1 00:00:01,920 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio, 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:10,559 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bol obam Here. From the frightful 3 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:14,360 Speaker 1: implications in the Blair Witch Project to the decidedly wholesome 4 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:17,200 Speaker 1: Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz, Magical 5 00:00:17,239 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: mavens are at the center of some of our most 6 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:24,400 Speaker 1: enduring and endearing stories. There are also modern day practitioners 7 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: of witchcraft, a term used to describe many groups and individuals, 8 00:00:28,200 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: and most of whom focus on positivity and using magic 9 00:00:31,160 --> 00:00:36,080 Speaker 1: for good. There was a time, however, when being considered 10 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: a witch was a veritable death sentence. Take Salem Village, Massachusetts. 11 00:00:41,159 --> 00:00:46,000 Speaker 1: In two young girls, nine year old Elizabeth Harris and 12 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:50,199 Speaker 1: eleven year old Abigail Williams, began having fits, which included 13 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: body spasms and uncontrolled screaming. The town doctor diagnosed them 14 00:00:54,920 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 1: as being afflicted by black magic and accused them of 15 00:00:58,320 --> 00:01:01,960 Speaker 1: practicing witchcraft, notion that didn't sit too well in the 16 00:01:01,960 --> 00:01:07,039 Speaker 1: Puritan settlement. A Contrary to legend, however, these so called 17 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:10,640 Speaker 1: witches were not burned at the stake. In fact, none 18 00:01:10,640 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: of the men, women, or children accused of practicing witchcraft 19 00:01:13,880 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 1: in Salem were killed that way. Most likely the recounting 20 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: of the Salem witch Trials became intertwined with stories of 21 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:26,200 Speaker 1: actual executions by fire in Europe. During European witch trials 22 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, people accused of witchcraft 23 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:33,600 Speaker 1: were commonly burned at the stake. Occasionally they were hanged 24 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: before being burned. The punishment was in accordance with the 25 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,200 Speaker 1: Holy Roman Empire's laws, which contended that the punishment for 26 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: witchcraft was death by fire. A church and civic leaders 27 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: led the charge, executing as many as fifty thousand people 28 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: across Europe in what's now France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia and Scotland. 29 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: So what actually happened to the colonists accused during the 30 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: Salem witch Trials. Nineteen died by hanging their bodies swaying 31 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: on the infamous gallows Hill. Of five were hanged on 32 00:02:04,880 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: August nineteenth of six ninety two alone. One elderly man 33 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:12,160 Speaker 1: was stoned to death, and others died in jail while 34 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: waiting for their day in court. Bridget Bishop was the 35 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,600 Speaker 1: first to be hanged on June tenth, although her exact 36 00:02:20,680 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: misdeeds seemed to amount to no more than rumor and speculation. 37 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:28,120 Speaker 1: Her case became a template for those that followed. A 38 00:02:28,200 --> 00:02:31,200 Speaker 1: bishop was accused by the girls afflicted with black magic, 39 00:02:31,600 --> 00:02:35,000 Speaker 1: but she denied their claims. Then a witness came forward 40 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 1: to support the accusers, followed by more townspeople who described 41 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: previous acts of witchcraft supposedly performed by Bishop. Bishop's trial 42 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:47,200 Speaker 1: and those of many others accused of witchcraft, ended with 43 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:52,320 Speaker 1: a guilty verdict, no matter how improbable the evidence. During 44 00:02:52,320 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: the sale in witch trials, more than two hundred people 45 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: were accused of practicing witchcraft, which amounted to nothing more 46 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 1: than a lot of finger pointing in a short time span. 47 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: The hysteria lasted little more than a year before the 48 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: local government deemed the trials a mistake and attempted to 49 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:10,760 Speaker 1: compensate the families of those who were convicted and hanged. 50 00:03:12,720 --> 00:03:15,640 Speaker 1: In the year two thousand one, more than three hundred 51 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:18,160 Speaker 1: years after those nineteen men and women were put to 52 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: death during the Salem witch trials, five of them were 53 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:25,400 Speaker 1: officially exonerated by the State of Massachusetts, Bridget Bishop, plus 54 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 1: four others, Susannah Martin, Alice Parker, Wilmot Read and Margaret Scott. 55 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:33,959 Speaker 1: The Act was approved by the state legislature and signed 56 00:03:34,160 --> 00:03:42,120 Speaker 1: on Halloween. Today's episode is based on the article where 57 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:44,560 Speaker 1: Witches Really Burned at the Stake in Salem on how 58 00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: stuff Works dot Com, written by Laurie L. Dove. Brain 59 00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:49,680 Speaker 1: Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with 60 00:03:49,680 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot Com and it is produced by 61 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:54,760 Speaker 1: Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the 62 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 63 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:07,440 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.