1 00:00:01,360 --> 00:00:05,360 Speaker 1: Today's interview is with historian Maryland k. Roach. She works 2 00:00:05,400 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 1: as a freelance writer, illustrator, researcher and presenter of talks 3 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:13,400 Speaker 1: on historical subjects, and she's written for The Boston Globe, 4 00:00:13,480 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 1: the New York Historical Genealogical Register, and the Lizzie Board 5 00:00:17,440 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: and Quarterly. She was a member of the Gallows Hill 6 00:00:20,400 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: project that verified the correct site of the hangings, a 7 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: discovery that was listed by Archaeology Magazine as one of 8 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: the world's ten most Important discoveries of two thousand seventeen. 9 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: My producers Matt Frederick and Alex Williams had a chance 10 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:37,600 Speaker 1: to sit down with Maryland this past summer and I 11 00:00:37,640 --> 00:00:41,320 Speaker 1: want to share that conversation with you today. So without 12 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: further delay, let's get on with the show. This is 13 00:00:46,040 --> 00:01:17,280 Speaker 1: the Unobscured Interview series for season one. I'm Aaron Manky. 14 00:01:22,760 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: My name is Marilyn Roach, and I've been studying the 15 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,760 Speaker 1: Salem Witch Trials and related material for what he is 16 00:01:30,800 --> 00:01:35,760 Speaker 1: now and there's still more things turning up that I 17 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 1: didn't know before, and more to write about the very 18 00:01:38,360 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: top Nowadays, when the word which is bandied about, there 19 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: are many different ideas and images that are conjured. And 20 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: when you were let's say sixteen, and you're in the colonies, 21 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: the image of a witch is a specific thing. Can 22 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: you tell us about that? In six was a legal 23 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:04,720 Speaker 1: definition of someone who had a familiar spirit, and it 24 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:06,960 Speaker 1: was assumed you knew with them men, but they were 25 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:11,320 Speaker 1: in cahoots with an evil spirit, a little demon or 26 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:14,519 Speaker 1: imp and in order to do that, you're in at 27 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:19,840 Speaker 1: some point been in contact with the devil, knowingly or unknowingly. Uh. 28 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:25,359 Speaker 1: Because it was understood by the ministers that humans did 29 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 1: not have the ability to perform magic. Therefore, if there 30 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:34,040 Speaker 1: is magic being done, it's not being done by the person, 31 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 1: but by some spirit that they're in contact with. The 32 00:02:37,400 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 1: folklore would say that the good spirits will do that too, 33 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:44,440 Speaker 1: but the ministers would tell you the angels have better 34 00:02:44,480 --> 00:02:46,920 Speaker 1: things to do than that, So it has to be 35 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: an evil spirit and satans behind that. Some people did 36 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 1: practice a lot of folk magic, maybe more in England 37 00:02:56,600 --> 00:03:01,400 Speaker 1: because they weren't all Puritans. Well, they weren't all Purans hereies, uh, 38 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:05,080 Speaker 1: they were white witch is a blessing. Witches so called 39 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:07,960 Speaker 1: meaning they only did they did only the good magic. 40 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,640 Speaker 1: But if you have the idea that the source of 41 00:03:11,680 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: it is really only pretending to do good for a 42 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:18,359 Speaker 1: while until you're really thoroughly caught in the clutches. It's 43 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:21,920 Speaker 1: not something you should be fooling around with. So where 44 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:25,720 Speaker 1: does counter magic come into this, Well, that's part of folklore. 45 00:03:25,840 --> 00:03:29,840 Speaker 1: It's something to repel the evil magic that comes at you. 46 00:03:31,600 --> 00:03:38,840 Speaker 1: Theoretically allegedly. Uh, it's supposed to dispel it counteracted. Uh, 47 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: bounce it back to the person who is casting it 48 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 1: in the first place, which is what the witch cake 49 00:03:45,520 --> 00:03:48,240 Speaker 1: John was supposed to do. Can you tell me about 50 00:03:48,280 --> 00:03:51,440 Speaker 1: the witch cake? Yeah, it was English folklore and it 51 00:03:51,520 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: was suggested to Tichiba and John Indian by a neighbor, 52 00:03:56,000 --> 00:04:00,880 Speaker 1: Mary Sibley, who's an englishwoman her parents were anyway, and 53 00:04:00,960 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 1: she's a member of the Church, I believe, so she's 54 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 1: considered herself considers herself a good Christian. But this this 55 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: current of folklore that's just common and this is you know, 56 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:13,280 Speaker 1: this is repelling evil magic, so it can't be harmful. 57 00:04:13,280 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: It was the idea, but it got the girls more worried, 58 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:21,280 Speaker 1: so the outcome was not good. But the idea of 59 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:27,880 Speaker 1: magical spell some part of the witches being is projected 60 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: out to hurt the victim. So if you take part 61 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:33,719 Speaker 1: of the victim, and in this case it could be 62 00:04:33,720 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 1: a lack of him maybe, or in this case some 63 00:04:36,320 --> 00:04:41,320 Speaker 1: of the girls urine easily taken from them. You don't 64 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:43,039 Speaker 1: have to cut off an ear like they might do 65 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:49,000 Speaker 1: with livestock, but that is tortured, you might say, by 66 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:53,480 Speaker 1: being baked into a little rough cake of the cheapest 67 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:56,680 Speaker 1: flower you've got, and you feed it to the dog 68 00:04:56,720 --> 00:04:59,360 Speaker 1: once it's cooked, and the dog crunches it up and 69 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:02,919 Speaker 1: digests it, and that would should hurt the witch, because 70 00:05:03,000 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 1: the part of the perpetrator that's in the urine, that's 71 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 1: in the charm is being acted on, and the pain, 72 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:14,839 Speaker 1: I guess is supposed to bounce back to whoever sent it. 73 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:19,719 Speaker 1: But that would make them come around and say what's 74 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: going on, or begging for relief. Well, that doesn't happen, 75 00:05:24,880 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: but the girls get more upset because now, as far 76 00:05:28,800 --> 00:05:30,880 Speaker 1: as I can see it, now the adults are really 77 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 1: assuming they could be magic here, which the doctors already said. 78 00:05:34,880 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: The physician go to the medical professional and one of 79 00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 1: them thought it might be bewitchment. So the adults are 80 00:05:43,920 --> 00:05:48,640 Speaker 1: taking that seriously Interestingly, the Paris Is didn't immediately go 81 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:52,520 Speaker 1: to that as a solution to the girls symptoms, whatever 82 00:05:52,560 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: they were. It is very interesting that the physicians are 83 00:05:56,080 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 1: the ones who end up diagnosing some form of witchcraft 84 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:04,039 Speaker 1: taking place. Well, the fact that the assumed fact that 85 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:08,279 Speaker 1: magic was a possibility was just there on the culture 86 00:06:08,320 --> 00:06:10,599 Speaker 1: and in the other cultures. It wasn't just a pure thing. 87 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:18,040 Speaker 1: It was England, Europe and Africa, the Native Americans everywhere really, 88 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: But because of the trials and intentions of the times, economy, 89 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:27,599 Speaker 1: war and all that, people were on edge to begin with, 90 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:31,359 Speaker 1: along with the local corals. So it seemed like the 91 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:37,840 Speaker 1: last straw. They are under siege by real, actual in 92 00:06:37,880 --> 00:06:43,400 Speaker 1: this world problems, and this seems like one more thing 93 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: that could happen. So two of your works that we're 94 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 1: really looking into, the Day by Day Chronicle and Six 95 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:55,040 Speaker 1: Women of Salem. Um, we really want to focus first 96 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: on these six women. So maybe you can give me 97 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:00,599 Speaker 1: kind of like a pair of graph or two in 98 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: your mind, just how you would describe each of these 99 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:05,120 Speaker 1: women as a way to baby set them up in 100 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:08,159 Speaker 1: the show later. So is it okay if I go 101 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:10,600 Speaker 1: down the list and you just okay, So let's start 102 00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 1: with Bridget Bishop. Bridget Bishop was married, so she's not 103 00:07:14,960 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: alone in the world. This is her third husband. She's 104 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 1: been suspected before, however, of witchcraft, but she has survived that. 105 00:07:23,800 --> 00:07:26,720 Speaker 1: That's not as much paperwork on it as you'd like surviving. 106 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:31,520 Speaker 1: She was confrontational. Some of the neighbors thought, I'd say 107 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: she stuck up for herself. She's this is her third husband. 108 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:36,840 Speaker 1: The second husband would hit her now and then, but 109 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:40,440 Speaker 1: she hit him back. How about Marry English. Marry English 110 00:07:40,480 --> 00:07:43,600 Speaker 1: was the richest woman in Salem. Her father had been 111 00:07:44,400 --> 00:07:46,800 Speaker 1: a merchant who was lost at sea, and she married 112 00:07:46,840 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: his business partner, of Philip English, who was from the 113 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:52,720 Speaker 1: Isle of Jersey and had more of a French culture. 114 00:07:52,880 --> 00:07:56,680 Speaker 1: His name was Philippe Languis something like that and mispronouncing. 115 00:07:57,040 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: So they're very rich. Some people, at least according to descendants, 116 00:08:00,960 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 1: thought she put on airs. But you know, class and 117 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:09,880 Speaker 1: status and the responsibilities of class were bigger in the 118 00:08:10,160 --> 00:08:14,520 Speaker 1: big in those days, not like now. But she was 119 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:17,720 Speaker 1: accused even though she was a full member of the 120 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:22,680 Speaker 1: Salem church in town. Let's continue with Rebecca Nurse. Rebecca 121 00:08:22,760 --> 00:08:27,080 Speaker 1: Nurse was older than middle age. She had a large 122 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: family of grown children with grandchildren, so it's an extant 123 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,040 Speaker 1: family that's not a lot of death in infancy in 124 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:38,680 Speaker 1: her family. Her husband is still alive, so she's not 125 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:40,680 Speaker 1: a widow. Pretty much on her own. She has a 126 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: good support network, and she's a full member of the 127 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,920 Speaker 1: Salem Town Church. She seems to be well respected, but 128 00:08:48,520 --> 00:08:52,440 Speaker 1: she's accused and some people just didn't get along with her. 129 00:08:52,480 --> 00:08:56,280 Speaker 1: I guess I think a lot of personality conflicts in this. 130 00:08:56,760 --> 00:08:59,440 Speaker 1: But even though she had a family who rallied around 131 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:01,880 Speaker 1: her all through it, even though it might have been 132 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:06,319 Speaker 1: dangerous to speak up at times, she doesn't survive. And 133 00:09:06,320 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: and Putnam uh and Putnam is an accuser. She's married 134 00:09:12,160 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: to Thomas Putnam, who also helps to choose people, and 135 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,960 Speaker 1: their eldest child is and Jr. Who is one of 136 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:24,640 Speaker 1: the afflicted girls. Near the beginning, she seems to have 137 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 1: not liked Rebecca Nurse. She's quite I think she's self 138 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:34,080 Speaker 1: convinced that there are witches after her. Rebecca Nurse and 139 00:09:34,160 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: Martha Corey seemed to be particular problems with her, and 140 00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:43,360 Speaker 1: she actually has convulsions too in the courtroom in the 141 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 1: early stages. But she's also expecting like her sixth or 142 00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:50,400 Speaker 1: eight child, so they could have been some physical symptoms 143 00:09:50,440 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: that within misinterpreted, but she seems to be quite convinced 144 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:59,880 Speaker 1: of the neighbors guilt. How about Titchuba called Titchuba Indian, 145 00:10:00,120 --> 00:10:03,840 Speaker 1: she's always referred to by her contemporaries as an Indian 146 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:09,480 Speaker 1: rather than an African. She belongs with her husband to 147 00:10:09,960 --> 00:10:15,559 Speaker 1: Reverend Samuel Paris. She's from somewhere else presumable, presumably Barbados, 148 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:18,760 Speaker 1: where Paris had been a merchant before becoming a minister 149 00:10:18,880 --> 00:10:22,920 Speaker 1: and moving to New England. So she's accused early on 150 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: she makes the witch cake at the direction of a 151 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:31,960 Speaker 1: neighbor with an English bit of folk laurel. There's probably 152 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 1: worldwide equivalence of this, but that's the only magic she 153 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:40,160 Speaker 1: can really be connected to. But because she's enslaved, she 154 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 1: has even less of a support group than anybody else, 155 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:46,520 Speaker 1: and she's more or less bullied into agreeing with what 156 00:10:46,600 --> 00:10:49,320 Speaker 1: the magistrates are saying. Even though she's trying to say 157 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:52,840 Speaker 1: she's a victim of witches. They convinced she's one of them, 158 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:56,640 Speaker 1: and at that point she'll say anything I think to survive. 159 00:10:57,240 --> 00:10:59,560 Speaker 1: It's all she has really to protect her and she 160 00:10:59,640 --> 00:11:04,720 Speaker 1: will outlive the panic because they're reserving her as a 161 00:11:04,760 --> 00:11:07,480 Speaker 1: witness against the others. Although I don't think she does 162 00:11:07,520 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 1: have to speak in cook because plenty of other people 163 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 1: were doing that. And finally, Mary Warren. Mary Warren is 164 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:17,640 Speaker 1: about seventeen and nineteen, a hired girl. She's working for 165 00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:24,200 Speaker 1: the John and Elizabeth Proctor family. Uh apparently her mother 166 00:11:24,400 --> 00:11:29,920 Speaker 1: and her mother died fairly recently. It might have been smallpox. 167 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: They mentioned a fever and they had been smallpox, and 168 00:11:33,200 --> 00:11:36,960 Speaker 1: her little sister went deaf from it but survived. It's 169 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:41,760 Speaker 1: not certain which Warren her father was, because there's like 170 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:43,839 Speaker 1: three or four families in the area and they're all 171 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:47,600 Speaker 1: paily obscue. But she has a lot to say during 172 00:11:47,640 --> 00:11:54,480 Speaker 1: the trials, and she thinks at first she's afflicted or 173 00:11:54,520 --> 00:11:59,360 Speaker 1: acts that way. When her her employer, Master Proctors out 174 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:03,360 Speaker 1: of town, she she's having fits and accuses people and 175 00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:07,120 Speaker 1: acts in court as a witness. And when he comes home, 176 00:12:07,280 --> 00:12:10,560 Speaker 1: he he, he whips her a bit, which one could 177 00:12:10,559 --> 00:12:14,840 Speaker 1: do within reason to a servant. It's called correcting them, 178 00:12:14,880 --> 00:12:17,760 Speaker 1: and she changes her mind. But when she changes her mind, 179 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:22,359 Speaker 1: she's accused of selling out by the other still afflicted witnesses, 180 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:25,880 Speaker 1: and after that she'll say anything to survive. So we 181 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:28,400 Speaker 1: really want to talk about how the different social strata 182 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:32,280 Speaker 1: of the women where they existed in those places, how 183 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:35,480 Speaker 1: it affected the way they were treated once once the 184 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:38,200 Speaker 1: trials started to come around, and they're all involved in 185 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:41,040 Speaker 1: the trials in different ways. Um, but how did the 186 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:45,800 Speaker 1: social strata really affect them all? Well, your place in 187 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:49,800 Speaker 1: society was a lot more rigid then than now. Some 188 00:12:49,840 --> 00:12:52,840 Speaker 1: people did go up in the world, and of course 189 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 1: there'd be some resentment from people who hadn't. Uh, there's 190 00:12:56,280 --> 00:13:02,440 Speaker 1: a quote somewhere about you. You you're excuse me. You 191 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 1: may be Mrs so and so now, but you only 192 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:08,040 Speaker 1: good wife somebody before this the only one obviously not 193 00:13:08,080 --> 00:13:14,000 Speaker 1: taking it. Well. Ah, let's see, some of the upper 194 00:13:14,080 --> 00:13:19,720 Speaker 1: crust people who were named were the those accusations tended 195 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:24,120 Speaker 1: to be dismissed by some of the magistrates who knew 196 00:13:24,160 --> 00:13:26,720 Speaker 1: the people and do that they would never do that, 197 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:29,880 Speaker 1: which of course they hadn't, but it did help. On 198 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:33,360 Speaker 1: the other hand, just being well off wasn't enough, because 199 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: Merry English was certainly arrested. Also, some of the really 200 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:41,360 Speaker 1: poor ones like Sarah Good she was had come down 201 00:13:41,360 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: in the world actually, and she was cranky because of it, 202 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:50,240 Speaker 1: and crankiness didn't help. But then I got the impression 203 00:13:50,320 --> 00:13:54,600 Speaker 1: from what's recorded that Rebecca Nurse was polite enough all 204 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:58,560 Speaker 1: through and didn't help her. Let's talk about the Putnam's 205 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:01,480 Speaker 1: relationship to the Proctors and anything about the towns like 206 00:14:01,559 --> 00:14:07,720 Speaker 1: those three groups that the extended Town family had wood 207 00:14:07,720 --> 00:14:11,800 Speaker 1: lots in Topsfield where they lived, and the extended Putnam 208 00:14:11,840 --> 00:14:15,240 Speaker 1: family had wood lots in the same area, but there 209 00:14:15,280 --> 00:14:20,200 Speaker 1: were different surveys involved and boundary lines that were not accurate, 210 00:14:20,200 --> 00:14:22,840 Speaker 1: which wasn't exactly their fault, but each one was going 211 00:14:22,880 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 1: to keep the one that was more beneficial to them. 212 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:29,560 Speaker 1: So there were some court cases where they'd been fights 213 00:14:29,600 --> 00:14:32,480 Speaker 1: on near fights in the woods when guys went out 214 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:37,400 Speaker 1: to collect firewood or timber. I think the whole town 215 00:14:37,520 --> 00:14:42,800 Speaker 1: of tops Fields border was contended by Salem Village because 216 00:14:42,840 --> 00:14:46,040 Speaker 1: of those boundary disputes, So there was some bad feeling there. 217 00:14:47,400 --> 00:14:50,240 Speaker 1: A lot of it probably just didn't get written down. 218 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,880 Speaker 1: People who just rubbed each other the wrong way. There's 219 00:14:54,880 --> 00:15:00,720 Speaker 1: a lot of documentation surviving, but not enough, not when 220 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:04,040 Speaker 1: you're a fanatic about it. How did the Putnam's like 221 00:15:04,200 --> 00:15:08,160 Speaker 1: really figure into that, because the Putnams are the ones 222 00:15:08,200 --> 00:15:11,680 Speaker 1: who are having the dispute a lot of the times. Yes, 223 00:15:11,760 --> 00:15:18,480 Speaker 1: well as it's a big family um and Thomas Putnam, 224 00:15:18,640 --> 00:15:21,120 Speaker 1: his and his wife and his daughter are some of 225 00:15:21,160 --> 00:15:24,640 Speaker 1: the major accuses they're willing to suspect. I guess at 226 00:15:24,680 --> 00:15:27,640 Speaker 1: least any put a lot of people in the neighborhood. 227 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:31,840 Speaker 1: And also he wrote a very good hand, clear hand, 228 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:34,680 Speaker 1: so that he took a lot of the notes and depositions, 229 00:15:35,440 --> 00:15:39,080 Speaker 1: so he was quite busy with it is a civic duty, 230 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:44,359 Speaker 1: and he did not want to just blend into the background. 231 00:15:44,360 --> 00:15:47,600 Speaker 1: He wanted to be a civic leader, I believe, and 232 00:15:47,720 --> 00:15:52,720 Speaker 1: this was unfortunately his big chance. So it seemed to 233 00:15:52,760 --> 00:15:55,680 Speaker 1: be very important to prove whether or not the girls 234 00:15:55,720 --> 00:15:59,120 Speaker 1: were actually possessed in some way, or if they were 235 00:15:59,200 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: under the spell or or under the influence of a witch. 236 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:06,720 Speaker 1: Why was that so important? I suppose if you were 237 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:10,880 Speaker 1: possessed by demons, it could be involuntary, but you could 238 00:16:10,880 --> 00:16:14,320 Speaker 1: be collaborating with them too, and then that would make 239 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,240 Speaker 1: you an effect at which but if you're just a 240 00:16:17,320 --> 00:16:20,760 Speaker 1: poor victim of somebody else, some of the humans malice, 241 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: although their pet demons is supposedly causing the pains the 242 00:16:26,760 --> 00:16:30,520 Speaker 1: Iowa victim, or are you collaborating? Was the question, what 243 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:34,160 Speaker 1: was it about the convulsions themselves that made everyone just 244 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:37,360 Speaker 1: so feel so uneasy? Well, a convulsion is a scary 245 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:42,240 Speaker 1: thing to say. Um, Let's see Reverend Hale at one 246 00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:45,240 Speaker 1: point and in the book he wrote later, he said, 247 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:48,520 Speaker 1: it was beyond the power of epilepsy what they were 248 00:16:48,560 --> 00:16:52,920 Speaker 1: going through, and they must have seen epileptic seizures, and 249 00:16:53,040 --> 00:16:55,400 Speaker 1: certainly there seemed to be a lot of fevers when 250 00:16:55,400 --> 00:16:57,960 Speaker 1: they got too high. People with convults, and they knew 251 00:16:58,000 --> 00:17:01,560 Speaker 1: what that meant. But there was something really different about this, 252 00:17:01,760 --> 00:17:05,760 Speaker 1: or more extreme. Prior to this and prior to the 253 00:17:05,760 --> 00:17:10,240 Speaker 1: Goodwin case somewhat earlier convulsions. I don't think we're common 254 00:17:10,600 --> 00:17:14,920 Speaker 1: as a symptom. It would be the cow died, of 255 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:19,960 Speaker 1: the cow went dry, and the livestock died, all sorts 256 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:23,840 Speaker 1: of misfortunes. But it wasn't so much that people seemed 257 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:28,679 Speaker 1: to be repelling an attack of an invisible entity. So 258 00:17:28,760 --> 00:17:32,280 Speaker 1: this was not what which trials were not an everyday 259 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:37,160 Speaker 1: occurrence even then, but it was the convulsions were particularly 260 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:44,040 Speaker 1: distressing part of this although why they were believed and 261 00:17:44,359 --> 00:17:48,440 Speaker 1: not again Hales to paraphrase and me said, you had 262 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:51,720 Speaker 1: to be there. It was just really they had well 263 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:54,520 Speaker 1: it kind of least a wife, perhaps these younger women 264 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:58,960 Speaker 1: at least early on, why their stories were believed over adults. Yeah, 265 00:17:59,040 --> 00:18:03,480 Speaker 1: because sure, and young women and older women, depending who's 266 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:09,800 Speaker 1: asking the questions, that their testimony didn't carry as much 267 00:18:09,840 --> 00:18:13,840 Speaker 1: weight in the judges minds necessarily, although women did speak 268 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:18,360 Speaker 1: in court as witnesses, but you know, a child's testimony, 269 00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:23,520 Speaker 1: do they know what they're talking about? But there must 270 00:18:23,560 --> 00:18:26,159 Speaker 1: have been just something about it that does not translate 271 00:18:26,200 --> 00:18:29,080 Speaker 1: in the notes, even when they're pretty seemed to be 272 00:18:29,119 --> 00:18:32,960 Speaker 1: pretty slorough And I mean you read the questions and 273 00:18:33,000 --> 00:18:36,440 Speaker 1: answers for the hearings. They're not the trial questions. It's 274 00:18:36,520 --> 00:18:39,760 Speaker 1: the hearing that leads up to it. And it's like 275 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:43,639 Speaker 1: something with the sound turned off. You're not really hearing 276 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:48,520 Speaker 1: somebody screaming in agony or protesting or the audience reacting. 277 00:18:49,240 --> 00:18:55,919 Speaker 1: It sounds not conducive to clear thinking. We mentioned Sarah 278 00:18:55,920 --> 00:19:01,919 Speaker 1: Good I think earlier, and Sarah Osborne, women of that standing, Well, 279 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:05,280 Speaker 1: how do you think they were treated by they're they're 280 00:19:05,320 --> 00:19:08,439 Speaker 1: the people who lived around them. Well, as I said, 281 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 1: Sarah Goodhead come down in the world, that she came 282 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:15,439 Speaker 1: from a better off family, but stepfather kind of got 283 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:18,920 Speaker 1: things that should have come to the children. And she's 284 00:19:18,960 --> 00:19:23,520 Speaker 1: married to an impecunious person who then dies and leaves 285 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:26,520 Speaker 1: her in debt, and she marries second husband who is 286 00:19:26,640 --> 00:19:29,480 Speaker 1: no great provider at all, and she's begging from time 287 00:19:29,520 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: to time for her children. So this she could be 288 00:19:33,680 --> 00:19:37,360 Speaker 1: kind of annoying that Sarah gould come around again wanting something, 289 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:41,800 Speaker 1: and the fact that she's she feels this keenly and 290 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:48,439 Speaker 1: is cranky, not really not a humble person, so she 291 00:19:48,520 --> 00:19:52,879 Speaker 1: can get on people's nerves. Perhaps coming down in the 292 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:57,360 Speaker 1: world might seem like you're you're just not trying hot enough. 293 00:19:57,400 --> 00:19:59,840 Speaker 1: Although how hot can a woman try and actually gets 294 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:03,560 Speaker 1: the thing in those days? Economically, how many opportunities are there? 295 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:09,080 Speaker 1: Or if I don't know, it's some punishment from God, 296 00:20:11,119 --> 00:20:15,679 Speaker 1: which is rather unfit to put on God. But you 297 00:20:15,760 --> 00:20:19,800 Speaker 1: know then it's not orthodox necessarily what the neighbors might wonder. 298 00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:24,560 Speaker 1: Sarah Osborne was well, she had she and her husband 299 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:27,560 Speaker 1: had a farm. But the first husband dies and she 300 00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:32,840 Speaker 1: marries the bond servant, and the farm should have gone 301 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:35,760 Speaker 1: to the sons when they came of age, and she 302 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:39,480 Speaker 1: still has rights to live there at least while she's 303 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,399 Speaker 1: a widow. But now she's married and there's a second 304 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:45,320 Speaker 1: husband and he's kind of taking over the running of things, 305 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:47,760 Speaker 1: and the sons cannot get the farm now that they're 306 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:50,119 Speaker 1: of age away from him, so there's a lot of 307 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:53,199 Speaker 1: hard feelings with that, And the Putnams were related to 308 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:58,320 Speaker 1: the first husband. So that kind of explains a few things. 309 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:01,000 Speaker 1: You know, for the offit of our listeners, it might 310 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 1: be good to just go over the basics of like 311 00:21:02,920 --> 00:21:07,679 Speaker 1: what the rights of women were in seventeenth century New England. Well, 312 00:21:07,720 --> 00:21:10,600 Speaker 1: they did say about class the better so at the 313 00:21:10,640 --> 00:21:13,080 Speaker 1: team around and said the better sort at middling saw 314 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:16,720 Speaker 1: it and the lower sort. And how people were addressed 315 00:21:17,000 --> 00:21:20,720 Speaker 1: is reflected in this Mr and Mrs His master and mistress. 316 00:21:20,720 --> 00:21:24,080 Speaker 1: They obviously employed people people like Rebecca nurse. In the 317 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:26,920 Speaker 1: middle it would be good wife nurse, hence good eat nurse. 318 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 1: It's not a nickname. It's like mrs only abbreviated good 319 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:35,560 Speaker 1: man and good wife, and then people below that are 320 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,199 Speaker 1: just addressed by their first name, the way people address 321 00:21:38,280 --> 00:21:44,119 Speaker 1: each other. Now. Uh yeah. Someone was asked how she 322 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:47,800 Speaker 1: had addressed Sarah good oh her spect. She said, well, 323 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:50,679 Speaker 1: I guess I just called her Sarah. She didn't have 324 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,040 Speaker 1: to be good wife Sarah because they didn't own anything. 325 00:21:53,520 --> 00:21:58,600 Speaker 1: And below that, she's at least free. She's married. Uh. 326 00:21:58,640 --> 00:22:02,159 Speaker 1: This servants who contracted for a length of time, and 327 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:05,399 Speaker 1: then there's people who are owned in slavery and can 328 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:10,080 Speaker 1: be bought and sold. Unfortunately, slaveries legal in Massachusetts, although 329 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:13,600 Speaker 1: there's not a lot of them. They are around Indians 330 00:22:13,840 --> 00:22:20,240 Speaker 1: and Africans. But women they did have rights. Uh. Some 331 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,160 Speaker 1: of them brought court chases, some sued for divorce, which 332 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:26,120 Speaker 1: was very difficult in England. I don't I think the 333 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:29,800 Speaker 1: only way you could get a real divorce was to 334 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:32,680 Speaker 1: go through parliament. So that's just the upper Escalon. And 335 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:35,960 Speaker 1: I don't think they could remarry legally. I'm not certain 336 00:22:36,000 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: at this time. But in Massachusetts the Puritans, you could 337 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:42,680 Speaker 1: get a divorce and remarry and it would all be legal. 338 00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 1: Children would be legal, inheritances would be legal. And there 339 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:50,200 Speaker 1: were women who sued their husbands and got divorces didn't 340 00:22:50,240 --> 00:22:55,000 Speaker 1: happen every day, but they did. But Uh a married woman, 341 00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:03,440 Speaker 1: not just among Puritans but in England too, were uh 342 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:07,800 Speaker 1: covered by their husband. He was the head of the household, 343 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:12,160 Speaker 1: He was the spokesman. He was supposed to be running things, 344 00:23:12,240 --> 00:23:16,720 Speaker 1: so that she technically did not own anything unless she 345 00:23:16,960 --> 00:23:20,119 Speaker 1: was a widow who had had a good prenuptial contract. 346 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:22,520 Speaker 1: And some of the hostel exist. But if you don't 347 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,400 Speaker 1: own anything, not a lot to contract, which is why 348 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,840 Speaker 1: when they were confiscations for like jail dads and stuff. 349 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:33,639 Speaker 1: Uh Dorcas Hare who was a widow at the time, 350 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:36,600 Speaker 1: they took some of her furniture and the cow and 351 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 1: so on, because she owed money. But when bridget Bishop 352 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:47,960 Speaker 1: was arrested and she hangs no, they didn't confiscate anything 353 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: because she didn't own anything. Her husband did, even though 354 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,560 Speaker 1: she had owned a few things before she was married. 355 00:23:54,600 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: Now was absorbed into his. But they they could speak 356 00:24:01,440 --> 00:24:06,879 Speaker 1: up and and they could most m perhaps most importantly 357 00:24:06,960 --> 00:24:12,320 Speaker 1: to them women like men, was supposed to search your 358 00:24:12,320 --> 00:24:14,400 Speaker 1: soul to see if you was saved where you were 359 00:24:14,520 --> 00:24:18,560 Speaker 1: They of joining the church and having communion and access 360 00:24:18,600 --> 00:24:22,200 Speaker 1: to baptism and so on, and that was a personal journey. 361 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: So that they would be members of the church equal 362 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:35,280 Speaker 1: before God. Couldn't vote but in church matters, but they 363 00:24:35,440 --> 00:24:40,600 Speaker 1: sometimes made their feelings, made their feelings known. But yeah, 364 00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:46,160 Speaker 1: but at least before God you were equal. So let's 365 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:50,320 Speaker 1: jump to power power within the society, because I feel 366 00:24:50,320 --> 00:24:54,520 Speaker 1: like all this is very much connected. Um. The power 367 00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:59,240 Speaker 1: seemed to find its roots in faith, even though you 368 00:24:59,320 --> 00:25:02,639 Speaker 1: mentioned these these are not all Puritans who are that 369 00:25:02,680 --> 00:25:06,360 Speaker 1: we're talking about. However, that Puritan faith, in that Puritan 370 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:12,880 Speaker 1: power structure kind of had its hold over everything. When 371 00:25:12,880 --> 00:25:16,239 Speaker 1: people emigrated early on, like the sixteen thirties, a lot 372 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:18,800 Speaker 1: of people coming in. Most of them are coming over 373 00:25:18,920 --> 00:25:22,760 Speaker 1: for faith reasons. But they soon became evident that they 374 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:28,359 Speaker 1: didn't all believe the same thing exactly. So in order 375 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:33,520 Speaker 1: to vote, which is men it uh you was supposed 376 00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:36,560 Speaker 1: to they was supposed to be members fully communing members 377 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:39,760 Speaker 1: of one of the churches, which they're all separate entities. 378 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:45,159 Speaker 1: There isn't like bishops or anything to should that. You know, 379 00:25:45,280 --> 00:25:48,440 Speaker 1: these are upstanding citizens and they're not going to rob 380 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 1: you or something like that. But of eventually all the 381 00:25:53,359 --> 00:25:59,399 Speaker 1: people moved in uh Quakers and locals who converted to 382 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:07,040 Speaker 1: Quaker him. Also the Church of England families, um, the 383 00:26:07,080 --> 00:26:10,240 Speaker 1: men who are merchants, who a lot of them who 384 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:14,040 Speaker 1: came in later were Church of England. And of course 385 00:26:14,200 --> 00:26:17,919 Speaker 1: there is back in England as the Civil Wars going on, 386 00:26:18,080 --> 00:26:22,359 Speaker 1: and the Puritans predominate during the Commonwealth period when there's 387 00:26:22,359 --> 00:26:26,040 Speaker 1: no king. Oh there are other groups when the king 388 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:29,920 Speaker 1: returns with Charles the Second comes back and the monarchy 389 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:33,960 Speaker 1: is re established. The Church of England is definitely a 390 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:40,960 Speaker 1: Biscopalian at this point and in England not nonconformists. Is 391 00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:45,000 Speaker 1: all of the different sects of Puritanism are called, are 392 00:26:45,080 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 1: excluded from the university degrees, couldn't run for parliament and 393 00:26:50,040 --> 00:26:55,960 Speaker 1: so forth, and so Massachusetts tried to pretend that they 394 00:26:56,160 --> 00:26:58,200 Speaker 1: just couldn't find the paperwork to get rid of the 395 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 1: chatter and all that. But I actually they had to allow, 396 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:08,359 Speaker 1: they had to not allow the requirement that you be 397 00:27:08,400 --> 00:27:12,600 Speaker 1: a church member in order to vote. But England changes 398 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:15,560 Speaker 1: it so you have to own a certain amount of property. 399 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:19,880 Speaker 1: So theoretically some for a church members maybe don't vote 400 00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:23,439 Speaker 1: anymore on the local level. If you're going to choose 401 00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:28,080 Speaker 1: the hall grief and the cow catcher in town and 402 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:31,920 Speaker 1: the guide amend the roads. They may not care about that, 403 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:36,639 Speaker 1: and selectmen, but the upper ranks of the government. You 404 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,600 Speaker 1: had to have a certain amount of property. So are 405 00:27:39,640 --> 00:27:43,320 Speaker 1: you going to is it a religious requirement or a 406 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:48,680 Speaker 1: financial requirement? Yeah? How connected are those two things? You know? Well, 407 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:53,280 Speaker 1: I mean there were biscopanions who had money too. So 408 00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:58,719 Speaker 1: let's let's pull back and talk about just citizens of 409 00:27:58,920 --> 00:28:01,600 Speaker 1: Essex County, people living in Essex County at the time, 410 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:06,960 Speaker 1: right up into and then as the trials are occurring. 411 00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:10,040 Speaker 1: How are these trials that are happening. Let's just say 412 00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:14,879 Speaker 1: wherever the epicenter is, like around Salem. How is the 413 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:18,119 Speaker 1: rest of Essex County being affected just in their daily 414 00:28:18,160 --> 00:28:23,080 Speaker 1: going about their lives. Well, when the panic started and 415 00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:26,440 Speaker 1: the law got into it, got involved in this, this 416 00:28:26,640 --> 00:28:33,280 Speaker 1: hearings and arrests. But it's Salem. Salem includes Salem Village, 417 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:36,440 Speaker 1: which is the rural end of town. But the panic 418 00:28:36,720 --> 00:28:41,920 Speaker 1: is spreading and in the summer, and Over, which then 419 00:28:42,080 --> 00:28:46,880 Speaker 1: bordered it, uh began to have cases and there were 420 00:28:46,920 --> 00:28:50,080 Speaker 1: actually more people accused in and Over than in Salem. 421 00:28:50,160 --> 00:28:55,240 Speaker 1: So the panic spread. No people in Ipswich, in Gloucester 422 00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,760 Speaker 1: and in some of the Middlesex County towns, so that 423 00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:04,920 Speaker 1: they were jails in three counties involved in this, but 424 00:29:05,520 --> 00:29:11,000 Speaker 1: each of them on neighborhood quarrels, family quarrels. That's one 425 00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:14,400 Speaker 1: of the most fascinating things about this entire crisis is 426 00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:20,720 Speaker 1: that these are essentially neighborhood quarrels between neighbors, but there's 427 00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 1: this spiritual aspect to them that that brings in this 428 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:29,240 Speaker 1: the weight in the power of something other worldly. Um 429 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:32,360 Speaker 1: the effects seem to be magic and that involves spirits 430 00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:39,160 Speaker 1: of one kind or another allegedly. Yeah, but simultaneously you 431 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 1: have nature bearing down on all of these humans because 432 00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,640 Speaker 1: as you're getting in closer and closer to winter at 433 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:51,560 Speaker 1: the time, there's a real physical danger that's approaching as well. 434 00:29:51,680 --> 00:29:56,560 Speaker 1: The people in jail jails were not conducive to your health. 435 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:00,480 Speaker 1: They apparently had fireplaces because bills for why it would, 436 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,640 Speaker 1: but they're not meant to hold people for a long 437 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:06,360 Speaker 1: length of time, and they're not supposed to hold a 438 00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:10,960 Speaker 1: lot of people. Once winter started to come down on 439 00:30:11,000 --> 00:30:16,960 Speaker 1: the temperatures getting colder, which happened earlier than it does now. Uh, 440 00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:20,040 Speaker 1: there were petitions, some of them from and over anyway, 441 00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:24,960 Speaker 1: asking if the suspects could be let out until spring, 442 00:30:25,000 --> 00:30:28,160 Speaker 1: we promise we'll bring them back when the trials resumed 443 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: next I a few people were let out on bail. 444 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:36,680 Speaker 1: Some of the youngest ones even thought they'd been accusing people. 445 00:30:37,680 --> 00:30:40,040 Speaker 1: They went home, but I don't think many of the 446 00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:43,360 Speaker 1: older ones did. And some of the children that got arrested, 447 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:46,440 Speaker 1: they did go home, but not all of them. And 448 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:52,200 Speaker 1: that's one reason the trials resumed the following January. They're 449 00:30:52,240 --> 00:30:54,440 Speaker 1: waiting to hear from the crown. Should be are we 450 00:30:54,600 --> 00:30:58,880 Speaker 1: proceeding right? Should we do this? But it was just 451 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:03,040 Speaker 1: he was too dangerous for the people in jail, and 452 00:31:03,160 --> 00:31:07,080 Speaker 1: just even if the temperature was good, it's not clean 453 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:13,600 Speaker 1: with all those people in one place. How linked are 454 00:31:13,640 --> 00:31:18,000 Speaker 1: the concepts of sin and crime? Not every sin as 455 00:31:18,040 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 1: a crime, but all crimes involves some kind of sin. Uh, 456 00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:29,480 Speaker 1: drunkenness would be sinful, but if you're not. If a 457 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,920 Speaker 1: guy is drunk but he doesn't waste the family substance, 458 00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:36,720 Speaker 1: beat the wife and the children, then it's not a crime, 459 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:42,080 Speaker 1: but it's sinful. Why was confession such an important part 460 00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:49,480 Speaker 1: of the trials themselves? Well, any any capital conviction required 461 00:31:50,040 --> 00:31:54,840 Speaker 1: either two competent witnesses to the same act. That's what 462 00:31:55,000 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 1: spectral evidence gets tangled, or a credible confession from the accused, 463 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,960 Speaker 1: and they were aware and they say, length, it's not 464 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:09,440 Speaker 1: somebody whose mind is affected or there tortured into it 465 00:32:09,560 --> 00:32:13,480 Speaker 1: or anything like that. But the people who did confess, 466 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:16,640 Speaker 1: and there were a lot of people who did confess, uh, 467 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:19,920 Speaker 1: some of them said afterwards that they really didn't know 468 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,160 Speaker 1: what they had said, they were so terrified by what 469 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:26,560 Speaker 1: was going on. One woman said she remembers a document 470 00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:28,480 Speaker 1: being read in the name of the king and the queen, 471 00:32:28,520 --> 00:32:31,440 Speaker 1: and after that she didn't know what happened. She just 472 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:37,440 Speaker 1: couldn't remember. She blanked out, and others would probably they was. 473 00:32:37,600 --> 00:32:40,640 Speaker 1: It sounded like they was just agreeing to anything in 474 00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:44,920 Speaker 1: order to get on the good side of the magistrate 475 00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:49,160 Speaker 1: or or in the hopes that it would lengthen their life. 476 00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:55,760 Speaker 1: Because the people who were who had confessed and UH 477 00:32:55,880 --> 00:33:00,959 Speaker 1: were held as witnesses against the supposed collaborate atis, and 478 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:03,840 Speaker 1: that delayed things so that not all of them, but 479 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:08,800 Speaker 1: most of them survived because the panic died down until 480 00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:13,000 Speaker 1: spectral evidence, which is the report of what the demons 481 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:17,400 Speaker 1: are doing, was no longer allowed in court. Describe some 482 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:23,120 Speaker 1: of those I guess the evolution of criticisms against spectral evidence. Well, 483 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:26,920 Speaker 1: at the very beginning, one of the judges who lived 484 00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:30,800 Speaker 1: in Boston consulted with his pastor's caught and Mather about 485 00:33:32,920 --> 00:33:36,280 Speaker 1: any information on how we should proceed, and matthe said, 486 00:33:36,320 --> 00:33:38,920 Speaker 1: to be very careful of spectral evidence. It really can't 487 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:42,520 Speaker 1: be trusted. It's axiomatic. The devil is the prince of lies. 488 00:33:42,560 --> 00:33:44,959 Speaker 1: He's a lie. You can't believe anything that comes from 489 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:48,080 Speaker 1: that direction, so you can't really believe it. And they 490 00:33:48,080 --> 00:33:50,440 Speaker 1: said they'd be careful, but they weren't careful. And I 491 00:33:50,480 --> 00:33:54,840 Speaker 1: think Matthew wasn't there at most of the trials. Just 492 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:59,000 Speaker 1: assumed that they're older than I am. They they're wise 493 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:02,640 Speaker 1: enough people. They probably know what they're doing, which they 494 00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: didn't really because they were carried away by it all too. 495 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:09,520 Speaker 1: It seems so real at the time, unfortunately, because the 496 00:34:09,560 --> 00:34:14,760 Speaker 1: convulsions in the courtroom seemed to be the crime being 497 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:17,359 Speaker 1: committed right in front of everybody, and we can all 498 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:20,200 Speaker 1: see the effects of it, but the cause of it 499 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:22,680 Speaker 1: they could not see, and they had to depend on 500 00:34:22,719 --> 00:34:26,840 Speaker 1: the reports of the proposed afflicted, and even if the 501 00:34:27,120 --> 00:34:34,080 Speaker 1: afflicted people were quite convinced themselves, they can be deluded 502 00:34:34,120 --> 00:34:38,640 Speaker 1: by the devil, and that's their own philosophical outlook on it, 503 00:34:38,760 --> 00:34:43,600 Speaker 1: and they didn't pay enough attention to it. It's pointed 504 00:34:43,600 --> 00:34:46,200 Speaker 1: out on the very first day by Sarah Osborne that 505 00:34:46,239 --> 00:34:49,239 Speaker 1: the devil can take the shape of anybody, so why 506 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:53,480 Speaker 1: not me? For some reason, it was said afterwards anyway, 507 00:34:53,520 --> 00:34:56,160 Speaker 1: it's for some reason Stoughton thought that you did have 508 00:34:56,320 --> 00:34:58,719 Speaker 1: to give the devil permission. Is if the Prince of 509 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:02,480 Speaker 1: Lies is going to ask a permission. It really didn't 510 00:35:02,520 --> 00:35:05,440 Speaker 1: make sense. So he seemed to think he knew what 511 00:35:05,480 --> 00:35:09,000 Speaker 1: he was doing, and he was a very strong personality. 512 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:11,400 Speaker 1: And I think that if some of the other judges 513 00:35:11,480 --> 00:35:14,719 Speaker 1: had second thoughts, they may be figet he knew what 514 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:19,880 Speaker 1: he was talking about. Oh bo. After the first execution 515 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:24,480 Speaker 1: of Bridget Bishop, one of the judges, Nathaniel Saltonstall, stepped out. 516 00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,960 Speaker 1: He just left speaking of um. Bridget Bishop wasn't the 517 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:31,759 Speaker 1: first person to get arrested for these crds, but she 518 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:34,160 Speaker 1: was the first person to be put on trial. Was 519 00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:39,000 Speaker 1: that Bridget Bishop had been suspected before of witchcraft sold 520 00:35:39,040 --> 00:35:45,640 Speaker 1: it was that against her. They maybe seemed more evidence 521 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:50,600 Speaker 1: against her, or at least her reputation wasn't good in 522 00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:54,400 Speaker 1: that respect, although that's really other people's reactions than anything 523 00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:58,280 Speaker 1: she had actually done. She was sort of the usual suspect. 524 00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:03,920 Speaker 1: You might say, why was Titchuba's testimony in particular? Why 525 00:36:03,960 --> 00:36:11,840 Speaker 1: was it powerful? When she started describing things and to 526 00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:15,920 Speaker 1: fulfill the expectation of the questions, it was pretty vivid 527 00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:21,280 Speaker 1: story about this spirit and that spirit, and these otherwise 528 00:36:21,320 --> 00:36:24,600 Speaker 1: invisible entities, and some in the shape of birds, and 529 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:28,680 Speaker 1: this hairy thing that was standing by the fire, warming 530 00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:33,040 Speaker 1: its hands or pinching the girls, and a bird with 531 00:36:33,080 --> 00:36:37,560 Speaker 1: a woman's head. It was pretty colorful. It's probably more 532 00:36:38,120 --> 00:36:41,600 Speaker 1: thorer than that than the notes indicated, because there's a 533 00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:44,520 Speaker 1: lot going on and they are using shorthand, but it's 534 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:49,400 Speaker 1: still not an absolute transcription. So that was pretty vivid. 535 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:56,160 Speaker 1: And she describes other which specters osborne and good, but 536 00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:59,480 Speaker 1: then others also, but she doesn't know who they were, 537 00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:03,880 Speaker 1: so people are left with wondering who are the others 538 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:07,279 Speaker 1: and who do I not trust? Who might be a suspect, 539 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:13,160 Speaker 1: And then it really blew out out of control, so 540 00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:16,799 Speaker 1: almost that known unknown that there are others out there, 541 00:37:17,360 --> 00:37:20,000 Speaker 1: we just don't know who they are. That's that's fascinating. Yeah, 542 00:37:20,239 --> 00:37:23,880 Speaker 1: But because they could be under attack from them next 543 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:26,840 Speaker 1: the way, they could be under attack from the French 544 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:32,080 Speaker 1: and Indian forces in the on the frontier and coming 545 00:37:32,080 --> 00:37:37,080 Speaker 1: closer to which was a very real threat later on 546 00:37:37,200 --> 00:37:41,759 Speaker 1: they get as close as and over. But yeah, it 547 00:37:41,840 --> 00:37:44,719 Speaker 1: seemed like it was all too likely to happen, even 548 00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:48,200 Speaker 1: something like just the wilderness, the wildlife that surrounded them, 549 00:37:48,280 --> 00:37:52,719 Speaker 1: because there were wolves around still, and there's a spectral 550 00:37:52,719 --> 00:37:58,720 Speaker 1: wolf presumably spectral wolf reported that chases the doctor's hired 551 00:37:58,800 --> 00:38:02,120 Speaker 1: girl and she has connected and fits soon after. But 552 00:38:02,360 --> 00:38:06,959 Speaker 1: there were bounties on wolves, which I'm on the side 553 00:38:06,960 --> 00:38:11,200 Speaker 1: of the wolves now, but ah, but there were bounties 554 00:38:11,239 --> 00:38:13,279 Speaker 1: paid at least the year before, so I think they're 555 00:38:13,280 --> 00:38:17,640 Speaker 1: in the vicinity and it's winter, so yeah, that would 556 00:38:17,640 --> 00:38:21,920 Speaker 1: make people nervous too. Fear really is just one of 557 00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:24,759 Speaker 1: the most pervasive things. Fear is very powerful, and it 558 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:27,319 Speaker 1: still is. And if you get to the point where 559 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:30,480 Speaker 1: you're panicking, then you're not you're thinking even less clearly 560 00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:34,160 Speaker 1: than otherwise. What are the main separations between the role 561 00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:38,080 Speaker 1: of someone who's a servant and someone who is a slave, Well, 562 00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:41,759 Speaker 1: you don't sell the servant, it's uh. They're contracted for 563 00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:46,400 Speaker 1: a certain period of time, but a slave is enslaved 564 00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:54,160 Speaker 1: for life. There were cases of enterprising sea captains kidnapping 565 00:38:54,280 --> 00:38:57,400 Speaker 1: people on the coast of England and Ireland and bringing 566 00:38:57,440 --> 00:39:00,239 Speaker 1: them over his bond servants against their will. They had 567 00:39:00,239 --> 00:39:03,920 Speaker 1: a certain period of time to work out, and there 568 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:06,960 Speaker 1: was a lawsuit by a couple and they might have 569 00:39:07,000 --> 00:39:11,200 Speaker 1: been brothers who had been kidnapped like that and thought 570 00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:13,719 Speaker 1: that they time should be up by now, so we 571 00:39:13,719 --> 00:39:15,680 Speaker 1: should be free. And they're saying that they masked, it 572 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:17,400 Speaker 1: was a bit too hot and it wasn't gonna let 573 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:21,800 Speaker 1: them go. I think they got out. So but even 574 00:39:21,880 --> 00:39:26,479 Speaker 1: even though this was totally involuntary, there was a time 575 00:39:26,520 --> 00:39:29,480 Speaker 1: limit on it. The new Colonial Charter, what did they 576 00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:33,200 Speaker 1: promise to the colonists. The new Charter, which took years 577 00:39:33,239 --> 00:39:39,719 Speaker 1: to negotiate, made the the government legal. But one thing 578 00:39:39,880 --> 00:39:42,920 Speaker 1: that England says in it is that it cannot be 579 00:39:43,000 --> 00:39:47,920 Speaker 1: repugnant to any of the laws of England. The repugnancy clause. 580 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:53,799 Speaker 1: It can't contradict English common law, which isn't written down, 581 00:39:53,880 --> 00:39:58,880 Speaker 1: but apparently there's ways of finding out what it is. Um. 582 00:39:59,360 --> 00:40:05,399 Speaker 1: Some parts of Massachusetts law did differ. I mm hmm, 583 00:40:05,920 --> 00:40:07,960 Speaker 1: like the divorce thing, but I'm not sure if they 584 00:40:07,960 --> 00:40:12,399 Speaker 1: even looked at that. What There were various agents of 585 00:40:12,440 --> 00:40:17,719 Speaker 1: the government prowling around making surely if there were violations 586 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:19,799 Speaker 1: or not, but they seemed to be mostly interested in 587 00:40:20,360 --> 00:40:23,240 Speaker 1: import export taxes that were not being paid. They didn't 588 00:40:23,239 --> 00:40:27,480 Speaker 1: seem to mention the witchcraft problem at all until one 589 00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:31,400 Speaker 1: of them got beaten up in foot and jail and 590 00:40:31,600 --> 00:40:34,440 Speaker 1: even talk side dispute. And he didn't like being in 591 00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 1: jail with a lot of commonist burglars, negroes and witches. 592 00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:42,000 Speaker 1: He said, so he did not really care what they 593 00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:47,960 Speaker 1: were doing with the witch trials. But um witchcraft was 594 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:54,880 Speaker 1: illegal in both countries. And when Phipps suspended the trials 595 00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:59,719 Speaker 1: in the fall in October and asked for England's advice 596 00:41:00,400 --> 00:41:02,759 Speaker 1: when it came back, it said, just do what the 597 00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:06,840 Speaker 1: law allows and do your best. They didn't seem to 598 00:41:07,040 --> 00:41:11,279 Speaker 1: quibble over how it had gone. Speaking of Phipps and 599 00:41:11,680 --> 00:41:15,080 Speaker 1: ending Charles, what do we know about lady Mary Phipps. 600 00:41:16,480 --> 00:41:19,919 Speaker 1: She was well educated, She's from Maine to I guess 601 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:23,480 Speaker 1: her family was in Maine and in Massachusetts. It was 602 00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:26,719 Speaker 1: said that she taught her husband how to read on 603 00:41:26,760 --> 00:41:31,120 Speaker 1: a honeymoon or soon after. He but even though he 604 00:41:31,160 --> 00:41:36,640 Speaker 1: couldn't read, he was able to oversee building a ship 605 00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:40,480 Speaker 1: and keep all that in his head, so he had 606 00:41:40,520 --> 00:41:47,000 Speaker 1: a good memory anyway. But um, she was apparently, you know, 607 00:41:47,120 --> 00:41:51,399 Speaker 1: a force a forceful woman, and he was devoted to her, 608 00:41:53,040 --> 00:41:56,840 Speaker 1: listened to her. It said that she was accused, and 609 00:41:56,920 --> 00:41:59,400 Speaker 1: apparently the source is a good one that she was 610 00:41:59,480 --> 00:42:05,120 Speaker 1: at least named, that she had helped somebody get out 611 00:42:05,160 --> 00:42:08,319 Speaker 1: of jail, signed there a warrant to get them out. 612 00:42:10,360 --> 00:42:13,880 Speaker 1: I thought for a while that, you know, William Phipps 613 00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:17,160 Speaker 1: and Mary Phipps, William and Mary, the monarchs, that there 614 00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:20,120 Speaker 1: was some confusion there, or maybe they pretended there was 615 00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:24,080 Speaker 1: a confusion. But she may have done that because the 616 00:42:24,200 --> 00:42:29,000 Speaker 1: source is Thomas Hutchinson, the mid eighteenth century governor of 617 00:42:29,080 --> 00:42:32,960 Speaker 1: Massachusetts Road of History, and he said he was shown 618 00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:35,960 Speaker 1: a paper by somebody who had been a jailer and 619 00:42:36,080 --> 00:42:42,840 Speaker 1: got fired when they let them out unauthorized. But yeah, 620 00:42:43,000 --> 00:42:47,120 Speaker 1: she could have been named, but nothing was done about 621 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:49,920 Speaker 1: it because at that point, Phipps decides this is not 622 00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:54,440 Speaker 1: going the right way and realizes what Sarah Osborne pointed 623 00:42:54,440 --> 00:42:58,120 Speaker 1: out the first day of the hearings. If somebody sees 624 00:42:58,360 --> 00:43:00,960 Speaker 1: a specter that looks like you, it doesn't mean it's you. 625 00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:05,000 Speaker 1: So that that tactic did seem to work. Paying if 626 00:43:05,000 --> 00:43:11,920 Speaker 1: you had the means paying to be released. Well, well, 627 00:43:12,120 --> 00:43:15,839 Speaker 1: not everybody thought that the trials proceeding the right way, 628 00:43:15,880 --> 00:43:20,279 Speaker 1: but we don't know exactly could have been. Just they 629 00:43:20,280 --> 00:43:23,839 Speaker 1: were bribable. It did help to have money, and if 630 00:43:23,880 --> 00:43:27,400 Speaker 1: you were wealthy enough, like Philip and Merry English, they 631 00:43:27,560 --> 00:43:29,920 Speaker 1: were put in the Boston jail. But then he had 632 00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:32,880 Speaker 1: enough money and put up a bond four thousand pounds, 633 00:43:32,920 --> 00:43:36,120 Speaker 1: which is huge. That they could then rent a room 634 00:43:36,160 --> 00:43:43,480 Speaker 1: in the jailer's house, which had better amenities. It was 635 00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:46,680 Speaker 1: a room rather than a common room with everybody in it, 636 00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:51,719 Speaker 1: so it was easy to escape from that too. I 637 00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:54,160 Speaker 1: think he could go. The story with them is that 638 00:43:54,239 --> 00:43:57,200 Speaker 1: they could go out get some exercise as long as 639 00:43:57,200 --> 00:43:59,880 Speaker 1: they paid for God to come with them. Let That 640 00:44:00,040 --> 00:44:03,880 Speaker 1: led to all sorts of possibilities, And there were people 641 00:44:03,920 --> 00:44:06,520 Speaker 1: who didn't like the way the trials are going, such 642 00:44:06,520 --> 00:44:12,680 Speaker 1: as Reverend Samuel Willard and Reverend I think Joshua Moody 643 00:44:12,760 --> 00:44:16,600 Speaker 1: who was in town, also from New Hampshire. Apparently the 644 00:44:16,680 --> 00:44:19,480 Speaker 1: family story with the English is is that they helped 645 00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:25,480 Speaker 1: arrange things for them and persuade them to escape. But 646 00:44:25,600 --> 00:44:28,319 Speaker 1: they did escape. They went to New York. I know 647 00:44:28,360 --> 00:44:31,080 Speaker 1: there are several people who had to remain in jail 648 00:44:31,120 --> 00:44:35,200 Speaker 1: even after their charges. Now, yes, how did it being 649 00:44:35,239 --> 00:44:38,680 Speaker 1: a debtor function within the trials when you had to 650 00:44:38,680 --> 00:44:42,240 Speaker 1: pay the phase, It's like two shillings sixpence a week, 651 00:44:42,600 --> 00:44:46,240 Speaker 1: I think, and that I've seen is what a woman, 652 00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:49,160 Speaker 1: if she was working full time is spinning and weaving, 653 00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:53,200 Speaker 1: could earn in a week. So that's that's sizeable amount 654 00:44:53,200 --> 00:44:56,080 Speaker 1: of money. Their families were supposed to come up with it, 655 00:44:56,480 --> 00:45:01,320 Speaker 1: and one woman who died of natural causes in jail, 656 00:45:02,440 --> 00:45:05,760 Speaker 1: the jailer wouldn't release the body to the Suns until 657 00:45:05,800 --> 00:45:11,080 Speaker 1: they paid her fees the rent, and then I guess 658 00:45:11,440 --> 00:45:15,279 Speaker 1: they did, but they complained about it later when there 659 00:45:15,280 --> 00:45:19,080 Speaker 1: were reparations. The family had to come up with it, 660 00:45:19,160 --> 00:45:21,799 Speaker 1: and I think that Jacob's family had to borrow money 661 00:45:21,880 --> 00:45:27,440 Speaker 1: in order to get the daughter out. And then the 662 00:45:27,520 --> 00:45:30,480 Speaker 1: person who loaned. It suit them the debt and she 663 00:45:30,600 --> 00:45:32,920 Speaker 1: was back. She didn't want to come back to jail again. 664 00:45:34,080 --> 00:45:39,000 Speaker 1: It was it was financial difficulty. Seventeen twelve, there was 665 00:45:39,120 --> 00:45:44,640 Speaker 1: some restitution and people applied to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts 666 00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:47,440 Speaker 1: saying this is what I spent and why, and some 667 00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:51,439 Speaker 1: of them were reimbursed. Philip English asked for a great deal, 668 00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:54,240 Speaker 1: but he was on good financial standing, so he didn't 669 00:45:54,280 --> 00:46:00,400 Speaker 1: get that much. But yeah, Massachusetts tried to make commends. 670 00:46:00,480 --> 00:46:03,160 Speaker 1: It didn't bring you didn't bring back your dead grandmother, 671 00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:06,440 Speaker 1: but it was something. But anyway, it gives us some 672 00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:09,719 Speaker 1: paperwork to know what people had to spend. They put 673 00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:13,439 Speaker 1: in the expense of hiring a horse and going down 674 00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:15,640 Speaker 1: to Boston from Salem, which is a whole day's trip 675 00:46:16,400 --> 00:46:19,400 Speaker 1: to tend to their mother, or there aren't or somebody 676 00:46:19,440 --> 00:46:23,319 Speaker 1: bring them some fresh clothes and some decent food. I mean, 677 00:46:23,480 --> 00:46:26,880 Speaker 1: I guess you got bread and water, but it wasn't great. 678 00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:31,759 Speaker 1: And then they do that so many times in a week, 679 00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:34,319 Speaker 1: and that's that's a lot of time away from work. 680 00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:38,440 Speaker 1: The crops are growing, are not growing. And yes, it 681 00:46:38,960 --> 00:46:41,880 Speaker 1: was financially bad for Massachusetts as well as for the 682 00:46:41,920 --> 00:46:46,879 Speaker 1: individuals who was the final accused which to actually leave 683 00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:50,399 Speaker 1: the jail. It's hard to say. I really don't know 684 00:46:51,480 --> 00:46:55,239 Speaker 1: was Okay, was Chichiba at least within the sand which 685 00:46:55,280 --> 00:46:58,000 Speaker 1: Charles was, it was the last person because of some 686 00:46:58,080 --> 00:47:01,000 Speaker 1: of these she made. She was among the last, I 687 00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:05,240 Speaker 1: would say, because her she didn't come before the Jewies 688 00:47:05,440 --> 00:47:12,160 Speaker 1: Child Jewlies until the following May, and then they were 689 00:47:12,200 --> 00:47:15,239 Speaker 1: her fees. She'd been in jail a long time and 690 00:47:15,480 --> 00:47:19,160 Speaker 1: Samuel Paris did not want her back because that whole 691 00:47:19,160 --> 00:47:21,880 Speaker 1: episode is at this point very embarrassing and what if 692 00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:23,400 Speaker 1: she really is a which do I want her in 693 00:47:23,480 --> 00:47:26,279 Speaker 1: my house? So he wasn't going to pay it, and 694 00:47:26,320 --> 00:47:29,320 Speaker 1: they have sold her to somebody we don't know to 695 00:47:29,760 --> 00:47:33,600 Speaker 1: cover the fees. So she's back to being a slave 696 00:47:33,760 --> 00:47:40,960 Speaker 1: somewhere else and we don't know where, but apparently locally, 697 00:47:41,120 --> 00:47:44,600 Speaker 1: because it's mentioned that she was. She was not sold 698 00:47:44,719 --> 00:47:49,440 Speaker 1: out of the colony at that point. She just disappeared 699 00:47:51,120 --> 00:47:56,320 Speaker 1: from the records. What are the kinds of like primary source, like, 700 00:47:56,400 --> 00:47:59,120 Speaker 1: what's the kind of written stuff that you actually have 701 00:47:59,440 --> 00:48:02,960 Speaker 1: from from from this time? And one of the kinds 702 00:48:02,960 --> 00:48:05,760 Speaker 1: of things they write about. There's a lot we don't 703 00:48:05,760 --> 00:48:09,680 Speaker 1: know but there's a lot of documentation that has survived. Um, 704 00:48:09,760 --> 00:48:16,640 Speaker 1: there's warrants, the original compliance uh A minimus where someone's 705 00:48:16,680 --> 00:48:22,560 Speaker 1: being transferred from one jail to another, and they're not 706 00:48:22,640 --> 00:48:25,799 Speaker 1: for everybody. It's not a complete set for everyone who's accused, 707 00:48:26,239 --> 00:48:29,320 Speaker 1: but especially at the beginning, there's a lot of questions 708 00:48:29,320 --> 00:48:33,040 Speaker 1: and answers taken down during the initial hearing, not at 709 00:48:33,040 --> 00:48:36,839 Speaker 1: the trials, but at the hearings to see if there's 710 00:48:37,000 --> 00:48:39,440 Speaker 1: enough he had to whold someone for trial, and surprise, 711 00:48:39,560 --> 00:48:43,920 Speaker 1: knewly all of them were. But different people took notes 712 00:48:44,000 --> 00:48:47,520 Speaker 1: at different times, and some are more complete than others. 713 00:48:47,560 --> 00:48:53,200 Speaker 1: But you've got questions and answers, and you can see, 714 00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:55,680 Speaker 1: for example, was titue but where a couple of people 715 00:48:55,719 --> 00:48:58,279 Speaker 1: were taking notes on that first day, you can see 716 00:48:58,320 --> 00:49:03,319 Speaker 1: whether the question was Presumably John Hawthorne is already made 717 00:49:03,360 --> 00:49:05,600 Speaker 1: up his mind this has to be a guilty person, 718 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:08,640 Speaker 1: so he's he's going to keep asking the question until 719 00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:12,200 Speaker 1: he gets an answer. And then she describes things. And 720 00:49:12,320 --> 00:49:14,680 Speaker 1: if you put the two together, and you get this 721 00:49:14,760 --> 00:49:18,160 Speaker 1: picture of all the devils in the passonage and what 722 00:49:18,200 --> 00:49:21,959 Speaker 1: they look like and who else is and the suspicions 723 00:49:22,000 --> 00:49:24,000 Speaker 1: and how somebody flew through the air and so on, 724 00:49:24,440 --> 00:49:30,000 Speaker 1: and those are extremely helpful. And then there are statements 725 00:49:30,040 --> 00:49:35,799 Speaker 1: by witnesses and accusers who say, on such and such 726 00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:40,160 Speaker 1: a date, I was afflicted and so on. That's painful, 727 00:49:40,200 --> 00:49:42,919 Speaker 1: and it's on a date, and maybe somebody else makes 728 00:49:42,920 --> 00:49:45,879 Speaker 1: a statement saying, yes, they saw them convulsing on such 729 00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:49,600 Speaker 1: and such a date. But then there's other depositions where 730 00:49:50,000 --> 00:49:52,239 Speaker 1: we had an argument with someone and then the cow 731 00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:56,879 Speaker 1: got sick. And then there's the confessions that some people did. 732 00:49:57,360 --> 00:50:02,960 Speaker 1: And they confes us that they sold themselves to the devil, 733 00:50:03,040 --> 00:50:06,440 Speaker 1: and how did he appear? And he always was came 734 00:50:06,480 --> 00:50:09,960 Speaker 1: as a black dog, or he looked like a man, 735 00:50:10,080 --> 00:50:13,320 Speaker 1: or he looked like a cold I think in one case, 736 00:50:13,560 --> 00:50:17,440 Speaker 1: and how and we and they described being re baptized 737 00:50:17,480 --> 00:50:22,399 Speaker 1: into the Devil's communion, and they're thrown into someone got 738 00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:24,960 Speaker 1: thrown into a stream. They're coming up with whatever whatever 739 00:50:25,040 --> 00:50:27,520 Speaker 1: comes through. They had someone's face was pushed in a 740 00:50:27,560 --> 00:50:30,920 Speaker 1: bucket of water, they said. Or they wrote out a 741 00:50:31,000 --> 00:50:34,239 Speaker 1: contract on a piece of birch back, or they were 742 00:50:34,280 --> 00:50:38,080 Speaker 1: illiterate and they put their thumb mark on something. That's 743 00:50:38,080 --> 00:50:40,439 Speaker 1: something they can get quite detailed, but you know, even 744 00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:44,879 Speaker 1: though it didn't happen, it's extremely interesting. Uh. And then 745 00:50:47,960 --> 00:50:51,560 Speaker 1: there are lists back in ninety three you do get 746 00:50:51,600 --> 00:50:55,480 Speaker 1: the names of some of the jurors. Unfortunately, most of 747 00:50:55,520 --> 00:50:58,520 Speaker 1: the jurors in sixteen ninety two we don't know who 748 00:50:58,560 --> 00:51:02,160 Speaker 1: they were because that paper were didn't survive. And later 749 00:51:02,320 --> 00:51:05,279 Speaker 1: on there are petitions saying this is what I went 750 00:51:05,320 --> 00:51:10,080 Speaker 1: through and I want my name cleared, and the petitions 751 00:51:10,120 --> 00:51:15,920 Speaker 1: for reimbursement later on, like seventeen twelve, after the reversal 752 00:51:15,960 --> 00:51:18,239 Speaker 1: of attainder, and the names have been cleared if they 753 00:51:18,320 --> 00:51:21,000 Speaker 1: got in the petitions, there were five. I think they 754 00:51:21,040 --> 00:51:25,359 Speaker 1: didn't get cleared until two thousand one on Halloween. They 755 00:51:25,400 --> 00:51:29,440 Speaker 1: weren't taking this seriously, but you know they're listing what 756 00:51:29,520 --> 00:51:32,680 Speaker 1: they lost, what was confiscated, the money they had to 757 00:51:32,719 --> 00:51:35,719 Speaker 1: spend to go visit a relative in jail, and so on. 758 00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:38,680 Speaker 1: So there's a lot of detail and a lot of 759 00:51:38,719 --> 00:51:41,480 Speaker 1: those are online, which is very helpful. In the University 760 00:51:41,520 --> 00:51:47,000 Speaker 1: of Virginia's website. There was a commentary at the time. 761 00:51:49,320 --> 00:51:53,320 Speaker 1: Let's see that when the Panics started to wind down 762 00:51:53,480 --> 00:51:58,480 Speaker 1: in October, there were a couple of letters circulated not 763 00:51:58,640 --> 00:52:01,960 Speaker 1: in print at the time. There in print now uh 764 00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:05,160 Speaker 1: one was by one of the Brittles, criticizing the way 765 00:52:05,200 --> 00:52:08,400 Speaker 1: the trials had proceeded that too much spectral evidence. It 766 00:52:08,480 --> 00:52:11,279 Speaker 1: boils down to. There's some anecdotes in that, but mostly 767 00:52:11,320 --> 00:52:13,600 Speaker 1: it's an argument as to why this does not work 768 00:52:14,239 --> 00:52:20,160 Speaker 1: and increase Mata, who had negotiated the charter rights up 769 00:52:20,280 --> 00:52:23,880 Speaker 1: his views that he had had been discussed at a 770 00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:28,720 Speaker 1: meeting of area ministers. Cases of Conscience. It's a longer 771 00:52:28,760 --> 00:52:35,319 Speaker 1: title than that, as to why you cannot trust spectral evidences. 772 00:52:35,880 --> 00:52:39,279 Speaker 1: And there are some letters such as from Phips to 773 00:52:40,040 --> 00:52:42,960 Speaker 1: the Privy Council of the Crown, of various government officials 774 00:52:42,960 --> 00:52:47,240 Speaker 1: in England saying it's not I'm stopping it. It wasn't 775 00:52:47,239 --> 00:52:51,880 Speaker 1: my fault. I wasn't there. I was following your orders 776 00:52:51,960 --> 00:52:56,080 Speaker 1: to keep Mane safe. But we've stopped it now and 777 00:52:56,120 --> 00:53:02,280 Speaker 1: it wasn't my fault. But let's see. So when the 778 00:53:02,320 --> 00:53:06,120 Speaker 1: trials start up again in January and so on, there's 779 00:53:06,160 --> 00:53:12,640 Speaker 1: some paperwork from that, a cup and in October the court, 780 00:53:12,719 --> 00:53:17,680 Speaker 1: I guess the government asked Corton rather to write a 781 00:53:17,800 --> 00:53:20,879 Speaker 1: summary of what had been going on, and he at 782 00:53:20,880 --> 00:53:25,080 Speaker 1: this point still assumes that they had been proceeding correctly 783 00:53:25,640 --> 00:53:28,239 Speaker 1: and maybe he's making two thinks he needs to make 784 00:53:28,320 --> 00:53:31,200 Speaker 1: more excuses for how things had gone. So it kind 785 00:53:31,239 --> 00:53:35,279 Speaker 1: of supports the view that they had proceeded as best 786 00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:40,520 Speaker 1: they could, and it did nothing for his reputation thereafter, 787 00:53:40,600 --> 00:53:43,839 Speaker 1: and it kind of ties him with that, even though 788 00:53:43,920 --> 00:53:46,879 Speaker 1: he did say at the beginning, you shouldn't really use 789 00:53:46,880 --> 00:53:50,160 Speaker 1: spectral evidence, and he had a lot of other good 790 00:53:50,160 --> 00:53:53,000 Speaker 1: things that he did, but that was a very unfortunate one. 791 00:53:53,080 --> 00:53:55,839 Speaker 1: All over, the book is a good source of what 792 00:53:55,880 --> 00:53:59,440 Speaker 1: people were saying and of the end views of the trials, 793 00:53:59,480 --> 00:54:01,759 Speaker 1: and there's some anecdotes in it that aren't in the 794 00:54:02,040 --> 00:54:06,840 Speaker 1: existing papers they did send the court. M m. Clerk 795 00:54:06,880 --> 00:54:10,200 Speaker 1: of the Court sent him some of the paperwork which 796 00:54:10,239 --> 00:54:12,160 Speaker 1: he got to see, and some of that might not 797 00:54:12,360 --> 00:54:19,080 Speaker 1: exist now, but that's what he was writing from and 798 00:54:19,200 --> 00:54:22,920 Speaker 1: making excuses for how the government had proceeded. Because another 799 00:54:23,040 --> 00:54:27,760 Speaker 1: thing is that the government is trying to establish itself 800 00:54:27,800 --> 00:54:31,680 Speaker 1: according to the new Charter, and they don't need so 801 00:54:31,840 --> 00:54:37,120 Speaker 1: much public unrest that they lose it again, or you know, 802 00:54:37,239 --> 00:54:40,560 Speaker 1: the populace does something to react against it. In England's 803 00:54:40,560 --> 00:54:43,560 Speaker 1: is or well, forget about self roll after this, so 804 00:54:45,320 --> 00:54:50,040 Speaker 1: he was trying to protect the reputation of the government 805 00:54:50,080 --> 00:54:53,440 Speaker 1: too much. As strange as it is, you can view 806 00:54:54,920 --> 00:54:59,000 Speaker 1: the Salem crisis as a pr nightmare for a group 807 00:54:59,000 --> 00:55:05,279 Speaker 1: of people. It was the Pio yes right. And and 808 00:55:05,520 --> 00:55:08,640 Speaker 1: because of that book, which was published in England and 809 00:55:08,680 --> 00:55:14,560 Speaker 1: in New England. Uh Robert calf who was a merchant, 810 00:55:15,000 --> 00:55:18,000 Speaker 1: and he had been a constable in Boston in that year, 811 00:55:18,040 --> 00:55:20,400 Speaker 1: so he might have been helping to arrest people. We 812 00:55:20,480 --> 00:55:23,840 Speaker 1: don't really know that. He was highly critical of the 813 00:55:23,880 --> 00:55:26,520 Speaker 1: trials at this point. He hadn't really said anything while 814 00:55:26,520 --> 00:55:30,719 Speaker 1: I was going on, but he wrote a book criticizing this, 815 00:55:31,080 --> 00:55:35,319 Speaker 1: criticizing the Mathers and the government, and that has a 816 00:55:35,440 --> 00:55:39,440 Speaker 1: lot a lot of really good source material because he 817 00:55:39,560 --> 00:55:43,320 Speaker 1: spoke to some of the families involved and and Prince. 818 00:55:43,520 --> 00:55:46,400 Speaker 1: Some of the paperwork that didn't get saved or it 819 00:55:46,480 --> 00:55:49,600 Speaker 1: was a receipt from the sheriffice to what God confiscated. 820 00:55:50,239 --> 00:55:52,360 Speaker 1: We know about it because it was in his book. 821 00:55:53,520 --> 00:55:56,040 Speaker 1: And then there was back and forth between the Maths 822 00:55:56,080 --> 00:56:00,040 Speaker 1: and ca and so debating how things had gone on. 823 00:56:00,680 --> 00:56:05,960 Speaker 1: But that is a source book. And later Reverend John Hale, 824 00:56:05,960 --> 00:56:09,319 Speaker 1: who had believed that it was witchcraft at first and 825 00:56:09,320 --> 00:56:13,000 Speaker 1: then did change his mind. He wrote a book later 826 00:56:13,040 --> 00:56:17,000 Speaker 1: as to how it seemed and how it is obviously 827 00:56:17,080 --> 00:56:21,680 Speaker 1: not a good idea to accept spectral evidence, although at 828 00:56:21,680 --> 00:56:24,080 Speaker 1: the time it seemed like such and such, and it 829 00:56:24,239 --> 00:56:27,640 Speaker 1: is anecdotes in there that that were very helpful, but 830 00:56:27,800 --> 00:56:32,279 Speaker 1: it wasn't published until after his death in but that's 831 00:56:32,320 --> 00:56:35,120 Speaker 1: a good source too. At the very top, we talked 832 00:56:35,120 --> 00:56:38,200 Speaker 1: about Rebecca Nurse. She had, like you said, a support 833 00:56:38,200 --> 00:56:42,560 Speaker 1: structure around her her family. Talk to me about what 834 00:56:42,719 --> 00:56:44,840 Speaker 1: made her family ready for this fight, because it wouldn't 835 00:56:44,880 --> 00:56:47,480 Speaker 1: have been it's not an easy thing to fight for 836 00:56:47,760 --> 00:56:51,279 Speaker 1: her name and for her innocence. Well, they just I'm 837 00:56:51,280 --> 00:56:57,520 Speaker 1: going to protect mother. The Nurse family got statements from neighbors. 838 00:56:57,560 --> 00:57:02,799 Speaker 1: They circulated a petition neighbors and lots of people signed it. 839 00:57:02,920 --> 00:57:06,640 Speaker 1: It wasn't just them, so they people put their names 840 00:57:06,680 --> 00:57:09,680 Speaker 1: on it. And there was never any retaliation against any 841 00:57:09,719 --> 00:57:12,440 Speaker 1: of the people who did that, or the petitions for 842 00:57:12,520 --> 00:57:16,280 Speaker 1: the practice or for Mary Bradbury unhappy to say, and 843 00:57:16,320 --> 00:57:19,680 Speaker 1: they took that to the governor and other statements and 844 00:57:19,720 --> 00:57:22,560 Speaker 1: even a statement from I believe this was at this 845 00:57:22,600 --> 00:57:27,280 Speaker 1: point a statement from the jurors who misunderstood something she 846 00:57:27,400 --> 00:57:32,400 Speaker 1: said because she was originally got a not guilty verdict, 847 00:57:33,160 --> 00:57:40,440 Speaker 1: which scared the afflicted girls, either either because they expected 848 00:57:40,480 --> 00:57:43,520 Speaker 1: the devils to do something or because they did not 849 00:57:43,680 --> 00:57:47,480 Speaker 1: want to be not believed. But they screech and it 850 00:57:47,560 --> 00:57:51,520 Speaker 1: seems like they're being heard, and Stowton's sends the jury 851 00:57:51,640 --> 00:57:55,080 Speaker 1: out to reconsider, and they come back and ask her 852 00:57:55,760 --> 00:57:58,000 Speaker 1: about a certain statement she had made when she was 853 00:57:58,040 --> 00:58:01,200 Speaker 1: brought into the room. She why of the confessors had 854 00:58:01,240 --> 00:58:03,320 Speaker 1: come in, and she said, why is she here? She's 855 00:58:03,360 --> 00:58:06,560 Speaker 1: one of us? Did she mean one of us witches 856 00:58:07,000 --> 00:58:10,720 Speaker 1: or one of us accused, which is what she meant. 857 00:58:11,560 --> 00:58:14,120 Speaker 1: But she doesn't answer, and they figure, okay, she has 858 00:58:14,160 --> 00:58:16,680 Speaker 1: nothing to say in her defense, and they bring back 859 00:58:16,680 --> 00:58:21,200 Speaker 1: the guilty verdict and her the family tells her afterwards 860 00:58:21,240 --> 00:58:23,600 Speaker 1: what had happened, and she writes, so she signs a 861 00:58:23,640 --> 00:58:27,120 Speaker 1: statement that they wrote for her right or she wrote 862 00:58:27,120 --> 00:58:32,600 Speaker 1: it herself, saying that she thought they meant a fellow prisoner, 863 00:58:32,680 --> 00:58:35,880 Speaker 1: not a fellow which and all of this has presented 864 00:58:35,920 --> 00:58:42,280 Speaker 1: to the governor and they get a reprieve, and whereupon 865 00:58:42,440 --> 00:58:45,760 Speaker 1: there are even worse afflictions, and the reprieve is taken 866 00:58:45,760 --> 00:58:49,960 Speaker 1: away and she hangs. But they do try, and they 867 00:58:50,040 --> 00:58:57,720 Speaker 1: keep trying, and they they they never really I don't 868 00:58:57,720 --> 00:59:00,960 Speaker 1: know if they never forgive the accusers, but Paris and 869 00:59:00,960 --> 00:59:05,720 Speaker 1: the Putnam certainly thought that Rebecca was a witch at 870 00:59:05,720 --> 00:59:08,480 Speaker 1: the height of the panic there, and they are at 871 00:59:08,560 --> 00:59:13,800 Speaker 1: obvious odds for a long time thereafter, and they're part 872 00:59:13,840 --> 00:59:16,520 Speaker 1: of the faction that would like to get rid of 873 00:59:16,560 --> 00:59:21,640 Speaker 1: Paris and break that contract for all these reasons. You know, 874 00:59:21,680 --> 00:59:24,560 Speaker 1: you look at everything that's kind of swirling around the 875 00:59:24,640 --> 00:59:28,680 Speaker 1: village of Salem that's causing this to occur. In your books, 876 00:59:28,720 --> 00:59:32,360 Speaker 1: specifically in the Six Women, you're really focusing on these 877 00:59:32,400 --> 00:59:36,840 Speaker 1: women in their lives and getting a view from inside, 878 00:59:37,160 --> 00:59:40,840 Speaker 1: trying to know you you are and and why is 879 00:59:40,880 --> 00:59:43,760 Speaker 1: it important to focus on these specific women. Well, the 880 00:59:44,400 --> 00:59:47,840 Speaker 1: something biographical, trying to tell what it was like to 881 00:59:48,240 --> 00:59:50,880 Speaker 1: go through it, what it was like to live through 882 00:59:50,920 --> 00:59:55,880 Speaker 1: it as an accused or an accuser. It's I mean, 883 00:59:56,120 --> 01:00:01,600 Speaker 1: there are concepts and of what goes on in the 884 01:00:01,640 --> 01:00:05,560 Speaker 1: world and these great movements of history, but how does 885 01:00:05,600 --> 01:00:10,640 Speaker 1: it hit an individual depending and there are different parts 886 01:00:10,680 --> 01:00:15,360 Speaker 1: of society or different parts of the disaster that's going on. 887 01:00:16,200 --> 01:00:19,280 Speaker 1: I was trying to get into into their minds and 888 01:00:19,320 --> 01:00:23,160 Speaker 1: see it through their eyes. But you know, that's spent 889 01:00:23,240 --> 01:00:28,720 Speaker 1: three fifty years now, so I can only guess if 890 01:00:28,760 --> 01:00:34,760 Speaker 1: I've done it, But I tried. Do you see any 891 01:00:34,840 --> 01:00:42,160 Speaker 1: parallels in the lives of women in some people believed 892 01:00:42,280 --> 01:00:47,360 Speaker 1: easier than others, and some people aren't believed even when 893 01:00:47,360 --> 01:00:55,000 Speaker 1: they're telling the truth. There's there's a feeling that it 894 01:00:55,160 --> 01:00:58,800 Speaker 1: is very silly in some strange way, very silly that 895 01:00:58,920 --> 01:01:03,400 Speaker 1: anyone could believe that the belief in whiches was so 896 01:01:03,480 --> 01:01:06,360 Speaker 1: pervasive that human beings could get hurt and actually go 897 01:01:06,440 --> 01:01:10,080 Speaker 1: to court for these things there are nowadays. It's this 898 01:01:10,240 --> 01:01:13,440 Speaker 1: almost like why are they believed in which is? But 899 01:01:15,280 --> 01:01:21,520 Speaker 1: are are there things nowadays in contemporary times that could 900 01:01:21,600 --> 01:01:26,400 Speaker 1: be considered similar to a belief in something that is 901 01:01:28,000 --> 01:01:33,200 Speaker 1: just either not true or fantastic? Well, the idea of 902 01:01:33,680 --> 01:01:37,400 Speaker 1: which is or evil magic was not just the Puritans, 903 01:01:37,440 --> 01:01:41,520 Speaker 1: not just New England. It was general in the colonies 904 01:01:41,560 --> 01:01:47,280 Speaker 1: in Europe and in other cultures in North America, Africa, Asia, 905 01:01:47,440 --> 01:01:50,480 Speaker 1: all over. The fact that it could happen was just 906 01:01:51,080 --> 01:01:56,959 Speaker 1: obvious to them. Uh. And if people are afraid enough, 907 01:01:58,120 --> 01:02:03,720 Speaker 1: they will have physical reaction, and people can be overreacting 908 01:02:03,800 --> 01:02:11,120 Speaker 1: to things nowadays that could happen, such as the it 909 01:02:11,320 --> 01:02:16,040 Speaker 1: was a Satanist scare where day care as centers was 910 01:02:16,120 --> 01:02:20,680 Speaker 1: supposedly being targeted. Will there are crimes against children that 911 01:02:20,880 --> 01:02:24,840 Speaker 1: are horrible and they can happen, but that doesn't mean 912 01:02:24,840 --> 01:02:27,600 Speaker 1: that they were happening in those cases, or even that 913 01:02:27,680 --> 01:02:32,400 Speaker 1: there were organizations of Satanists doing it, but they were, 914 01:02:32,440 --> 01:02:39,160 Speaker 1: but people reacted really strongly to it. Obviously, there are 915 01:02:39,400 --> 01:02:46,480 Speaker 1: toxic waste problems. They can poison people and big companies, 916 01:02:46,480 --> 01:02:50,080 Speaker 1: and industrial waste is a very real problem. But sometimes 917 01:02:50,360 --> 01:02:56,400 Speaker 1: there are physical reactions now that could logically be explained 918 01:02:56,440 --> 01:02:59,240 Speaker 1: that way, but there's no evidence there is any which 919 01:02:59,280 --> 01:03:04,560 Speaker 1: doesn't which means presumably that there isn't a problem with 920 01:03:04,720 --> 01:03:10,120 Speaker 1: toxic poisoning with those sufferers, But that doesn't mean that 921 01:03:10,200 --> 01:03:14,800 Speaker 1: there's no such thing as toxic waste. So even if 922 01:03:14,880 --> 01:03:18,640 Speaker 1: you continue to believe that evil magic is possible, and 923 01:03:18,960 --> 01:03:22,880 Speaker 1: people do and other cultures in and this one, uh, 924 01:03:23,000 --> 01:03:27,320 Speaker 1: the point then and now is is that's what happening 925 01:03:27,440 --> 01:03:31,280 Speaker 1: here and now? Can you be certain don't panic yet, 926 01:03:31,560 --> 01:03:35,440 Speaker 1: try to figure out exactly what's going on. And if 927 01:03:35,480 --> 01:03:39,280 Speaker 1: they've done that, then without changing their views or world 928 01:03:39,480 --> 01:03:42,840 Speaker 1: or anything, it wouldn't have gotten so far. But the 929 01:03:42,880 --> 01:03:47,920 Speaker 1: panic really exploded, and nowadays it would explode over something 930 01:03:47,960 --> 01:03:52,240 Speaker 1: else and it wouldn't be just like the Salem problem. 931 01:03:52,320 --> 01:03:57,040 Speaker 1: So it doesn't have the Halloween spookiness to it and 932 01:03:57,120 --> 01:04:01,160 Speaker 1: it's not recognized. I love to have a sense of 933 01:04:01,200 --> 01:04:05,560 Speaker 1: what the life for Puritans living in Salem and in 934 01:04:05,680 --> 01:04:09,040 Speaker 1: Essex County was like aside from the witch trial. Well, 935 01:04:09,080 --> 01:04:11,680 Speaker 1: let's see most well, most of New England was a 936 01:04:11,720 --> 01:04:15,560 Speaker 1: grarian and it depended on how on the weather as 937 01:04:15,600 --> 01:04:17,560 Speaker 1: to how good the crops were from year to year. 938 01:04:18,560 --> 01:04:22,200 Speaker 1: Ninety two was a drought year, so that was another worry. 939 01:04:22,520 --> 01:04:24,919 Speaker 1: In the center of Salem, down by the harbor pat 940 01:04:25,800 --> 01:04:28,080 Speaker 1: most of the people in the maritime trades and the 941 01:04:28,160 --> 01:04:35,320 Speaker 1: merchants who had far flung business associations up and down 942 01:04:35,320 --> 01:04:39,120 Speaker 1: to England and abroad depending I think Philip English had 943 01:04:39,280 --> 01:04:42,200 Speaker 1: connections as far as Russia. It's something about the fir Trate. 944 01:04:42,320 --> 01:04:45,800 Speaker 1: I think the maritime economy was threatened by the war 945 01:04:45,960 --> 01:04:48,960 Speaker 1: that was going on with Canada, which is border wars, 946 01:04:50,240 --> 01:04:57,040 Speaker 1: guerrilla raids, retaliations and so on. So there's pirates. There's pirates, 947 01:04:57,600 --> 01:05:02,480 Speaker 1: pirates who had robbed from anybody, private privateers licensed by 948 01:05:02,520 --> 01:05:06,480 Speaker 1: the French Canadian governments to prey on English shipping because 949 01:05:06,680 --> 01:05:12,920 Speaker 1: neither country has a navy. Navy New England licensed privateers 950 01:05:13,000 --> 01:05:16,120 Speaker 1: such as John Alden who would prey on French shipping. 951 01:05:17,680 --> 01:05:20,000 Speaker 1: If you go far enough out to see you could 952 01:05:20,000 --> 01:05:22,920 Speaker 1: be taken by barbary pirates and sold as a slave. 953 01:05:22,960 --> 01:05:26,400 Speaker 1: In northern Africa, there's, as I say, the war at 954 01:05:26,440 --> 01:05:30,360 Speaker 1: home frontier raids, and a lot of the people had 955 01:05:30,400 --> 01:05:34,360 Speaker 1: evacuated from some of the more remote main settlements and 956 01:05:34,440 --> 01:05:37,800 Speaker 1: come south safety's sake. A lot of the people in 957 01:05:37,840 --> 01:05:41,040 Speaker 1: the Salem area had some connection or other with Maine 958 01:05:41,120 --> 01:05:47,040 Speaker 1: and attacks there. Others people who were around were veterans 959 01:05:47,080 --> 01:05:52,200 Speaker 1: of the King Phillips War and had had fought with 960 01:05:52,280 --> 01:05:55,560 Speaker 1: the native peoples in southern New England. And some of 961 01:05:55,600 --> 01:05:58,480 Speaker 1: the people were on militia duty up in may Down 962 01:05:58,520 --> 01:06:04,080 Speaker 1: may excuse me, uh, protecting with the garrisons had experienced there. 963 01:06:04,600 --> 01:06:08,600 Speaker 1: Some had gone in the fleet to Canada in sixty nine, 964 01:06:08,920 --> 01:06:11,800 Speaker 1: I believe when New York and New England. We're going 965 01:06:11,840 --> 01:06:15,120 Speaker 1: to gang up on Canada. Make sure that wasn't a 966 01:06:15,120 --> 01:06:19,080 Speaker 1: military threat anymore. And it was small parks and storms 967 01:06:19,760 --> 01:06:25,120 Speaker 1: ruined that idea, and some prisons were exchanged, but it 968 01:06:25,680 --> 01:06:29,200 Speaker 1: made for a terrible debt in the treasury, so that's 969 01:06:29,240 --> 01:06:35,800 Speaker 1: a big problem. But farming, crops, trade, fishing, they were 970 01:06:35,800 --> 01:06:38,480 Speaker 1: all kind of at risk because of the weather and 971 01:06:38,480 --> 01:06:41,240 Speaker 1: the economy and the war. So there were a lot 972 01:06:41,320 --> 01:06:45,880 Speaker 1: of strains that way. But it's not a mechanical society. 973 01:06:46,440 --> 01:06:48,960 Speaker 1: It takes time to get from one place to another. 974 01:06:49,960 --> 01:06:51,760 Speaker 1: I don't know if it was quicker to sail to 975 01:06:51,840 --> 01:06:54,560 Speaker 1: Boston from Salem, but it took the better part of 976 01:06:54,560 --> 01:06:57,040 Speaker 1: a day to get there by horseback, and you'd have 977 01:06:57,080 --> 01:06:59,880 Speaker 1: to cross a couple of ferry with fairies to get across. 978 01:07:00,160 --> 01:07:02,520 Speaker 1: Rivers will go way around the marshes. I mean, the 979 01:07:02,600 --> 01:07:06,080 Speaker 1: railroad goes right across it now, and the roads, but 980 01:07:06,360 --> 01:07:11,360 Speaker 1: you had to go around things and getting worried. They 981 01:07:11,360 --> 01:07:14,520 Speaker 1: seemed to communicate rather quicker than I would have thought. 982 01:07:14,520 --> 01:07:17,360 Speaker 1: With Maine, make me a couple of days to get 983 01:07:17,360 --> 01:07:22,360 Speaker 1: an answer, as too, have they burned down the garrison yet? Uh? 984 01:07:22,400 --> 01:07:27,520 Speaker 1: And sending a question to England, as Phipps did. Took months, 985 01:07:27,960 --> 01:07:31,040 Speaker 1: but besides the trip over by ship, it had to 986 01:07:31,080 --> 01:07:34,760 Speaker 1: go through channels with the Privy Council and then it 987 01:07:34,800 --> 01:07:38,000 Speaker 1: didn't come back until May, which was what you think 988 01:07:38,040 --> 01:07:45,479 Speaker 1: is best. So yeah, and something mechanical would be a mill, 989 01:07:46,720 --> 01:07:50,400 Speaker 1: which would be quite high tech, I guess christ mill. 990 01:07:50,520 --> 01:07:53,400 Speaker 1: But they also had sawmills, especially in the Maine New 991 01:07:53,400 --> 01:07:57,800 Speaker 1: Hampshire area, where they'd be vertical saws going up and 992 01:07:57,840 --> 01:08:01,160 Speaker 1: down because the buzz saw hadn't been advantage it, and 993 01:08:01,280 --> 01:08:05,600 Speaker 1: that was high tech. But stuff is done by hand 994 01:08:06,280 --> 01:08:09,120 Speaker 1: and traveling is by foota by horseback of by boat. 995 01:08:09,840 --> 01:08:14,000 Speaker 1: How important was firewood? Oh? Very important? Yes, firewood would 996 01:08:14,040 --> 01:08:18,120 Speaker 1: be the main fuel, if not the only one. It 997 01:08:18,200 --> 01:08:22,800 Speaker 1: was important in this in the Witch trials because one 998 01:08:22,880 --> 01:08:25,800 Speaker 1: of the problems with the Minister Samuel Parris is that 999 01:08:25,880 --> 01:08:34,160 Speaker 1: the contract included firewood he's supply for heat cooking, and 1000 01:08:34,880 --> 01:08:37,160 Speaker 1: there was question as to whether it had been included. 1001 01:08:37,240 --> 01:08:39,519 Speaker 1: Did we really include the firewood or would did we 1002 01:08:39,560 --> 01:08:41,960 Speaker 1: give you something extra to cover the firewood? He doesn't 1003 01:08:42,000 --> 01:08:43,960 Speaker 1: have enough trees of his own. He used to buy it, 1004 01:08:44,560 --> 01:08:50,120 Speaker 1: and it's not deep docked impenetrable forests, is wood lots 1005 01:08:50,240 --> 01:08:54,360 Speaker 1: and fields more. I don't know if there's more trees 1006 01:08:54,439 --> 01:08:58,000 Speaker 1: now or then or then. But you don't just go 1007 01:08:58,080 --> 01:09:00,040 Speaker 1: cutting down a tree because it either belongs to the 1008 01:09:00,080 --> 01:09:03,679 Speaker 1: town or belongs to somebody else. So at one point 1009 01:09:03,760 --> 01:09:07,000 Speaker 1: he's really low on it and complaining about it. But 1010 01:09:07,439 --> 01:09:10,120 Speaker 1: that was just a bone of contention between the people 1011 01:09:10,160 --> 01:09:13,240 Speaker 1: who didn't support him and the people who did. But 1012 01:09:13,439 --> 01:09:17,040 Speaker 1: you did need it because the houses were not insulated. 1013 01:09:17,040 --> 01:09:20,920 Speaker 1: They might be had what they put bricks between the 1014 01:09:20,960 --> 01:09:24,880 Speaker 1: timber and the plaster, but that's not terribly warm. I 1015 01:09:24,920 --> 01:09:28,360 Speaker 1: think some houses were found to have eel grass or 1016 01:09:28,360 --> 01:09:30,479 Speaker 1: something in between the walls, and I don't not sure 1017 01:09:30,520 --> 01:09:32,679 Speaker 1: if that was later. But you had to be close 1018 01:09:32,720 --> 01:09:35,120 Speaker 1: to the fire. I mean, Cotton Meather lived in the 1019 01:09:35,160 --> 01:09:39,479 Speaker 1: city of Boston and had a good house. But he's 1020 01:09:39,560 --> 01:09:41,880 Speaker 1: riding in the winter and in the ink freezes in 1021 01:09:41,920 --> 01:09:47,920 Speaker 1: the inkwell, so it was a necessity. What was the 1022 01:09:47,960 --> 01:09:51,320 Speaker 1: function of the meeting house, Well, a meeting house is 1023 01:09:51,520 --> 01:09:54,360 Speaker 1: a pure and concept. It's and also the fact that 1024 01:09:54,400 --> 01:09:57,720 Speaker 1: they're out in the new Land where they have to 1025 01:09:57,760 --> 01:10:00,800 Speaker 1: build things from scratch in the first step, first generation, 1026 01:10:01,320 --> 01:10:04,840 Speaker 1: A meeting house was an all purpose building. They would 1027 01:10:05,040 --> 01:10:10,920 Speaker 1: meet there for civil meeting, selectman, town meetings, but they 1028 01:10:10,960 --> 01:10:16,280 Speaker 1: would meet there for religious meetings also, because that was 1029 01:10:16,360 --> 01:10:18,720 Speaker 1: the main reason a lot most of them had come 1030 01:10:18,760 --> 01:10:21,519 Speaker 1: over in the first place. So it depends what time 1031 01:10:21,560 --> 01:10:23,240 Speaker 1: of the week it is as to what you're using 1032 01:10:23,280 --> 01:10:27,080 Speaker 1: it for. It's town owned because they're pretty much all 1033 01:10:27,120 --> 01:10:33,000 Speaker 1: the same belief system. As the population expanded in various 1034 01:10:33,080 --> 01:10:37,120 Speaker 1: places where they were maybe Baptists Quakers, they didn't want 1035 01:10:37,120 --> 01:10:41,559 Speaker 1: to have to support that, and in Salem there was 1036 01:10:41,640 --> 01:10:45,400 Speaker 1: a Quaker meeting house they had their own. At this 1037 01:10:45,520 --> 01:10:52,040 Speaker 1: point in Boston that the meeting houses were owned by 1038 01:10:52,080 --> 01:10:57,360 Speaker 1: their congregations, not by the town. There was three congregational 1039 01:10:57,560 --> 01:11:03,519 Speaker 1: congregations in town plus at this point an Anglican church, 1040 01:11:04,400 --> 01:11:07,240 Speaker 1: Quaker meeting house, and a Baptist church too, and I 1041 01:11:07,280 --> 01:11:09,360 Speaker 1: think a Huguenot one, and they're all owned by their 1042 01:11:09,400 --> 01:11:12,799 Speaker 1: own people. So when the Royal Governor, Sir Edmond Andrews 1043 01:11:12,880 --> 01:11:15,679 Speaker 1: came and wanted a place for the Church of England 1044 01:11:15,680 --> 01:11:21,439 Speaker 1: people to worship, uh, they used the town house, which 1045 01:11:21,600 --> 01:11:25,680 Speaker 1: was a non meeting house, non religious meeting house, all 1046 01:11:26,400 --> 01:11:31,320 Speaker 1: civic meeting place and that kind of went against the 1047 01:11:31,360 --> 01:11:34,040 Speaker 1: grain for a lot of people who were Church of England, 1048 01:11:34,240 --> 01:11:38,080 Speaker 1: so he can commandeered one of the churches used it 1049 01:11:38,080 --> 01:11:40,519 Speaker 1: in the All South meeting House, used it in the 1050 01:11:40,560 --> 01:11:43,040 Speaker 1: morning and if they ran over, you just stood out 1051 01:11:43,040 --> 01:11:46,479 Speaker 1: in the rain and waited. That really got people's packs up. 1052 01:11:46,600 --> 01:11:50,559 Speaker 1: And then they built King's Chapel. But my point is 1053 01:11:51,880 --> 01:11:55,680 Speaker 1: the town did not. The town did not own the 1054 01:11:55,800 --> 01:11:59,560 Speaker 1: meet the religious structures in Boston because it was a 1055 01:11:59,600 --> 01:12:06,559 Speaker 1: bigger population. The individual towns generally had one because why 1056 01:12:06,680 --> 01:12:08,840 Speaker 1: pay for two different buildings if the same people are 1057 01:12:08,840 --> 01:12:13,120 Speaker 1: going to be using them for the different purposes. Salem Village, 1058 01:12:13,160 --> 01:12:16,799 Speaker 1: because of its geographic location, had their own meeting house finally, 1059 01:12:16,800 --> 01:12:19,800 Speaker 1: which took time to get permission for. And then there 1060 01:12:19,840 --> 01:12:23,040 Speaker 1: was the meeting house in the middle of Salem, and 1061 01:12:23,120 --> 01:12:28,400 Speaker 1: presumably geographically it was supported differently. But Salem was also 1062 01:12:28,560 --> 01:12:32,320 Speaker 1: big enough that they at this time had a town 1063 01:12:32,439 --> 01:12:36,559 Speaker 1: house that was up the street opposite where city Hall 1064 01:12:36,640 --> 01:12:39,920 Speaker 1: is now, where they had the selectment meetings and the 1065 01:12:39,960 --> 01:12:44,800 Speaker 1: town meetings, and the school Latin school was on the 1066 01:12:44,840 --> 01:12:47,960 Speaker 1: ground floor, the courtrooms upstairs. I sometimes wonder if anyone 1067 01:12:48,000 --> 01:12:51,200 Speaker 1: counting lessons done that summer, and they kept the firefighting 1068 01:12:51,240 --> 01:12:53,559 Speaker 1: equipment in the attic, which would make it rather hard 1069 01:12:53,600 --> 01:12:55,880 Speaker 1: to get to in case of ablaze. But it was real. 1070 01:12:56,800 --> 01:13:02,280 Speaker 1: But they also did occasionally to have ab civil meetings 1071 01:13:02,439 --> 01:13:06,760 Speaker 1: in the meeting house because it was bigger. In sixte to, 1072 01:13:07,120 --> 01:13:11,360 Speaker 1: one of the hearings is held there because some of 1073 01:13:11,400 --> 01:13:15,720 Speaker 1: the uh uh legislature is coming up to observe the 1074 01:13:15,760 --> 01:13:19,160 Speaker 1: crisis and they need a big space. But for the 1075 01:13:19,200 --> 01:13:22,400 Speaker 1: most part it was under repair. In ninety two, I 1076 01:13:22,439 --> 01:13:26,280 Speaker 1: guess they had religious services there, but they they had 1077 01:13:26,880 --> 01:13:30,040 Speaker 1: legal stuff going on in the town house up the street. 1078 01:13:31,720 --> 01:13:35,559 Speaker 1: What does school look like for an average kid growing 1079 01:13:35,640 --> 01:13:38,479 Speaker 1: up around that time, Well, it was a law after 1080 01:13:38,560 --> 01:13:41,360 Speaker 1: a while that he was supposed to teach your kids 1081 01:13:41,640 --> 01:13:45,320 Speaker 1: to read. More people. The literacy rate was good here 1082 01:13:45,360 --> 01:13:48,840 Speaker 1: in New England because it was seemed essential that you 1083 01:13:49,000 --> 01:13:51,240 Speaker 1: needed to read the Bible for yourself and see what 1084 01:13:51,280 --> 01:13:54,679 Speaker 1: it was and laws and stuff. More people could read 1085 01:13:54,760 --> 01:13:59,479 Speaker 1: than could write, because reading was taught separately, unlike together 1086 01:13:59,600 --> 01:14:02,839 Speaker 1: with right as now it seems logical to teach them together. 1087 01:14:03,680 --> 01:14:07,200 Speaker 1: But people could read who could not write, and they 1088 01:14:07,200 --> 01:14:09,080 Speaker 1: would sign their name with an exit. Didn't mean they 1089 01:14:09,080 --> 01:14:12,120 Speaker 1: were totally illiterate because they also want to read those 1090 01:14:12,320 --> 01:14:18,960 Speaker 1: deeds and wills too. Uh that the reading could be 1091 01:14:19,000 --> 01:14:23,240 Speaker 1: done at home. Sometimes someone's mother would do it. One 1092 01:14:23,280 --> 01:14:27,479 Speaker 1: more women who could read. In some places, that would 1093 01:14:27,520 --> 01:14:31,599 Speaker 1: be a dame school. Dame being the equivalent of sir, 1094 01:14:31,800 --> 01:14:34,639 Speaker 1: which was what school masters would called because they had 1095 01:14:34,640 --> 01:14:37,679 Speaker 1: a bachelor's degree and that was comparable to a night 1096 01:14:37,800 --> 01:14:40,920 Speaker 1: which would be called sir. It gets complicated, not that 1097 01:14:41,000 --> 01:14:44,280 Speaker 1: women had any degrees at all or could get into 1098 01:14:44,400 --> 01:14:49,080 Speaker 1: a higher university, but that's why they called dame schools. 1099 01:14:49,120 --> 01:14:52,080 Speaker 1: It was a more polite way to address people than 1100 01:14:52,200 --> 01:15:00,600 Speaker 1: like damied as Evans the actors. Who has the rank anyway? Ah, 1101 01:15:01,080 --> 01:15:04,160 Speaker 1: if a town had so many families in it, they 1102 01:15:04,200 --> 01:15:07,200 Speaker 1: were supposed to have a grammar school, which meant Latin grammar, 1103 01:15:07,720 --> 01:15:14,280 Speaker 1: which would be the boys learning Latin, maybe Greek. They 1104 01:15:14,400 --> 01:15:20,080 Speaker 1: might have already gone to a writing school. That's to 1105 01:15:20,160 --> 01:15:27,760 Speaker 1: prefer you for college. The Latin and the Greek sold that. Yeah, 1106 01:15:27,920 --> 01:15:30,679 Speaker 1: I think it Deadham in the town records. I happened 1107 01:15:30,680 --> 01:15:34,439 Speaker 1: to be looking at Deadham. Uh. There was a question 1108 01:15:34,560 --> 01:15:37,240 Speaker 1: do we teach the girls too? But apparently they didn't 1109 01:15:37,280 --> 01:15:41,760 Speaker 1: think they were going to invest in that m so 1110 01:15:41,800 --> 01:15:44,720 Speaker 1: they might learn reading and writing. If they're lucky, they 1111 01:15:45,080 --> 01:15:50,040 Speaker 1: learned some arithmetic too, to keep accounts. They were private 1112 01:15:50,600 --> 01:15:54,640 Speaker 1: schools with a schoolmaster or somebody who would take on students. 1113 01:15:57,840 --> 01:16:00,439 Speaker 1: If they got the Latin and Greek the boys, then 1114 01:16:00,479 --> 01:16:04,160 Speaker 1: they could apply if they so inclined, to the college, 1115 01:16:04,160 --> 01:16:07,479 Speaker 1: which is Harvard. They tended to generally call it the college. 1116 01:16:07,520 --> 01:16:09,800 Speaker 1: It's actually the only one in North America at the time, 1117 01:16:09,880 --> 01:16:14,160 Speaker 1: so they might as well, uh, and that would be 1118 01:16:14,920 --> 01:16:18,360 Speaker 1: They didn't want an ignorant ministry in the future because 1119 01:16:18,400 --> 01:16:21,760 Speaker 1: they were so far away from Oxford and Cambridge, and 1120 01:16:21,800 --> 01:16:23,960 Speaker 1: that's what it was mainly for, so that the light 1121 01:16:24,000 --> 01:16:28,960 Speaker 1: of learning would not go out. But not everybody was 1122 01:16:28,960 --> 01:16:31,280 Speaker 1: going to be a minister who went there. Some of 1123 01:16:31,320 --> 01:16:34,719 Speaker 1: the merchants were well educated too, But some of the merchants, 1124 01:16:34,760 --> 01:16:39,120 Speaker 1: like Hawthorne, did not go to the college. But he 1125 01:16:39,760 --> 01:16:44,439 Speaker 1: he'd read things, I guess tried to know what some 1126 01:16:45,200 --> 01:16:49,760 Speaker 1: but his educational background was. It may be hard for 1127 01:16:49,840 --> 01:16:56,200 Speaker 1: some younger listeners hearing this to understand why women and girls, 1128 01:16:56,280 --> 01:16:59,280 Speaker 1: any females were not taught the same way that the 1129 01:16:59,479 --> 01:17:02,160 Speaker 1: males were. They may have a hard time understand that 1130 01:17:02,439 --> 01:17:05,200 Speaker 1: you just talked to us about why, what the roles were, 1131 01:17:05,360 --> 01:17:10,240 Speaker 1: and what the perception was. Well, women's work was mostly 1132 01:17:10,280 --> 01:17:15,400 Speaker 1: in the household, and it took up without mechanism. It 1133 01:17:15,479 --> 01:17:18,479 Speaker 1: took a long time to accomplish and keep a house 1134 01:17:18,560 --> 01:17:21,320 Speaker 1: running and clean. And they probably got a kitchen, garden, 1135 01:17:21,360 --> 01:17:24,320 Speaker 1: and the cow and stuff, which is full time work. 1136 01:17:24,840 --> 01:17:29,400 Speaker 1: So they didn't need, supposedly to to know these other things. 1137 01:17:29,960 --> 01:17:32,640 Speaker 1: The boys are probably most of them are farmers, and 1138 01:17:32,640 --> 01:17:37,240 Speaker 1: they're doing field work and taking care of other livestock 1139 01:17:37,280 --> 01:17:40,760 Speaker 1: and so on, so and not. Most people didn't need 1140 01:17:40,840 --> 01:17:44,479 Speaker 1: but they needed to be able to deal with deeds 1141 01:17:44,520 --> 01:17:47,400 Speaker 1: and wills or find someone reputable and write it down 1142 01:17:47,439 --> 01:17:50,240 Speaker 1: the way you wanted, so they may be needed more 1143 01:17:50,320 --> 01:17:53,520 Speaker 1: of it being more out in the world. But literacy 1144 01:17:53,720 --> 01:17:56,040 Speaker 1: was important to them because they wanted to be able 1145 01:17:56,040 --> 01:18:00,599 Speaker 1: to read the Bible another other good books. So there 1146 01:18:00,720 --> 01:18:06,800 Speaker 1: was literacy, and certainly, uh there were some well educated 1147 01:18:07,040 --> 01:18:10,479 Speaker 1: girls and women, but it would have been from home 1148 01:18:10,960 --> 01:18:17,240 Speaker 1: and learning outside of a regular school room, which was 1149 01:18:17,400 --> 01:18:21,759 Speaker 1: aimed at boys and boys going to higher education to colleges. 1150 01:18:21,800 --> 01:18:24,200 Speaker 1: It was a long time before women could get into colleges. 1151 01:18:24,240 --> 01:18:27,040 Speaker 1: In the United States, and when I was in college 1152 01:18:27,040 --> 01:18:30,439 Speaker 1: habit was still a boys school. Briefly, if you could 1153 01:18:30,840 --> 01:18:34,040 Speaker 1: describe what Puritan writing is like stylistically, because it is 1154 01:18:34,040 --> 01:18:38,439 Speaker 1: a very distinct style to me. Well, the books and 1155 01:18:38,479 --> 01:18:40,920 Speaker 1: the and the titles they did tended to have long 1156 01:18:40,960 --> 01:18:43,200 Speaker 1: titles or more a description of what the book was 1157 01:18:43,240 --> 01:18:45,600 Speaker 1: going to be about, and depending on the addition, the 1158 01:18:45,640 --> 01:18:48,080 Speaker 1: printer would highlight parts of it more than others, so 1159 01:18:48,160 --> 01:18:51,639 Speaker 1: it looks like it has a different title almost, But yeah, yeah, 1160 01:18:51,800 --> 01:18:55,320 Speaker 1: there would be long, sometimes flowery sentences. There were a 1161 01:18:55,360 --> 01:18:58,640 Speaker 1: lot of biblical allusions which did give the references to 1162 01:18:58,680 --> 01:19:01,760 Speaker 1: what chapter and verse they would talking about. People were 1163 01:19:01,760 --> 01:19:05,599 Speaker 1: expected that they everybody knew what that meant or could 1164 01:19:05,640 --> 01:19:10,160 Speaker 1: look it up. There were also classical allusions because the 1165 01:19:10,280 --> 01:19:14,599 Speaker 1: university education, they had read the classical writers from ancient 1166 01:19:14,640 --> 01:19:18,280 Speaker 1: Greece and Rome, pre Christian stuff, which some critics said 1167 01:19:18,720 --> 01:19:23,720 Speaker 1: was dangerous pagan ideas being given these ministers, these like 1168 01:19:23,880 --> 01:19:26,080 Speaker 1: coakers and people who certainly weren't going to send their 1169 01:19:26,120 --> 01:19:29,840 Speaker 1: kids to college Virgil, Cicero, Caesar, I mean, what do 1170 01:19:29,880 --> 01:19:33,240 Speaker 1: we need that for? But they were well versed in 1171 01:19:33,400 --> 01:19:37,760 Speaker 1: classical literature, so there's a lot of allusions to that too, 1172 01:19:37,800 --> 01:19:43,320 Speaker 1: and they might give the references to it. But yeah, uh. 1173 01:19:43,360 --> 01:19:46,639 Speaker 1: But one of the one of the presidents of Habbit 1174 01:19:46,720 --> 01:19:52,080 Speaker 1: and maybe Chauncey, was advice to young ministers, if you're 1175 01:19:52,120 --> 01:19:55,759 Speaker 1: trying to get an idea across, don't be too high flown. 1176 01:19:55,800 --> 01:19:58,679 Speaker 1: He's saying, don't shoot over their heads. They're not gonna 1177 01:19:58,840 --> 01:20:01,120 Speaker 1: understand it, And then there's no point in saying in 1178 01:20:01,160 --> 01:20:04,839 Speaker 1: the first place, don't be so don't show off your learning, 1179 01:20:06,400 --> 01:20:10,639 Speaker 1: but be direct. What do people miss when they think 1180 01:20:10,960 --> 01:20:14,559 Speaker 1: about the Salem which Trials? What's the one thing that 1181 01:20:14,600 --> 01:20:18,120 Speaker 1: maybe people miss still I think people generally see the 1182 01:20:18,120 --> 01:20:21,599 Speaker 1: Salem which Trials is something so bizarre they can't really 1183 01:20:21,640 --> 01:20:26,000 Speaker 1: identify with it that it's something foolish people did because 1184 01:20:26,040 --> 01:20:28,439 Speaker 1: they didn't know any better. They didn't have computers, they 1185 01:20:28,439 --> 01:20:30,920 Speaker 1: didn't have this, they didn't know that, and we're smarter 1186 01:20:31,040 --> 01:20:36,400 Speaker 1: than there. But they were educated people and well intentioned 1187 01:20:36,479 --> 01:20:41,080 Speaker 1: people who, even by the lights of their own philosophy 1188 01:20:41,080 --> 01:20:44,840 Speaker 1: in their own time, could have figured out that things 1189 01:20:44,880 --> 01:20:49,679 Speaker 1: were not proceeding as they should without converting to twenty 1190 01:20:49,680 --> 01:20:55,559 Speaker 1: one century skepticism, for example, and people who mean well 1191 01:20:55,920 --> 01:21:00,679 Speaker 1: and are well educated and are generally genuinely concerned for, say, 1192 01:21:00,760 --> 01:21:05,920 Speaker 1: their children's welfare. Nowadays can go off in the wrong 1193 01:21:05,960 --> 01:21:10,759 Speaker 1: direction also, even though their motives, assuming they're not lying 1194 01:21:10,800 --> 01:21:14,080 Speaker 1: about it, their motives are good. I need to protect 1195 01:21:14,160 --> 01:21:18,120 Speaker 1: my children, I need to protect my family. But you 1196 01:21:18,160 --> 01:21:20,519 Speaker 1: can still go off the rails with it. And that's 1197 01:21:20,560 --> 01:21:25,000 Speaker 1: what happened then, I think for the most part. For 1198 01:21:25,080 --> 01:21:29,960 Speaker 1: the most part, people we're convinced that something awful was happening, 1199 01:21:30,040 --> 01:21:33,719 Speaker 1: and then they just went the down the wrong road 1200 01:21:33,800 --> 01:21:38,000 Speaker 1: for too long. People tend to think of it as 1201 01:21:38,240 --> 01:21:45,919 Speaker 1: spooky Halloween stuff, especially in October, but it was serious 1202 01:21:46,880 --> 01:21:50,639 Speaker 1: and deadly, and even if you didn't die, it really 1203 01:21:50,680 --> 01:21:55,519 Speaker 1: messed things up, and people who were just on the periphery. 1204 01:21:55,160 --> 01:22:00,559 Speaker 1: It messed up the economy and in society. So bad 1205 01:22:00,600 --> 01:22:04,559 Speaker 1: things can happen, and they happen in different costumes each time, 1206 01:22:05,000 --> 01:22:07,559 Speaker 1: so you don't see it coming until you're in the 1207 01:22:07,600 --> 01:22:12,960 Speaker 1: middle of it. Were there any lasting effects, I guess 1208 01:22:12,960 --> 01:22:16,439 Speaker 1: in a more general sense um of the same witch 1209 01:22:16,439 --> 01:22:20,639 Speaker 1: trials that specifically affected women, although certainly we're no more 1210 01:22:20,640 --> 01:22:24,160 Speaker 1: witch trials. People didn't want to get near that embroider again. 1211 01:22:24,240 --> 01:22:26,720 Speaker 1: Some people thought that it was stopped too soon. It 1212 01:22:26,840 --> 01:22:29,920 Speaker 1: really was something going on that it was a cover up, 1213 01:22:31,400 --> 01:22:36,360 Speaker 1: but generally it was one huge embarrassment to the government. 1214 01:22:37,600 --> 01:22:41,519 Speaker 1: There were slander suits brought by people who had had 1215 01:22:41,560 --> 01:22:44,839 Speaker 1: been accused, as had been done about before that, because 1216 01:22:45,280 --> 01:22:47,680 Speaker 1: prior to six two, I think about a third of 1217 01:22:47,720 --> 01:22:51,920 Speaker 1: the witchcraft which cases were slander suits where you're trying 1218 01:22:51,960 --> 01:22:57,840 Speaker 1: to clear your name and they generally want but I 1219 01:22:57,880 --> 01:23:01,439 Speaker 1: don't know. It's certainly left a lot of neighborhood and 1220 01:23:01,600 --> 01:23:07,720 Speaker 1: inter family resentments that lasted a couple of generations. But 1221 01:23:07,760 --> 01:23:11,839 Speaker 1: then you find people a couple of generations on marrying 1222 01:23:12,160 --> 01:23:16,880 Speaker 1: someone from the opposite camp, so it's I don't think 1223 01:23:16,880 --> 01:23:21,640 Speaker 1: they're angry now. It just makes a very interesting genealogy. 1224 01:23:21,960 --> 01:23:25,160 Speaker 1: One of the fascinating things driving through dan Verse versus 1225 01:23:25,280 --> 01:23:31,920 Speaker 1: driving through Salem proper is just how this period in 1226 01:23:31,960 --> 01:23:35,160 Speaker 1: the trials are treated just in the public street. Yeah. Well, 1227 01:23:35,280 --> 01:23:38,200 Speaker 1: because dan Versus a separate town now, it sort of 1228 01:23:38,280 --> 01:23:42,280 Speaker 1: was not remembered that that was with things started, and 1229 01:23:44,000 --> 01:23:47,880 Speaker 1: Salem it's got this history that everybody knew about one 1230 01:23:47,920 --> 01:23:51,960 Speaker 1: way or another. I think the tourists came before the 1231 01:23:52,000 --> 01:23:57,559 Speaker 1: tourist industry. They responded to people's interests from what I've 1232 01:23:57,600 --> 01:24:00,400 Speaker 1: been able to figure out. And when the railroad came 1233 01:24:00,439 --> 01:24:03,559 Speaker 1: in and it was a lot more traveling, there was 1234 01:24:03,600 --> 01:24:06,840 Speaker 1: more of it, even though locals didn't want to talk 1235 01:24:06,880 --> 01:24:11,240 Speaker 1: about it necessarily all this were more interested in discussing it. 1236 01:24:11,320 --> 01:24:14,320 Speaker 1: But you know, it was not it was not a 1237 01:24:14,360 --> 01:24:20,840 Speaker 1: shining example of community spirit. But there was a newspaper 1238 01:24:20,920 --> 01:24:25,000 Speaker 1: article in eighteen ninety two when it was the two anniversary, 1239 01:24:25,200 --> 01:24:28,960 Speaker 1: and the reporter was going through Salem and he's talking 1240 01:24:29,000 --> 01:24:31,120 Speaker 1: to the cab driver, which is a horse drawn cab, 1241 01:24:31,720 --> 01:24:35,160 Speaker 1: and the cabby says that there's two things that people 1242 01:24:35,200 --> 01:24:37,639 Speaker 1: who have a little time in Salem want to go see. 1243 01:24:37,680 --> 01:24:39,920 Speaker 1: They want to see the house where Hawthorne was born 1244 01:24:40,560 --> 01:24:43,160 Speaker 1: then Nathaniel, and they want to see where the witches 1245 01:24:43,160 --> 01:24:46,080 Speaker 1: were burned or hanged or something like that. Hey, I 1246 01:24:46,120 --> 01:24:48,519 Speaker 1: guess he knew they were hanged, and he probably took 1247 01:24:48,560 --> 01:24:52,040 Speaker 1: him to the wrong place, but that's what people asked for. 1248 01:24:52,160 --> 01:24:55,080 Speaker 1: And in nine eight ninety two was the year of 1249 01:24:55,200 --> 01:25:00,679 Speaker 1: the first souvenir silver witch logo spoon in Alum from 1250 01:25:00,720 --> 01:25:05,240 Speaker 1: the Daniel Lowe Company, which was quite a jeweler in 1251 01:25:05,320 --> 01:25:08,280 Speaker 1: town in the building that's now across from the Cement 1252 01:25:08,360 --> 01:25:13,559 Speaker 1: the stevensby Which statue. So things were starting up and 1253 01:25:13,640 --> 01:25:17,800 Speaker 1: there was there was an opportunity that people took advantage of. 1254 01:25:17,960 --> 01:25:22,200 Speaker 1: But when the mills and the leather industry and the 1255 01:25:22,280 --> 01:25:27,920 Speaker 1: textile mills went elsewhere, tourism filled a void too, But 1256 01:25:27,920 --> 01:25:34,080 Speaker 1: there was also more notice of Salem through TV and 1257 01:25:34,760 --> 01:25:39,400 Speaker 1: books and things. It kind of it was an unstoppable force. 1258 01:25:39,439 --> 01:25:42,120 Speaker 1: And also it's good and some of it is very 1259 01:25:42,160 --> 01:25:50,800 Speaker 1: inaccurate Arthur Miller's play, which is creative fiction, but definitely 1260 01:25:50,840 --> 01:25:55,400 Speaker 1: on the on the part about not being believed when 1261 01:25:55,400 --> 01:25:57,479 Speaker 1: you're telling the truth, so you lie and then they 1262 01:25:57,520 --> 01:25:59,840 Speaker 1: believe you. That's that hits the nail on the head 1263 01:26:00,520 --> 01:26:03,960 Speaker 1: that made it internationally known. So if it hadn't been before, 1264 01:26:05,360 --> 01:26:10,400 Speaker 1: people know about it all over the world, So that 1265 01:26:10,800 --> 01:26:13,439 Speaker 1: becomes Salem to them. And it's not just Salem, it's 1266 01:26:13,520 --> 01:26:17,519 Speaker 1: the whole area had problems. Salem was the shire town, 1267 01:26:17,600 --> 01:26:23,599 Speaker 1: so that's where the courts set. But well, because it's 1268 01:26:23,640 --> 01:26:26,880 Speaker 1: so well known, I the most I hope for is 1269 01:26:27,000 --> 01:26:30,519 Speaker 1: that get the facts out and hope that people listen 1270 01:26:31,120 --> 01:26:35,840 Speaker 1: and just satisfied with having a Halloween joke out of it. 1271 01:26:36,000 --> 01:26:46,920 Speaker 1: I like Halloween, but this is not that. Hey, folks, 1272 01:26:47,000 --> 01:26:50,639 Speaker 1: it's Aaron here. I hope that today's interview helped deepen 1273 01:26:50,760 --> 01:26:54,240 Speaker 1: your understanding of everything involved in the Salem Which trials. 1274 01:26:54,640 --> 01:26:57,240 Speaker 1: But we're not done yet. We've got more interviews to 1275 01:26:57,280 --> 01:27:00,280 Speaker 1: share with you, so stick around after this briefs answer 1276 01:27:00,360 --> 01:27:07,200 Speaker 1: break to hear a preview of next week's interview. Hi. 1277 01:27:07,439 --> 01:27:10,719 Speaker 1: I'm Jane Kamensky. I teach history at Harvard University and 1278 01:27:10,800 --> 01:27:13,800 Speaker 1: I'm also the director of the Lessinger Library on the 1279 01:27:13,840 --> 01:27:16,720 Speaker 1: History of Women in the United States. I'm gonna start 1280 01:27:16,760 --> 01:27:19,840 Speaker 1: us off with a really well, deceptively simple question, but 1281 01:27:19,840 --> 01:27:24,559 Speaker 1: it's pretty complex. I'm sure, what was a witch in Um? 1282 01:27:24,880 --> 01:27:31,519 Speaker 1: Which was somebody who made unexpected things happen. Puritans lived 1283 01:27:31,520 --> 01:27:35,400 Speaker 1: in a world of portents and wonders and almonds. They're 1284 01:27:35,439 --> 01:27:39,600 Speaker 1: always watching the sky, they're watching the earth. Um there 1285 01:27:39,600 --> 01:27:43,559 Speaker 1: you know, Uh, God speaks to them. And I think 1286 01:27:43,560 --> 01:27:49,800 Speaker 1: a which was somebody who made almonds and portents and 1287 01:27:50,000 --> 01:27:55,680 Speaker 1: signs happen in ways that Um seemed to reside inappropriately 1288 01:27:56,400 --> 01:28:00,479 Speaker 1: in a human form, which is in pure in New 1289 01:28:00,520 --> 01:28:03,759 Speaker 1: England were not thought to wear black pointy hats, although 1290 01:28:03,800 --> 01:28:07,519 Speaker 1: they sometimes did ride around on brooms UM. And they 1291 01:28:07,600 --> 01:28:12,080 Speaker 1: acted in a whole manner of inappropriate ways or were 1292 01:28:12,120 --> 01:28:18,479 Speaker 1: present at times when inexplicable things happened. UM. Small harms 1293 01:28:18,520 --> 01:28:23,120 Speaker 1: you know, milk curdling, sour side or going sour. UM. 1294 01:28:23,280 --> 01:28:26,160 Speaker 1: Big harms. Uh you know, somebody saying, oh, what a 1295 01:28:26,200 --> 01:28:31,880 Speaker 1: pretty child that is, and the child soon sickens and dies. UM. 1296 01:28:32,120 --> 01:28:35,439 Speaker 1: Women who spoke out of turn, uh you know who 1297 01:28:35,479 --> 01:28:39,880 Speaker 1: whose tongues went on like fishwives in ways that UM 1298 01:28:40,160 --> 01:28:42,400 Speaker 1: really seemed to sort of stick out of the fabric 1299 01:28:42,479 --> 01:28:47,240 Speaker 1: of conversation at the time. UM. People who said things 1300 01:28:47,320 --> 01:28:53,200 Speaker 1: that later seemed to be ominous. UM. It's a world 1301 01:28:53,360 --> 01:28:58,639 Speaker 1: in which, you know, science is quite primitive, and a 1302 01:28:58,680 --> 01:29:04,880 Speaker 1: great deal of what unfolds in any given season is inexplicable. Right, 1303 01:29:04,960 --> 01:29:10,280 Speaker 1: Crops fail, animals die, UM. And sometimes in the search 1304 01:29:10,439 --> 01:29:16,200 Speaker 1: for supernatural explanations UM, which included God and the Devil UM, 1305 01:29:16,240 --> 01:29:20,200 Speaker 1: which is as the handmaidens of the devil um were 1306 01:29:20,200 --> 01:29:26,400 Speaker 1: were faulted. It's hard to see, looking backwards whether there 1307 01:29:26,439 --> 01:29:33,880 Speaker 1: were individuals who cultivated that reputation UM who had sort 1308 01:29:33,880 --> 01:29:39,320 Speaker 1: of family businesses in curative arts that flirted with the 1309 01:29:39,479 --> 01:29:43,519 Speaker 1: edge of of the supernatural. You know, there there are 1310 01:29:43,600 --> 01:29:48,120 Speaker 1: some instances in Salem where um uh women are found 1311 01:29:48,200 --> 01:29:51,080 Speaker 1: with poppets that seemed to be a little little cloth 1312 01:29:51,200 --> 01:29:53,960 Speaker 1: dolls that seemed to be used in UM in some 1313 01:29:54,040 --> 01:29:58,879 Speaker 1: kind of ritual. One thing that's quite different in UH 1314 01:29:58,920 --> 01:30:02,600 Speaker 1: in the early New England and witchcraft cases than in 1315 01:30:03,479 --> 01:30:07,200 Speaker 1: a lot of more ancient witchcraft cases is that Puritans 1316 01:30:07,200 --> 01:30:10,559 Speaker 1: are very concerned with the idea that some which is 1317 01:30:10,680 --> 01:30:13,559 Speaker 1: consort with the devil. Um. You know, there's a there's 1318 01:30:13,560 --> 01:30:18,439 Speaker 1: a black mass that surfaces in accounts of Salem that's 1319 01:30:18,760 --> 01:30:23,440 Speaker 1: not typical in run of the mill witchcraft cases UM, 1320 01:30:23,439 --> 01:30:28,000 Speaker 1: where it's where it's really more about livestock or about 1321 01:30:29,040 --> 01:30:31,760 Speaker 1: what we would now think of as a nightmare. I 1322 01:30:31,800 --> 01:30:34,639 Speaker 1: woke up with a sensation of somebody pressing on my chest, 1323 01:30:34,720 --> 01:30:36,320 Speaker 1: and I thought of my neighbor, and it must have 1324 01:30:36,320 --> 01:30:41,080 Speaker 1: been her um bewitching me. UM. So a whole range 1325 01:30:41,400 --> 01:30:47,799 Speaker 1: of unexpected happenings that didn't have an easy narrative cause 1326 01:30:47,880 --> 01:30:52,800 Speaker 1: that could fasten on somebody who, for whatever reason um 1327 01:30:53,040 --> 01:30:56,479 Speaker 1: stuck out in a fabric of society that was supposed 1328 01:30:56,520 --> 01:31:11,560 Speaker 1: to be smooth. Very This episode of Unobscured was executive 1329 01:31:11,560 --> 01:31:15,120 Speaker 1: produced by Me, Matt Frederick, and Alex Williams, with music 1330 01:31:15,160 --> 01:31:19,240 Speaker 1: by Chad Lawson and audio engineering by Alex Williams. The 1331 01:31:19,360 --> 01:31:22,559 Speaker 1: Unobscured website has everything you need to get the most 1332 01:31:22,600 --> 01:31:26,439 Speaker 1: out of the podcast. There's a resource library of maps, charts, 1333 01:31:26,520 --> 01:31:30,200 Speaker 1: and links to Salem document archives online, as well as 1334 01:31:30,200 --> 01:31:33,080 Speaker 1: a suggested reading list and a page with all of 1335 01:31:33,080 --> 01:31:37,759 Speaker 1: our historian biographies. And as always, thanks for supporting this show. 1336 01:31:38,200 --> 01:31:41,240 Speaker 1: If you love it, head over to Apple podcasts dot 1337 01:31:41,240 --> 01:31:44,800 Speaker 1: com slash Unobscured and leave a written review and a 1338 01:31:44,880 --> 01:31:48,160 Speaker 1: star rating. It makes a huge difference for the show's growth, 1339 01:31:49,320 --> 01:31:51,880 Speaker 1: and as always, thanks for listening.