Life was hard for them, to say 101 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:56,600 Speaker 1: the least. Two years prior to the events of six two, 102 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:59,680 Speaker 1: Sarah had approached Zachariah and asked if she and her daughter, 103 00:06:59,720 --> 00:07:02,599 Speaker 1: Doroth the might sleep in the barn for a few nights. 104 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,719 Speaker 1: Sarah's sister had married into the Herrick family many years before, 105 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: and I have to imagine she felt that if anyone 106 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: was going to say yes, it would be the Herrick brothers. Instead, 107 00:07:13,120 --> 00:07:18,320 Speaker 1: they turned her away. That's when things got weird. Sarah, 108 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: known around the village to be a grumbler and all 109 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:25,240 Speaker 1: around bitter woman, told Herrick that his heartlessness would cost 110 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:29,320 Speaker 1: him dearly. Perhaps she hinted one of his best cows 111 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:34,040 Speaker 1: might suffer. Zachariah's teenage sons escorted Sarah off their property, 112 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:38,960 Speaker 1: and a short time later two of Herrick's best cows disappeared. 113 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 1: This night, though the Herricks had no choice. Joseph was 114 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: a constable for Salem and had been instructed to bring 115 00:07:47,720 --> 00:07:50,119 Speaker 1: Sarah Good and her infant back to his farm, where 116 00:07:50,240 --> 00:07:53,280 Speaker 1: she would be locked in the barn overnight. As the 117 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,680 Speaker 1: gathering at Dr Grigg's house took place, complete with Elizabeth 118 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:00,800 Speaker 1: Hubbard's claim of an invisible Sarah Good. The Herrick settled 119 00:08:00,840 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: in for what they assumed would be a calm, quiet night, 120 00:08:04,840 --> 00:08:10,080 Speaker 1: but something went wrong. Sarah Good escaped. For whatever reason, 121 00:08:10,200 --> 00:08:13,000 Speaker 1: she slipped out of her shoes and stockings and carried 122 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 1: her infant out into the cold night air. Most historians 123 00:08:16,760 --> 00:08:19,000 Speaker 1: think that she was out looking for a place to hide, 124 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 1: but walking barefoot through the cold, snow and mud of 125 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:26,400 Speaker 1: early March would have been painful. The guards noticed she 126 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:28,760 Speaker 1: was gone, but by the time they summoned the courage 127 00:08:28,800 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: to inform Joseph Herrick, the sun had already come up 128 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:35,280 Speaker 1: and Sarah Good had returned to her makeshift prison cell. 129 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:39,120 Speaker 1: Joseph checked on her, found her arm covered in blood, 130 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:42,280 Speaker 1: and probably wondered aloud about what the woman had done 131 00:08:42,280 --> 00:08:46,600 Speaker 1: to herself, And then he began his day. That new 132 00:08:46,679 --> 00:08:50,080 Speaker 1: day came with new news. Word reached Herrick about the 133 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:52,640 Speaker 1: events at Dr Grigg's house the night before, and of 134 00:08:52,679 --> 00:08:55,760 Speaker 1: the appearance of Sarah Good without her shoes and stockings, 135 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:58,320 Speaker 1: and of how Samuel Sibley had struck her with his 136 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: walking stick. And I realize we look back on this 137 00:09:01,440 --> 00:09:04,640 Speaker 1: today with a bit of incredulity, But put yourself in 138 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:08,079 Speaker 1: the mindset of a superstitious, fearful puritan in the middle 139 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:10,520 Speaker 1: of a community at the beginning of a witch hunt. 140 00:09:11,120 --> 00:09:13,839 Speaker 1: This was a red flag and a sure sign that 141 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:18,480 Speaker 1: something evil was at work. Most people probably trying to 142 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 1: get on with their normal lives that morning. There was 143 00:09:20,880 --> 00:09:22,680 Speaker 1: always a lot to do to make sure your family 144 00:09:22,720 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: and livestock were taken care of, after all, but magistrates 145 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: John Hawthorne and Jonathan Corwin had servants for all of that. Instead, 146 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:34,120 Speaker 1: they paid a visit to the Salem Town Jail. They 147 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:38,079 Speaker 1: had some questions for one of the prisoners. Here's Pulitzer 148 00:09:38,120 --> 00:09:41,600 Speaker 1: Prize winning author Stacy Chief. The conditions in the jail 149 00:09:41,600 --> 00:09:44,360 Speaker 1: were really deplorable. New England jails had not been built 150 00:09:44,800 --> 00:09:47,440 Speaker 1: for long term stays. This was a culture that essentially 151 00:09:47,440 --> 00:09:51,040 Speaker 1: dealt with malefactors quickly and effectively. No one was really 152 00:09:51,040 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: mental to live in a jail the way these people 153 00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:55,599 Speaker 1: ended up staying in these jails. The Salem jail is 154 00:09:55,640 --> 00:09:58,840 Speaker 1: described as a suburb of Hell, and from the Boston 155 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:01,040 Speaker 1: jail was described as a grave for the living. So 156 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:02,839 Speaker 1: I think there you have it. Between the two, their 157 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:07,000 Speaker 1: tiny spaces unventilated. An earlier prisoner had talked about the 158 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:10,400 Speaker 1: fact that he couldn't breathe for the pestiferous stink. As 159 00:10:10,400 --> 00:10:13,400 Speaker 1: he puts it, the air is fitted their armies of life. 160 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,720 Speaker 1: And to add insult to injury, in colonial New England, 161 00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:19,560 Speaker 1: you paid for your keep in jail, So you paid 162 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:21,160 Speaker 1: for your straw, you paid for your food, and you 163 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:25,280 Speaker 1: paid for your shackles. This was the place Tituba found 164 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: herself the night after her examination in the meeting house. 165 00:10:29,040 --> 00:10:32,120 Speaker 1: She probably awoke the next morning full of uncertainty and fear. 166 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,440 Speaker 1: Would they hang her without a trial? Would they drag 167 00:10:35,480 --> 00:10:40,319 Speaker 1: her back for more questions. Instead, Hawthorne and Corwin visited 168 00:10:40,320 --> 00:10:43,720 Speaker 1: her and began a new interrogation behind the closed doors 169 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: of the jail, But the magistrates were in for a 170 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:51,040 Speaker 1: shock when they arrived. Titsuba began to writhe and convulse 171 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 1: in much the same way the four girls had done 172 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:55,719 Speaker 1: so in front of everyone in the meeting house the 173 00:10:55,800 --> 00:10:59,559 Speaker 1: day before. When she could speak, she blamed the attacks 174 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:04,200 Speaker 1: on Good and Osbourne, which gave Hawthorne an idea they 175 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:08,240 Speaker 1: now had a direct line to the truth. They asked 176 00:11:08,240 --> 00:11:11,320 Speaker 1: Tituba about how the witches were attacking her, and she 177 00:11:11,400 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 1: described it in detail. Then, almost as an assigne, she 178 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:19,480 Speaker 1: mentioned that the tall man had urged her to write 179 00:11:19,480 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 1: in his book, which struck a chord with the two men. 180 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:28,360 Speaker 1: What book, they asked, Was it big or small? Titsiba 181 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:31,080 Speaker 1: shook her head. He did not show it to me, 182 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:35,560 Speaker 1: she replied, but had it in his pocket. After that, 183 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 1: the questions flowed like a river, and Titchiba did her 184 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:40,880 Speaker 1: best to keep up with the current. Did he make 185 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:45,920 Speaker 1: you sign it? No, my mistress called me from another room. 186 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,080 Speaker 1: What did he say you needed to do with the book? 187 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:51,120 Speaker 1: He told me to sign my name in it, she said, 188 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 1: And did you do that? They asked, yes. One time 189 00:11:55,400 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 1: I made a mark in the book with a red ink, 190 00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 1: red like blood. Did he take that red ink from 191 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:05,320 Speaker 1: your own body? No, but he said he would get 192 00:12:05,320 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: it out of me the next time he visited. And 193 00:12:08,840 --> 00:12:12,839 Speaker 1: then the magistrates dug deeper. They believe that Tituba had 194 00:12:12,880 --> 00:12:16,520 Speaker 1: seen the Devil's Book, his tool for recruiting humans into 195 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:19,600 Speaker 1: his evil mission among them. So he asked about that. 196 00:12:20,520 --> 00:12:25,160 Speaker 1: Did you see any other marks in this book? They asked, yes, 197 00:12:25,360 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: she said, a great many, some in red, some in yellow. 198 00:12:29,960 --> 00:12:32,480 Speaker 1: He held it wide open and showed me a great 199 00:12:32,559 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 1: many marks in it? What names were in the book, 200 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:41,439 Speaker 1: they asked? Did he tell you Good and Osbourne? She answered, 201 00:12:41,920 --> 00:12:46,360 Speaker 1: but they were more I couldn't read. Hawthorne and Corwin 202 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:49,960 Speaker 1: must have felt a chill run down their spines. More 203 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:54,280 Speaker 1: names meant more witches. They had already found three, which 204 00:12:54,400 --> 00:12:57,480 Speaker 1: felt overwhelming as it was, But now they had learned 205 00:12:57,520 --> 00:13:00,760 Speaker 1: that there were more among them. They aid, it wasn't 206 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:05,640 Speaker 1: an insurmountable number. How many marks do you think there were, 207 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:09,000 Speaker 1: they asked her. Tituba looked at them both with fear 208 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:12,960 Speaker 1: in her eyes. Perhaps she was afraid of her current circumstances, 209 00:13:13,520 --> 00:13:16,240 Speaker 1: or maybe she was afraid of what her answer might mean. 210 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:20,280 Speaker 1: I imagine she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. 211 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: Then finally she answered them. Nine, she said, there were 212 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:37,040 Speaker 1: nine marks. Hawthorne and Corwin were stunned. They had believed 213 00:13:37,080 --> 00:13:39,920 Speaker 1: all of the witches affecting the girls had been identified 214 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:43,720 Speaker 1: and captured, and yet here was a frightening new revelation. 215 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:47,839 Speaker 1: There were nine names in the book, Nine witches to 216 00:13:47,840 --> 00:13:51,320 Speaker 1: torment them, Nine individuals who had signed on to help 217 00:13:51,360 --> 00:13:54,640 Speaker 1: the devil destroy their great Puritan experiment in the New World. 218 00:13:56,160 --> 00:13:59,040 Speaker 1: Of course, they wanted to know who those other witches were, 219 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:02,280 Speaker 1: and they asked it, but to name them she shook 220 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:05,040 Speaker 1: her head, though she claimed they had only made marks 221 00:14:05,240 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: rather than writing their own names down, so she didn't 222 00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:11,280 Speaker 1: know who they were. But there's something else going on 223 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:14,679 Speaker 1: here that needs to be pointed out. You see, Puritans 224 00:14:14,720 --> 00:14:19,800 Speaker 1: were absolutely obsessed with books. Jane Kaminsky, Professor of American 225 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:23,480 Speaker 1: History at Harvard University. I did a piece of work 226 00:14:23,520 --> 00:14:27,400 Speaker 1: at one point that I never published, about the image 227 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:31,040 Speaker 1: of the Devil's book in the Salem, which trials looking 228 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:33,760 Speaker 1: at the book trades in New England at the time. 229 00:14:34,520 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 1: You know, what does it look like. Oh, it's small 230 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,240 Speaker 1: and they hide in it's red, it's not read. This 231 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:42,000 Speaker 1: is a moment in the late sixteen eighties and early 232 00:14:42,080 --> 00:14:49,840 Speaker 1: sixteen nineties where small secular print materials, you know, histories, geographies, satires, 233 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:55,200 Speaker 1: joke books, playing cards are coming into the bookstores and 234 00:14:55,280 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: the ports cities. So yeah, this idea of a book 235 00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:03,120 Speaker 1: used by the devil to establish contracts with human helpers 236 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:06,080 Speaker 1: was a big deal. It spoke to the very nature 237 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:10,120 Speaker 1: of Puritans as book people. Reading was central to their faith, 238 00:15:10,480 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 1: reading the Bible, reading sermon notes, reading educational books, and 239 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,760 Speaker 1: while most of the women in Salem were unable to write, 240 00:15:18,240 --> 00:15:23,280 Speaker 1: they could certainly read. Here's Kaminski again. Women in Puritan 241 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: New England have an unusually high level of reading literacy 242 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:31,920 Speaker 1: because it's thought to be so important for everybody to 243 00:15:31,960 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 1: be able to read the Bible, and for mothers to 244 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: be able to read the Bible to their children. But 245 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:40,320 Speaker 1: they have a pretty low level of what's called sign literacy. 246 00:15:40,480 --> 00:15:43,800 Speaker 1: So she can sign her name. She has some rudimentary 247 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:47,120 Speaker 1: written literacy, but probably not the fluency to write an 248 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:51,520 Speaker 1: entire document. The last detail these questions about the Devil's 249 00:15:51,560 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 1: Book revealed to us is the seriousness of the accusations 250 00:15:55,600 --> 00:15:59,160 Speaker 1: to a Puritan. Membership in the church was about confession. 251 00:15:59,760 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: She or the Halfway Covenant loosened those requirements a bit, 252 00:16:02,920 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 1: But whether you were confessing your sins and story to 253 00:16:05,480 --> 00:16:08,520 Speaker 1: a minister in private or while standing in front of 254 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:11,800 Speaker 1: the entire congregation, you knew the final step was to 255 00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:15,440 Speaker 1: sign a covenant with your church. So the Devil's Book 256 00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:17,960 Speaker 1: was meant to be a shadow of all of that, 257 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:21,440 Speaker 1: the dark opposite to the light of God. If the 258 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:24,000 Speaker 1: Puritans believe that you were a witch, it just made 259 00:16:24,040 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: sense that you had also signed a covenant with the devil. 260 00:16:27,320 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 1: You had switched sides after all. Now, one of the 261 00:16:31,680 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: books that would have been familiar to Hawthorne and Corwin 262 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:38,840 Speaker 1: was a sixty seven witchcraft reference work called Guide to 263 00:16:38,960 --> 00:16:41,920 Speaker 1: Grand Jury Men. It offered a lot of advice to 264 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:45,760 Speaker 1: help the authorities properly examine accused witches, and one of 265 00:16:45,800 --> 00:16:48,920 Speaker 1: those pieces of advice was that someone of spiritual authority 266 00:16:49,280 --> 00:16:53,520 Speaker 1: must help the accused prepare for their examination. For Tituba, 267 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:56,920 Speaker 1: that person had to have been her master, the Reverend 268 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 1: Samuel Paris. It would be a fair guest to assume 269 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,720 Speaker 1: that preparing Tituba involved asking her questions and testing her 270 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: knowledge of the Bible, but not for Paris. The day 271 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:12,080 Speaker 1: before her examination, he chose instead to simply beat her. 272 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:15,320 Speaker 1: It wasn't justified, of course, but I have to wonder 273 00:17:15,359 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 1: if he did it out of anger over the witch 274 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:20,399 Speaker 1: cake incidents and a bit of urgency from her living 275 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: under his roof and responsibility. So Paris beat her, Perhaps 276 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:28,199 Speaker 1: that explains her wild stories the next day in the 277 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 1: meeting house, where she accused Sarah Good and Sarah Osburne 278 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:34,400 Speaker 1: of being in league with the Devil. It certainly explains 279 00:17:34,400 --> 00:17:38,160 Speaker 1: her eagerness to please, to paint elaborate pictures full of rich, 280 00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:42,040 Speaker 1: powerful detail. He had asked for her cooperation at the 281 00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:48,040 Speaker 1: end of a painful switch, and Titsuba clearly delivered. I 282 00:17:48,040 --> 00:17:49,800 Speaker 1: think it's safe to say that we can look back 283 00:17:49,880 --> 00:17:53,359 Speaker 1: today on the interrogation and see the men essentially leading 284 00:17:53,400 --> 00:17:57,800 Speaker 1: the witness. They never said did you experience anything odd 285 00:17:57,840 --> 00:18:01,000 Speaker 1: the other day? Instead they asked estions out of the blue, 286 00:18:01,040 --> 00:18:05,359 Speaker 1: like was there a book and why did you sign it? Tituba, 287 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:09,720 Speaker 1: female heathen slave, the lowest of the low in their society, 288 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:12,840 Speaker 1: was already in jail. So she would have done anything 289 00:18:12,960 --> 00:18:17,399 Speaker 1: or said anything to prevent execution. Any of us would have. 290 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:21,720 Speaker 1: And you can see them guide her answers over time. 291 00:18:22,480 --> 00:18:25,200 Speaker 1: First she never saw the book, and then the tall 292 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,159 Speaker 1: man showed it to her. That evolved into holding it 293 00:18:28,440 --> 00:18:31,200 Speaker 1: and then reading it. It wasn't that she was slowly 294 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:34,800 Speaker 1: remembering more and more detail. It's that she was paying attention, 295 00:18:35,240 --> 00:18:38,120 Speaker 1: listening to Hawthorne and Corwin as if her life depended 296 00:18:38,200 --> 00:18:40,880 Speaker 1: on it, and giving them the answers they were looking for. 297 00:18:42,480 --> 00:18:45,760 Speaker 1: Emerson Baker, one of our guest historians throughout this season, 298 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: of Unobscured discusses this in his book A Storm of 299 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:53,720 Speaker 1: Witchcraft One wonders. He wrote, what would have happened had 300 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:57,800 Speaker 1: Paris and the judges not coerced Tituba into confessing the 301 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:02,439 Speaker 1: Salem witchcraft outbreak might conceivably have been limited to three people, 302 00:19:02,920 --> 00:19:06,560 Speaker 1: a fairly typical case of no particular note, and certainly 303 00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:10,920 Speaker 1: not a pivotal moment in American history. But that's not 304 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:15,040 Speaker 1: what they did. Instead, they approached a volatile situation and 305 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:19,600 Speaker 1: steered it in a different and arguably worse direction. It 306 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:22,359 Speaker 1: would be the first of many wrong turns that would 307 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:25,280 Speaker 1: get them lost in a dark forest of fear and panic. 308 00:19:26,359 --> 00:19:29,800 Speaker 1: Peace it seems would be a lot more difficult to 309 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:35,720 Speaker 1: track down. At this point, It might be helpful to 310 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:39,560 Speaker 1: step back and ask the question why why did the 311 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:42,880 Speaker 1: people of Salem village believe the devil had singled them 312 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:46,640 Speaker 1: out and made them the focus of his evil mock nations? 313 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:49,600 Speaker 1: And the answer comes back to us from that vision 314 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: of Salem being a city on the hill. Historian Richard Trask, 315 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:57,919 Speaker 1: the whole purpose of it was to bring down the 316 00:19:58,000 --> 00:20:02,440 Speaker 1: Puritan commonwealth of Massachuset sits they looked at themselves as 317 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:06,680 Speaker 1: being the elect of God. The new Israelites of old, 318 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:10,560 Speaker 1: who were establishing a city upon the hill. The devil 319 00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 1: obviously would want to combat that type of thing, and 320 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:17,159 Speaker 1: that's why they believe that the devil was coming to 321 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:21,320 Speaker 1: Salem Village into all of mass Bay to bring God's 322 00:20:21,400 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: Kingdom on Earth down. To that end, Samuel Paris called 323 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:29,320 Speaker 1: on all of Salem Village to fast and pray. He 324 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:32,120 Speaker 1: held private gatherings at his house of the most devout 325 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:36,160 Speaker 1: among them, and other neighboring ministers joined them, including John 326 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:41,000 Speaker 1: Hale from Beverly. Even Paris's daughter Betty and her cousin Abigail, 327 00:20:41,240 --> 00:20:45,280 Speaker 1: the two original afflicted girls who had started everything, joined 328 00:20:45,280 --> 00:20:49,880 Speaker 1: them for these prayer meetings. Not long after, though, Paris 329 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:52,480 Speaker 1: had Betty sent to Salem Town to stay at the 330 00:20:52,480 --> 00:20:56,159 Speaker 1: home of a distant relative named Stephen Sewell. Betty was 331 00:20:56,240 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 1: only nine years old, and while her affliction didn't stop 332 00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:01,920 Speaker 1: right away, she does seem to vanish from the court 333 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:05,680 Speaker 1: documents after this. Some historians think it was a rare 334 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:09,120 Speaker 1: moment of sanity when the community honored the tradition of 335 00:21:09,240 --> 00:21:14,560 Speaker 1: only allowing adults to testify. After Betty, Paris was moved 336 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:17,320 Speaker 1: to a safe home in Salem Town. The three accused 337 00:21:17,320 --> 00:21:20,040 Speaker 1: witches were transferred to a jail in Boston, where they 338 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:23,879 Speaker 1: would await a full criminal trial. The three remaining afflicted 339 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:28,600 Speaker 1: girls seemed to become more calm, but then on March three, 340 00:21:28,680 --> 00:21:32,280 Speaker 1: Annie Putnam claimed she was tormented yet again, and this 341 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:37,160 Speaker 1: time the attackers were new to her. One, she said 342 00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:40,160 Speaker 1: was a woman she couldn't see clearly, but the other 343 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,880 Speaker 1: was clear. She claimed it was Dorothy Good, the five 344 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:47,600 Speaker 1: year old daughter of Sarah Good. The little girl, according 345 00:21:47,600 --> 00:21:50,480 Speaker 1: to Annie Putnam, was holding the Devil's Book out to 346 00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:54,880 Speaker 1: her and demanding she signed it. Sadly, the people around 347 00:21:54,920 --> 00:22:00,199 Speaker 1: her took her seriously. A week later, she managed to 348 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:05,480 Speaker 1: put a name to that other attacker, Elizabeth Procter. Elizabeth 349 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:08,000 Speaker 1: was the forty one year old mother of five children 350 00:22:08,200 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: and pregnant with her sixth. She and her husband, John 351 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:14,199 Speaker 1: Procter owned a tavern north of the village at the 352 00:22:14,240 --> 00:22:17,439 Speaker 1: intersection of two busy roads. They were part of the 353 00:22:17,480 --> 00:22:21,520 Speaker 1: wealthy Procter family, members of the church, and owners of 354 00:22:21,640 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 1: a lot of land. There was a lot to respect 355 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:28,840 Speaker 1: about Elizabeth, but there were other details about her that 356 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:31,800 Speaker 1: might have made her an easy person to accuse of witchcraft. 357 00:22:32,440 --> 00:22:35,320 Speaker 1: The biggest of those was that her grandmother, goody Bert's 358 00:22:35,480 --> 00:22:39,160 Speaker 1: had been accused and tried for witchcraft roughly three decades earlier. 359 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:42,720 Speaker 1: The assumption was that if wealth and godliness could run 360 00:22:42,720 --> 00:22:45,919 Speaker 1: in families, then so too could allegiance to the devil. 361 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,000 Speaker 1: Her husband, John was twenty years older than her and 362 00:22:50,080 --> 00:22:52,800 Speaker 1: had inherited all of his land from his parents, who 363 00:22:52,800 --> 00:22:56,480 Speaker 1: had moved to Massachusetts in the sixteen thirties. By sixteen 364 00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,920 Speaker 1: seventy four, he'd lost two wives and a number of children. 365 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:03,360 Speaker 1: But Elizabeth seemed like the perfect balm for those wounds. 366 00:23:03,800 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 1: She was smart, rugal, and a formidable presence, and both 367 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:11,840 Speaker 1: of them were a bit more progressive than their neighbors. 368 00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:14,600 Speaker 1: They were known to allow the local Native Americans to 369 00:23:14,680 --> 00:23:17,240 Speaker 1: drink in their tavern, which was a huge deal in 370 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:20,480 Speaker 1: those days. The Native Americans were seen as agents of 371 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,480 Speaker 1: the devil. They were the enemy who stood opposed to 372 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:27,520 Speaker 1: the Puritan mission, and yet John and Elizabeth served them beer. 373 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,120 Speaker 1: Hatred ran so hot that at one point someone took 374 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 1: them to court over it. The angry man Giles Corey, 375 00:23:34,760 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 1: had a bit of a reputation for being a hothead, though. 376 00:23:38,200 --> 00:23:41,960 Speaker 1: Here's Emerson Baker. He had been accused of setting for 377 00:23:42,119 --> 00:23:45,199 Speaker 1: arson on the house of his neighbor, John Proctor, and 378 00:23:45,320 --> 00:23:48,919 Speaker 1: he had also been convicted really of manslaughter back in 379 00:23:48,920 --> 00:23:53,600 Speaker 1: the sixteen seventies, of beating his simple minded teenage servant 380 00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:55,840 Speaker 1: to within an inch of his life. And then the fellow, 381 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:59,400 Speaker 1: poor fellow dies several days later, and they say, well, 382 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:06,000 Speaker 1: it isn't murder, but you know, okay, pfine, Pfine. Proctor, however, 383 00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:09,320 Speaker 1: won the case and business stayed brisk at their tavern, 384 00:24:09,720 --> 00:24:13,680 Speaker 1: always busy helping patrons there. Elizabeth needed help around the house, 385 00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:16,560 Speaker 1: so she hired a young local woman named Mary Warren. 386 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:20,399 Speaker 1: She had lost her entire family to tuberculosis years before, 387 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:24,520 Speaker 1: so the proctors were all she had. That said, they 388 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:28,440 Speaker 1: weren't exactly kind to her, which is why when rumors 389 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:32,280 Speaker 1: of Annie Putnam's accusations reached Mary Warren's ears, she might 390 00:24:32,320 --> 00:24:36,040 Speaker 1: have seen an opportunity. On March twelve, Mary claimed to 391 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:39,240 Speaker 1: see a specter floating through the house, which eventually landed 392 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:41,800 Speaker 1: on her lap. When she could make out a face, 393 00:24:42,160 --> 00:24:44,200 Speaker 1: she was shocked to see it had taken the form 394 00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:49,280 Speaker 1: of her employer, John Procter, The real man, however, was 395 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,440 Speaker 1: not amused. He essentially told her to cut it out 396 00:24:52,560 --> 00:24:55,199 Speaker 1: and if she didn't, she'd receive a severe beating for 397 00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,199 Speaker 1: her behavior. Then she did stop for a while, but 398 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:00,840 Speaker 1: when John left town a day or so later, her 399 00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:04,920 Speaker 1: nightmarish visions miraculously returned, this time in the form of 400 00:25:04,960 --> 00:25:09,720 Speaker 1: a woman. It wasn't Elizabeth Proctor though. No this witch's 401 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,200 Speaker 1: name was new to the growing list of the accused, 402 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: yet at the same time it felt like a natural fit. 403 00:25:16,680 --> 00:25:21,040 Speaker 1: Mary identified her attacker as none other than Martha Corey, 404 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: Giles Corey's wife. To understand exactly why the people of 405 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:36,159 Speaker 1: Salem Village might not like the Corries and Martha in particular, 406 00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:41,280 Speaker 1: we have to go back to the halfway Covenant. Membership 407 00:25:41,320 --> 00:25:44,119 Speaker 1: in the church in Puritan times was a huge deal. 408 00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:47,880 Speaker 1: Only full fledged members could take communion and have their 409 00:25:47,960 --> 00:25:52,040 Speaker 1: children baptized, two key rights for Christians. But that level 410 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:55,200 Speaker 1: of membership required standing in front of the entire congregation, 411 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:59,159 Speaker 1: confessing your whole sinful life to them and then waiting 412 00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,800 Speaker 1: for their answer. It was strict then. As a result, 413 00:26:02,880 --> 00:26:06,920 Speaker 1: many churches were shrinking rather than growing. The halfway Covenant 414 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,560 Speaker 1: was supposed to change all of that. Instead of a 415 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:14,480 Speaker 1: public confession, churches that adopted the more liberal Halfway Covenant 416 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:17,760 Speaker 1: allowed prospective members to simply meet with their minister privately. 417 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:21,560 Speaker 1: And here's the other important detail about membership. Once you 418 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:24,359 Speaker 1: were a full member in one church, you could visit 419 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:27,480 Speaker 1: any other and receive the same benefits you would back home, 420 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 1: whether or not they were a halfway Covenant church. Here's 421 00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:36,600 Speaker 1: Emerson Baker again, the Corries used that loophole. Giles Corey 422 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,360 Speaker 1: becomes a member of the Salem Town Church and even 423 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:42,840 Speaker 1: though they say, basically despite his his reprobate past, he's 424 00:26:42,880 --> 00:26:45,239 Speaker 1: acknowledged his past as a center and we accept him 425 00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:48,440 Speaker 1: into our fellowship, into our covenant. So then imagine, here's 426 00:26:48,440 --> 00:26:50,639 Speaker 1: this fellow who people know to be who he is, 427 00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:53,160 Speaker 1: and he's sitting right there and partaking of the Lord's 428 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:55,800 Speaker 1: suffer with the other members of the Salem Village Church. 429 00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:58,399 Speaker 1: Because as a member of the Salem Town Church, you 430 00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:02,320 Speaker 1: can attend and you have full rights really to receive communion. 431 00:27:03,040 --> 00:27:07,120 Speaker 1: Oh really, isn't that interesting? This trophy hunting, social climbing 432 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:10,440 Speaker 1: wife who claims she's a gospel woman, and look how 433 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:14,440 Speaker 1: she managed to get her husband, Giles Corey, arsonist, beater 434 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:17,480 Speaker 1: of servants. We've managed to get him into the church. 435 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:22,000 Speaker 1: Something's wrong here. Obviously they had the reasons for accusing 436 00:27:22,080 --> 00:27:25,520 Speaker 1: Martha Corey, but it certainly set a new precedent. This 437 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,439 Speaker 1: was a full fledged member of the church. She was 438 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,119 Speaker 1: part of the inner circle, one of their own, in 439 00:27:31,200 --> 00:27:35,080 Speaker 1: a special position of respect, and by disregarding all of that, 440 00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:38,480 Speaker 1: they opened the door for similar accusations to be leveled 441 00:27:38,520 --> 00:27:43,080 Speaker 1: at other unlikely suspects. One of those was Rebecca Nurse. 442 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:48,160 Speaker 1: Rebecca Nurse was older than middle age. That's Marylyn k Roach, 443 00:27:48,200 --> 00:27:52,720 Speaker 1: author and historian. She had a large family of grown 444 00:27:52,800 --> 00:27:55,960 Speaker 1: children with grandchildren, so it's an extant family. That's not 445 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:59,679 Speaker 1: a lot of death in infancy in her family. Her 446 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:02,000 Speaker 1: husban than it's still alive, so she's not a widow. 447 00:28:02,080 --> 00:28:04,640 Speaker 1: Pretty much on her own. She has a good support network, 448 00:28:05,359 --> 00:28:08,560 Speaker 1: and she's a full member of the Salem Town Church. 449 00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:13,960 Speaker 1: She seems to be well respected, but she's accused. Rebecca 450 00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:18,040 Speaker 1: was actually a sickly, nearly deaf, seventy one year old grandmother, 451 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 1: which sounds incredibly harmless, right, But she also had enough 452 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:25,080 Speaker 1: social baggage to at least give the accusation some level 453 00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:27,840 Speaker 1: of credibility in their eye. If you think about it, 454 00:28:27,880 --> 00:28:29,560 Speaker 1: one of the first people they might attack would be 455 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:34,240 Speaker 1: a woman like Rebecca Nurse who attends Salem Village But 456 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:37,640 Speaker 1: as a member of Salem Town Church, aren't we good 457 00:28:37,720 --> 00:28:40,880 Speaker 1: enough for you? Why not? Could it be the fact 458 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:43,080 Speaker 1: that you and your husband a few years ago took 459 00:28:43,120 --> 00:28:46,440 Speaker 1: in a Quaker orphan when his parents died and they 460 00:28:46,440 --> 00:28:49,720 Speaker 1: were friends of the Nurses. Wow, we know your charitable 461 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:54,880 Speaker 1: could Puritan godly folk, but but why why a Quaker child? 462 00:28:55,840 --> 00:28:59,640 Speaker 1: Why not joined Salem Village Church? Why does your husband 463 00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:02,080 Speaker 1: friend sist nurs Why is he one of the leaders 464 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:05,160 Speaker 1: of the faction that is trying to get Samuel Paris 465 00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:08,040 Speaker 1: thrown out his minister in Salem Village. So there with 466 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:10,920 Speaker 1: Rebecca Nurse, even though she's a god fearing Puritan, there 467 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:16,520 Speaker 1: are some questions about her orthodoxy. One more odd detail. 468 00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:20,800 Speaker 1: During this new wave of accusations, when women like Elizabeth 469 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:23,760 Speaker 1: Procter and Rebecca Nurse were being swept into the flood 470 00:29:23,840 --> 00:29:28,760 Speaker 1: that was washing over the community, a new unexpected accuser appeared. 471 00:29:29,400 --> 00:29:32,200 Speaker 1: Up until this point, all of the afflicted were young women, 472 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:36,680 Speaker 1: girls really, ranging from nine to sixteen. But it was 473 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:38,920 Speaker 1: in the midst of this new way that twelve year 474 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:42,680 Speaker 1: old Annie Putnam's own mother and Putnam Senior, began to 475 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,600 Speaker 1: report her own torment at the hands of these witches. 476 00:29:46,520 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 1: And Putnam wasn't a girl. She was a thirty year 477 00:29:49,400 --> 00:29:53,000 Speaker 1: old mother, pregnant with another child, and a well respected 478 00:29:53,040 --> 00:29:56,360 Speaker 1: member of the Putnam family. So, as you can imagine, 479 00:29:56,400 --> 00:29:58,840 Speaker 1: the gathering that Sunday in the meeting house for a 480 00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:02,479 Speaker 1: sermon by guest sister Dao Dat Lawson, was quite the 481 00:30:02,480 --> 00:30:05,720 Speaker 1: tense moment. Lawson, if you remember, was one of the 482 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:09,840 Speaker 1: former ministers of Salem Village, so everyone knew him. Oh, 483 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,920 Speaker 1: and the Putnams were there, and so was Martha Corey. 484 00:30:14,480 --> 00:30:17,120 Speaker 1: Lawson had barely managed to start his sermon before all 485 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:20,280 Speaker 1: hell broke loose. The afflicted girls fell to the floor 486 00:30:20,360 --> 00:30:23,720 Speaker 1: as he was preaching, their bodies twisting and writhing as 487 00:30:23,720 --> 00:30:27,800 Speaker 1: they cried out in pain. Abigail Williams pointed up into 488 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:30,720 Speaker 1: the empty air above their heads and claimed to see 489 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:34,400 Speaker 1: Martha Corey flying around the room. And while Martha Corey 490 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,240 Speaker 1: spoke up and denied all of it, her fate seemed 491 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:42,200 Speaker 1: to be sealed. Martha was arrested the following day, and 492 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:46,240 Speaker 1: Rebecca Nurse was brought in three days later. Their examination 493 00:30:46,360 --> 00:30:49,680 Speaker 1: was much like you might expect. Hawthorne and Corwin were 494 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 1: among the presiding magistrates, and they returned to their obsession 495 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:58,480 Speaker 1: with the Devil's Book. Martha Corey was indignant what book? 496 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: She spat back at them. Where should I have seen 497 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,520 Speaker 1: a book? I showed these girls none, nor have none, 498 00:31:04,680 --> 00:31:08,120 Speaker 1: nor brought none. But defending herself wasn't the best thing 499 00:31:08,200 --> 00:31:10,960 Speaker 1: to help her case. The judges saw her as too 500 00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:14,000 Speaker 1: confident and forward, and that she was stepping out of line. 501 00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:18,240 Speaker 1: Immediately after the examination, she was carted off to the 502 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:22,800 Speaker 1: Salem jail to wait for her official trial. Rebecca Nurse 503 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:26,240 Speaker 1: experienced a lot of the same treatment during her examination. 504 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:29,520 Speaker 1: She professed her innocence, of course, but in the middle 505 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:33,080 Speaker 1: of it, Anne Putnam Senior started shouting at her, accusing 506 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:35,640 Speaker 1: her of doing the work of the devil. Anne said 507 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:37,600 Speaker 1: that Rebecca had tried to get her to sign the 508 00:31:37,680 --> 00:31:40,840 Speaker 1: mysterious read book and had sent her spirit to attack 509 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:44,400 Speaker 1: her more than once. Then she went stiff and had 510 00:31:44,400 --> 00:31:48,080 Speaker 1: to be carried from the room by her husband. Paris 511 00:31:48,120 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 1: must have found himself in quite a difficult place. On 512 00:31:51,400 --> 00:31:54,240 Speaker 1: one hand, the whole idea behind full membership in the 513 00:31:54,320 --> 00:31:56,920 Speaker 1: church was that these were the elect of God, the 514 00:31:57,040 --> 00:31:59,760 Speaker 1: chosen ones, the best of the best, and the truest 515 00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:02,720 Speaker 1: of true. They had passed through the fire of communal 516 00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:07,360 Speaker 1: judgment and reached the other side safely. And yet members 517 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,320 Speaker 1: of the church were in jail. Now, how could he 518 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:13,400 Speaker 1: explain that? How could his theology keep pace with the 519 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:17,480 Speaker 1: events that were unfolding? And then it struck him, even 520 00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:19,920 Speaker 1: among the twelve Disciples of Jesus there had been one 521 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 1: secret agent, Judas, who had been working with the devil. 522 00:32:25,240 --> 00:32:28,560 Speaker 1: Speaking from the pulpit the following Sunday, he explained how 523 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:32,040 Speaker 1: tricky this all was to his parishioners. If it could 524 00:32:32,080 --> 00:32:35,800 Speaker 1: happen to Jesus, he said, then perhaps even someone like 525 00:32:35,880 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: Rebecca Nurse could be more than she appears. Have I 526 00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:42,960 Speaker 1: not chosen you? Twelve Paris read aloud from the Book 527 00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:53,440 Speaker 1: of John, and one of you is a devil. It 528 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:57,720 Speaker 1: wasn't just one, though, Tituba had told the magistrates that 529 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:00,760 Speaker 1: she'd seen nine marks in the devil's book Buck, so 530 00:33:00,800 --> 00:33:03,719 Speaker 1: at the moment the village was a little short of suspects. 531 00:33:04,200 --> 00:33:07,000 Speaker 1: The first five were now in jail, along with Sarah 532 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:09,800 Speaker 1: Goods five year old daughter Dorothy, But that had left 533 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:12,960 Speaker 1: the community on edge. How could they look at any 534 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:16,640 Speaker 1: of their neighbors without wondering are they a witch? As well? 535 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:21,520 Speaker 1: The spotlight briefly drifted over towards the two younger sisters 536 00:33:21,560 --> 00:33:25,520 Speaker 1: of Rebecca Nurse. One of them, Sarah Klois, had actually 537 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:27,960 Speaker 1: been into gathering that Sunday in the meeting house for 538 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,040 Speaker 1: the sermon by Reverend Paris, and when he stated how 539 00:33:31,080 --> 00:33:33,880 Speaker 1: possible it was for someone as devout as Rebecca to 540 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:36,640 Speaker 1: be an agent of the devil, Sarah had stormed out 541 00:33:36,680 --> 00:33:39,080 Speaker 1: and discussed to the rest of those in the room, 542 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:41,560 Speaker 1: though it was difficult to not see it as the 543 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:45,800 Speaker 1: flight of a guilty woman. Another person under scrutiny was 544 00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:49,880 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Procter's husband John. The day after the examination of 545 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 1: Rebecca Nurse, John encountered Samuel Sibley, husband of the woman 546 00:33:53,880 --> 00:33:55,800 Speaker 1: who had baked the witch cake in the Paris home 547 00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:59,800 Speaker 1: weeks before. John casually asked Samuel how things were going 548 00:33:59,840 --> 00:34:05,440 Speaker 1: in village, and Sibley replied very bad. Proctor told Sibley 549 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:06,880 Speaker 1: that he was on his way to pick up his 550 00:34:06,960 --> 00:34:10,520 Speaker 1: servant Mary Warren, and used a few choice words about 551 00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:14,080 Speaker 1: her in connection to the events that were unfolding. I'd 552 00:34:14,160 --> 00:34:17,280 Speaker 1: rather given up money than get her involved in these examinations, 553 00:34:17,320 --> 00:34:20,479 Speaker 1: he said, and then added that he should just beat 554 00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:25,160 Speaker 1: the devil out of her. Sibley raised an eyebrow. First 555 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:28,960 Speaker 1: Proctor's words had been violent and in discreet, referring to 556 00:34:29,000 --> 00:34:32,200 Speaker 1: the young woman as a jade, a seventeenth century term 557 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,040 Speaker 1: for a worn out horse, but there was also the 558 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:39,560 Speaker 1: apparent dismissal of the seriousness of the examinations. John Proctor 559 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:43,520 Speaker 1: didn't seem happy that they were taking place. Samuel Sibley 560 00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:48,360 Speaker 1: couldn't help but wonder why. Proctor picked up Mary Warren 561 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:50,879 Speaker 1: a short while later and then carted her back home, 562 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,080 Speaker 1: where he beat her for speaking out when he wasn't 563 00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:57,800 Speaker 1: physically abusing her. She convulsed and writhed under the torment 564 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:01,359 Speaker 1: of an invisible attacker, but John Procter wasn't pleased with 565 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:03,799 Speaker 1: what he perceived to be an act. He told her 566 00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:06,440 Speaker 1: that if she somehow managed to roll herself into the fire, 567 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:11,480 Speaker 1: he wouldn't try to stop her. A few days later, 568 00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:14,320 Speaker 1: on April second, Mary made her way back into town. 569 00:35:14,840 --> 00:35:18,640 Speaker 1: Her fits had miraculously stopped, more than likely thanks to 570 00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:21,600 Speaker 1: the threats of violence from John Proctor, but she chose 571 00:35:21,640 --> 00:35:24,560 Speaker 1: to give credit to God. She could apparently write well 572 00:35:24,680 --> 00:35:27,759 Speaker 1: enough that she'd penned a request for prayers of gratitude 573 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:29,719 Speaker 1: and then tacked it to the notice board of the 574 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:34,319 Speaker 1: meeting house. The following day, Samuel Parris stood before his 575 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:38,000 Speaker 1: congregation and read the note aloud, but rather than being thankful, 576 00:35:38,440 --> 00:35:42,040 Speaker 1: he expressed doubt. The afflicted girls had told everyone that 577 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:44,480 Speaker 1: the devil promised to end their pain if they would 578 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,120 Speaker 1: only switch sides and join him in his mission to 579 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:51,400 Speaker 1: destroy the community. If Mary no longer suffered, he told them, 580 00:35:51,440 --> 00:35:56,239 Speaker 1: it might not be cause for celebration soon enough, though 581 00:35:56,280 --> 00:35:58,760 Speaker 1: there were other things for the community to talk about. 582 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:02,880 Speaker 1: Former say and village minister Daodete Lawson had been writing 583 00:36:02,920 --> 00:36:05,759 Speaker 1: down his account of the past two months and then 584 00:36:05,840 --> 00:36:09,000 Speaker 1: hurried to get it published. His ten page pamphlet was 585 00:36:09,040 --> 00:36:12,760 Speaker 1: given the incredibly long title of A Brief and True 586 00:36:12,840 --> 00:36:17,759 Speaker 1: Narrative of some remarkable passages relating to Sundry Persons afflicted 587 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:21,880 Speaker 1: by witchcraft at Salem Village. It's a mouthful, I know, 588 00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:24,880 Speaker 1: but it also spread the word about what had been happening, 589 00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:28,120 Speaker 1: casting the net over a wider area and snagging more 590 00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:31,200 Speaker 1: and more attention for the trials. And while I'm sure 591 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:33,799 Speaker 1: the members of the Governor's Council of Assistants had heard 592 00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:36,840 Speaker 1: the news of the Salem events weeks earlier, this was 593 00:36:36,880 --> 00:36:39,760 Speaker 1: the nudge they needed to take action, and they committed 594 00:36:39,800 --> 00:36:44,239 Speaker 1: to attend the next examination to take place. For Hawthorne 595 00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:47,279 Speaker 1: and Corwin, this was the legitimacy they've been looking for. 596 00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:52,240 Speaker 1: Real representatives from Boston, from the Governor himself were about 597 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:54,960 Speaker 1: to travel north and sit among them and hear for 598 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,879 Speaker 1: themselves what was going on. Emboldened and seeing a light 599 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,680 Speaker 1: at the end of the tunnel, Hawthorne issued the arrest 600 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:06,200 Speaker 1: warrants for two more suspects, Elizabeth Procter and Sarah Klois. 601 00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:10,480 Speaker 1: But two more arrests weren't going to satisfy a community 602 00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:12,960 Speaker 1: that was becoming more and more hungry to find all 603 00:37:13,040 --> 00:37:16,080 Speaker 1: the witches in their midst. In the days leading up 604 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:19,480 Speaker 1: to the examinations of Procter and Klois, the Putnam women, 605 00:37:19,719 --> 00:37:23,080 Speaker 1: both Anne Senior and her daughter Annie, claimed that John 606 00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:27,160 Speaker 1: Procter's invisible form attacked them. Tituba's husband, A man that 607 00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:30,520 Speaker 1: all the records simply referred to as John Indian, claimed 608 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:35,200 Speaker 1: that he was attacked as well. But it was Abigail Williams, 609 00:37:35,520 --> 00:37:39,320 Speaker 1: niece of Samuel Parris, who painted the most disturbing picture 610 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:43,360 Speaker 1: of all. According to her, a group of witches invaded 611 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:47,160 Speaker 1: her uncle's parsonage and held a devil's supper, complete with 612 00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:50,600 Speaker 1: wine and red bread. It was an imitation of the 613 00:37:50,680 --> 00:37:53,840 Speaker 1: Christian sacrament of Communion, and it was a slap in 614 00:37:53,880 --> 00:37:58,600 Speaker 1: the face of the devout Puritans who felt threatened. Worse yet, though, 615 00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:01,520 Speaker 1: was the number of witches Abigail claimed to have seen 616 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:04,040 Speaker 1: in the house. According to her, it wasn't just the 617 00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:07,239 Speaker 1: seven identified suspects, or even the full nine they had 618 00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:11,440 Speaker 1: been told of. No, she said this gathering was much larger. 619 00:38:11,880 --> 00:38:15,800 Speaker 1: There were, by her account, at least forty witches inside 620 00:38:15,800 --> 00:38:19,759 Speaker 1: the Paris home that night. Thankfully, there was hope on 621 00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:23,480 Speaker 1: the horizon. The highest authorities in the land had arrived 622 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:28,040 Speaker 1: in Salem Village to help. Finally there would be justice. 623 00:38:33,840 --> 00:38:37,800 Speaker 1: The governor himself, Simon Bradstreet, didn't make the trip north. 624 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:40,880 Speaker 1: The man was eight years old and the travel just 625 00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:43,760 Speaker 1: wasn't something he was up for, which was a shame. 626 00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:47,160 Speaker 1: Brad Street had been involved in the Massachusetts Bay Colony 627 00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:49,560 Speaker 1: since it was nothing more than an idea on paper, 628 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:52,600 Speaker 1: and had been on that first expedition that founded the 629 00:38:52,600 --> 00:38:56,400 Speaker 1: city of Boston. He was a powerful figure and his 630 00:38:56,480 --> 00:39:01,280 Speaker 1: absence would be felt. In his place, Deputy Governor Thomas 631 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:05,840 Speaker 1: Danforth was sent along with four assistants. They were important guests, 632 00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:08,920 Speaker 1: so the examinations were moved to a more important location, 633 00:39:09,360 --> 00:39:12,640 Speaker 1: Salem Town. But rather than sit up front and serve 634 00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:15,319 Speaker 1: as judges, the five men simply took seats in the 635 00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:19,120 Speaker 1: crowd and observed. Hawthorne and the others must have felt 636 00:39:19,160 --> 00:39:23,319 Speaker 1: awkward about that. They began by speaking with some of 637 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:27,400 Speaker 1: the victims, including John Indian and Mary Walcott, the sixteen 638 00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:30,520 Speaker 1: year old daughter of a local militia captain. She'd been 639 00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:33,320 Speaker 1: living with the Putnam's, who were her cousins, and that 640 00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:35,640 Speaker 1: put her in the middle of a household under fire 641 00:39:35,760 --> 00:39:39,920 Speaker 1: by the evil forces that were at work. Elizabeth Hubbard 642 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:44,040 Speaker 1: and Abigail Williams, two of the original accusers, also added 643 00:39:44,080 --> 00:39:48,040 Speaker 1: their own stories, tales of that red Devil's book, of 644 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:52,919 Speaker 1: invisible attackers and of painful torture. Some of the accusers 645 00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:55,680 Speaker 1: actually fell to the floor in fits of pain, while 646 00:39:55,719 --> 00:39:58,880 Speaker 1: others found they couldn't speak at all. It became so 647 00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:03,759 Speaker 1: tense in the room that Sarah Klois actually fainted. John 648 00:40:03,800 --> 00:40:06,400 Speaker 1: Indian claimed that Elizabeth Procter had come to him and 649 00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:10,080 Speaker 1: asked him to sign the Devil's book. John Procter, sitting 650 00:40:10,120 --> 00:40:12,840 Speaker 1: in the crowd, stood up and shouted that if he 651 00:40:12,920 --> 00:40:15,360 Speaker 1: got his hands on John Indian, he would beat the 652 00:40:15,440 --> 00:40:19,399 Speaker 1: devil out of the slave. John, as we've seen so far, 653 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:23,080 Speaker 1: had an anger management problem, and it was beginning to 654 00:40:23,080 --> 00:40:26,560 Speaker 1: get noticed. When Elizabeth Procter finally had a chance to 655 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:29,759 Speaker 1: speak for herself, she didn't face the judges or even 656 00:40:29,760 --> 00:40:33,439 Speaker 1: the visitors from Boston. Instead, she faced the small group 657 00:40:33,440 --> 00:40:36,920 Speaker 1: of accusers and warned them that lying before God was 658 00:40:37,040 --> 00:40:40,799 Speaker 1: much worse than lying before the court. Judgment awaited them, 659 00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:45,640 Speaker 1: she said, and they should correct their behavior instead. Many 660 00:40:45,719 --> 00:40:48,280 Speaker 1: of the accusers began to shout out that John Procter 661 00:40:48,520 --> 00:40:51,960 Speaker 1: was attacking them. Almost immediately, John was grabbed from his 662 00:40:52,000 --> 00:40:54,760 Speaker 1: seat in the crowd and dragged forward to stand before 663 00:40:54,760 --> 00:40:57,239 Speaker 1: the judges. When they asked him what he had to 664 00:40:57,280 --> 00:41:00,880 Speaker 1: say for himself, Procter shook his head. I know not, 665 00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:06,240 Speaker 1: he replied, I am innocent. As a test, they asked 666 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:09,160 Speaker 1: him to recite the Lord's Prayer, believing that no which 667 00:41:09,239 --> 00:41:12,200 Speaker 1: would ever be able to say it perfectly from memory. 668 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:15,960 Speaker 1: John was recorded as saying hollowed be thy name rather 669 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:18,440 Speaker 1: than hellowed, something that could have been a slip of 670 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:21,520 Speaker 1: the tongue or a product of a noisy room, but 671 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:26,920 Speaker 1: it was enough to draw suspicion from the magistrates. Order dissolved. 672 00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:30,560 Speaker 1: In the room, Abigail Williams claimed to see John Proctor 673 00:41:30,600 --> 00:41:34,200 Speaker 1: attacking a woman named Sarah Biber, and in response, Biber 674 00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:37,840 Speaker 1: fell to the floor and began to convulse. Annie Putnam 675 00:41:37,960 --> 00:41:41,479 Speaker 1: backed away from an invisible Elizabeth Procter, who she said 676 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:43,759 Speaker 1: was trying to hit her, and then fought back by 677 00:41:43,800 --> 00:41:47,320 Speaker 1: swinging her fist at the empty air. Halfway through the punch, 678 00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:51,000 Speaker 1: her arms stopped, as if someone or something had repelled 679 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:56,240 Speaker 1: the blow. Salem town Minister John Higginson shouted for silence 680 00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:59,040 Speaker 1: and then uttered a loud and ominous prayer over the 681 00:41:59,120 --> 00:42:02,080 Speaker 1: room full of people. When he was done, a team 682 00:42:02,080 --> 00:42:04,960 Speaker 1: of constables swept in and led each of the accused 683 00:42:04,960 --> 00:42:07,480 Speaker 1: out of the room and off to jail. And just 684 00:42:07,560 --> 00:42:13,320 Speaker 1: like that, the madness was over. Mary Warren, that willful 685 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,640 Speaker 1: servant girl who suffered under the abusive reign of the Proctors, 686 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:21,520 Speaker 1: left Salem Town and headed straight back to the Procter farm. 687 00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:24,160 Speaker 1: Once there, she gathered all of the children together to 688 00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:27,319 Speaker 1: share the news. News that would have been horrible for 689 00:42:27,360 --> 00:42:30,040 Speaker 1: them to hear, but I have to imagine she took 690 00:42:30,080 --> 00:42:34,320 Speaker 1: a lot of joy in sharing with them. Your parents 691 00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:38,400 Speaker 1: will not be returning home tonight, she told them, and 692 00:42:38,480 --> 00:42:43,399 Speaker 1: I don't know when they will. That's it for this 693 00:42:43,440 --> 00:42:47,800 Speaker 1: week's episode of Unobscured. Stick around after this short sponsor 694 00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:51,200 Speaker 1: break for a preview of what's in store for next week. 695 00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:59,600 Speaker 1: Next time, on Unobscured, Standing before the Magistrates, Abigail Hobbes 696 00:42:59,719 --> 00:43:03,480 Speaker 1: spoke before they could ask her any questions. I will 697 00:43:03,520 --> 00:43:07,279 Speaker 1: speak the truth, she said. I have seen sights and 698 00:43:07,320 --> 00:43:10,680 Speaker 1: have been scared. I have been very wicked. I hope 699 00:43:10,719 --> 00:43:14,520 Speaker 1: I shall be better if God will help me. What 700 00:43:14,680 --> 00:43:18,760 Speaker 1: sites did you see? Hawthorne asked, I have seen dogs 701 00:43:18,840 --> 00:43:23,280 Speaker 1: and many creatures. What dogs do you mean, Hawthorne asked, 702 00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:29,280 Speaker 1: ordinary dogs. Abigail shook her head, I mean the devil. 703 00:43:31,120 --> 00:43:35,080 Speaker 1: The magistrates pressed on where had she seen them? They asked, 704 00:43:35,640 --> 00:43:38,520 Speaker 1: Abigail replied that her encounter had taken place in the 705 00:43:38,520 --> 00:43:41,279 Speaker 1: woods in the middle of the day years ago, back 706 00:43:41,280 --> 00:43:44,479 Speaker 1: when she lived at Casco Bay. That was where she'd 707 00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:48,200 Speaker 1: put her hand on his book. When they carried her 708 00:43:48,239 --> 00:43:51,200 Speaker 1: off to jail a short while later. The name Cascoe 709 00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:54,080 Speaker 1: Bay still hung in the air like a neon sign, 710 00:43:54,200 --> 00:43:57,880 Speaker 1: pointing at the danger that lurked the north. But Abigail 711 00:43:57,960 --> 00:44:00,239 Speaker 1: had also made it clear that it was spreading health 712 00:44:00,640 --> 00:44:04,239 Speaker 1: and might already be among them. She claimed that a 713 00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:07,239 Speaker 1: shape shifting man had visited her at her home here 714 00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:10,959 Speaker 1: in Topsfield. He had alternated between the form of a cat, 715 00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:14,200 Speaker 1: a dog, and a black man with a black hat, 716 00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:18,600 Speaker 1: and this man, she claimed, had offered her fine clothes 717 00:44:18,719 --> 00:44:22,640 Speaker 1: and the power to harm others in town, a power 718 00:44:23,480 --> 00:45:24,720 Speaker 1: that she had readily accepted. Unobscured was created and written 719 00:45:24,760 --> 00:45:28,000 Speaker 1: by me Aaron Mackey and produced by Matt Frederick and 720 00:45:28,040 --> 00:45:31,720 Speaker 1: Alex Williams in partnership with How Stuff Works, with research 721 00:45:31,800 --> 00:45:35,919 Speaker 1: by Carl Nellis and original music by Chad Lawson. Learn 722 00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:41,040 Speaker 1: more about our contributing historians further reading material, resource archive 723 00:45:41,239 --> 00:45:46,320 Speaker 1: and links to our other shows at History Unobscured dot com. 724 00:45:46,400 --> 00:45:48,920 Speaker 1: Until next time, Thanks for listening,