Speaker 1: John Richards was an inspiration. He started out life as
Speaker 1: a servant, but as the years would show, he was
Speaker 1: born to climb the social ladder. He had a knack
Speaker 1: for relationships. It seems, over the course of his life
Speaker 1: he made powerful friends. Maybe in his time as a
Speaker 1: servant he overheard enough conversations about the inner workings of
Speaker 1: power that he got a feel for the ebb and
Speaker 1: flow of it. All. He gained the approval of his
Speaker 1: superiors and the respect of his peers. Whatever the case,
Speaker 1: John was making a move that few men dared he
Speaker 1: was climbing. It didn't hurt that he married into the
Speaker 1: Winthrop clan, whose estimable name carried the legacy of a
Speaker 1: Puritan leader who had founded it all. But John was
Speaker 1: no slouch. He swiftly picked up the skills of favorite
Speaker 1: game of the Boston elite, land speculation. He saved up
Speaker 1: his money and then began to purchase property, the first
Speaker 1: being Aerosick Island off the southern coast of Maine. By
Speaker 1: the age of forty eight, he had one of the
Speaker 1: largest property holdings of anyone in Massachusetts. After all of that,
Speaker 1: it's safe to say that few individuals in the Boston
Speaker 1: establishment were as inspiring as John Richards, but it went
Speaker 1: beyond wealth, or maybe that hard earned fortune unlocked new opportunities. Money,
Speaker 1: after all, pairs very nicely with power. Richards served on
Speaker 1: the General Court of Massachusetts, that ruling body that guided
Speaker 1: the colony. He had served as a judge in a
Speaker 1: number of important cases that spanned the church and the state.
Speaker 1: In six e and Samuel Sewell had ruled to suspend
Speaker 1: a local minister due to foul language and unseemly behavior
Speaker 1: in a tavern that wasn't hypocritical of him either. Richards
Speaker 1: was a well respected puritan in his own church, a
Speaker 1: church that was led by none other than Cotton Mother,
Speaker 1: son of the powerful Increase Mather. He was so respected
Speaker 1: that Cotton Mother leaned on Richards for him to help
Speaker 1: sway the congregation on important matters. John Richards, you see,
Speaker 1: had it all money, power and respect. But this self
Speaker 1: made man was about to face the biggest challenges of
Speaker 1: his life. The situation in s looked quite dire to
Speaker 1: men like John Richards, and like a lot of things
Speaker 1: in his life, that all came down to money. Like
Speaker 1: so many of his peers, Richards had made his fortune
Speaker 1: buying and selling land, frontier land, land on the edge
Speaker 1: of the colonies far to the north and Maine, and
Speaker 1: that land was being taken away from him. Well, that's
Speaker 1: a bit misleading. The land wasn't really his to begin with. Yes,
Speaker 1: he had purchased stit from the local Native American tribe
Speaker 1: known as the Wabanakis, but never at a fair price,
Speaker 1: and the Wabanakis didn't care to have their homeland stripped
Speaker 1: of timber and mind for copper just to build someone
Speaker 1: a grand house hundreds of miles away, so they took
Speaker 1: it back. Losing that land to the enemy, literally, allies
Speaker 1: of the Devil in the minds of the Puritans, was
Speaker 1: a blow against his lifetime of achievement. And now Satan's
Speaker 1: power was bleeding southward, inching ever closer to the safety
Speaker 1: of the Boston area. You have to imagine John Richards
Speaker 1: and his wealthy, powerful friends were more than a little nervous,
Speaker 1: which is why when word began to spread about an
Speaker 1: outbreak of witchcraft in the town of Salem, all of
Speaker 1: them drew a line in the sand. Satan would have
Speaker 1: no more ground. They would stop him to save the
Speaker 1: Puritan mission, yes, but also to save their fortunes, but
Speaker 1: with dozens of people already in jail and more being
Speaker 1: added to their number each day, the clock was ticking. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: Governor Phipps had ordered an official trial the Oyer and Terminer,
Speaker 1: and that meant judges were needed. What better place for
Speaker 1: Boston's most powerful to take control than the front of
Speaker 1: the courtroom. This is unobscured. I'm Aaron Mankey. When I'm
Speaker 1: trying to explain what the power structure of the colony
Speaker 1: was like at the time of the witchcraft crisis, I
Speaker 1: am fond of saying the following analogy in the US today,
Speaker 1: If the joint chiefs of Staff were also the President's
Speaker 1: cabinet and also the judges of the Supreme Court, that's
Speaker 1: the power structure of Massachusetts at the time. The same
Speaker 1: men were the judges in the trials, and the chief
Speaker 1: advisers of the governor, and the men who led the
Speaker 1: local militia in the Indian War. So you talk about
Speaker 1: consolidation of power there it is. That's Mary Beth Norton,
Speaker 1: Professor of American History at Cornell University, and it's a
Speaker 1: powerful picture she paints. The only thing I would add
Speaker 1: to her overlapping circles on the ven diagram would be
Speaker 1: that not only were these men advisors and military leaders
Speaker 1: and judges, but they were also the wealthiest in the land.
Speaker 1: In a day and age when the wealth gap between
Speaker 1: the one percent and the rest feels like a canyon,
Speaker 1: these men from teen two sound awfully familiar. Each of
Speaker 1: them had built a fortune through a combination of land
Speaker 1: speculation and the exploitation of that land. Some of them
Speaker 1: own mills in the frontier country to the north, which
Speaker 1: provided some of the prime exports of the colonies. Others
Speaker 1: parceled out their massive tracks of land, earning a fortune
Speaker 1: off the smaller sales. But while they all seem to
Speaker 1: be cut from the same cloth and most of them
Speaker 1: held a lot of the same positions of power, it's
Speaker 1: important to note that the events of six two would
Speaker 1: test them to the limit. Some of these men would
Speaker 1: seize the reins of the crisis and drive it towards
Speaker 1: its bloody conclusion. Others would take a more passive role,
Speaker 1: their names barely mentioned in the court documents, preferring instead
Speaker 1: to watch from the passenger seat while the victims get
Speaker 1: trampled by injustice. So who were the nine judges of
Speaker 1: the Oyer and Terminer trial. Some of them you've already met,
Speaker 1: such as John Richards, John Hawthorne, and Jonathan Corwin. The
Speaker 1: others were Peter Sargent, Samuel Sewell Wait Still Winthrop, Bartholomew Gedney,
Speaker 1: and Nathaniel Saltonstall. Which is eight not nine, and that's
Speaker 1: on purpose because I want to share their leader with
Speaker 1: you in more detail. The man who would lead the
Speaker 1: Court of Oyer and Terminer as chief magistrate, presiding over
Speaker 1: the other eight judges was none other than the Massachusetts
Speaker 1: Lieutenant Governor himself, William Stoughton. WILLIAMS. Stonton is a ghost character,
Speaker 1: one of my least favorite people. That's Emerson Baker, professor
Speaker 1: of history at Salem State University. William Stoughton might have
Speaker 1: put on a humble front, but he was just like
Speaker 1: the rest of the judges, filthy, rich, and deeply embedded
Speaker 1: in powerful circles. Stoughton had managed to trick the Native
Speaker 1: Americans of western Massachusetts into selling him over a million
Speaker 1: acres of their land, which he then proceeded to cut
Speaker 1: up and sell in pieces for massive profit. It was
Speaker 1: so successful that he repeat of the process in Connecticut
Speaker 1: a short while later, and he was using his political
Speaker 1: positions to make it all happen, enriching himself through his
Speaker 1: public office. Taking it all into account, William Stoughton seems
Speaker 1: to have been a man focused purely on his own
Speaker 1: advancement of power and wealth, and he was willing to
Speaker 1: be ruthless to get it done. The coup that had
Speaker 1: ended the rule of Governor Andrews had set him back
Speaker 1: a bit, but thanks to his connections, he landed on
Speaker 1: his feet and managed to secure a place alongside Governor Phipps,
Speaker 1: a position he was now about to use to deliver
Speaker 1: hard justice to the people of Salem. If it's not
Speaker 1: already clear, this group of wealthy and interconnected power players
Speaker 1: were accustomed to the comfort and stability of their high positions,
Speaker 1: but in six they were shaking in their boots. The
Speaker 1: New Charter had only just arrived and their future was
Speaker 1: still uncertain, and all the while, Wabanaki forces were advancing
Speaker 1: as Maine and western Massachusetts, wiping out their personal fortunes.
Speaker 1: The witches of Salem were the closest thing these men
Speaker 1: could find to its target upon which they might vent
Speaker 1: their frustration. The Catholic French and their heathen Native American
Speaker 1: allies were all agents of the devil, sure, but so
Speaker 1: were the witches of Salem. While the battles to the
Speaker 1: west and north were less within their control, nothing was
Speaker 1: standing in their way to strike a decisive blow to
Speaker 1: these new enemies that threatened the Puritan mission. The first
Speaker 1: step was to assemble the jurors, which was done on
Speaker 1: more importantly, though, they needed a prosecutor to bring those
Speaker 1: minions of Satan to trial, and for that job they
Speaker 1: turned to a man named Thomas Newton. He was a
Speaker 1: lawyer trained in English law who was currently practicing in Boston,
Speaker 1: and he had a track record for ruthlessly pursuing the
Speaker 1: very thing that the judges needed, convictions. He would bring
Speaker 1: the cases before or the group of judges in the
Speaker 1: presence of the jury, and then a decision would be
Speaker 1: made for each. But rather than beginning with those who
Speaker 1: had been waiting the longest, or even those who were
Speaker 1: the most prominent in the community, Newton chose instead to
Speaker 1: start with his best chance of landing in early victory.
Speaker 1: Salem's new oyer and terminal trial would begin with the
Speaker 1: charges brought against just one person, bridget Bishop. If bridget
Speaker 1: Bishop's name sounds familiar, that's because we briefly discussed her
Speaker 1: examination in episode four that said she has a powerful
Speaker 1: story that requires a bit more exploration. Then honestly, if
Speaker 1: we can't slow down and unveil the humanity behind a
Speaker 1: list of names, we're missing the point. Bridget story is
Speaker 1: her own, but at the same time it's everyone's. Bridget's
Speaker 1: journey to the New World had begun painfully. She had
Speaker 1: married a man named Samuel in England, and the couple
Speaker 1: swiftly became parents. But sometimes joy is as fleeting as
Speaker 1: the morning fog, and that newborn infant and died before
Speaker 1: it could thrive. A short time later, Samuel passed away
Speaker 1: as well, leaving Bridget alone, well, not exactly. She was
Speaker 1: pregnant with their second child, which was at once both
Speaker 1: hopeful and sad. This child would never know its father
Speaker 1: or older sibling. It was a lot of darkness for
Speaker 1: one person to deal with, which might explain why Bridget
Speaker 1: boarded a ship bound for the New World. Maybe she
Speaker 1: just wanted to escape it all. She arrived in Boston
Speaker 1: in sixteen sixty four, and a short while later she
Speaker 1: gave birth for the second time in her life. This child,
Speaker 1: just like her first, failed to thrive, and when it
Speaker 1: was over, Bridget had no one, no one to care for,
Speaker 1: no one to care for her alone in a strange
Speaker 1: new land. She was lost two years later, though she
Speaker 1: married again. Her new husband, Thomas Oliver, seemed like a
Speaker 1: good man. He, like her, had lost a spouse, although
Speaker 1: the details were far different from her own. Thomas had
Speaker 1: three grown children, and his wife had been known to
Speaker 1: be a troublemaker, always insulting him and the people around them.
Speaker 1: Perhaps a fresh start was what both of them needed.
Speaker 1: It wasn't idyllic, though. Thomas turned out to be an
Speaker 1: abusive husband, perhaps shedding a bit of light on why
Speaker 1: he and his first wife quarreled so often. Soon Bridget
Speaker 1: and Thomas had their own version of that reputation, although
Speaker 1: most of the rumors and reports had to do with
Speaker 1: the physical abuse that he heaped upon her. One neighbor,
Speaker 1: Mary Ropes, later testified that she often saw Bridget with
Speaker 1: a bloody face or covered in black and blue marks.
Speaker 1: When the authorities got involved in sixteen seventy, they ordered
Speaker 1: both of them to be whipped publicly, ten stripes a piece,
Speaker 1: they said, and then find for their behavior. They took
Speaker 1: their beating and They paid their fine, but the trouble continued.
Speaker 1: Seven years later, they were in court again. Bridget was
Speaker 1: an abused woman fighting for her dignity and safety. Thomas
Speaker 1: was a smooth, talking wife beater in a society that
Speaker 1: elevated men high above the station of women, so naturally
Speaker 1: his deeds never went on record, while Bridget's behavior was
Speaker 1: seeing as stubborn, disobedient, and offensive. Despite that, both of
Speaker 1: them were punished again, and in the most public and
Speaker 1: humiliating way possible. They were forced to stand in the
Speaker 1: public market place with their backs to each other. Both
Speaker 1: of them were gagged to keep them silent, and each
Speaker 1: had a note tied to their forehead describing their crimes.
Speaker 1: Thomas's adult daughter paid the fine to have her father released,
Speaker 1: but Bridget was left to suffer the humiliation alone. She
Speaker 1: suffered more than that, though, in the eyes of the
Speaker 1: people around her, any woman with the tenacity to call
Speaker 1: her husband an old devil most certainly had a bit
Speaker 1: of familiarity with the devil himself. As a result, people
Speaker 1: began to whisper that Bridget was a witch. Years before
Speaker 1: the afflicted girls would claim to see spectral images of
Speaker 1: their attackers. People in Salem were claiming to see Bridget
Speaker 1: in their own homes, and these visions were linked to
Speaker 1: unfortunate events. One man claimed to see Bridget spirit in
Speaker 1: his home right before his infant daughter passed away. Another
Speaker 1: man claimed Bridget had paid him for some labor, but
Speaker 1: the money later vanished from his pocket. Yet another person
Speaker 1: claimed to see her perched high up on a beam
Speaker 1: in his barn, holding a stolen egg. These rumors in
Speaker 1: our own society today would never mature beyond that point,
Speaker 1: but in the world of the Puritans, they were dark
Speaker 1: and ominous seeds that grew over time. In the winter
Speaker 1: of sixteen seventy nine, Bridget was charged with witchcraft and
Speaker 1: ordered to appear before the Court of Assistants in Boston.
Speaker 1: She paid her bond and waited for a trial date,
Speaker 1: but for whatever reason, the date never arrived. Thomas, the wife,
Speaker 1: beat her, died in sixteen seventy nine, leaving Bridget alone again,
Speaker 1: Although that might have been the first time in her life,
Speaker 1: she was glad to see a husband die, but as
Speaker 1: death left her responsible for his outstanding debts, and she
Speaker 1: spent the next six years in legal battles trying to
Speaker 1: take care of everyone demanding repayments. Then in sight, she
Speaker 1: met Edward Bishop. Edward had worked most of his life
Speaker 1: at one of the sawmills in Salem, but he also
Speaker 1: owned a bit of land in Salem Village, out on
Speaker 1: the north side of the territory. After their marriage, the
Speaker 1: couple tore down the house Thomas had left Bridget in
Speaker 1: Salem Town and constructed a tavern in its place, which
Speaker 1: was managed and operated by Edward's son, Edward Jr. Life
Speaker 1: was supposed to get better for Bridget. She had found
Speaker 1: a new husband and they had a promising future in
Speaker 1: front of them. No, it wasn't a path to immense riches,
Speaker 1: but it was better than a life of abuse and debt.
Speaker 1: Bridget just wanted to move on from the failings of
Speaker 1: her past and try to make a new start. Sadly,
Speaker 1: the community around her wasn't going to play along. Edward
Speaker 1: Junior and his wife Sarah brought some of that trouble
Speaker 1: back into her life. At one point, a neighbor woman
Speaker 1: got fed up with the loud and disorderly behavior taking
Speaker 1: place at the new Bishop tavern, and she confronted Edward Junr.
Speaker 1: About it. Immediately after that, this neighbor woman fell ill,
Speaker 1: She had seizures and spoke of wanting to die, all
Speaker 1: while her family watched helplessly. A month later, this woman
Speaker 1: was dead by her own hand. She had managed to
Speaker 1: obtain a pair of sharp scissors, which she used to
Speaker 1: stab herself in the side of the throat. Sarah Bishop,
Speaker 1: Bridget's daughter in law, didn't get charged with witchcraft, as
Speaker 1: we might expect from the stories like this, but people
Speaker 1: certainly did take notice. Sometime after her marriage to Edward,
Speaker 1: Bridget was arrested for theft and served three months in
Speaker 1: jail before being charged with the crime and forced to
Speaker 1: pay a large fine. It had only been a small
Speaker 1: piece of brass hardware, but it was enough to ruin
Speaker 1: her reputation for good. Bridget had lost two children and
Speaker 1: a husband, only to find herself in an abuse of marriage.
Speaker 1: She had fought back for her safety and her dignity,
Speaker 1: only to be branded as a disobedient and outspoken woman.
Speaker 1: Now this, whether it was true or not, this theft
Speaker 1: and conviction was the final straw in everyone's mind. If
Speaker 1: any woman in Salem Village was a witch, it was Bridget.
Speaker 1: To a career prosecutor like Thomas Newton, Bridget offered a
Speaker 1: chance to begin the court of oyer and terminer on
Speaker 1: a strong note. Yes, she was one of dozens who
Speaker 1: had been dragged before the magistrates for months, and each
Speaker 1: of them possessed their own dark past and social baggage.
Speaker 1: But Bridget Bishop was the key that Newton would use
Speaker 1: to unlock the floodgates justice. If we can fool ourselves
Speaker 1: into calling it that was about to flow like a river.
Speaker 1: Newton began by requesting just eight of the prisoners be
Speaker 1: transferred up from the Boston jail to Salem Town. He
Speaker 1: explained that while yes, there were a lot more people
Speaker 1: awaiting trial, it was going to be a slow, tedious
Speaker 1: process working through all of them. The afflicted were sometimes
Speaker 1: disruptive and the cases were complex, so eight would be
Speaker 1: all he needed for in the first week. Bridget would
Speaker 1: be his first. Of course, his case didn't rest entirely
Speaker 1: on old events and accusations. There were fresh stories about
Speaker 1: Bridget that helped move her to the front of the line.
Speaker 1: Mercy Lewis and Annie Putnam both had claimed to see
Speaker 1: Bridget spirit in their home. They stated, as if it
Speaker 1: were indisputable fact, that she had bewitched her second husband,
Speaker 1: Thomas to death. It was damning evidence given the circumstances,
Speaker 1: but Bridget had also lied to the magistrates, and that
Speaker 1: didn't help her case. When they asked her if she
Speaker 1: was a witch, she denied it and claimed that she
Speaker 1: didn't even know what a witch was. She also claimed
Speaker 1: she hadn't known anyone else confessed to being agents of
Speaker 1: the devil, but that wasn't exactly true. On the morning
Speaker 1: of her examination back in April, she had been told
Speaker 1: that Abigail Hobbs and Mary Warren had confessed, and if
Speaker 1: Bridget was willing to lie about that, what else was
Speaker 1: she lying about. It was all word games. It was
Speaker 1: all a classic example of Bridget being considered guilty even
Speaker 1: before she was examined on April nineteenth, six two. Nothing
Speaker 1: she could say would change the public perception of her.
Speaker 1: All she could do was deny it as each question
Speaker 1: was fired at her one by one. I am innocent.
Speaker 1: I am innocent. I am innocent. It didn't help her.
Speaker 1: She had been carted off to jail on April nineteenth
Speaker 1: and remained there for a month and a half. Every
Speaker 1: day new accused arrived to join her. In the small,
Speaker 1: filthy room, she watched the constables drop off Sarah Wilds,
Speaker 1: a woman from Topsfield with a very similar story to Bridgets.
Speaker 1: She was even there long enough to see her stepson,
Speaker 1: Edward Jr. And his wife Sarah, added to the already
Speaker 1: overflowing jail. On June one, Thomas Newton's request for the
Speaker 1: transfer of eight prisoners was put into action. Bridget Bishop,
Speaker 1: along with John and Elizabeth Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, John Willard,
Speaker 1: Sarah Good, and two others were all placed in a
Speaker 1: wagon and carted north to Salem Town. While they rode north,
Speaker 1: another group of freshly accused were being sent south to
Speaker 1: Boston to take their place in the jail. It must
Speaker 1: have been maddening to everyone involved. Rather than making headway,
Speaker 1: they were just treading water and barely staying afloat. Well
Speaker 1: maddening to most. Some of the people making decisions seemed
Speaker 1: to lack any sense of compassion or common decency at all.
Speaker 1: Remember Sarah Good, one of the first women to be
Speaker 1: accused and carted off to jail. Her four year old
Speaker 1: daughter Dorothy was eventually accused as well, and together they
Speaker 1: had been waiting for their trial in the Boston jail.
Speaker 1: But when the constables transported Sarah Good and the others
Speaker 1: to sail in town on June one. They left Dorothy behind,
Speaker 1: a four year old girl, alone and afraid in a
Speaker 1: crowded room full of equally frightened strangers. It was abhorrent,
Speaker 1: but it didn't even cross their mind as the wrong
Speaker 1: thing to do. There were bigger wrongs that needed writing.
Speaker 1: As far as they were concerned, what difference did it
Speaker 1: make if the authorities had separated a mother and her child,
Speaker 1: so long as they were wrapped securely in the blankets
Speaker 1: of moral superiority and justification. So as you might imagine,
Speaker 1: those eight prisoners rode north with a lot of emotional baggage.
Speaker 1: They were afraid for sure. This was the first official trial,
Speaker 1: not some simple examination. The court could make a decision
Speaker 1: that would impact their very lives, and that was more
Speaker 1: than enough reason to feel fear and stress. But there
Speaker 1: was more. They were all frustrated as well. You see.
Speaker 1: Back in April, Hawthorn and Corwin had visited the Salem
Speaker 1: jail to question Mary Warren, one of the accusers, who
Speaker 1: had confessed her guilt. As the others in the jail
Speaker 1: listened from a distance, Mary recanted her confession, denying that
Speaker 1: she was ever a witch, and she went further. She
Speaker 1: claimed that the visions she had described had been nothing
Speaker 1: more than stories she made up to distract the authorities.
Speaker 1: It was a bombshell if it was true. Some of
Speaker 1: the people awaiting trial and jail were doing so purely
Speaker 1: on the testimony of Mary Warren, and she had been
Speaker 1: overheard telling Hawthorne and Corwin that her testimony was all alive.
Speaker 1: So the prisoners mobilized. One of the wealthiest among them,
Speaker 1: a woman named Mary English, organized these prisoners a group
Speaker 1: that included Edward Bishop Junior and his wife Sarah, and
Speaker 1: helped them write a joint statement. If Mary Warren's testimony
Speaker 1: was false, then they should all be released and sent home.
Speaker 1: Then Yet here they were writing in a wagon toward
Speaker 1: the court of Oyer and Terminer and their final judgment.
Speaker 1: We know the magistrates received the statement. It's one of
Speaker 1: the few documents that survived to this day. But whether
Speaker 1: or not they even read it, let alone consider the request,
Speaker 1: is up for debate. The trials, even those for the
Speaker 1: people accused by Mary Warren, continued to march forward unchanged. Now,
Speaker 1: if we're looking for a reason why we don't have
Speaker 1: to go far beyond their Puritan mission. They had settled
Speaker 1: there decades earlier to build a city on a hill,
Speaker 1: a shining example of God's kingdom on earth. But the
Speaker 1: devil wanted to tear all of that to the ground.
Speaker 1: Things like false test ctimonies and lying prisoners were small
Speaker 1: matters when held up to the larger safety of the
Speaker 1: Puritan utopia they dreamt of. The day before the trials
Speaker 1: were to begin, that mission was driven home for a
Speaker 1: few of the presiding judges. Peter, Sergeant Samuel Sewell, and
Speaker 1: still Wait Winthrop all sat in their seats at Boston's
Speaker 1: Third Church that morning and listen to the minister. Samuel
Speaker 1: Willard preached from the Book of First Peter, chapter five.
Speaker 1: Be sober, be vigilant, It says, because your adversary, the Devil,
Speaker 1: as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Then,
Speaker 1: wanting to drive the point home, Willard issued his own
Speaker 1: personal warnings. He told the congregation that because God had
Speaker 1: banished the fallen angels from heaven, our world was full
Speaker 1: of invisible forces bent on our destruction. These invisible powers
Speaker 1: can assume any shape they desire, and they have enlisted
Speaker 1: evil people among us to do the work of the devil. Translation,
Speaker 1: prepare yourselves, we're about to go to war. M Sergeant
Speaker 1: Sewell and Winthrop weren't the only judges to receive messages
Speaker 1: from the church that weekend. John Richards, that self made
Speaker 1: man who started out life as a servant only to
Speaker 1: become one of the most powerful men in the colony,
Speaker 1: received a letter from his own minister Cotton Mother. Neither
Speaker 1: offered a laundry list of advice for Richards to follow
Speaker 1: in the weeks to come. He told him not to
Speaker 1: lay more stress upon pure specter testimony than it will bear.
Speaker 1: Noticed that he didn't tell Richard's that stories about the
Speaker 1: specters of which is were invalid as we might expect,
Speaker 1: just that he shouldn't rely too much on them. It
Speaker 1: was advice that seemed to legitimize something no sane person
Speaker 1: should accept as fact. Neither went on which is He
Speaker 1: told him shouldn't be able to recite the Lord's prayer correctly.
Speaker 1: They should be on the lookout for poppets, a sort
Speaker 1: of doll used by witches to focus spells on another person.
Speaker 1: He also told Richards that another great source of physical
Speaker 1: evidence was witches marks witches marks were also known as
Speaker 1: witches teats and were supposed to be physical marks that
Speaker 1: showed exactly where the witch would suckle. They're familiar, even
Speaker 1: though men could also have them. It was a concept
Speaker 1: that played into the female centric hatred that consumed witchcraft panics.
Speaker 1: These marks could be anything though dark spots on the skin,
Speaker 1: large freckles, skin tags, even moles. As you can imagine,
Speaker 1: most people had something on their body to worry about
Speaker 1: when viewed through such a lens. Neither closed out his
Speaker 1: letter to Richards by suggesting that the best evidence of
Speaker 1: all that they could find would be physical manifestations of
Speaker 1: spectral origins, which seemed to contradict his earlier warning not
Speaker 1: to lean too much on the spectral evidence. If Richard's
Speaker 1: and the other judges noticed the contradiction, we don't see
Speaker 1: evidence of that. In fact, they clearly adopted Mather's list
Speaker 1: of proof in the weeks and months to come. On
Speaker 1: June two, William Stoughton, in his role as chief judge
Speaker 1: for the trial, called the Court of Oyer and Terminer
Speaker 1: into session. Thomas Newton was sworn in as Attorney General,
Speaker 1: and Stephen Sewell as the Clerk of the Court. The
Speaker 1: grand jury met and discussed their task. While witnesses for
Speaker 1: later cases were called to testify, They were laying out
Speaker 1: the good silver, so to speak, setting the table for
Speaker 1: the feast that was about to be served. While all
Speaker 1: of this was going on, the suspects were split up
Speaker 1: to be examined by smaller juries. John Proctor and John Willard,
Speaker 1: that former constable who had tried to escape, both had
Speaker 1: their bodies search for which is marks by a group
Speaker 1: of men, but they were unsuccessful. The ladies were examined
Speaker 1: by group of women for the same reason, and the
Speaker 1: results were much more fruitful. Bridget Bishop, Rebecca Nurse, and
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Proctor all showed signs of witches marks. Maybe because
Speaker 1: the other women didn't, Their examiners went back for a
Speaker 1: second look a couple of hours later. This time they
Speaker 1: found nothing, though, and while you and I might chalk
Speaker 1: that up to human error or a trick of the light,
Speaker 1: these women assumed it was because diabolical marks have the
Speaker 1: power to disappear and reappear at will, because of course
Speaker 1: they do. Finally, Bridget Bishop was brought forward to meet
Speaker 1: Thomas Newton and the team of judges. She stood before
Speaker 1: them in silence as witness after witness was brought in
Speaker 1: to speak to her character. Each person brought a mixture
Speaker 1: of old stories of her rough and disobedient ways and
Speaker 1: new stories of seeing her with devilish little creatures or
Speaker 1: spectral attacks. The most unusual witness that day had to
Speaker 1: have been the builders who had helped tear down bridgets
Speaker 1: old Salem town home. According to them, poppets were found
Speaker 1: in holes in the walls of the building. They were
Speaker 1: crafted of rags and hog bristles and needles had been
Speaker 1: shoved through their bodies. It was proof, they said, that
Speaker 1: something unnatural had gone on inside that house. After all
Speaker 1: of the witnesses and evidence were presented, the judges charged
Speaker 1: Bridget with her crimes. She had an I quote tortured, afflicted, pined, consumed, wasted,
Speaker 1: and tormented five individuals Mercy Lewis, Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Hubbard,
Speaker 1: Annie Putnam, and Mary Walcott. To make it official, the
Speaker 1: judges wrote up five separate indictments. This wasn't the end
Speaker 1: for her, not yet. At least an indictment was a
Speaker 1: charge an accusation. Essentially, the judges were declaring that, yes,
Speaker 1: a crime had been committed. Now, all that was left
Speaker 1: was for the jury to decide whether Bridget Bishop was
Speaker 1: guilty or not. Much later, Cotton Mather would write that
Speaker 1: the jury had no trouble determining her guilt. He wrote
Speaker 1: that her crimes had been evident and notorious to all beholders,
Speaker 1: and then went on to discuss the spectral evidence that
Speaker 1: had been key in the decision. Her conviction was a
Speaker 1: house of cards built out of invisible attackers, which is
Speaker 1: marks that weren't there, a turbulent past, and the hearsay
Speaker 1: of a handful of teenage girls. Yet somehow it stood.
Speaker 1: Of course, Thomas Newton was in charge of presenting all
Speaker 1: of those pieces to the grand jury. He would have
Speaker 1: picked the most convincing bits and left out the parts
Speaker 1: that were more difficult to believe. He knew what he
Speaker 1: was doing, of course, and that's why it worked. He
Speaker 1: had set out to begin the Oyer and Terminer with
Speaker 1: a victory, and that seemed to be headed his way.
Speaker 1: After this symphony of accusations artfully constructed by one of
Speaker 1: the fine mis legal minds and the colonies, the last
Speaker 1: step was to give Bridget a chance to speak for herself.
Speaker 1: We don't know what she said in her own defense. Honestly,
Speaker 1: what could she have said beyond the words she had
Speaker 1: muttered at her examination back in April? I am innocent.
Speaker 1: I am innocent. And we don't know what the court's
Speaker 1: response was that day. All we know is that she
Speaker 1: was moved to the Salem jail to await the final verdict.
Speaker 1: But weight must have felt like an eternity to considering
Speaker 1: what the stakes were. Would she die or would she
Speaker 1: be allowed to go free. Of all the documents that
Speaker 1: still survive from the Salem witch trials, the official oyer
Speaker 1: and termin or records are not among them. Most historians
Speaker 1: don't consider them lost either. They were most likely destroyed
Speaker 1: in the aftermath, like a criminal might burn down a
Speaker 1: house to hide the murder scene inside it. Because of that,
Speaker 1: we don't know how Thomas Newton built his case, and
Speaker 1: we don't know how Bridget responded. What we do know, though,
Speaker 1: is that it took the jury six days to issue
Speaker 1: their verdict. On June eighth, while he was in Boston
Speaker 1: for a meeting of the Governor's General Court, William Stoughton
Speaker 1: announced the court's decision. Bridget Bishop had been found guilty
Speaker 1: of all charges and was to be sentenced to death.
Speaker 1: The warrants also named the date of her execution. It
Speaker 1: would take place just two days later, on June tenth.
Speaker 1: Her executioner would be George Corwin, the sheriff of Essex
Speaker 1: County and the nephew of both Jonathan Corwin and wait
Speaker 1: Still Winthrop. But there was more news that day. Nathaniel Saltonstall,
Speaker 1: one of the nine judges on the oyer and terminer
Speaker 1: and the man respected throughout Massachusetts for his strong convictions
Speaker 1: and sense of right and wrong, announced his displeasure at
Speaker 1: the way the case had gone. We don't have a
Speaker 1: record of his exact words, but we know what he did.
Speaker 1: He walked away one case into the process. Saltonstall recognized
Speaker 1: it for the circus it was, and he quit. Sadly,
Speaker 1: that didn't stop the march of time, and on June tenth,
Speaker 1: bridget Bishop was escorted out of the Salem jail to
Speaker 1: a makeshift execution site on the edge of town. Her
Speaker 1: card was followed by a number of the afflicted girls
Speaker 1: who were about to see the dark consequences of their
Speaker 1: accusations and tales. The people that you would have expected
Speaker 1: to see, though the judges were nowhere to be found
Speaker 1: that was bad enough for people like William Stowton or
Speaker 1: Samuel Sewell, who were key figures in the trial. But Hawthorne,
Speaker 1: Corwin and Gedney actually lived in Salem Town. They had
Speaker 1: zero excuses for not being there to see the consequences
Speaker 1: of their judicial fervor. Beverly Minister John Hale was present
Speaker 1: that morning to say a final prayer with Bridget and
Speaker 1: to utter a benediction over the gathered crowd. Some of
Speaker 1: the people gathered there were in shock. Others wore sneers
Speaker 1: on their faces, as if they reveled in the tension
Speaker 1: that hummed around them. Even in the darkest of times,
Speaker 1: it seems there's always one person in the crowd who approves. Finally,
Speaker 1: George Corwyn led Bridget up to the hastily built platform
Speaker 1: and tied her hands behind her back. Then he carefully
Speaker 1: slipped the noose over her head and stooped down to
Speaker 1: tie her petticoats to her legs. It would stop her
Speaker 1: from kicking and keep her decent at the same time.
Speaker 1: When he was ready, George Corwyn most likely took a long,
Speaker 1: deep breath and then muttered a prayer of his own,
Speaker 1: extending his arm toward her. He placed his hand on
Speaker 1: her back, and then he pushed bridget Fell and the
Speaker 1: world went dark. That's it for this week's episode of Unobscured.
Speaker 1: Stick around after this short sponsor break for a preview
Speaker 1: of what's in store for next week. Next time on Unobscured,
Speaker 1: Stoton believed that if someone witnessed the spectral image of
Speaker 1: a witch, then the person they saw was the person
Speaker 1: to blame. The ministers, though disagreed. They believed that the
Speaker 1: devil could impersonate innocent people, literally putting on their appearance
Speaker 1: as a disguise, just to get those people in trouble,
Speaker 1: So obviously, the next question was even trickier. How can
Speaker 1: you tell? It was bad enough that no one except
Speaker 1: a handful of the accused could actually see the specters
Speaker 1: of their attackers, but now they had to play detective
Speaker 1: and figure out which ones were the devil in disguise
Speaker 1: and which ones were real witches. And the solution, according
Speaker 1: to the ministers, was to avoid prosecuting virtuous people, people
Speaker 1: with blameless reputations and no history of any wrongdoing. It
Speaker 1: was a cop out answer, though, because Stoton believed that
Speaker 1: very few people were actually of unblemished reputation. He and
Speaker 1: his fellow judges were part of that select few, naturally,
Speaker 1: but outside of that, it was difficult to imagine anyone
Speaker 1: without a sordid past, even Rebecca Nurse, who was a
Speaker 1: full member of the Salem Village Church and well respected,
Speaker 1: and as she was about to find out, when your
Speaker 1: fate rested on invisible evidence, it was hard to see
Speaker 1: anything other than darkness. Unobscured was created and written by
Speaker 1: me Aaron Mankey and produced by Matt Frederick and Alex
Speaker 1: Williams in partnership with How Stuff Works, with research by
Speaker 1: Carl Nellis and original music by Chad Lawson. Learn more
Speaker 1: about our contributing historians further reading material, resource archive and
Speaker 1: links to our other thos at History unobscured dot com.
Speaker 1: Until next time, thanks for listening, m HM.