1 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: You're listening to the third and final part of Unexplained, 2 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:18,840 Speaker 1: Season seven, episode twenty five, The City upon the Hill. 3 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 1: A tortuous scream of pain rips through Salem Jail. A 4 00:00:31,520 --> 00:00:35,840 Speaker 1: slight and pale Dorothy Good whimpers, terrified by the sight 5 00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:40,319 Speaker 1: of her mother in such agony. Sarah clasps her four 6 00:00:40,400 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: year old daughter's hand. The chains that bolt them to 7 00:00:43,720 --> 00:00:47,959 Speaker 1: the wall rattle as she draws her clothes. It's okay, 8 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:53,760 Speaker 1: she says, it's okay. Another wave of pain shoots through 9 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: Sarah like a bolt of lightning. She wants to vomit. 10 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 1: That's it, says Rebecca, Nurse, stroking her back. 11 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 2: That's it. 12 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:08,319 Speaker 1: A few narrow strips of sunlight strayed through the bars 13 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:12,840 Speaker 1: on the window, turning the sweat on Good's forehead liquid gold. 14 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: The bars are there to stop her and Dorothy's specters 15 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:20,600 Speaker 1: from escaping the jail. It is the same in the 16 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:25,720 Speaker 1: cells of all the accused. Sarah screams again as she 17 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:29,360 Speaker 1: squats deeper over the blanket that Rebeccah placed over the 18 00:01:29,400 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: filthy ground. It was all she could do to provide 19 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,360 Speaker 1: a semblance of cleanliness in the foulness of it all, 20 00:01:37,120 --> 00:01:39,640 Speaker 1: but there is no time to dwell on that now, 21 00:01:40,240 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: nor has there ever been. That's it, says Rebecca. It's coming. Push, push, 22 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: It's too much for the jailer. A sign to keep 23 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: watch on, Rebecca nurse, he turns to face the war. 24 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:01,640 Speaker 1: Sarah twists and pulls at her chains, anchoring herself as 25 00:02:01,680 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 1: another wave of pain rises up from deep within. It's 26 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:10,400 Speaker 1: as though her inside are turning molten with heat. Mamma 27 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: cries Dorothy in anguish. It's okay, says Sarah, between gasps 28 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: of breath and gritted teeth. Mamma's o k With one 29 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: or mighty push, A bloody lump of flesh and bone 30 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: bursts forth from between Sarah's legs, its dark wisps of 31 00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:35,919 Speaker 1: hair slicked down with vernix cassiosa, and then from its 32 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: tiny mouth, a piercing wail rings out. Had any one 33 00:02:41,200 --> 00:02:44,120 Speaker 1: else been present that day, they would have seen it 34 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:50,280 Speaker 1: too real. Undeniable magic performed by the so called witches 35 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:58,800 Speaker 1: of Salem, life giving birth to life, new beautiful life, 36 00:02:59,080 --> 00:03:02,480 Speaker 1: A miracle of God, says Rebecca as she helps it 37 00:03:02,560 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: wriggle free. Perhaps we are not forsaken after all, sarah 38 00:03:08,680 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: SLINKs to the ground, exhausted as Rebecca swaddles the baby 39 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:16,880 Speaker 1: in the blanket. It's a girl, she says, handing her 40 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: to Sarah. Sarah beams at the baby through tears as 41 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:25,639 Speaker 1: she holds it tight against her body. She pulls Dorothy 42 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:31,520 Speaker 1: closer to I'll call her Mercy, says Sarah through the sobs. 43 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:42,839 Speaker 1: Mercy Good. It seems as good a name as any. 44 00:03:44,360 --> 00:03:48,200 Speaker 1: Sarah Good was pregnant when she was arrested and imprisoned 45 00:03:48,240 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: in March sixteen ninety two, alongside Titchebur and Sarah Osborne. 46 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 1: It isn't known exactly when the baby was born, though 47 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: some believe it may have been as early as April, 48 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:04,320 Speaker 1: suggesting either Good was heavily pregnant when she was sent 49 00:04:04,360 --> 00:04:09,680 Speaker 1: to jail or the baby was severely premature. Either way, 50 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:14,280 Speaker 1: if she or any of the other accused individuals languishing 51 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: in jail alongside her, were hoping it would grant them 52 00:04:17,880 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 1: some leniency in the eyes of their accusers, they would 53 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:27,080 Speaker 1: have been very much mistaken. In mid April, three more 54 00:04:27,200 --> 00:04:31,480 Speaker 1: names are added to the list of accused, Abigail Hobbes, 55 00:04:31,920 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 1: Brigid Bishop, and Mary Warren, the same Warren servant to 56 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:41,280 Speaker 1: John and Elizabeth Proctor, who had accused her employers of 57 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:47,400 Speaker 1: witchcraft only a few weeks before. Like all except Titchuburb 58 00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 1: before them, Bishop and Warren plead innocent and a duly 59 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:57,359 Speaker 1: throne in Salem jail to await trial. Abigail Hobbes is 60 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:02,200 Speaker 1: the next to be examined. Hobbs is about fifteen at 61 00:05:02,240 --> 00:05:05,880 Speaker 1: the time of her arrest. She and her family had 62 00:05:05,960 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 1: moved to Salem, Massachusetts, from Falmouth in Maine a few 63 00:05:10,240 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 1: years previously. Falmouth, about one hundred miles to the northeast 64 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:20,240 Speaker 1: of Salem, is effectively the frontier of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 65 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:25,040 Speaker 1: Like many of their fellow Falmouth residents, Hobbs and her 66 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:28,360 Speaker 1: family were forced to move further south for their own 67 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:33,279 Speaker 1: safety due to the constant fighting between Native Americans and 68 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:37,440 Speaker 1: the various colonial powers that clashed at the outer regions 69 00:05:37,480 --> 00:05:42,479 Speaker 1: of the English colonies, and so in search of serenity 70 00:05:42,600 --> 00:05:47,239 Speaker 1: and security, with complete faith in their God, they came 71 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: to Salem. Like most of her fellow prisoners, Abigail was 72 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: accused by Anne Putnam Junior, Mercy Lewis, Elizabeth Hubbard, and 73 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: Mary Walcott of psychically attacking them on April nineteenth. She's 74 00:06:05,480 --> 00:06:08,839 Speaker 1: led into the Salem Village meeting house to face the 75 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:15,400 Speaker 1: regular case magistrates John Hawthorne and Jonathan Corwin. Though many 76 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:19,799 Speaker 1: in the congregation believe the accused to be guilty, few 77 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:24,160 Speaker 1: expect them to admit it. In fact, only Titchubur to 78 00:06:24,279 --> 00:06:29,240 Speaker 1: date has actually confessed to the crime. The rest vehemently 79 00:06:29,640 --> 00:06:37,960 Speaker 1: protested their innocence, but not this time. Abigail Hobbs begins, 80 00:06:38,080 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: Magistrate Hawthorne, you are brought here to answer for sundry 81 00:06:43,200 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 1: acts of witchcraft committed by you. 82 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:52,119 Speaker 2: What say you? Are you guilty or not? Speak the truth? Child? 83 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:57,400 Speaker 1: I will speak the truth. I have seen sights. I 84 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:02,120 Speaker 1: have been very wicked, says the young Abigail, to gasps 85 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 1: and cries from the crowd. What sights have you seen? 86 00:07:07,480 --> 00:07:19,880 Speaker 1: Asks Hawthorne the devil sir. The crowd has stunned into 87 00:07:19,960 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: silence by Abigail's unexpected admission. She goes on to detail 88 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:29,880 Speaker 1: how exactly it happened. It all started back when she 89 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 1: was living in Falmouth, she says. One day, while she 90 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 1: was walking through the woods, a devilish creature appeared to 91 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: her in the shape of a man. He offered her 92 00:07:41,440 --> 00:07:45,080 Speaker 1: fine things she says, if she did what he asked, 93 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:51,000 Speaker 1: what would he have you do? Asks Hawthorne. Why be 94 00:07:51,120 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 1: a witch? Of course, she replies. Hawthorne squirms uneasily in 95 00:07:56,920 --> 00:08:00,440 Speaker 1: his chair, And did you make a contract with him? 96 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I did, replies Abigail. 97 00:08:07,520 --> 00:08:10,960 Speaker 1: It's a few days later when Thomas Putnam, the wealthy 98 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:16,360 Speaker 1: and influential friend of Salem's minister Samuel Parris and father 99 00:08:16,520 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 1: of principal accuser Ann Putnam Junior, pays a visit to 100 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:26,040 Speaker 1: Magistrates Hawthorne and Corwyn. He tells them that the night 101 00:08:26,080 --> 00:08:31,600 Speaker 1: before his daughter was attacked again by yet another malicious specter. 102 00:08:32,480 --> 00:08:35,600 Speaker 1: He could barely believe it himself, he says, when the 103 00:08:35,679 --> 00:08:40,840 Speaker 1: specter who'd come dressed in minister's clothes revealed itself to 104 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:47,920 Speaker 1: be none other than former Salem minister George Burr's. Burroughs 105 00:08:48,000 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 1: was Minister of Salem from sixteen. 106 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:51,840 Speaker 2: Eighty to eighty three. 107 00:08:52,640 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: Prior to that, he'd lived in Falmouth when Abigail Hobbs 108 00:08:56,840 --> 00:09:01,240 Speaker 1: and her family resided there. It didn't take much to 109 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:07,199 Speaker 1: marry the two accusations together. Clearly, thought Putnam, Burroughs must 110 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,320 Speaker 1: have been the devilish figure that coerced Abigail into being 111 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:16,960 Speaker 1: a witch too. As many have noted, Burroughs and Thomas 112 00:09:17,000 --> 00:09:21,280 Speaker 1: Putnam had long been in disagreement about some debts that 113 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: Putnam believed Burroughs owed to him. Putnam had already tried 114 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 1: once to have him arrested for it. For his part, 115 00:09:30,400 --> 00:09:33,680 Speaker 1: when he was Minister of Salem, Burroughs believed he was 116 00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:37,480 Speaker 1: being woefully underpaid by the village for his role on 117 00:09:37,559 --> 00:09:42,440 Speaker 1: the orders of Thomas Putnam. Eventually he refused to preach 118 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:45,880 Speaker 1: until they agreed to pay him more. In the end, 119 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: he felt he had no choice but to leave. When 120 00:09:50,200 --> 00:09:53,680 Speaker 1: Anne accused Burroughs of being a witch, she added two 121 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:57,480 Speaker 1: that he had also killed two of his wives, one 122 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:00,359 Speaker 1: of which had died while he was Minister of Sale, 123 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:05,800 Speaker 1: and that he used witchcraft to kill countless colonial soldiers. 124 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 1: Minister Burrows was tracked down to a house in Wells 125 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:14,400 Speaker 1: in Maine, then arrested and dragged back to Salem to 126 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:18,960 Speaker 1: face trial. It was a few days later, on May tenth, 127 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 1: that a jailer making the rounds of Salem prison came 128 00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: to call on Sarah Osborne, one of the first three 129 00:10:27,160 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: to be accused of witchcraft, and found her unresponsive. It 130 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:37,800 Speaker 1: isn't known exactly how Osborne died, though malnutrition or from 131 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 1: an infection caught while in prison are the most likely culprits. 132 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:56,880 Speaker 1: She is the first of the accused to die. Reverend 133 00:10:56,920 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: George Burrows is examined on a thirtieth of April, and 134 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:04,440 Speaker 1: like all the others, he is found likely guilty of 135 00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:08,440 Speaker 1: the crime and thrown in jail to await a formal trial. 136 00:11:09,600 --> 00:11:14,640 Speaker 1: Though accusations have been steadily building ever since the first accusations, 137 00:11:15,080 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: Minister Burrows's arrest opens the floodgates. If a man of 138 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:24,560 Speaker 1: the cloth can potentially be a witch, nobody is immune 139 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:28,880 Speaker 1: from both the power of the devil or from accusation. 140 00:11:30,240 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: Within a week of his arrest, fifteen more suspects are named, 141 00:11:35,400 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 1: and within a month another forty are jailed. And now 142 00:11:40,160 --> 00:11:44,040 Speaker 1: the accused are found not only in Salem, but all 143 00:11:44,080 --> 00:11:48,120 Speaker 1: over the colonies, from northern Maine all the way down 144 00:11:48,160 --> 00:11:55,360 Speaker 1: to Boston. Abigail Hobbes's parents Deliverance and William Hobbes, Mary Easty, 145 00:11:56,080 --> 00:12:04,000 Speaker 1: Nehemiah Abbott Junior, Sarah Wild's Edward, Bishop, Mary Black, Mary English. 146 00:12:04,400 --> 00:12:10,000 Speaker 1: The list goes on Deliverance Hobbes claims there is a 147 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:15,000 Speaker 1: congregation of witches in Salem Village, a demonic church that 148 00:12:15,160 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: holds meetings next to Minister Samuel Parris's house. She paints 149 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:25,199 Speaker 1: a terrifying picture of Satanic deacons who give out red 150 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:29,360 Speaker 1: bread and red wine, while a preacher who oversees it 151 00:12:29,400 --> 00:12:35,520 Speaker 1: all administers some kind of black sacrament. The deacons, she says, 152 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: are Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Wild's, another accused member of 153 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:46,360 Speaker 1: the Salem Village congregation. The satanic preacher, of course, is 154 00:12:46,480 --> 00:12:51,920 Speaker 1: none other than Minister George Burr's. All this time, the 155 00:12:52,000 --> 00:12:55,959 Speaker 1: accused have been simply left to rot in jail, since 156 00:12:56,000 --> 00:13:00,240 Speaker 1: the province of Massachusetts Bay, of which Salem is part of, 157 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:04,280 Speaker 1: had yet to establish a legal court to hear the trials. 158 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:10,400 Speaker 1: In late May, newly installed Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 159 00:13:10,720 --> 00:13:14,360 Speaker 1: Sir William Phipps arives back from a trip to England 160 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:18,440 Speaker 1: to find Salem jail full to the brim with apparent 161 00:13:18,559 --> 00:13:22,880 Speaker 1: which is alarmed at the scale of the sudden outbreak 162 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:27,160 Speaker 1: of Satanic practice. He quickly signs an order to establish 163 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,920 Speaker 1: the court of oyer and terminay. It borrows from the 164 00:13:30,960 --> 00:13:35,960 Speaker 1: French terms meaning to hear and to determine. The court 165 00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:40,600 Speaker 1: is established in Salem Town, with seven judges appointed to 166 00:13:40,679 --> 00:13:45,559 Speaker 1: manage the trial. The defendants are given no legal representation. 167 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:50,480 Speaker 1: A Reverend Nicholas Noise is employed to be the chief 168 00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:54,720 Speaker 1: minister of the trial, while overseeing it all is Chief 169 00:13:54,920 --> 00:14:01,360 Speaker 1: Justice William Stoughton. Also returning to Massachusetts with William Phipps 170 00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:06,360 Speaker 1: is Increase Mather. Both he and his son Cotton carry 171 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:11,840 Speaker 1: great influence in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. As ministers themselves, 172 00:14:12,120 --> 00:14:15,760 Speaker 1: they are fervently committed to the Puritan cause and to 173 00:14:15,840 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 1: the divinely inspired success of the colony. Cotton in particular, 174 00:14:21,320 --> 00:14:24,800 Speaker 1: sees himself as an expert on the subject of bewitchment. 175 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: In sixteen eighty nine he published Memorable Providences relating to 176 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:35,200 Speaker 1: Witchcrafts and Possessions, which gave an account of an earlier 177 00:14:35,240 --> 00:14:40,120 Speaker 1: trial involving an indentured servant named Anne Glover, who was 178 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:44,200 Speaker 1: accused by her masters of witchcraft. In sixteen eighty eight, 179 00:14:45,200 --> 00:14:49,520 Speaker 1: she was hanged for her apparent crime. In the book, 180 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:55,520 Speaker 1: Matha confidently affirms the indisputable existence of witches and devils 181 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:59,160 Speaker 1: and urges all Christians to weed them out at the 182 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 1: first opportune unity. He also highlights their preference for using 183 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: spectral versions of themselves to commit their wicked acts. It 184 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,600 Speaker 1: could almost have been a blueprint for the events in 185 00:15:12,720 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 1: Salem Village, which occurred only three years later. Cotton Matha 186 00:15:18,880 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: also recommends that bodily searches be carried out on the 187 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:25,479 Speaker 1: accused to look for marks. 188 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 2: Of the devil. 189 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:30,640 Speaker 1: Sixty year old Bridget Bishop is the first to face 190 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:41,920 Speaker 1: trial in the court of Oyer and Termina. Bridget, who 191 00:15:42,000 --> 00:15:45,440 Speaker 1: many are already wary of due to her fondness for 192 00:15:45,520 --> 00:15:49,840 Speaker 1: wearing bright and colorful clothes, ran to taverns with her 193 00:15:49,920 --> 00:15:55,160 Speaker 1: husband Edward before she was arrested. During her trial, and 194 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:59,840 Speaker 1: Putnam Junior claims she heard Bridget calling the devil her god, 195 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:04,880 Speaker 1: while local farmer Richard Coleman accuses her of using her 196 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,120 Speaker 1: spectral form to drag him and his wife out of 197 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:09,800 Speaker 1: bed by their throats. 198 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:11,520 Speaker 2: One of the. 199 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:16,560 Speaker 1: Accusers falls to the floor, suddenly gasping and wretching and 200 00:16:16,600 --> 00:16:20,400 Speaker 1: scrabbling at her throat. The crowd struggles to get a 201 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:23,040 Speaker 1: view of her as she clasps a hand over her 202 00:16:23,080 --> 00:16:27,720 Speaker 1: mouth and begins to gurgle and cough, until finally she stops. 203 00:16:28,800 --> 00:16:32,240 Speaker 1: She pulls her hand away to reveal a spit covered 204 00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:36,400 Speaker 1: pin in the palm of her hand, having seemingly just 205 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:41,560 Speaker 1: coughed it up. It must have been Bridget's doing, she says. 206 00:16:43,160 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 1: When Bridget is examined for marks, one durer shrieks out 207 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: that they have uncovered an excrescence of flesh on her chest, 208 00:16:52,400 --> 00:16:57,000 Speaker 1: a third nipple. It is a certain sign of devilry. 209 00:16:58,520 --> 00:17:02,680 Speaker 1: When a subsequent investigation fails to find it, it is 210 00:17:02,760 --> 00:17:07,440 Speaker 1: clear to all present that Bridget merely used her witchcraft 211 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:12,640 Speaker 1: to hide it. Throughout her eight day trial, Bridget Bishop 212 00:17:13,000 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: begs and pleads with the jury to ignore the accusations 213 00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:21,720 Speaker 1: and see past the noise. She begs them to see 214 00:17:21,800 --> 00:17:24,840 Speaker 1: that she is not a witch, but just an ordinary 215 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 1: citizen of Salem, innocent just like them. 216 00:17:29,640 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 2: But it is no use. 217 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:36,879 Speaker 1: On tenth of June sixteen ninety two, Bridget Bishop is 218 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:42,920 Speaker 1: found guilty by Justice William Stoughton, cries of which ring 219 00:17:43,080 --> 00:17:46,240 Speaker 1: down from the crowd as Bridget is dragged from the 220 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:50,720 Speaker 1: court and thrown in the back of a cart. From there, 221 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: she is transported to a small wooded and rocky outcrop 222 00:17:55,400 --> 00:18:00,720 Speaker 1: on the outskirts of Salem. As a large excitable crowd behind. 223 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: As she nears the outcrop, Bishop can see a lone 224 00:18:05,680 --> 00:18:09,879 Speaker 1: oak tree, silhouetted by the sun. A thick line of 225 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:15,840 Speaker 1: rope dangles from one of its lower branches. Bridget continues 226 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:19,520 Speaker 1: to protest her innocence as the noose is placed around 227 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:22,440 Speaker 1: her neck while her feet teeter on the. 228 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 2: Edge of the stool. Then the stool is. 229 00:18:25,560 --> 00:18:29,399 Speaker 1: Kicked out from underneath her and her breath is instantly 230 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:35,040 Speaker 1: taken away. She struggles for a few minutes, froth foams 231 00:18:35,080 --> 00:18:38,800 Speaker 1: at her mouth and her reddening eyes begin to bulge 232 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:44,000 Speaker 1: in their sockets. Then her body is stilled. She is 233 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:48,879 Speaker 1: the first of the accused to be executed. It is 234 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:53,000 Speaker 1: around this time that Sarah Good tries for the last 235 00:18:53,040 --> 00:18:58,000 Speaker 1: and final time to feed her baby daughter, Mercy. Mercy 236 00:18:58,119 --> 00:19:03,919 Speaker 1: dies as Sarah cradles her helplessly in her arms. In 237 00:19:04,040 --> 00:19:08,879 Speaker 1: late June, Sarah is convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death. 238 00:19:10,119 --> 00:19:15,200 Speaker 1: On July nineteenth, a terrified and inconsolable four year old 239 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:19,399 Speaker 1: Dorothy Good is wrenched away from her mother and left 240 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:25,639 Speaker 1: alone in her cell as Sarah is taken away. Sarah, 241 00:19:25,680 --> 00:19:30,480 Speaker 1: along with Rebecca Nurse from Salem, Elizabeth Howe, and Sarah 242 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: Wild from Ipswich, and Susannah Martin from the nearby town 243 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:38,800 Speaker 1: of Salisbury are all thrown into the back of a 244 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:43,080 Speaker 1: cart and taken up to the wooded rocky outcrop on 245 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:54,240 Speaker 1: the outskirts of town. As each woman awaits their fate, 246 00:19:54,720 --> 00:19:58,640 Speaker 1: the Reverend Nicholas Noise is on hand to offer them 247 00:19:58,720 --> 00:20:03,359 Speaker 1: some redemption. He urges them to confess, telling them that 248 00:20:03,440 --> 00:20:06,879 Speaker 1: a confession will grant them grace in the eyes of 249 00:20:06,960 --> 00:20:11,000 Speaker 1: the Lord. None will have it, though, if they are 250 00:20:11,000 --> 00:20:14,760 Speaker 1: to be executed for their apparent crimes, the least they 251 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:17,919 Speaker 1: can do is to ensure there is no public record 252 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:22,200 Speaker 1: of them admitting to the crimes, so that their names, 253 00:20:22,560 --> 00:20:27,080 Speaker 1: as they echo through eternity, will do so untainted by 254 00:20:27,119 --> 00:20:33,200 Speaker 1: the mark of the devil. But while Rebecca Nurse Elizabeth Howe, 255 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: Sarah Wiles, and Susannah Martin keep a quiet counsel, Sarah 256 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:44,680 Speaker 1: Good refuses to go silently into the night. She rails 257 00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:50,000 Speaker 1: and screams against the injustice of their convictions. I am 258 00:20:50,040 --> 00:20:52,679 Speaker 1: no more a witch than you are a wizard, she 259 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:56,920 Speaker 1: cries to the Reverend Noise. I am innocent, and if 260 00:20:56,920 --> 00:21:00,000 Speaker 1: you take away my life, God will give you blood 261 00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:07,119 Speaker 1: to drink. Noise is unmoved, and minutes later Sarah Good 262 00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:12,960 Speaker 1: and the others are dead. With the death sentences mounting 263 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:17,840 Speaker 1: both Increase and Cotton. Mather, despite what Cotton has himself 264 00:21:17,960 --> 00:21:22,160 Speaker 1: previously written, advised the jurors to look at more than 265 00:21:22,359 --> 00:21:27,640 Speaker 1: just the spectral evidence, the anecdotal evidence of apparent attacks 266 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: made by spectral forms before coming to their decisions. But 267 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:37,040 Speaker 1: that horse as well and truly bolted from the stable. 268 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:43,520 Speaker 1: In August, Reverend George Burroughs is tried. At his trial, 269 00:21:43,800 --> 00:21:47,520 Speaker 1: the court are treated to a dark and fantastical story 270 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:53,399 Speaker 1: in which one accuser, Eliza Keyser, recalls returning home after 271 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,760 Speaker 1: a spat with Burrows to find a dozen or so 272 00:21:57,119 --> 00:22:02,480 Speaker 1: strange shapes appear in his fireplace, moving, he said, like 273 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:07,280 Speaker 1: jelly through water. Clearly they were agents of the devil, 274 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:13,960 Speaker 1: conjured thereby Burrows to intimidate him. Burrohs is duly convicted 275 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:19,479 Speaker 1: of being a witch. On August nineteenth, With the noose 276 00:22:19,520 --> 00:22:24,560 Speaker 1: around his neck, Minister Burrohs proudly recites the Lord's prayer. 277 00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: The baying crowd are initially stunned into silence. After all, 278 00:22:31,119 --> 00:22:34,840 Speaker 1: it's common knowledge that no witch or agent of Satan 279 00:22:35,440 --> 00:22:39,880 Speaker 1: can properly recite the Lord's prayer. Some in the crowd 280 00:22:40,040 --> 00:22:44,920 Speaker 1: begin to cry, suddenly unsure of what they're doing. Others 281 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:48,240 Speaker 1: push forward and demand that the minister be freed from 282 00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:51,520 Speaker 1: the noose, but the stool is kicked out from under 283 00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:57,240 Speaker 1: his feet before things get out of control. Cotton Mother 284 00:22:57,760 --> 00:23:01,240 Speaker 1: urges the people of Salem not to let the devil 285 00:23:01,359 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: for them, though it might seem like the Reverend Burrows 286 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,840 Speaker 1: was a pious and innocent man, that was just the 287 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:24,520 Speaker 1: kind of trick the devil would play on them. George Jacobs, 288 00:23:24,560 --> 00:23:29,800 Speaker 1: Martha Carrier, John Willard, and John Proctor are also hanged 289 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:36,359 Speaker 1: alongside Reverend Burroughs. Proctor's wife, Elizabeth, is also convicted and 290 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:40,240 Speaker 1: sentenced to hang. However, she has granted a stay of 291 00:23:40,320 --> 00:23:44,960 Speaker 1: execution when she is found to be pregnant. With eleven 292 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:49,399 Speaker 1: people now execute it, the jail still full and the 293 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:54,040 Speaker 1: accusations and arrests showing no signs of stopping, the mood 294 00:23:54,119 --> 00:24:00,600 Speaker 1: in Salem grows increasingly bleak. On September ninth, Martha the Cory, 295 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:05,520 Speaker 1: the upstanding and pious Martha Corey, is then sentenced to 296 00:24:05,520 --> 00:24:11,320 Speaker 1: be executed for her husband Giles a very different fate awaits. 297 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 1: When Martha was first accused of being a witch, Giles 298 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:21,720 Speaker 1: testified against her, only to then himself be accused of witchery. 299 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,920 Speaker 1: A few weeks later. The eighty one year old Giles 300 00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:30,159 Speaker 1: as watched as one by one is fellow accused of 301 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:33,240 Speaker 1: being dragged in front of the jury to answer for 302 00:24:33,280 --> 00:24:37,400 Speaker 1: their crimes, and no matter what they say, the result 303 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:43,320 Speaker 1: is always the same. All are sentenced to death. He 304 00:24:43,800 --> 00:24:48,679 Speaker 1: decides to say nothing. The act of refusing to plead, 305 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,720 Speaker 1: be it as not guilty or otherwise is known as 306 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:58,080 Speaker 1: standing mute. Without a plea, you can't be tried. So 307 00:24:58,280 --> 00:25:02,840 Speaker 1: to avoid people cheating justice, a legal remedy was devised, 308 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:09,080 Speaker 1: known as penn forte jeure, or hard and forceful punishment. 309 00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:14,600 Speaker 1: Its aim to quite literally squeeze the truth out of you. 310 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:16,639 Speaker 2: And so. 311 00:25:16,960 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 1: On September nineteenth, Cory is dragged from his jail cell 312 00:25:21,760 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 1: and taken to an open field close to the jail, 313 00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:28,439 Speaker 1: where he is stripped, naked and tied to a board 314 00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:32,800 Speaker 1: on the ground. Another board is tied on top of him, 315 00:25:33,359 --> 00:25:37,400 Speaker 1: then heavy stones are placed on top of that, with 316 00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:41,399 Speaker 1: one after the other increasing the pressure pushing down on 317 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:46,440 Speaker 1: his body. The torturers wait patiently for Cory to finally 318 00:25:46,480 --> 00:25:53,240 Speaker 1: give in, but Corey steadfastly refuses. After three days of 319 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:57,240 Speaker 1: ever increasing weights of stone piled on top of him, 320 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:01,960 Speaker 1: his body is so crushed, his lungs and diaphragms so 321 00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:07,200 Speaker 1: collapsed that his tongue lulls uncontrollably out of his mouth. 322 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:13,840 Speaker 1: Taking his cane, the Salem Sheriff George Corwyn pokes Corey's 323 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:17,840 Speaker 1: tongue back into his mouth and asks, for the unteenth 324 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:23,399 Speaker 1: time if he has anything to say. The faintest wisp 325 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 1: of a sound comes from Corey's lips. Corwyn stoops lower 326 00:26:29,520 --> 00:26:37,639 Speaker 1: and puts his ear close to Corey's mouth. More wait, more, wait, 327 00:26:38,600 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: he rasps. He dies soon after. Three days later, Giles 328 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:53,040 Speaker 1: Corey's wife Martha, along with Margaret Scott, Mary Eastye, sister 329 00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:58,840 Speaker 1: of Rebecca Nurse and Sarah Cloyse, Alice Parker, and Pudiator 330 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 1: Wilmot Read. Samuel Wardle and Mary Parker are all hanged, 331 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:17,280 Speaker 1: taking the total number of execute it to nineteen by 332 00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:21,119 Speaker 1: December sixteen ninety two, With the death toll of the 333 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:25,160 Speaker 1: Salem witch Trials at twenty two. There are many who 334 00:27:25,160 --> 00:27:31,119 Speaker 1: have had enough enough of witches, enough of convulsing, screaming 335 00:27:31,240 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 1: young girls, enough of the fear that they will be 336 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:41,880 Speaker 1: accused next, enough of trials and executions. Equally, there are 337 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:45,520 Speaker 1: those who, having gone so far down the path of 338 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:49,480 Speaker 1: purging New England of witchcraft, feel that to stop now 339 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:54,680 Speaker 1: would be weakness and failure. Or, as Shakespeare's Macbeth had it, 340 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:59,080 Speaker 1: I am in blood stepped in so far that should 341 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:03,240 Speaker 1: I weigh no more more? Returning were as tedious as 342 00:28:03,280 --> 00:28:08,959 Speaker 1: to go o'er then came one accusation in late October 343 00:28:09,480 --> 00:28:14,359 Speaker 1: that truly sends a shockwave through Massachusetts. It is made 344 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:21,080 Speaker 1: against Governor William Phipps's own wife Mary. With it, Phipps 345 00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:25,280 Speaker 1: brings the trials to a screeching halt. The Court of 346 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:30,320 Speaker 1: Oyer and Terminae is dissolved immediately and replaced by a 347 00:28:30,359 --> 00:28:36,160 Speaker 1: superior Court of Judicature with instructions to ignore all spectral evidence. 348 00:28:37,280 --> 00:28:41,560 Speaker 1: Trials resume in January and February of sixteen ninety three, 349 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:46,600 Speaker 1: but only three out of fifty six individuals are convicted, 350 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:52,320 Speaker 1: And just like that, as swiftly as it had seemingly started, 351 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:59,240 Speaker 1: the salem which trials were over by May sixteen ninety three, 352 00:28:59,440 --> 00:29:03,520 Speaker 1: although still languishing in jail. Over one hundred and fifty 353 00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:08,920 Speaker 1: people are pardoned and released, including Elizabeth Proctor, who had 354 00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:14,480 Speaker 1: since given birth to her baby. The intense trauma, the 355 00:29:14,560 --> 00:29:19,120 Speaker 1: loss of money, property, and life, and the almost total 356 00:29:19,160 --> 00:29:23,880 Speaker 1: eradication of neighborly trust had a devastating impact on the 357 00:29:23,920 --> 00:29:29,200 Speaker 1: Salem community for years to come. Many were debt ridden 358 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:34,000 Speaker 1: after their ordeal, owing to the perverse rule that defendants 359 00:29:34,040 --> 00:29:37,800 Speaker 1: were charged rent for their time in jail, even if 360 00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:44,480 Speaker 1: not eventually convicted. Many suffered extreme physical and mental health issues. 361 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:49,400 Speaker 1: The four year old Dorothy Good, after nine months chained 362 00:29:49,480 --> 00:29:52,280 Speaker 1: up in a jail cell, most of which were spent 363 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:57,320 Speaker 1: fending for herself after her mother was murdered, never recovered 364 00:29:57,360 --> 00:30:03,640 Speaker 1: from the trauma. As for the apparently afflicted girls, Mary 365 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:09,360 Speaker 1: Walcott and Mercy Lewis married and moved away. Young Betty 366 00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:13,920 Speaker 1: Paris stayed in Salem, where she also married and raised 367 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:18,840 Speaker 1: a family of her own. The whereabouts of others such 368 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:23,360 Speaker 1: as Elizabeth Hubbard and Abigail Williams has been lost a time, 369 00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:27,200 Speaker 1: but there are some writings that account for a quote 370 00:30:27,720 --> 00:30:32,560 Speaker 1: young girl afflicted who never quite recovered her sanity, which 371 00:30:32,640 --> 00:30:37,760 Speaker 1: some believed to be a reference to Abigail. The enslaved 372 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 1: Titchuba remained in the dire conditions of jail for thirteen 373 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:48,200 Speaker 1: months because the godly Minister Samuel Parris refused to pay 374 00:30:48,240 --> 00:30:53,720 Speaker 1: her fees. In April sixteen ninety three, she was sold 375 00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,200 Speaker 1: to an unknown person for the price of her prison debt. 376 00:30:58,000 --> 00:31:01,520 Speaker 1: She was later said to have alleged that Paris beat 377 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:05,560 Speaker 1: her original confession out of her and then instructed her 378 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:08,640 Speaker 1: on what to say and how to say it. When 379 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:13,600 Speaker 1: she was first questioned in seventeen oh six, a then 380 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:18,280 Speaker 1: twenty six year old and Putnam junior, unmarried and still 381 00:31:18,280 --> 00:31:22,280 Speaker 1: in Salem, stirred in front of the local congregation and 382 00:31:22,440 --> 00:31:25,760 Speaker 1: offered an apology for her part in the events of 383 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 1: sixteen ninety two. She believed she was in fact delusional 384 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:34,640 Speaker 1: at the time, and that even though those delusions were 385 00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:38,600 Speaker 1: likely brought on by the devil, the people she named 386 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:50,520 Speaker 1: were innocent. She was forgiven by their families. It is 387 00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:55,200 Speaker 1: said that the Reverend Nicholas Noys, the official minister of 388 00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:59,600 Speaker 1: the trials, who presided over the excommunication of some of 389 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 1: the defeats and encouraged others to confess to their sins, 390 00:32:04,360 --> 00:32:10,000 Speaker 1: later regretted his part in the trials, perhaps troubled by 391 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:14,240 Speaker 1: a supposed witch, Sarah Goods, threatened to him that if 392 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,320 Speaker 1: he were to let her die, God would give him 393 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:22,320 Speaker 1: blood to drink. He had a change of heart. Others 394 00:32:22,440 --> 00:32:27,200 Speaker 1: are not so sure. One seventeen o three petition to 395 00:32:27,320 --> 00:32:31,200 Speaker 1: clear the names of all accused witches, signed by a 396 00:32:31,280 --> 00:32:36,280 Speaker 1: number of ministers, did not include his name. It was 397 00:32:36,360 --> 00:32:40,760 Speaker 1: fifteen years later at his home in Newbury when Noise, 398 00:32:41,200 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 1: on the cusp of his eightieth birthday, suffered a massive 399 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:51,800 Speaker 1: brain hemorrhage. Some say as the hemorrhage intensified, Noise was 400 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:57,440 Speaker 1: heard coughing and spluttering up blood until he eventually choked 401 00:32:57,440 --> 00:33:06,120 Speaker 1: on it. This episode was written by Richard McClain Smith 402 00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:11,360 Speaker 1: and Ella McLoud Unexplained as an Avy Club Productions podcast 403 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:16,040 Speaker 1: created by Richard McClain Smith. All other elements of the podcast, 404 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:19,800 Speaker 1: including the music, are also produced by me Richard McClain 405 00:33:19,880 --> 00:33:22,000 Speaker 1: Smith Unexplained. 406 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:22,520 Speaker 2: The book and. 407 00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:26,320 Speaker 1: Audiobook, with stories never before featured on the show, is 408 00:33:26,360 --> 00:33:30,320 Speaker 1: now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, 409 00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:35,440 Speaker 1: Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, and other bookstores. Please subscribe to 410 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 1: and rate the show wherever you get your podcasts, and 411 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:41,040 Speaker 1: feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or 412 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:44,880 Speaker 1: ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. 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