Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren bol obam Here. From the frightful
Speaker 1: implications in the Blair Witch Project to the decidedly wholesome
Speaker 1: Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz, Magical
Speaker 1: mavens are at the center of some of our most
Speaker 1: enduring and endearing stories. There are also modern day practitioners
Speaker 1: of witchcraft, a term used to describe many groups and individuals,
Speaker 1: and most of whom focus on positivity and using magic
Speaker 1: for good. There was a time, however, when being considered
Speaker 1: a witch was a veritable death sentence. Take Salem Village, Massachusetts.
Speaker 1: In two young girls, nine year old Elizabeth Harris and
Speaker 1: eleven year old Abigail Williams, began having fits, which included
Speaker 1: body spasms and uncontrolled screaming. The town doctor diagnosed them
Speaker 1: as being afflicted by black magic and accused them of
Speaker 1: practicing witchcraft, notion that didn't sit too well in the
Speaker 1: Puritan settlement. A Contrary to legend, however, these so called
Speaker 1: witches were not burned at the stake. In fact, none
Speaker 1: of the men, women, or children accused of practicing witchcraft
Speaker 1: in Salem were killed that way. Most likely the recounting
Speaker 1: of the Salem witch Trials became intertwined with stories of
Speaker 1: actual executions by fire in Europe. During European witch trials
Speaker 1: between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries, people accused of witchcraft
Speaker 1: were commonly burned at the stake. Occasionally they were hanged
Speaker 1: before being burned. The punishment was in accordance with the
Speaker 1: Holy Roman Empire's laws, which contended that the punishment for
Speaker 1: witchcraft was death by fire. A church and civic leaders
Speaker 1: led the charge, executing as many as fifty thousand people
Speaker 1: across Europe in what's now France, Germany, Italy, Scandinavia and Scotland.
Speaker 1: So what actually happened to the colonists accused during the
Speaker 1: Salem witch Trials. Nineteen died by hanging their bodies swaying
Speaker 1: on the infamous gallows Hill. Of five were hanged on
Speaker 1: August nineteenth of six ninety two alone. One elderly man
Speaker 1: was stoned to death, and others died in jail while
Speaker 1: waiting for their day in court. Bridget Bishop was the
Speaker 1: first to be hanged on June tenth, although her exact
Speaker 1: misdeeds seemed to amount to no more than rumor and speculation.
Speaker 1: Her case became a template for those that followed. A
Speaker 1: bishop was accused by the girls afflicted with black magic,
Speaker 1: but she denied their claims. Then a witness came forward
Speaker 1: to support the accusers, followed by more townspeople who described
Speaker 1: previous acts of witchcraft supposedly performed by Bishop. Bishop's trial
Speaker 1: and those of many others accused of witchcraft, ended with
Speaker 1: a guilty verdict, no matter how improbable the evidence. During
Speaker 1: the sale in witch trials, more than two hundred people
Speaker 1: were accused of practicing witchcraft, which amounted to nothing more
Speaker 1: than a lot of finger pointing in a short time span.
Speaker 1: The hysteria lasted little more than a year before the
Speaker 1: local government deemed the trials a mistake and attempted to
Speaker 1: compensate the families of those who were convicted and hanged.
Speaker 1: In the year two thousand one, more than three hundred
Speaker 1: years after those nineteen men and women were put to
Speaker 1: death during the Salem witch trials, five of them were
Speaker 1: officially exonerated by the State of Massachusetts, Bridget Bishop, plus
Speaker 1: four others, Susannah Martin, Alice Parker, Wilmot Read and Margaret Scott.
Speaker 1: The Act was approved by the state legislature and signed
Speaker 1: on Halloween. Today's episode is based on the article where
Speaker 1: Witches Really Burned at the Stake in Salem on how
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot Com, written by Laurie L. Dove. Brain
Speaker 1: Stuff is production of by Heart Radio in partnership with
Speaker 1: how stuff Works dot Com and it is produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the
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Speaker 1: your favorite shows.