1 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:13,600 Speaker 1: When Governor William Phipps arrived in Boston Harbor on September, 2 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:18,319 Speaker 1: he discovered a fire. Not a real fire, mind you, 3 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:21,960 Speaker 1: but a metaphorical one that threatened to burn his colony 4 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:25,600 Speaker 1: to the ground. Nonetheless, yes he knew that there had 5 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: been sparks, and yes he knew that there was plenty 6 00:00:28,880 --> 00:00:31,920 Speaker 1: of kindling, but somehow I doubt he expected it to 7 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:36,040 Speaker 1: burn as hot and deadly as it had. He had 8 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:39,080 Speaker 1: left Massachusetts in early August for a trip up the 9 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: coast to visit the main frontier. He was gone until 10 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: September two, when he returned to take a few meetings 11 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:48,960 Speaker 1: in Boston before heading up again on September for another 12 00:00:49,000 --> 00:00:53,159 Speaker 1: eleven days. Then, I know what you're thinking. With Salem 13 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:57,960 Speaker 1: and the surrounding area consumed with accusations of witchcraft, accusations 14 00:00:58,160 --> 00:01:02,360 Speaker 1: that were maturing into convictions and executions, what in the 15 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: world could have been more important land, specifically his land. Remember, 16 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:12,520 Speaker 1: before being knighted by the King of England for his 17 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,440 Speaker 1: treasure hunting expedition, and before moving to Boston to rub 18 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:20,280 Speaker 1: shoulders with the wealthy merchants, Phipps had been a shipbuilder 19 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 1: from Maine. So while every single person in the colony 20 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: had a bit of skin in the game when it 21 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:27,880 Speaker 1: came to the conflict with the Native Americans and their 22 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:31,360 Speaker 1: French allies to the north. All of those battles were 23 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,679 Speaker 1: personal for Phipps. During part of his trip, he was 24 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:39,839 Speaker 1: up in Pemmaquad, near modern day Bristol, Maine, to oversee 25 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:42,520 Speaker 1: a huge shipment of masts to be sent back to 26 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: England for the Royal Navy's shipwrights, but he used his 27 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: time there to set his militia forces loose on the 28 00:01:48,680 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 1: local Native Americans in retaliation for their recent raids on 29 00:01:52,800 --> 00:01:57,840 Speaker 1: colonial lands. He also oversaw the construction of Fort William Henry, 30 00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: a military base with stone walls measuring twenty nine feet 31 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,800 Speaker 1: high and six ft thick, with twenty eight gun ports 32 00:02:04,840 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 1: facing the Atlantic Ocean. It was something that could have 33 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:11,160 Speaker 1: easily been built without his supervision, but it just happened 34 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:14,480 Speaker 1: to be located near his old home village, where friends 35 00:02:14,520 --> 00:02:20,120 Speaker 1: and relatives still struggled to keep a foothold in hostile territory. Phipps, 36 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: always one to chase after self interest, was using his 37 00:02:24,440 --> 00:02:27,920 Speaker 1: position as leader of the colony to secure his own 38 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:32,120 Speaker 1: property and increase his own fortunes. Back in Boston, though, 39 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: he discovered a world that had gotten out of hand, 40 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:39,959 Speaker 1: endless examinations, an ongoing Oyer and Terminer trial, and more 41 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,080 Speaker 1: than a dozen executions. And as that storm continued to 42 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:49,639 Speaker 1: swirl and captured debris, a pattern was forming. By connecting 43 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:52,919 Speaker 1: the dots, most people could predict who would be accused 44 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:56,240 Speaker 1: of witchcraft and who wouldn't. If you had a relative 45 00:02:56,360 --> 00:02:59,640 Speaker 1: accused of being a witch, either a contemporary or in 46 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: the past, you were a good candidate for accusations. If 47 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: you had been in contact with the French and Native Americans, 48 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 1: you were even more of a target. And if you 49 00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:13,200 Speaker 1: defended someone who was already accused, you were likely to 50 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: draw the spotlight on yourself. So when Phipps returned home, 51 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,240 Speaker 1: it was to a personal emergency. Word had begun to 52 00:03:21,320 --> 00:03:24,399 Speaker 1: spread about a woman who had ties to a former accused, 53 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:27,919 Speaker 1: which who kept a Native American slave in her house, 54 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 1: and who helped at least one already jailed, which escaped 55 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: to freedom. Under most circumstances, that would have meant that 56 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:38,120 Speaker 1: a warrant would be quickly drawn up and the woman 57 00:03:38,200 --> 00:03:42,240 Speaker 1: would be arrested. But that's where it got tricky, because 58 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: this new suspect hit a bit too close to home, 59 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:52,080 Speaker 1: literally and figuratively for phipps own good. This suspect, you see, 60 00:03:53,440 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: was his own wife. This is unobscured. I'm Aaron Manky. 61 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:35,720 Speaker 1: Family troubles weren't the only challenges that Phipps was facing. 62 00:04:36,200 --> 00:04:38,279 Speaker 1: In fact, one of the main reasons he might have 63 00:04:38,279 --> 00:04:41,040 Speaker 1: been spending so much time away from Boston in the 64 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 1: early days of his governorship is because the work was 65 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:49,279 Speaker 1: just too difficult, and that wasn't entirely his fault. Remember, 66 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: the Massachusetts Bay Colony had their original charter taken away 67 00:04:53,400 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: from them by the new English king. In the decades 68 00:04:56,760 --> 00:04:59,560 Speaker 1: that they had relied on that charter, a whole catalog 69 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,599 Speaker 1: of home grown laws had sprung up around it that 70 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,040 Speaker 1: were mostly unique to the colony. But when the Crown 71 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,719 Speaker 1: issued a new charter, it came with specific instructions to 72 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: set up a brand new framework that aligned with English law. 73 00:05:14,160 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: I imagine that was fine for a lot of topics, 74 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 1: but Phipps had a particular rock in his shoe from 75 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:23,720 Speaker 1: the start the witchcraft trials in Salem because they were 76 00:05:23,720 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: touching on something very sensitive and at first blush incredibly boring. 77 00:05:29,080 --> 00:05:34,080 Speaker 1: Forfeiture of property. So buckle up, We're about to get 78 00:05:34,200 --> 00:05:39,479 Speaker 1: legal for a moment. Oh boy. Under English law, if 79 00:05:39,560 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: you were convicted of a felony, say witchcraft, for example, 80 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:46,480 Speaker 1: the consequences had roots in the old feudal system of 81 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:50,400 Speaker 1: land ownership. Your land and other personal property would be 82 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:53,159 Speaker 1: taken away and given to the Crown, who could then 83 00:05:53,320 --> 00:05:56,680 Speaker 1: keep it for themselves or redistribute it to others. In 84 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,680 Speaker 1: Massachusetts in the years leading up to the beginning of 85 00:05:59,680 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: the witch Craft trials, though, that practice had gone away 86 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 1: until the new Charter. That is because if Phipps was 87 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:10,800 Speaker 1: going to realign the colonies laws with the Crowns laws, 88 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:14,960 Speaker 1: that meant bringing back forfeiture. As you can imagine, some 89 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,280 Speaker 1: people were opposed to this, namely the people who stood 90 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:22,560 Speaker 1: to have their property taken away, and those who supported it, well, 91 00:06:22,640 --> 00:06:24,840 Speaker 1: they were the ones who were about to benefit from it. 92 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: Let me give you a couple of examples. Sheriff George 93 00:06:29,320 --> 00:06:33,000 Speaker 1: Corwin was the man presiding over the executions, transporting the 94 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:36,600 Speaker 1: convicted witches to the gallows and carrying out their sentences. 95 00:06:37,120 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: But he was more than a hangman. He was an 96 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,080 Speaker 1: officer of the crown with a full authority of the 97 00:06:42,120 --> 00:06:46,920 Speaker 1: government behind him, and apparently he was a bit greedy. 98 00:06:47,440 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: The day after Giles Corey was pressed to death, it 99 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:52,919 Speaker 1: was George Corwin who went to the Corey household and 100 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: seized his property. Now, some people look at the seizure 101 00:06:56,760 --> 00:06:58,840 Speaker 1: as a way to earn back the money it costs 102 00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:01,880 Speaker 1: to house and feed Giles and Martha in jail for 103 00:07:01,920 --> 00:07:05,480 Speaker 1: all those months. It certainly makes sense, but George Corwin 104 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:09,960 Speaker 1: did other things that cast doubt on that theory. For example, 105 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: he and his deputies wrote out to the farms of 106 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: John and Elizabeth Procter, the Wardwells, and the Jacob's family. 107 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: At each stop he confiscated their goods and property and 108 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:23,440 Speaker 1: carted it off. He even did this to the sizeable 109 00:07:23,600 --> 00:07:26,680 Speaker 1: estate of Mary and Philip English, one of the richest 110 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: couples in the colony, at the Proctor's tavern. Corwin was ruthless. 111 00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,840 Speaker 1: They hadn't even been connected yet before he arrived to 112 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:39,200 Speaker 1: take everything away. He took their cattle, selling some at 113 00:07:39,200 --> 00:07:42,440 Speaker 1: a discount to make a quick sale while butchering the rest. 114 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: He dumped out their beer and soup supplies and carted 115 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:49,080 Speaker 1: off with the pots and barrels. He took everything. It 116 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: didn't matter that John and Elizabeth's young children still lived there. 117 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: As Robert Caliph wrote, they were left to the mercy 118 00:07:56,640 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: of the wilderness. There's also a vidence that Sheriff Corwin 119 00:08:01,280 --> 00:08:05,320 Speaker 1: took money in exchange for leaving property alone. If you recall, 120 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,960 Speaker 1: Bridget Bishop was the first person to be formerly executed, 121 00:08:09,040 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: and her stepson Edward, along with his wife Sarah, were 122 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:15,800 Speaker 1: also in jail. When Corwin wrote out to their tavern 123 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:18,280 Speaker 1: in Salem Town and began to load up his cart 124 00:08:18,320 --> 00:08:22,200 Speaker 1: with everything he could find. Edward's son Samuel, showed up 125 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:24,800 Speaker 1: and offered to pay the sheriff ten pounds to leave 126 00:08:24,840 --> 00:08:28,000 Speaker 1: it all behind. It was the equivalent of thousands of 127 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:32,160 Speaker 1: dollars in modern American currency, and Sheriff Corwin should probably 128 00:08:32,280 --> 00:08:36,200 Speaker 1: had handed it over to the crown and walked away. Instead, 129 00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: he wrote Samuel a receipt that simply read a valuable 130 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,640 Speaker 1: sum of money. If that wasn't the perfect set up 131 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:48,480 Speaker 1: for embezzlement, I'm not sure what is. The seizure of 132 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:51,559 Speaker 1: property didn't happen all the time, though, then that's because 133 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,240 Speaker 1: of how property laws worked In English law men could 134 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:58,600 Speaker 1: own property, as could single women. But once a woman 135 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 1: married a man, all of her assets became his property, 136 00:09:02,120 --> 00:09:04,880 Speaker 1: not hers. Many of the women who were accused and 137 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:08,440 Speaker 1: convicted never experienced the loss of their property because it 138 00:09:08,480 --> 00:09:11,280 Speaker 1: didn't legally belong to them, but there were a number 139 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:15,280 Speaker 1: of them that did. Here's Jane Kaminsky, professor of history 140 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: at Harvard University. Another scholar, Carol Carlson out of University 141 00:09:20,520 --> 00:09:25,640 Speaker 1: of Michigan, found that a significant number of suspects in 142 00:09:25,679 --> 00:09:30,319 Speaker 1: New England witchcraft cases were women who had unusually direct 143 00:09:30,440 --> 00:09:35,200 Speaker 1: lines to property holding, either because they didn't have living husbands, 144 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:37,880 Speaker 1: or they didn't have sons, or they didn't have brothers. 145 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:44,000 Speaker 1: Some unusually direct relationship to property and land. When we 146 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: do see it, it's because the husband was also convicted, 147 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:50,040 Speaker 1: or the woman was a widow who took possession of 148 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:53,600 Speaker 1: her husband's assets after he passed away. And Sheriff Corwin 149 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:57,400 Speaker 1: knew these rules all too well. In fact, after George 150 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:00,800 Speaker 1: Jacobs had been arrested, Corwin paid his wife a visit 151 00:10:01,200 --> 00:10:04,640 Speaker 1: and took her wedding ring, which by English law belonged 152 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:08,480 Speaker 1: to George and not her. This is a lot of 153 00:10:08,600 --> 00:10:11,160 Speaker 1: legal stuff, I know, but it was an attack on 154 00:10:11,200 --> 00:10:15,400 Speaker 1: the foundation of society inside the colony. There these people 155 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:19,520 Speaker 1: were second or third generation settlers whose ancestors had brought 156 00:10:19,559 --> 00:10:22,400 Speaker 1: everything with them and then handed it down to support 157 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:25,320 Speaker 1: the next generation in the new world. That's why the 158 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: colony did away with the forfeiture laws in the first place. Now, though, 159 00:10:29,840 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: that was all changing, and this was the mess that 160 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,400 Speaker 1: Phipps discovered when he returned from Maine. People were having 161 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:40,479 Speaker 1: their land and property ripped out of their hands seemingly 162 00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: left and right, and the community was beginning to rumble 163 00:10:43,960 --> 00:10:48,440 Speaker 1: with discontent, and so word was spreading about it. So 164 00:10:48,480 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 1: Phipps did something to stop it all. No, not the 165 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:55,120 Speaker 1: seizure of property, but the spreading of the news. He 166 00:10:55,240 --> 00:10:58,400 Speaker 1: declared an embargo on the public writing about the trials 167 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:02,400 Speaker 1: in their entirety, for bidding anyone from publishing news or 168 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:07,280 Speaker 1: information about what was happening. Phipps, the rough spoken gold 169 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:11,440 Speaker 1: digger who preferred victory lapse to actually doing work, declared 170 00:11:11,440 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 1: the press to be illegitimate and shut it down. But 171 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:24,720 Speaker 1: as everyone knows, you can't stop the signal. Local news 172 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 1: is a lot like water. You can seal your house, 173 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: but it's still going to find a way inside. Eventually, 174 00:11:31,040 --> 00:11:33,320 Speaker 1: Phips might have placed a ban on writing about the 175 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:35,600 Speaker 1: events in Salem, but that didn't mean it was going 176 00:11:35,640 --> 00:11:39,000 Speaker 1: to work. And ironically, one of the biggest works on 177 00:11:39,040 --> 00:11:42,240 Speaker 1: the witchcraft trials was being written at that very moment 178 00:11:42,360 --> 00:11:48,400 Speaker 1: by his good friend Cotton Mother. Months earlier, in June, 179 00:11:49,040 --> 00:11:51,400 Speaker 1: a bunch of the local clergy had gathered together to 180 00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:54,400 Speaker 1: write a document that was meant to urge Stowton, Hawthorne 181 00:11:54,400 --> 00:11:58,520 Speaker 1: and the other magistrates to exercise caution in the coming trials. 182 00:11:59,120 --> 00:12:01,760 Speaker 1: They used Christie in scripture to build their case and 183 00:12:01,800 --> 00:12:04,840 Speaker 1: then gave the actual writing over to cotton Mother because 184 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 1: he was the popular favorite. When it was completed, they 185 00:12:08,120 --> 00:12:13,960 Speaker 1: titled the work The Return of Several Ministers. Stoughton misread it, though, 186 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:17,880 Speaker 1: Where the collection of ministers meant to offer the theology 187 00:12:17,920 --> 00:12:21,680 Speaker 1: behind their warnings, Stoughton saw theology that backed up his 188 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:24,760 Speaker 1: own agenda, and of course it didn't help the Cotton 189 00:12:24,800 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 1: Mather was a bit of a people pleaser, so it 190 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:32,079 Speaker 1: was easy to misinterpret his soft, flowery language. The end 191 00:12:32,120 --> 00:12:34,959 Speaker 1: result was that rather than feel scolded by the ministers, 192 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 1: the judges all felt as if Mather was on their side, 193 00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:40,600 Speaker 1: so as the Oyer and termin or trial and all 194 00:12:40,640 --> 00:12:43,120 Speaker 1: of the fallout around it began to turn into a 195 00:12:43,200 --> 00:12:46,719 Speaker 1: sort of pr nightmare. The judges decided to work with 196 00:12:46,800 --> 00:12:52,280 Speaker 1: Mather on writing a book in their defense. On September 197 00:12:52,320 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: twenty two, just one day after the most recent group 198 00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:58,800 Speaker 1: of executions, Cotton Mather was invited over to the home 199 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:02,520 Speaker 1: of Judge Samuel's Will to discuss the project. Also in 200 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:05,800 Speaker 1: attendance were Samuel's brother Stephen, who worked as the clerk 201 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 1: of the court for the trial, as well as William Stowton, 202 00:13:08,760 --> 00:13:13,000 Speaker 1: John Hawthorne, and senior Salem town minister John Higginson, whose 203 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:17,440 Speaker 1: son was now one of the judges. Their purpose to 204 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:22,120 Speaker 1: defend themselves from accusations of mishandling the trials. They would 205 00:13:22,120 --> 00:13:24,880 Speaker 1: provide Mather with all the court documents he would need 206 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:28,480 Speaker 1: to mount their defense, covering the challenges faced by the court, 207 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 1: as well as the multitude of suspects and descriptions of 208 00:13:31,840 --> 00:13:35,280 Speaker 1: the supernatural evidence that they had to sift through. Here's 209 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:40,079 Speaker 1: historian Maryland k Roach. He at this point still assumes 210 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:44,040 Speaker 1: that they had been proceeding correctly, and maybe he thinks 211 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:47,240 Speaker 1: he needs to make more excuses for how things had gone. 212 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:50,720 Speaker 1: So it kind of supports the view that they had 213 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 1: proceeded as best they could. It did nothing for his 214 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:59,000 Speaker 1: reputation thereafter, and it kind of ties him with that, 215 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:03,120 Speaker 1: even though he did say at the beginning, you shouldn't 216 00:14:03,120 --> 00:14:06,000 Speaker 1: really use spectral evidence, and he had a lot of 217 00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:08,160 Speaker 1: all the good things that he did, But that wasn't 218 00:14:08,360 --> 00:14:10,760 Speaker 1: very unfortunate when all of the book is a good 219 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:14,200 Speaker 1: source of what people were saying in views of the trials, 220 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:18,040 Speaker 1: and there's some anecdotes and they aren't in the existing papers. 221 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:22,680 Speaker 1: By early October, Cotton Mather was working furiously on the book. 222 00:14:23,200 --> 00:14:25,720 Speaker 1: He began by grabbing the text from a series of 223 00:14:25,720 --> 00:14:28,240 Speaker 1: sermons he had given over the summer on the topic 224 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:32,320 Speaker 1: of supernatural and spiritual matters. The most popular of them 225 00:14:32,360 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 1: had been a sermon he called a Discourse of the 226 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:38,800 Speaker 1: Wonders of the Invisible World, so popular that he pulled 227 00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:43,120 Speaker 1: the new book's title right from it. As he finished 228 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:45,360 Speaker 1: each chapter, he would rush it off to the printer 229 00:14:45,520 --> 00:14:49,440 Speaker 1: to be typeset, not wanting to waste any time. Interwoven 230 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:53,000 Speaker 1: within the republished sermons were arguments in support of the 231 00:14:53,080 --> 00:14:56,520 Speaker 1: judges and their trial. He even used quotes from actual 232 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:00,000 Speaker 1: court records, words spoken by the judges and the accused 233 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: is alike to support his arguments. Of course, he also 234 00:15:03,720 --> 00:15:06,640 Speaker 1: skipped all the quotes that countered his points, but who 235 00:15:06,680 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 1: among the common folk would know that right? It was 236 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:16,400 Speaker 1: looking back an unapologetic work of propaganda. His main argument 237 00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:20,760 Speaker 1: was essentially this, there was a military government within the 238 00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:23,760 Speaker 1: forces of the Devil. He even compared their ranks to 239 00:15:23,800 --> 00:15:27,960 Speaker 1: the French cavalry, and these military like forces desired to 240 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:31,600 Speaker 1: overrun the colony and the Church. Not one to shy 241 00:15:31,640 --> 00:15:35,520 Speaker 1: away from dramatic language, Mather declared that the Devil in 242 00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:40,040 Speaker 1: Great Wrath has made a prodigious descent on our poor 243 00:15:40,120 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 1: New England. His biggest piece of evidence that this conflict 244 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:48,960 Speaker 1: was taking place was the spectral evidence. You know, the 245 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:52,360 Speaker 1: stories of an accused which visiting one of the afflicted 246 00:15:52,400 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: in their homes at night, hovering above their beds and 247 00:15:55,360 --> 00:15:59,800 Speaker 1: tormenting them. Visions of Martha Corey demanding that someone signed 248 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:03,160 Speaker 1: the Devil's book, or tales of the spectral version of 249 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: a witch physically attacking an innocent victim. Mather's argument was simple, 250 00:16:09,120 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 1: how can we even note to go looking for other 251 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 1: pieces of evidence if we dismissed the spectral tales. These 252 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 1: supernatural stories, according to Mather, help them to notice the 253 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:23,880 Speaker 1: people who deserve more investigation. In other words, the ends 254 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:28,840 Speaker 1: entirely justified the means, so please, let's not attack the means, 255 00:16:28,840 --> 00:16:34,880 Speaker 1: however unusual and unfair they might appear. What's interesting to note, though, 256 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:37,400 Speaker 1: is that for as much as Cotton Mather had essentially 257 00:16:37,440 --> 00:16:41,000 Speaker 1: become the pr director for the witch trials in Salem, 258 00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:43,600 Speaker 1: he was out of step with the majority of clergy 259 00:16:43,640 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 1: in Massachusetts. Sure, he was a well respected religious leader 260 00:16:47,880 --> 00:16:51,120 Speaker 1: working hard to make sure the Puritan mission was represented 261 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:54,000 Speaker 1: in the new government, but on this matter he was 262 00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:57,600 Speaker 1: in the minority. So it shouldn't come as a surprise 263 00:16:57,720 --> 00:17:01,320 Speaker 1: that he was opposed by other vocal ministers. While Cotton 264 00:17:01,400 --> 00:17:05,240 Speaker 1: Mather was discussing the correct way to navigate spectral evidence 265 00:17:05,280 --> 00:17:09,000 Speaker 1: within the court, other religious leaders were building a case 266 00:17:09,080 --> 00:17:12,399 Speaker 1: to oppose him, and they were led by someone that 267 00:17:12,520 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 1: Cotton thought he could trust, his father, Increase Mather. We 268 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:24,800 Speaker 1: need to pause for a second and play catch up. 269 00:17:25,600 --> 00:17:28,119 Speaker 1: Over the last ten episodes, I've told you about a 270 00:17:28,160 --> 00:17:32,440 Speaker 1: lot of arrests and examinations, about the evidence presented and 271 00:17:32,520 --> 00:17:35,880 Speaker 1: the trials that judged them. Each of them are slightly 272 00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:38,919 Speaker 1: different from the last, and no two cases follow the 273 00:17:39,000 --> 00:17:42,399 Speaker 1: same path. So I want to try and illustrate something 274 00:17:42,440 --> 00:17:46,359 Speaker 1: for you. To convict a person on the charge of 275 00:17:46,359 --> 00:17:50,879 Speaker 1: witchcraft in Salem, in just like our court system today, 276 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:54,480 Speaker 1: you had to prove that the person was guilty. Obviously, 277 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:58,280 Speaker 1: someone had to begin the process by accusing someone else 278 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:01,880 Speaker 1: and calling them a witch. If the accusation was serious enough, 279 00:18:02,119 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 1: they would be arrested and brought in for examination. And 280 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:10,080 Speaker 1: that's where things got tricky. We can look back after 281 00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:15,400 Speaker 1: three twenty six years and understand why the magistrates were 282 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:19,760 Speaker 1: being asked to believe supernatural stories and take them as proof. 283 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:24,119 Speaker 1: So they administered tests, some of which we've covered already. 284 00:18:24,359 --> 00:18:27,119 Speaker 1: They might have the person's body searched for, which is 285 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:31,480 Speaker 1: marks those unnatural teats used to suckle the devil's minions. 286 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 1: They might listen to the stories of the afflicted, who 287 00:18:34,520 --> 00:18:38,479 Speaker 1: would describe being attacked by the person's spectral form. They 288 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,800 Speaker 1: would also rely on something called the touch test, where 289 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,560 Speaker 1: the accused, which would be brought into the same room 290 00:18:44,720 --> 00:18:47,280 Speaker 1: as one of the afflicted girls during one of her 291 00:18:47,320 --> 00:18:51,080 Speaker 1: fits and instructed to touch her. If the touch of 292 00:18:51,119 --> 00:18:54,920 Speaker 1: the accused stopped the seizure, then they were truly a witch. 293 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:58,159 Speaker 1: But I think you can see the problem with something 294 00:18:58,240 --> 00:19:01,320 Speaker 1: like that. If the afflicted person had simply made up 295 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,280 Speaker 1: the stories to hurt another person, they can just as 296 00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:07,880 Speaker 1: easily fake the seizure and then stop when the accused 297 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:11,840 Speaker 1: person touches them, And since it's all happening in a courtroom, 298 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:17,000 Speaker 1: the judges would accept it as perfectly legitimate evidence. After that, 299 00:19:17,040 --> 00:19:19,919 Speaker 1: the trial would go one of two ways. Either the 300 00:19:19,960 --> 00:19:23,000 Speaker 1: accused which would deny all of the charges and put 301 00:19:23,119 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: up a legal fight, or they would cave in, admit 302 00:19:26,440 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 1: to being a witch and then name a bunch of 303 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:32,280 Speaker 1: other people in an effort to save themselves. Those new 304 00:19:32,320 --> 00:19:35,680 Speaker 1: accused people would be arrested and the process would start 305 00:19:35,720 --> 00:19:39,760 Speaker 1: all over again. So as Cotton Mather was publishing his 306 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:43,800 Speaker 1: book of justification for that broken system, his father was 307 00:19:43,840 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: working on something of his own. Increase. Mather was the 308 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,520 Speaker 1: man who traveled to England with Sir William Phipps to 309 00:19:49,560 --> 00:19:52,320 Speaker 1: bring back the new Charter. He had the ear of 310 00:19:52,359 --> 00:19:56,160 Speaker 1: the governor, decades of experience, and a lot more wisdom 311 00:19:56,240 --> 00:20:00,560 Speaker 1: and patience than his son Cotton, and he used all 312 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:03,520 Speaker 1: of that to craft his own book. It was called 313 00:20:03,880 --> 00:20:09,680 Speaker 1: Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits, personating men, witchcrafts, infallible 314 00:20:09,720 --> 00:20:13,000 Speaker 1: proofs of guilt in such as are accused with that crime. 315 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:17,040 Speaker 1: That's a mouthful, I know, which is why most historians 316 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: today just call it Cases of Conscience Concerning Evil Spirits. 317 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:24,600 Speaker 1: And the book directly attacked the Court's view of spectral 318 00:20:24,640 --> 00:20:30,040 Speaker 1: evidence and therefore his son's support of it. Increase Mather 319 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: wrote about how the touch test was flawed. The afflicted person, 320 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:38,240 Speaker 1: the one having the seizure or the fit, should be blindfolded, 321 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:41,119 Speaker 1: so that the anonymous touch alone would be the test. 322 00:20:41,560 --> 00:20:44,639 Speaker 1: He cited an event in and Over on September seven 323 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,320 Speaker 1: where a group touched test was carried out, although in 324 00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:50,919 Speaker 1: that one they blindfolded the accused, not the afflicted. It was, 325 00:20:51,080 --> 00:20:55,880 Speaker 1: according to him, a flawed measure of guilt. Then there 326 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: was the basic notion that the Court was literally accusing 327 00:20:59,040 --> 00:21:03,119 Speaker 1: people of supernaw natural crimes by using supernatural tests to 328 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:07,400 Speaker 1: judge them. It was hypocritical and wrong and easily manipulated 329 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 1: by those in power. According to Increase Mather, these tests 330 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:15,520 Speaker 1: were invented by the devil so that innocent persons might 331 00:21:15,600 --> 00:21:21,320 Speaker 1: be condemned and some notorious witches escape. His last attack 332 00:21:21,359 --> 00:21:24,639 Speaker 1: on the views of the court was regarding confession. If 333 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:28,200 Speaker 1: an accused witch nodded her head and declared, yes, I 334 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:31,080 Speaker 1: am in fact a witch, and then named a dozen 335 00:21:31,160 --> 00:21:34,960 Speaker 1: others to make herself valuable and ward off her execution, 336 00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:38,040 Speaker 1: the court would go and arrest all of those new people. 337 00:21:38,720 --> 00:21:42,879 Speaker 1: Increase Mather, however, pointed out how ludicrous that notion was. 338 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:46,879 Speaker 1: If someone had given themselves up to the devil, the 339 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:50,800 Speaker 1: legendary father of lies, then how can we possibly trust 340 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:53,400 Speaker 1: a single word that came out of their mouth? If 341 00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:56,479 Speaker 1: they identify a dozen other witches, why in the world 342 00:21:56,560 --> 00:22:01,360 Speaker 1: should anyone believe them? It was, according to him, him insanity. 343 00:22:03,280 --> 00:22:06,440 Speaker 1: On October three, a group of ministers gathered at Harvard 344 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:10,800 Speaker 1: to read Increase Mather's new book out loud. Increase wasn't there, 345 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:13,679 Speaker 1: but his son Cotton was, and I can't help but 346 00:22:13,760 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 1: imagine that it was just a little bit awkward for him. 347 00:22:18,119 --> 00:22:21,120 Speaker 1: Another of the ministers there was Samuel Willard, who we've 348 00:22:21,119 --> 00:22:23,679 Speaker 1: heard a lot about so far. Not only was he 349 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 1: the minister of the church where Captain John Alden and 350 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:30,159 Speaker 1: Mary and Philip English attended, he had also increasingly become 351 00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:33,080 Speaker 1: more and more opposed to the direction and methods of 352 00:22:33,119 --> 00:22:36,960 Speaker 1: the trial. As a sign of support, Willard wrote an 353 00:22:36,960 --> 00:22:41,280 Speaker 1: introductory essay for increase Mather's book. All of the ministers 354 00:22:41,320 --> 00:22:43,960 Speaker 1: there at Harvard that day signed their names to the 355 00:22:44,119 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: essay to show their agreement. All of them, that is, 356 00:22:48,840 --> 00:23:01,600 Speaker 1: except Cotton Mother. Increase Mather wasn't alone in his descent. 357 00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:04,800 Speaker 1: Despite the muzzle that Governor Phipps tried to put on 358 00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: the press, more and more people began to speak out 359 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:11,560 Speaker 1: about the trials. Yes, some people still believe the witchcraft 360 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,439 Speaker 1: was a disease threatening to destroy the Puritan mission, but 361 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,119 Speaker 1: there was a growing majority who felt that the real 362 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:23,360 Speaker 1: disease was actually the trial. Some of the more outspoken 363 00:23:23,440 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 1: voices came from wealthy Boston businessmen. They circulated statements and 364 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 1: letters in an attempt to sway public opinion, and chief 365 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: among them was a young man named Thomas Brattle, a 366 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:38,480 Speaker 1: member of Samuel Willard's Third Church of Boston and part 367 00:23:38,520 --> 00:23:42,560 Speaker 1: of a well established Boston family. And this guy was smart. 368 00:23:43,720 --> 00:23:46,000 Speaker 1: Four years prior to the Sale and witch trials, he 369 00:23:46,119 --> 00:23:49,080 Speaker 1: and Judge Samuel Sewell had traveled together on a one 370 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,439 Speaker 1: year tour of England. They were marginal players in the 371 00:23:52,520 --> 00:23:56,480 Speaker 1: process to restore the old Massachusetts Colony charter, but Brattle 372 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:59,480 Speaker 1: also had a deep interest in the scientific community that 373 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:03,760 Speaker 1: was growing back in London. Brattle had a passionate interest 374 00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:07,680 Speaker 1: in a lot of areas of science, including mathematics, architecture, 375 00:24:07,840 --> 00:24:11,000 Speaker 1: and astronomy. While he and Sewell were in London, he 376 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:14,640 Speaker 1: dragged his friend to all sorts of enlightening events and locations. 377 00:24:15,040 --> 00:24:18,679 Speaker 1: They attended concerts together, visited the Royal Navy rope yards 378 00:24:18,720 --> 00:24:21,560 Speaker 1: to see the trade in action, and even went swimming 379 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:25,359 Speaker 1: in the Thames. And from everything I've read, Brattle would 380 00:24:25,359 --> 00:24:29,200 Speaker 1: have been an avid Instagram user today. He absolutely loved 381 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,880 Speaker 1: to make detailed architectural surveys of the buildings he visited, 382 00:24:33,080 --> 00:24:37,359 Speaker 1: spending hours measuring them and recording accurate drawings to share 383 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:40,439 Speaker 1: with his friends back home. There's even a story of 384 00:24:40,480 --> 00:24:44,640 Speaker 1: Brattle visiting Versailles in France on another trip and pouring 385 00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:47,520 Speaker 1: over the palace there with such attention that one of 386 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:52,600 Speaker 1: the guards accused him of being a spy. Brattle and 387 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 1: Sewell were in London in six eighty nine when King 388 00:24:55,800 --> 00:24:58,760 Speaker 1: William's War was declared by the Crown. They were there 389 00:24:58,760 --> 00:25:02,520 Speaker 1: when London received word of the coup that overthrew Massachusetts 390 00:25:02,520 --> 00:25:05,800 Speaker 1: governor Androws. They were there as the efforts to restore 391 00:25:05,840 --> 00:25:09,720 Speaker 1: their colony to its old Puritan charter were derailed. But 392 00:25:09,760 --> 00:25:12,520 Speaker 1: it was also productive for Brattle. By the time they 393 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,919 Speaker 1: sailed home in September of sixty nine, he had been 394 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:20,399 Speaker 1: awarded entrance to the Royal Society, the most prestigious scientific 395 00:25:20,440 --> 00:25:25,880 Speaker 1: community in England. Samuel Sewell wasn't just a quiet observer, though. 396 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:29,040 Speaker 1: He took things in and allowed it to change his mind. 397 00:25:29,520 --> 00:25:31,840 Speaker 1: In the weeks leading up to their trip in sixteen 398 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:35,119 Speaker 1: eighty nine, Sewell recorded in his journal that he watched 399 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,880 Speaker 1: an Irish washerwoman named Goody Glover be carded past him 400 00:25:38,880 --> 00:25:42,400 Speaker 1: in Boston, followed by a crowd of marshals, constables, and 401 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:44,919 Speaker 1: even a judge. She was on her way to be 402 00:25:45,040 --> 00:25:50,000 Speaker 1: executed for witchcraft, and he was intrigued by that. Brattle 403 00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:54,199 Speaker 1: is important, though, because of what he represents. Remember we 404 00:25:54,240 --> 00:25:56,960 Speaker 1: have this trial going on in sale and Town, and 405 00:25:57,040 --> 00:26:00,119 Speaker 1: it's spreading like a plague to the surrounding community. Is 406 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 1: it's a religious movement with a legal framework. It's the 407 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,840 Speaker 1: moment where the rubber meets the road for a community 408 00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,520 Speaker 1: of people who believe in the spiritual world, and it 409 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:13,000 Speaker 1: seems to fly in the face of hard, evidence based science. 410 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,080 Speaker 1: So when Brattle writes his letter regarding the trials, that's 411 00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:19,760 Speaker 1: the world view he brings to the table. He's a 412 00:26:19,800 --> 00:26:24,040 Speaker 1: scientist and a passionate observer of verifiable evidence, so he 413 00:26:24,080 --> 00:26:26,639 Speaker 1: can't view the trials in the same way as someone 414 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:29,960 Speaker 1: like Cotton Mather might. His letter was a plea for 415 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:35,600 Speaker 1: rationality over religion. He started it off by stating that 416 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:39,120 Speaker 1: he had no intent to cast dirt on authority, as 417 00:26:39,160 --> 00:26:42,359 Speaker 1: he put it, but soon enough the text shifts into 418 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: a bloodthirsty analysis of the trials. He touches on many 419 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:49,200 Speaker 1: of the same ideas that Samuel Willard and increased Mother had, 420 00:26:49,560 --> 00:26:53,360 Speaker 1: but he does it with surgical precision and an undercurrent 421 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 1: of science. Brattle didn't mince words. Instead, he went for 422 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:01,199 Speaker 1: the jugular. He blames Stoton for allowing justice to be 423 00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,399 Speaker 1: perverted in the service of religion, and he named the 424 00:27:04,440 --> 00:27:08,240 Speaker 1: prominent individuals who were staunchly opposed to the actions of 425 00:27:08,240 --> 00:27:13,119 Speaker 1: the Court, including former Governor Simon Bradstreet, former Deputy Governor 426 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:17,040 Speaker 1: Thomas Danforth, and Nathaniel salt Install, the judge who had 427 00:27:17,080 --> 00:27:20,280 Speaker 1: quit the Oyer and Terminer out of disgust with the proceedings, 428 00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,960 Speaker 1: and he begged the court to use common sense. How 429 00:27:24,000 --> 00:27:27,400 Speaker 1: could the afflicted see the specters of witches if their 430 00:27:27,400 --> 00:27:30,360 Speaker 1: eyes were closed? How could they not see the difference 431 00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:37,359 Speaker 1: between real, verifiable evidence and simple religious bias. When Sewell 432 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,960 Speaker 1: read his friend's letter, he paid Thomas Danforth a visit. 433 00:27:41,760 --> 00:27:45,760 Speaker 1: Was it true, he asked him, and Danforth confirmed it yes. 434 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:49,480 Speaker 1: He told him I no longer support the court. Since 435 00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:52,320 Speaker 1: his forced retirement in April, he had found himself with 436 00:27:52,440 --> 00:27:55,520 Speaker 1: ample spare time to consider all of the strange events 437 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:59,239 Speaker 1: in Salem and felt that the process was broken. If 438 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,199 Speaker 1: the Court wanted to continue moving forward, he felt they 439 00:28:02,240 --> 00:28:07,440 Speaker 1: needed to consult the ministers and the people first. Thomas Brattle, though, 440 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:11,240 Speaker 1: had a less polite, yet more powerful way of putting it. 441 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:16,800 Speaker 1: If our officers and courts have apprehended, imprisoned, condemned, and 442 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:22,760 Speaker 1: executed our guiltless neighbors, he wrote, certainly, our error is great, 443 00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:27,520 Speaker 1: and we shall rue it in the conclusion. In other words, 444 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:31,159 Speaker 1: if it turns out that you were wrong, you'll have 445 00:28:31,240 --> 00:28:39,600 Speaker 1: blood on your hands. If Thomas Brattle's mission to call 446 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:43,120 Speaker 1: the colony to common sense was a spark it quickly 447 00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 1: ignited the Boston area. In early October, two things happened 448 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:53,440 Speaker 1: that just one month prior would have seemed impossible. First, 449 00:28:53,600 --> 00:28:56,800 Speaker 1: some of the afflicted girls in Andover pointed their fingers 450 00:28:56,840 --> 00:29:00,600 Speaker 1: at a worthy gentleman of Boston as its it, and 451 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:04,080 Speaker 1: accused him of being a witch. Rather than allow himself 452 00:29:04,080 --> 00:29:06,840 Speaker 1: to be arrested or even flee to New York or 453 00:29:06,920 --> 00:29:11,680 Speaker 1: some other sanctuary location, this man simply acquired a warrant 454 00:29:11,800 --> 00:29:15,120 Speaker 1: to have the girls arrested for defamation with the promise 455 00:29:15,200 --> 00:29:19,240 Speaker 1: of a thousand pound fine roughly one million dollars today, 456 00:29:19,760 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: they dropped their claims. That same week, a different Boston 457 00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:27,680 Speaker 1: businessman found himself so desperate to find healing for his 458 00:29:27,760 --> 00:29:31,080 Speaker 1: sick daughter that he traveled north with her to Salem. 459 00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:34,600 Speaker 1: This particular man had either been ignoring Brattle's cry for 460 00:29:34,680 --> 00:29:38,240 Speaker 1: logic and reason or had somehow missed the news, so 461 00:29:38,320 --> 00:29:41,200 Speaker 1: he approached the afflicted girls of Salem and asked for 462 00:29:41,280 --> 00:29:45,440 Speaker 1: help identifying the witch or witches that were tormenting his daughter. 463 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:50,600 Speaker 1: The girls identified two witches, but when he took their names, 464 00:29:50,640 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 1: to the judges. They refused to give him a warrant 465 00:29:53,560 --> 00:29:57,520 Speaker 1: for their arrest. The Boston man might have missed Brattle's message, 466 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:01,320 Speaker 1: but the authorities in Salem certainly at it. When Increase 467 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:03,800 Speaker 1: Mather heard what this man had tried to do, he 468 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:07,280 Speaker 1: berated him, asking him why he preferred the devil in 469 00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 1: Salem to God in Boston. The first two weeks of 470 00:30:12,240 --> 00:30:15,640 Speaker 1: October also saw some changes in how prisoners were being held. 471 00:30:16,440 --> 00:30:19,440 Speaker 1: Eight men from Andover requested that the court release all 472 00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:22,520 Speaker 1: of the accused miners into the custody of their families 473 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:25,760 Speaker 1: while they await trial. It was getting colder and the 474 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,720 Speaker 1: jails were less and less safe to be inside. The 475 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:32,520 Speaker 1: court agreed, and a number of prisoners were released. But 476 00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:37,200 Speaker 1: it wasn't just the children. Here's historian Stacy Schiff, most 477 00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:40,080 Speaker 1: of the husbands will actually petition to get their wives back. 478 00:30:40,160 --> 00:30:42,600 Speaker 1: Late in the fall, it's harvest season. It's really important 479 00:30:42,600 --> 00:30:44,600 Speaker 1: that the wives be there to help, you know, can 480 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,080 Speaker 1: the preserves and and get the house in order. And 481 00:30:47,120 --> 00:30:48,920 Speaker 1: I think most of most of those women are released. 482 00:30:48,920 --> 00:30:53,600 Speaker 1: In October November, the tide was turning. Minds were changing 483 00:30:54,000 --> 00:30:57,479 Speaker 1: the public perception of the Salem Trials was no longer 484 00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:01,240 Speaker 1: overwhelmingly in favor of pushing for word. With blind passion 485 00:31:01,960 --> 00:31:04,640 Speaker 1: banks to the mounting death toll and the epidemic of 486 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 1: property seizures, the people of Salem and the surrounding area 487 00:31:08,400 --> 00:31:10,600 Speaker 1: had started to doubt they were on the right path, 488 00:31:11,160 --> 00:31:14,000 Speaker 1: and all of that doubt was washing up on the 489 00:31:14,040 --> 00:31:19,560 Speaker 1: shore at the feet of Governor William Phipps on October twelfth. 490 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:23,280 Speaker 1: He found himself with some decisions to make, partly because 491 00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:26,120 Speaker 1: of the rise and resistance to the trials, but also 492 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:30,120 Speaker 1: because the General Court sort of the state legislature for 493 00:31:30,280 --> 00:31:33,720 Speaker 1: the colony had finally gathered together to put new laws 494 00:31:33,800 --> 00:31:37,360 Speaker 1: on paper. The new Charter needed to be implemented, and 495 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:40,120 Speaker 1: that meant Phipps and the others had some work ahead 496 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:44,240 Speaker 1: of them. We know about what happened inside the government 497 00:31:44,320 --> 00:31:47,520 Speaker 1: in October because Phipps wrote a series of four letters 498 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:50,640 Speaker 1: back to the Crown in England. Now keep in mind 499 00:31:50,840 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 1: they were written by him to make himself look better, 500 00:31:54,160 --> 00:31:56,280 Speaker 1: but it's possible to pick through them and find the 501 00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:59,080 Speaker 1: truth of the events around him. Here is Professor of 502 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:06,200 Speaker 1: American history Mary Beth Norton. Phipps is really good at 503 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:13,840 Speaker 1: covering his butt. Phipps is a master at not letting 504 00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:16,480 Speaker 1: on that he knew all along it was going on. 505 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:21,440 Speaker 1: I mean, Phipps rice this letter saying to the people 506 00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:24,720 Speaker 1: in London, oh my god, I just got back. I 507 00:32:24,800 --> 00:32:28,520 Speaker 1: went fighting Indians on the frontier all summer, and I 508 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:31,280 Speaker 1: came back and I found this horrible situation and I 509 00:32:31,320 --> 00:32:36,680 Speaker 1: stopped it. That was so untrue. For example, he recorded 510 00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:40,360 Speaker 1: that the property seizures had been an unauthorized decision by 511 00:32:40,440 --> 00:32:43,320 Speaker 1: William Stowton, head of the Court of Oyer and Terminer, 512 00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:47,480 Speaker 1: And maybe that's how he justified reinstating the old colony 513 00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:50,840 Speaker 1: law that prevented forfeiture of property. But there was more. 514 00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:54,280 Speaker 1: Phipps had a decision to make about the very foundation 515 00:32:54,440 --> 00:33:00,520 Speaker 1: of the entire trial spectral evidence. He was the person 516 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:03,280 Speaker 1: who had to make the call. If he decided that 517 00:33:03,320 --> 00:33:07,000 Speaker 1: spectral evidence was not valid and admissible, then there was 518 00:33:07,040 --> 00:33:10,080 Speaker 1: a whole list of people who had been arrested, convicted, 519 00:33:10,160 --> 00:33:14,600 Speaker 1: and executed specifically because of that mistake. If, on the 520 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:17,720 Speaker 1: other hand, he declared it all to be legitimate, then 521 00:33:17,720 --> 00:33:20,120 Speaker 1: he would have to give a reason why, and a 522 00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 1: good enough reason, even in late October still eluded him. 523 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:30,680 Speaker 1: Phipps was that stereotypical cartoon character with a tiny angel 524 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:33,320 Speaker 1: on one shoulder and a tiny devil on the other. 525 00:33:33,840 --> 00:33:36,320 Speaker 1: Except for him, it was men like Samuel Willard and 526 00:33:36,360 --> 00:33:40,240 Speaker 1: Thomas Brattle whispering caution into one ear, while Cotton Mather 527 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:45,960 Speaker 1: and his few remaining supporters urged him to rush forward. Finally, 528 00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:49,479 Speaker 1: he and the General Court proposed a temporary pause so 529 00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:52,640 Speaker 1: they could institute a fast and call for an assembly 530 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:56,200 Speaker 1: of ministers to advise them. They wanted help seeking out 531 00:33:56,240 --> 00:33:59,520 Speaker 1: God's preferred road out of their current mess. When it 532 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:03,040 Speaker 1: went to a vote, it barely passed, with thirty three 533 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:07,320 Speaker 1: in favor and twenty nine against. The colony might have 534 00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:10,120 Speaker 1: been ready for a change, but the men in charge 535 00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:13,960 Speaker 1: weren't so sure. Half of them were ready to continue 536 00:34:14,120 --> 00:34:17,720 Speaker 1: as before, but the other half were still on the fence. 537 00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:22,080 Speaker 1: All that was left now was to wait for a sign. 538 00:34:27,960 --> 00:34:30,960 Speaker 1: Governor Phipps seemed to be doing everything possible to not 539 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:34,399 Speaker 1: make a decision. If he moved too quickly, he might 540 00:34:34,440 --> 00:34:36,799 Speaker 1: be seen as meddling in the trial he had been 541 00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:40,080 Speaker 1: largely absent from for months, never mind the fact that 542 00:34:40,120 --> 00:34:42,920 Speaker 1: his own wife had been accused, which meant that rushing 543 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:45,960 Speaker 1: in to stop things now might appear like a personal 544 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:49,480 Speaker 1: mission to save his own skin and support a witch 545 00:34:49,560 --> 00:34:53,920 Speaker 1: in the process. He and the General Court got a 546 00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:57,680 Speaker 1: lot of work done, though they officially appointed Anthony Checkley 547 00:34:57,840 --> 00:35:01,400 Speaker 1: as Attorney General. They set up new justice system and 548 00:35:01,600 --> 00:35:05,040 Speaker 1: superior court for the colony. They even settled on what 549 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:09,720 Speaker 1: crimes constituted capital crimes, but the Salem trials were hovering 550 00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:12,640 Speaker 1: over all of them. There were people in jail who 551 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:15,399 Speaker 1: were waiting for their moment before the Oyer and Termine 552 00:35:15,480 --> 00:35:18,520 Speaker 1: or judges. Some had been in jail for months and 553 00:35:18,560 --> 00:35:22,800 Speaker 1: they were looking for a resolution, be it freedom or death. 554 00:35:23,520 --> 00:35:26,719 Speaker 1: There was a new session scheduled for early November, but 555 00:35:26,800 --> 00:35:29,560 Speaker 1: everyone was waiting on Phips to decide if it was 556 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:32,719 Speaker 1: going to happen at all or not. While he was 557 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:35,799 Speaker 1: wavering back and forth, Thomas Brattle and a handful of 558 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:38,880 Speaker 1: ministers paid a visit to the Salem jail to talk 559 00:35:38,880 --> 00:35:42,920 Speaker 1: with prisoners there. When they questioned some recently arrested women 560 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:47,040 Speaker 1: from and Over, many of them retracted their claims. They 561 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:50,200 Speaker 1: might have confessed to being witches and even named others 562 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:52,520 Speaker 1: in the process, but all of it had been a 563 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:56,160 Speaker 1: lie to save their own lives. Here's Mary Beth Norton 564 00:35:56,320 --> 00:35:59,640 Speaker 1: once again. That was about three weeks after the last 565 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:02,359 Speaker 1: set of executions. They take it back and they talk 566 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:07,520 Speaker 1: about how they were basically convinced to confess by magistrates, 567 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:10,640 Speaker 1: sometimes by their own relatives, who said, well, you may 568 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:13,040 Speaker 1: not realize you were a witch, but you clearly were 569 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:15,960 Speaker 1: because of X, and then cited some evidence to them. 570 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:19,520 Speaker 1: I think that was also very meaningful in helping to 571 00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:23,200 Speaker 1: convince Phips that he could not maintain the trials any longer, 572 00:36:23,320 --> 00:36:25,000 Speaker 1: or at least the trials in the Court of or 573 00:36:25,040 --> 00:36:27,840 Speaker 1: Iran terminal, and that the rules had to change and 574 00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:30,920 Speaker 1: that spectral evidence could not be allowed when the trials 575 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:35,600 Speaker 1: continued in January under the regular courts. In other words, 576 00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:39,759 Speaker 1: confession wasn't infallible. Here we have people who had gone 577 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:43,400 Speaker 1: along with the system confessing and pointing their fingers at 578 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:46,080 Speaker 1: others in an effort to stay alive, and they were 579 00:36:46,080 --> 00:36:49,120 Speaker 1: fully admitting that it was all make believe. If there 580 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:52,520 Speaker 1: was one last legitimate pillar holding up the witch trials, 581 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:58,920 Speaker 1: confession was it, and now it too was crumbling. On October, 582 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:03,360 Speaker 1: Phips and his counselors gathered to discuss more business regarding 583 00:37:03,400 --> 00:37:06,800 Speaker 1: the new charter and William Stoughton, eager to move forward 584 00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:09,920 Speaker 1: with the trials and convict more witches, rode south to 585 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:13,399 Speaker 1: Boston to demand permission to do so. He rode through 586 00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:16,200 Speaker 1: a torrential downpour that drove a high tide onto the 587 00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:19,160 Speaker 1: road he was traveling. By the time he arrived in Boston, 588 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:22,760 Speaker 1: he was utterly soaked and needed a fresh change of clothes. 589 00:37:24,239 --> 00:37:27,520 Speaker 1: After his servant returned to Salem to retrieve that change 590 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:30,520 Speaker 1: of clothes, he finally made his appearance before the Governor 591 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:34,239 Speaker 1: and his counsel. He stood defiantly before them and demanded 592 00:37:34,239 --> 00:37:38,960 Speaker 1: a decision. Did he have permission to continue forward? This was, 593 00:37:39,160 --> 00:37:43,880 Speaker 1: he informed them, the last time he would ask. In 594 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 1: an eerie echo of Giles Corey standing mute before Stoughton 595 00:37:47,800 --> 00:37:51,439 Speaker 1: just weeks before, Phipps stared back at the judge with 596 00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:54,560 Speaker 1: a great silence. You can almost see the battle in 597 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:58,600 Speaker 1: their staring contest that ensued. Stoughton with his murderous zeal, 598 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:03,239 Speaker 1: Phipps with his crowd of differing voices screaming inside his head. 599 00:38:04,360 --> 00:38:06,440 Speaker 1: I have to imagine that was the moment that it 600 00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:10,439 Speaker 1: all clicked for Governor Phipps, looking into Stowton's face would 601 00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:12,600 Speaker 1: have made it crystal clear that he was a man 602 00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:15,319 Speaker 1: who would not let go. If he was allowed to 603 00:38:15,360 --> 00:38:18,319 Speaker 1: continue his trials, the only thing that would come out 604 00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:20,879 Speaker 1: of it would be more people in jail and more 605 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:23,759 Speaker 1: people at the end of the hangman's noose, and one 606 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:26,960 Speaker 1: of those people would most certainly be phipps Own wife. 607 00:38:29,120 --> 00:38:32,000 Speaker 1: Stowton went home that day without an answer, so when 608 00:38:32,000 --> 00:38:35,000 Speaker 1: the council gathered again the next day, it was another 609 00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:38,160 Speaker 1: of the members who brought it back up. James Russell 610 00:38:38,320 --> 00:38:41,719 Speaker 1: had seen firsthand what Stowton was capable of. He had 611 00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:44,640 Speaker 1: been in Salem on April tenth, when Sarah Klois and 612 00:38:44,680 --> 00:38:48,560 Speaker 1: Elizabeth Proctor had been examined. He knew it wasn't pretty, 613 00:38:49,960 --> 00:38:52,680 Speaker 1: so he asked the governor the same question everyone else 614 00:38:52,760 --> 00:38:55,720 Speaker 1: had that month, with a court of oyer and termine 615 00:38:55,760 --> 00:38:59,880 Speaker 1: or presiding over the witchcraft plague in Salem, stand or fall. 616 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:03,959 Speaker 1: Phipps looked back at him with an expression that must 617 00:39:04,000 --> 00:39:07,840 Speaker 1: have contained the weights of a thousand stones, and then, finally, 618 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:16,080 Speaker 1: with a sigh, he replied, it must fall. That's it 619 00:39:16,239 --> 00:39:20,200 Speaker 1: for this week's episode of Unobscured. Stick around. After this 620 00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:23,520 Speaker 1: short sponsor break for a preview of what's in store 621 00:39:23,640 --> 00:39:31,440 Speaker 1: for next week, next time on Unobscured. Finally word went 622 00:39:31,440 --> 00:39:34,000 Speaker 1: out that the next trial would take place in January, 623 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:37,680 Speaker 1: not another Oyer and terminer like the past sessions, but 624 00:39:37,800 --> 00:39:41,680 Speaker 1: a new trial by the Massachusetts Superior Court. It offered 625 00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:44,640 Speaker 1: hope to those still waiting for a decision and praying 626 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:48,400 Speaker 1: for their release from captivity, perhaps even an occasion to 627 00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:52,520 Speaker 1: celebrate before the trial date could arrive. Though the Governor 628 00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,400 Speaker 1: declared December twenty to be a day of fasting and 629 00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:59,360 Speaker 1: prayer across the colony. They were urged to consider the 630 00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:03,520 Speaker 1: various and awful judgments of God continued upon the English 631 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:08,319 Speaker 1: nation and the dispersions thereof in their Majesty's several plantations, 632 00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:12,960 Speaker 1: by permitting witchcrafts and evil ages to rage against His people. 633 00:40:14,080 --> 00:41:15,120 Speaker 1: Translation judgments was coming, so Pray for mercy. Unobscured was 634 00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:18,640 Speaker 1: created and written by me Aaron Mankey and produced by 635 00:41:18,680 --> 00:41:22,400 Speaker 1: Matt Frederick and Alex Williams in partnership with How Stuff Works, 636 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:26,360 Speaker 1: with research by Carl Nellis and original music by Chad Lawson. 637 00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:32,000 Speaker 1: Learn more about our contributing historians further reading material, resource 638 00:41:32,160 --> 00:41:36,080 Speaker 1: archive and links to our other shows at History Unobscured 639 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:40,440 Speaker 1: dot com Until next time, Thanks for listening.