1
00:00:10,920 --> 00:00:15,560
Speaker 1: It's April eighth, sixteen thirty eleven ships known as the

2
00:00:15,600 --> 00:00:20,040
Speaker 1: Winthrop Fleet, led by one John Winthrop, are docked at

3
00:00:20,079 --> 00:00:23,320
Speaker 1: Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight, just off the south

4
00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:28,520
Speaker 1: coast of England. The Arbella, the flagship of the fleet,

5
00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:33,240
Speaker 1: is loaded ready to depart, along with its three escorts,

6
00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:38,879
Speaker 1: the Talbot, the Ambrose and the Duel. The air is

7
00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:43,920
Speaker 1: unusually cold for the springtime, and oppressive gray clouds hang

8
00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:49,800
Speaker 1: ominously low overhead, then far off in the distance. A

9
00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:54,240
Speaker 1: shining golden ray of sunlight breaks suddenly through a small

10
00:00:54,320 --> 00:00:58,400
Speaker 1: gap in the clouds. For the throng of Puritan women,

11
00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:03,680
Speaker 1: children and men that stand expectantly waiting to board the vessels.

12
00:01:04,319 --> 00:01:08,880
Speaker 1: This is a divine blessing, an undeniable sign from God

13
00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:14,560
Speaker 1: that they are making the right decision. Back then, England

14
00:01:14,760 --> 00:01:19,160
Speaker 1: under King Charles the First was a dangerous place for Puritans.

15
00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:23,360
Speaker 1: The Anglican Church of England, with Charles at its head,

16
00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:28,920
Speaker 1: had too many Roman Catholic rituals for their liking. For them,

17
00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:33,400
Speaker 1: worshiping God was supposed to be a simple and austere act,

18
00:01:34,080 --> 00:01:40,319
Speaker 1: not one framed by gold and idolatry. More pertinent for Charles. However,

19
00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:44,640
Speaker 1: was the fact that Puritans also rejected the divine right

20
00:01:44,720 --> 00:01:49,520
Speaker 1: of kings, the idea that monarchs are granted their power

21
00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:56,640
Speaker 1: by God and therefore only answerable to God. Their mere existence,

22
00:01:57,080 --> 00:02:01,160
Speaker 1: as far as King Charles was concerned, an act of treason,

23
00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:06,960
Speaker 1: and so many Puritans decided their best hope was to

24
00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:10,680
Speaker 1: cut ties with England entirely and trust in their God

25
00:02:11,080 --> 00:02:14,600
Speaker 1: to guide them to another world where they could live freely,

26
00:02:15,160 --> 00:02:20,280
Speaker 1: unmolested by the English authorities. An early attempt was made

27
00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,720
Speaker 1: to establish a community in the Netherlands, but there they

28
00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,399
Speaker 1: still had to exist within the framework of an already

29
00:02:28,720 --> 00:02:33,440
Speaker 1: established nation. What they really needed was a blank slate,

30
00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:38,160
Speaker 1: just as the founders of Jamestown had done in sixteen

31
00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:43,280
Speaker 1: oh seven and the Mayflower Pilgrims of sixteen twenty. Clearly

32
00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:46,040
Speaker 1: what they had to do was to take to the

33
00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:57,120
Speaker 1: seas and strike out for the new World. In the

34
00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:02,560
Speaker 1: late sixteen twenties, the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded.

35
00:03:03,600 --> 00:03:07,200
Speaker 1: Its purpose, as the name suggests, was to develop a

36
00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:12,120
Speaker 1: colony in the region of Massachusetts Bay, an area incorporating

37
00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:17,120
Speaker 1: the shoreline of what is present day Boston. Though ostensibly

38
00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:21,040
Speaker 1: a business venture, it quickly became a popular means of

39
00:03:21,200 --> 00:03:27,320
Speaker 1: escape to many Puritan families. In sixteen twenty nine, John

40
00:03:27,360 --> 00:03:33,040
Speaker 1: Winthrop is elected its governor. Shortly before departing for Yarmouth

41
00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:36,400
Speaker 1: to begin the journey to the Americas, he gives a

42
00:03:36,480 --> 00:03:41,760
Speaker 1: rallying sermon at Holyrood Church in Southampton, at the time

43
00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:47,200
Speaker 1: titled a Model of Christian Charity, but since immortalized as

44
00:03:47,240 --> 00:03:52,160
Speaker 1: the City upon a Hill. Puritans believe that they alone

45
00:03:52,600 --> 00:03:57,360
Speaker 1: serve God correctly, and so only they, out of all people,

46
00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,760
Speaker 1: will be accepted into the Kingdom of heavy It stands

47
00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:05,560
Speaker 1: to reason that the success of their future colony will

48
00:04:05,600 --> 00:04:09,800
Speaker 1: be evidence that their beliefs are indeed the true will

49
00:04:09,840 --> 00:04:16,559
Speaker 1: of God. Winthrop's speech concludes with the words, we must

50
00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:20,440
Speaker 1: consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill.

51
00:04:21,360 --> 00:04:24,920
Speaker 1: The eyes of all people are upon us, so that

52
00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,320
Speaker 1: if we shall deal falsely with our God in this

53
00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:33,240
Speaker 1: work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw

54
00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:36,839
Speaker 1: his present help from us, we shall be made a

55
00:04:36,920 --> 00:04:41,760
Speaker 1: story and a byword through the world. In other words,

56
00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,800
Speaker 1: should things go well in the New World, their beliefs

57
00:04:45,839 --> 00:04:49,960
Speaker 1: will be vindicated, and they will forever be a beacon

58
00:04:50,120 --> 00:04:54,440
Speaker 1: of hope and truth to all who wish to follow them.

59
00:04:54,839 --> 00:05:00,920
Speaker 1: Should they fail, however, or should some unequivocal disaster before them,

60
00:05:01,520 --> 00:05:06,000
Speaker 1: that too would be God's will and proof that they

61
00:05:06,040 --> 00:05:12,760
Speaker 1: had in fact been wrong all along. After two months,

62
00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:18,760
Speaker 1: enduring the cold and wet, seasickness, and gale force winds,

63
00:05:18,760 --> 00:05:23,760
Speaker 1: in June sixteen thirty, Winthrop's fleet and the seven hundred

64
00:05:23,800 --> 00:05:29,880
Speaker 1: Puritans traveling with it finally reaches its destination, a peninsula

65
00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:34,320
Speaker 1: of the fledgling New England, known to many local communities

66
00:05:34,760 --> 00:05:39,799
Speaker 1: as Noomkeg. To these new arrivals, however, it is known

67
00:05:39,880 --> 00:05:45,120
Speaker 1: as something different, inspired by the Hebrew word for peace,

68
00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:53,640
Speaker 1: they call it Salem. You're listening to Unexplained, and I'm

69
00:05:53,760 --> 00:06:06,479
Speaker 1: Richard McLean Smith. The Winthrop fleet lands at Salem Town,

70
00:06:07,040 --> 00:06:11,240
Speaker 1: the major port city of the region. Over the next

71
00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:16,080
Speaker 1: fifty years, a further twenty one thousand more Puritans follow

72
00:06:16,520 --> 00:06:21,560
Speaker 1: and quickly establish settlements throughout New England. In that time,

73
00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:27,320
Speaker 1: the city on the Hill weathers many storms. Most difficult

74
00:06:27,360 --> 00:06:30,480
Speaker 1: of all is the war that breaks out in sixteen

75
00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:34,800
Speaker 1: seventy five between the New England colonists and a number

76
00:06:34,839 --> 00:06:39,560
Speaker 1: of indigenous communities. It claims the lives of thousands of

77
00:06:39,760 --> 00:06:45,440
Speaker 1: native tribe members and immigrants alike. Many consider the war

78
00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:50,200
Speaker 1: to be the last genuine opportunity that the indigenous communities

79
00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:53,919
Speaker 1: have to eject the New England colonists from the continent.

80
00:06:55,040 --> 00:07:00,000
Speaker 1: They do not succeed, however. The war claims the life

81
00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:04,600
Speaker 1: lives of ten percent of the Puritan's male adult population

82
00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:09,080
Speaker 1: and the destruction of a third of their newly established towns,

83
00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:15,280
Speaker 1: and leaves a long, terrifying shadow in its wake. A

84
00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:19,560
Speaker 1: nervy paranoia pervades the homes and churches of New England.

85
00:07:20,320 --> 00:07:24,600
Speaker 1: Then another war breaks out soon after. This time, the

86
00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:29,560
Speaker 1: battle is more directly between French and English colonists, each

87
00:07:29,880 --> 00:07:34,880
Speaker 1: aided by some local communities with whom they'd formed loose alliances.

88
00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:40,280
Speaker 1: For the Puritan settlers, of course, this isn't a sign

89
00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:44,040
Speaker 1: that God didn't want them there after all, as John

90
00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:47,720
Speaker 1: Winthrop had warned them to be vigilant for all those

91
00:07:47,840 --> 00:07:52,320
Speaker 1: years ago, but rather just further proof that they were

92
00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:58,040
Speaker 1: exactly where they were supposed to be. The settlers always

93
00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,880
Speaker 1: considered the world beyond their villages and towns to be

94
00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:06,280
Speaker 1: a strange and dark frontier, but there is no doubt

95
00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:10,720
Speaker 1: now that the New world is but a proxy for Hell,

96
00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:15,720
Speaker 1: and the devil does not want them there. But it

97
00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:20,680
Speaker 1: was their god given duty, their divine mission, to drive

98
00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:26,600
Speaker 1: back that darkness. However, it manifested whether that meant resisting

99
00:08:26,680 --> 00:08:31,600
Speaker 1: the French armies or purging their new home of the barbaric,

100
00:08:32,080 --> 00:08:37,640
Speaker 1: ungodly savages that already lived there. It is amid this

101
00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:43,240
Speaker 1: febrile atmosphere that in June sixteen eighty eight, Samuel Paris

102
00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:48,959
Speaker 1: travels to Salem Village, a disparate community of roughly six

103
00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:55,360
Speaker 1: hundred people about five miles northwest of Salem Town. Paris

104
00:08:55,440 --> 00:08:59,120
Speaker 1: is to be installed as its new minister, the fourth

105
00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:02,600
Speaker 1: in fact, since the settling of the village, who had

106
00:09:02,679 --> 00:09:08,440
Speaker 1: so far failed to unite the quarrelsome community. The problem,

107
00:09:08,760 --> 00:09:13,240
Speaker 1: thinks Paris, is that the flock has simply lost its way.

108
00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:18,679
Speaker 1: Is no nonsense approach, It's exactly what they need to

109
00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:24,160
Speaker 1: be brought back into line. He begins by enforcing strict

110
00:09:24,240 --> 00:09:28,160
Speaker 1: rules for membership. Only those who have fully committed to

111
00:09:28,240 --> 00:09:33,640
Speaker 1: their conversion are accepted into his congregation. He also lengthens

112
00:09:33,720 --> 00:09:38,880
Speaker 1: the sermons. A typical Sunday involves a three hour sermon

113
00:09:38,920 --> 00:09:42,560
Speaker 1: in the morning at the meeting house where the congregation gather,

114
00:09:43,120 --> 00:09:47,160
Speaker 1: and another extended service in the afternoon, with only a

115
00:09:47,200 --> 00:09:53,240
Speaker 1: short refreshment break in between. Anyone caught nodding off faces

116
00:09:53,320 --> 00:09:57,480
Speaker 1: the wrath of the tithing Man, a stern ominous figure

117
00:09:57,720 --> 00:10:02,160
Speaker 1: who tiptoes silently around the world hall as Paris's dark,

118
00:10:02,480 --> 00:10:07,360
Speaker 1: gloomy voice rings out. He carries a weirdly long stick

119
00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:11,560
Speaker 1: with one end pointed and the other fixed with a

120
00:10:11,600 --> 00:10:16,720
Speaker 1: bushy or feathery tail. Fall asleep and you get a tickle.

121
00:10:17,679 --> 00:10:21,000
Speaker 1: Fail to wake and you get a sharp poke in

122
00:10:21,040 --> 00:10:36,840
Speaker 1: the ribs. Minister Samuel Parris's changes do little to ingratiate

123
00:10:36,960 --> 00:10:42,280
Speaker 1: him to his new community. Their disgruntlement only increases when

124
00:10:42,280 --> 00:10:47,520
Speaker 1: he demands full ownership of the parsonage. Ordinarily, this would

125
00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:50,840
Speaker 1: be given back to the church when the minister moves

126
00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:54,800
Speaker 1: on to a different post, but Paris elects to keep

127
00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:59,319
Speaker 1: it solely for himself and his family. He also declares

128
00:10:59,400 --> 00:11:03,040
Speaker 1: that you will not pay for firewood, and negotiates a

129
00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:08,280
Speaker 1: bonus for every outsider he brings into his flock. Despite

130
00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,920
Speaker 1: all this, however, such as the vital importance of the

131
00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:17,120
Speaker 1: church for most villagers, week after week, they dutifully trudge

132
00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:22,800
Speaker 1: in to listen to Paris's sermons, but also, week after week,

133
00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:26,760
Speaker 1: the divisions between those who support Paris and those who

134
00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:33,080
Speaker 1: are beginning to despise him grow wider and wider. In October,

135
00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:37,520
Speaker 1: at a town meeting, Paris's opponents take a vote to

136
00:11:37,600 --> 00:11:41,680
Speaker 1: stop paying him entirely, so angered are they by his

137
00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:48,520
Speaker 1: practices and demands. But Paris remains defiant, as he repeatedly

138
00:11:48,640 --> 00:11:53,440
Speaker 1: tells his congregation, any opposition to him is nothing but

139
00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:59,920
Speaker 1: a conspiracy manufactured by Satan himself, and so things can

140
00:12:00,000 --> 00:12:04,760
Speaker 1: continue into the bitterly harsh winter of sixteen ninety one.

141
00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:09,520
Speaker 1: It's some time toward the end of the year when

142
00:12:09,559 --> 00:12:14,440
Speaker 1: a knock comes at Samuel Parris's door. He opens it

143
00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:19,360
Speaker 1: to find Sarah Good standing on his doorstep, shivering in

144
00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:24,960
Speaker 1: the cold, with little more than rags for clothes. Good

145
00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:29,600
Speaker 1: looked considerably older than her thirty eight years, and life

146
00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:34,479
Speaker 1: had left her angry and embittered. At the age of sixteen,

147
00:12:34,960 --> 00:12:40,880
Speaker 1: her wealthy father committed suicide, leaving no will. Her father's

148
00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:45,320
Speaker 1: property in Salem was divided between her mother and two brothers,

149
00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:50,040
Speaker 1: with a small holding given to Sarah and her six sisters.

150
00:12:51,040 --> 00:12:55,000
Speaker 1: But when Sarah's mother married again, her mother and new

151
00:12:55,040 --> 00:13:01,160
Speaker 1: stepfather took it from her. Destitute and with nowhere to go,

152
00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:05,839
Speaker 1: Good had little choice but to marry for security. Then

153
00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:11,640
Speaker 1: her husband died unexpectedly, leaving her with debts she couldn't pay.

154
00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:16,240
Speaker 1: These debts were carried over into a second marriage to

155
00:13:16,280 --> 00:13:21,360
Speaker 1: William Good. William found occasional work as a laborer, but

156
00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:26,000
Speaker 1: the couple are frequently reduced to begging to survive. For

157
00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:33,479
Speaker 1: many Puritans, it is an unseemly practice. On Samuel Parris's doorstep,

158
00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:39,000
Speaker 1: with snow all around, the shivering Sarah asks the minister

159
00:13:39,320 --> 00:13:43,360
Speaker 1: if he has anything to spare, perhaps hoping a man

160
00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:46,600
Speaker 1: of God might find it in his heart to grant

161
00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:53,520
Speaker 1: her some charity. Paris eyes the woman suspiciously, then looks

162
00:13:53,559 --> 00:13:57,560
Speaker 1: down the road toward the meeting house. I have not

163
00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:00,880
Speaker 1: seen at my sermons these past few weeks, he says,

164
00:14:01,800 --> 00:14:06,520
Speaker 1: Why is this? Sarah blows into her hands to warm them,

165
00:14:07,080 --> 00:14:11,320
Speaker 1: then looks down at her clothes. I haven't the proper attire,

166
00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:17,760
Speaker 1: she replies flatly. Paris regards her sorry state for a moment,

167
00:14:18,320 --> 00:14:23,400
Speaker 1: then shees her away. Sarah seems about to say something

168
00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:28,600
Speaker 1: but instead simply turns around and walks off back into

169
00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:33,240
Speaker 1: the cold. Some will say this is all that occurred,

170
00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:38,440
Speaker 1: Others that Sarah Good muttered something under her breath that

171
00:14:38,680 --> 00:14:50,680
Speaker 1: day as she walked away from the Minister's home. One Sunday,

172
00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:55,920
Speaker 1: during another endless sermon in early January sixteen ninety two,

173
00:14:56,080 --> 00:14:59,760
Speaker 1: conditions have become so extreme that when the communion bread

174
00:14:59,800 --> 00:15:04,120
Speaker 1: is passed around, it is frozen, and so it is

175
00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:08,680
Speaker 1: with huge relief as the congregation huddles together, their teeth

176
00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:12,880
Speaker 1: chattering and stamping their feet to keep them from going numb,

177
00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:17,560
Speaker 1: when Minister Paris finally concedes it is too cold to

178
00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:24,320
Speaker 1: continue and sends everyone home. Back at the parsonage that afternoon,

179
00:15:24,760 --> 00:15:28,920
Speaker 1: as a healthy fire burns in the hearth, Paris's niece,

180
00:15:29,280 --> 00:15:33,040
Speaker 1: eleven year old Abigail Williams, and his nine year old

181
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:38,160
Speaker 1: daughter Betty, are in the kitchen together. Abigail tells Betty

182
00:15:38,400 --> 00:15:41,240
Speaker 1: to fetch a glass of water while she hunts for

183
00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:46,480
Speaker 1: an egg in the larder. Moments later, Abigail cracks the

184
00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:50,200
Speaker 1: egg into a bowl and carefully separates the yolk from

185
00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:54,720
Speaker 1: the white. Then, as Betty holds out the glass of water,

186
00:15:55,280 --> 00:16:00,160
Speaker 1: Abigail plops the egg white into it. Betty looks with

187
00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:05,160
Speaker 1: confusion at the strange, viscous fluid now squirming about in

188
00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:10,520
Speaker 1: the glass. Now says Abigail, would you like to play

189
00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:16,000
Speaker 1: a game? For the young women of Salem Village? Opportunities

190
00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:20,800
Speaker 1: for fun are thin on the ground. Puritans believe entertainment

191
00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:24,880
Speaker 1: to be a sinful distraction from studying the scripture. There

192
00:16:24,960 --> 00:16:29,480
Speaker 1: is no dancing or music, no parties or society events.

193
00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:34,480
Speaker 1: This is especially true of the Paris household, whose patriarch

194
00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:39,440
Speaker 1: runs his family like his congregation. Family time is spent

195
00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:44,680
Speaker 1: studying scripture by firelight and listening to him lecture, even

196
00:16:44,880 --> 00:16:50,120
Speaker 1: after the long days of church services. Perhaps it is this, then,

197
00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:54,880
Speaker 1: the cloistered monotony of their existence, that leads Abigail and

198
00:16:54,960 --> 00:17:00,120
Speaker 1: Betty to play with the venus glass. In sixteen forty,

199
00:17:00,760 --> 00:17:05,040
Speaker 1: the New England settlers drew up the Massachusetts Body of Liberties,

200
00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:09,919
Speaker 1: a legal framework for the colonists to adhere to. Number

201
00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:13,080
Speaker 1: one on the list of crimes worthy of the death

202
00:17:13,119 --> 00:17:17,479
Speaker 1: penalty was the worshiping of any other god other than

203
00:17:17,520 --> 00:17:22,800
Speaker 1: the puritan's own god, and number two was being a

204
00:17:22,880 --> 00:17:28,640
Speaker 1: witch or consulting with the devil. Such was the paranoia

205
00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:32,720
Speaker 1: over witches at the time. Even small folk magics were

206
00:17:32,720 --> 00:17:37,159
Speaker 1: condemned as heretical and blasphemous by ministers in the area.

207
00:17:38,240 --> 00:17:44,000
Speaker 1: Small folk magics like the Venus Glass. The Venus Glass,

208
00:17:44,080 --> 00:17:48,119
Speaker 1: or Overmancy is used to determine the career of one's

209
00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:51,560
Speaker 1: future partner with the use of an egg white poured

210
00:17:51,600 --> 00:17:55,720
Speaker 1: into a glass of water. When the white separates from

211
00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:59,400
Speaker 1: the water, the shape it forms is said to provide

212
00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:03,640
Speaker 1: the answer. If the shape is a crown, your partner

213
00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:06,960
Speaker 1: might be a king. If it is a cross, a

214
00:18:07,040 --> 00:18:13,879
Speaker 1: minister perhaps, or a ship might suggest a sailor. Abigail

215
00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:17,240
Speaker 1: and Betty stare at the glass of water as the

216
00:18:17,320 --> 00:18:24,080
Speaker 1: viscous albumen swirls about. Then Betty's face crumbles in horror

217
00:18:25,280 --> 00:18:28,879
Speaker 1: because it isn't a cross or a ship that she sees,

218
00:18:29,960 --> 00:18:40,359
Speaker 1: but a Coffin. A few days after Abigail and Betty's

219
00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:45,040
Speaker 1: session with the Venus Glass, something peculiar comes over nine

220
00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:49,639
Speaker 1: year old Betty. She seems preoccupied with something to the

221
00:18:49,680 --> 00:18:54,800
Speaker 1: point of distraction, but won't say what it is. At times,

222
00:18:55,200 --> 00:19:01,200
Speaker 1: Samuel Parris finds her sitting alone, staring silently into other

223
00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:06,399
Speaker 1: times she forgets her errands. She becomes fidgety and restless

224
00:19:06,640 --> 00:19:11,600
Speaker 1: during prayer time. One night in the parsonage, the Paris

225
00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:15,679
Speaker 1: family are gathered once again by the hearth as the

226
00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:20,720
Speaker 1: orange light of flickering flames dance on their faces. Samuel

227
00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:24,880
Speaker 1: is solemnly reciting the Lord's prayer when a bone splitting

228
00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:29,800
Speaker 1: cry rings out. It is Betty, crying out in pain,

229
00:19:30,280 --> 00:19:34,320
Speaker 1: as if the words are tormenting her. When Paris yells

230
00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:37,320
Speaker 1: at her to stop it, she barks wildly at him

231
00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:42,560
Speaker 1: like a dog in shock. Paris sends his daughter to bed,

232
00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:47,320
Speaker 1: completely bemused as to what is going on. Over the

233
00:19:47,320 --> 00:19:52,880
Speaker 1: next few days, whatever dreadful malady has befallen the girl intensifies.

234
00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:57,280
Speaker 1: She throws herself onto the floor and breaks into fits,

235
00:19:58,080 --> 00:20:03,959
Speaker 1: or goes suddenly stiff, her body contorting into unnatural positions.

236
00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:08,960
Speaker 1: During one especially violent outburst, she throws a Bible across

237
00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:15,919
Speaker 1: the room. Then Abigail starts fitting too. Even stranger is

238
00:20:15,960 --> 00:20:18,560
Speaker 1: when she has found one day to be covered in

239
00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:23,600
Speaker 1: angry red welts, as if someone or something had bitten

240
00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:28,479
Speaker 1: and pinched her all over. Abigail claims to have no

241
00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:33,720
Speaker 1: idea how the marks got there. At a loss with

242
00:20:33,840 --> 00:20:37,800
Speaker 1: what to do, Paris seeks the help of Reverend John

243
00:20:37,840 --> 00:20:42,440
Speaker 1: Hale from the neighboring village of Beverly. Hale suggests a

244
00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,480
Speaker 1: simple course of prayer and fasting to remedy the situation,

245
00:20:47,359 --> 00:20:51,480
Speaker 1: But no matter how hard he tries, Reverend Paris's prayers

246
00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:57,000
Speaker 1: do nothing to halt the strange inflictions. Then, in late January,

247
00:20:57,280 --> 00:21:02,159
Speaker 1: disturbing news reaches the village of Salem. It was early

248
00:21:02,240 --> 00:21:05,919
Speaker 1: in the morning of January twenty fourth when English settlers

249
00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:09,520
Speaker 1: in the village of York, about fifty miles to the north,

250
00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:14,840
Speaker 1: were startled awake by the sound of war cries. Before

251
00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:19,520
Speaker 1: they knew what was happening, around three hundred Panawab scary men,

252
00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:23,199
Speaker 1: a tribe local to the region, tore through the village,

253
00:21:23,560 --> 00:21:29,199
Speaker 1: burning down houses and murdering villages. The attack, coordinated with

254
00:21:29,280 --> 00:21:33,000
Speaker 1: the colonial French army, left one hundred men, women and

255
00:21:33,080 --> 00:21:38,160
Speaker 1: children dead, with another eighty taken prisoner. The town's minister,

256
00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:42,960
Speaker 1: Shubbal Dammer, was stripped naked and his body mutilated before

257
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:48,640
Speaker 1: he died. News of the town's demise strikes fear through

258
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:53,159
Speaker 1: all in Salem. Here was yet more evidence of the

259
00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:56,879
Speaker 1: demons that lurk on the horizon, just waiting for the

260
00:21:56,960 --> 00:22:00,879
Speaker 1: right moment to strike. It was a fear some reminder

261
00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:05,080
Speaker 1: how vital it was to remain vigilant at all times

262
00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:08,840
Speaker 1: to even the slightest hint of a threat to their

263
00:22:08,960 --> 00:22:23,680
Speaker 1: lives and their mission. In mid February, a month after

264
00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:29,200
Speaker 1: Betty and Abigail began acting strangely, Samuel Parris, disturbed by

265
00:22:29,240 --> 00:22:33,480
Speaker 1: the manner in which York's minister Shibal Dummer was murdered,

266
00:22:33,880 --> 00:22:37,840
Speaker 1: finally confides in his close friend Thomas Putnam about what

267
00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,040
Speaker 1: has been going on in his home. The Putnams are

268
00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:46,800
Speaker 1: a prominent family in Salem Village and vocal supporters of Paris.

269
00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:52,000
Speaker 1: Putnam arrives at the parsonage accompanied by his daughter Ann

270
00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:56,600
Speaker 1: Putnam Junior and his servant Mercy Lewis, both of whom

271
00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:00,760
Speaker 1: are friends of Abigail and Betty. He takes one look

272
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:04,520
Speaker 1: at the pale and exhausted young girls and tells Paris

273
00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:09,160
Speaker 1: to call for a doctor at once. Doctor William Griggs

274
00:23:09,320 --> 00:23:14,399
Speaker 1: was likely self taught with no official medical background. On

275
00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:17,720
Speaker 1: the twenty fourth of February, he arrives at the Paris

276
00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:22,800
Speaker 1: home to carry out an assessment. Samuel and his wife Elizabeth,

277
00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 1: watch on nervously as Griggs inspects Abigail and Betty while

278
00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:33,080
Speaker 1: they lie silently in bed. Having finished, he bids Samuel

279
00:23:33,119 --> 00:23:37,399
Speaker 1: and Elizabeth to follow him into an adjoining room. He

280
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:41,439
Speaker 1: tells them solemnly that he found nothing physically wrong with

281
00:23:41,560 --> 00:23:46,119
Speaker 1: the girls. Therefore, there can be only one conclusion. He says,

282
00:23:47,080 --> 00:23:51,280
Speaker 1: an evil hand is upon them. In other words, the

283
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,920
Speaker 1: girls were under the curse of some kind of demonic

284
00:23:55,040 --> 00:24:01,800
Speaker 1: spell placed by a witch. Samuel and Zabeth's eyes widen

285
00:24:01,880 --> 00:24:06,400
Speaker 1: in horror. For the minister, it is his worst nightmare,

286
00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:12,000
Speaker 1: but vindication too for his insistence that Satan is alive

287
00:24:12,080 --> 00:24:17,000
Speaker 1: and well in Salem. The following day, Minister Paris and

288
00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:20,320
Speaker 1: his wife leave to attend a lecture in another town.

289
00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:26,240
Speaker 1: In their absence, the explosive news spreads through the village.

290
00:24:26,560 --> 00:24:31,400
Speaker 1: Mary Sibley, who lived close to the Paris, is especially disturbed.

291
00:24:32,200 --> 00:24:36,680
Speaker 1: She takes it on herself to offer some advice. Shortly

292
00:24:36,720 --> 00:24:41,080
Speaker 1: after Samuel and Elizabeth leave, she visits the parsonage where

293
00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:46,000
Speaker 1: she speaks to the family's enslaved couple, John Indian and Tituba.

294
00:24:47,160 --> 00:24:50,920
Speaker 1: John is an indigenous native of what is known today

295
00:24:51,160 --> 00:24:56,080
Speaker 1: as South America. Titchuba's origins have been much debated over

296
00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:59,240
Speaker 1: the years, though it is generally thought that she was

297
00:24:59,280 --> 00:25:03,480
Speaker 1: from the Carrabe Being. At some point she was abducted

298
00:25:03,520 --> 00:25:07,399
Speaker 1: from her community and enslaved by a British plantation owner,

299
00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:13,679
Speaker 1: before eventually being inherited by Samuel Parris. Mary Sibley tells

300
00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:17,040
Speaker 1: them to make a witch's cake to combat the spell

301
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:22,240
Speaker 1: and expose the demonic witch. A witch's cake is made

302
00:25:22,359 --> 00:25:26,000
Speaker 1: by adding the urine of one suffering from a witch's

303
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:29,600
Speaker 1: curse to some rye flower, which is then baked into

304
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:34,320
Speaker 1: a biscuit. This is then fed to a dog. An

305
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,919
Speaker 1: active ingredient of a witch's curse is thought to be

306
00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:42,359
Speaker 1: present in the inflicted's urine. If the dog exhibits the

307
00:25:42,440 --> 00:25:46,200
Speaker 1: same symptoms after eating the biscuit as the person who

308
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:50,480
Speaker 1: has been cursed, it is confirmation that the curse is real.

309
00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:55,440
Speaker 1: Some also believe the witch will cry out in pain

310
00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:59,200
Speaker 1: the moment the dog eats the biscuit, as if they

311
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:05,600
Speaker 1: themselves were being chewed up by the dog. John Indian

312
00:26:05,960 --> 00:26:10,280
Speaker 1: dutifully collects urine from Abigail and Betty and hands it

313
00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:14,400
Speaker 1: to Tituba. Who mixes it with rye flower before baking

314
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:19,680
Speaker 1: the pungent mixture in hot ashes. Tituba is then said

315
00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:22,679
Speaker 1: to have fed it to the family dog while she

316
00:26:23,440 --> 00:26:28,320
Speaker 1: John and the Paris's other children, Thomas and Susannah nervously

317
00:26:28,440 --> 00:26:32,520
Speaker 1: watched on for any sign of distress, but the dog

318
00:26:32,720 --> 00:26:37,240
Speaker 1: simply gobbles it up, licks its lips, and ambles away.

319
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:43,480
Speaker 1: Perhaps they think with relief there is no witch after all.

320
00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:48,800
Speaker 1: A short time later, a few miles away, a scream

321
00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:59,720
Speaker 1: rings out in the home of Thomas Putnam. Inside the

322
00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:03,840
Speaker 1: Unham's home, Thomas looks on aghast as his twelve year

323
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:08,080
Speaker 1: old daughter Anne rides about on the floor, seemingly in

324
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:11,480
Speaker 1: the grip of the exact same thing that has afflicted

325
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:16,760
Speaker 1: young Betty, Parris and Abigail. As Anne screams out in pain,

326
00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:25,200
Speaker 1: she also screams three names, Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Titchuba.

327
00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:30,360
Speaker 1: She screams for them to stop attacking her also, Thomas

328
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:35,600
Speaker 1: Putnam would later state. Meanwhile, at the home of doctor

329
00:27:35,640 --> 00:27:40,080
Speaker 1: Griggs two miles away, more screams are hurt, this time

330
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:44,480
Speaker 1: coming from Elizabeth Hubbard. Griggs is great niece with whom

331
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:48,080
Speaker 1: he and his wife Rachel had taken on as a servant.

332
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:52,320
Speaker 1: She too claims to be under attack from three witches.

333
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:58,440
Speaker 1: She also names them as Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Titchuba,

334
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:04,080
Speaker 1: or so it would later be stated, All three, as

335
00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:09,000
Speaker 1: Elizabeth would later attest, appeared to her as ghostly specters

336
00:28:09,359 --> 00:28:14,760
Speaker 1: moving about the house. Like Sarah Good and Titchuba, The

337
00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:18,720
Speaker 1: forty nine year old Sarah Osborne was also an outsider

338
00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:23,840
Speaker 1: of sorts. When Sarah's first husband died in sixteen seventy four,

339
00:28:24,240 --> 00:28:28,040
Speaker 1: his will dictated that she be entrusted with their land

340
00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:31,919
Speaker 1: and money until their two young sons came of age

341
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:36,359
Speaker 1: to inherit it. Shortly after, Sarah took on a farm

342
00:28:36,400 --> 00:28:43,080
Speaker 1: hand named Alexander Osborne, an Irish indentured servant. Sarah and

343
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:48,400
Speaker 1: the younger Alexander became close. Sarah paid off his indenture

344
00:28:48,840 --> 00:28:52,440
Speaker 1: and later married him, before trying to seize the control

345
00:28:52,480 --> 00:28:56,800
Speaker 1: of the estate from her sons against her late husband's wishes.

346
00:28:57,760 --> 00:29:02,479
Speaker 1: This brought her into direct conflict with Thomas Putnam and

347
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:06,280
Speaker 1: his brother John, who were the executors of her deceased

348
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:12,560
Speaker 1: husband's will. Later that day, Samuel and Elizabeth Paris return

349
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:16,720
Speaker 1: to find their daughter Betty and her cousin Abigail, seemingly

350
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:21,680
Speaker 1: suffering even more from the apparent witch's curse. But now,

351
00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:26,720
Speaker 1: as will also be stated later, the girls could apparently

352
00:29:26,800 --> 00:29:31,480
Speaker 1: see exactly who it is that's tormenting them, Sarah Good,

353
00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:38,440
Speaker 1: Sarah Osborne, and Titchuba. The next day, Abigail and Betty

354
00:29:38,640 --> 00:29:42,680
Speaker 1: tell their parents that Titchubah made things worse by making

355
00:29:42,720 --> 00:29:47,560
Speaker 1: them eat a witch's cake. Moments later, Samuel and Elizabeth

356
00:29:47,640 --> 00:29:51,400
Speaker 1: Paris watch on in horror as the girls seem suddenly

357
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:54,760
Speaker 1: to be in the grip of unseen hands that cantort

358
00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:59,800
Speaker 1: and twist their bodies in hideously in human ways, go

359
00:30:00,240 --> 00:30:03,600
Speaker 1: for breath, clawing at their throats as if they are

360
00:30:03,640 --> 00:30:09,080
Speaker 1: being strangled. Samuel Parris is said to have beaten Titchiber

361
00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:15,640
Speaker 1: savagely after hearing about the witch's cake. Minister Paris invites

362
00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:19,240
Speaker 1: several men of high standing in the local community to

363
00:30:19,360 --> 00:30:24,160
Speaker 1: see Abigail and Betty's strange behavior for themselves. They two

364
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:27,640
Speaker 1: are in no doubt that the girls are clearly under

365
00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:34,560
Speaker 1: the spell of something satanic. Titchiba is interrogated, and, despite

366
00:30:34,600 --> 00:30:45,840
Speaker 1: her protestations, is accused of being a witch. Over the

367
00:30:45,880 --> 00:30:51,400
Speaker 1: next few days, as the four girls, Betty, Abigail, Elizabeth,

368
00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:55,280
Speaker 1: and Anne continue to seemingly suffer at the hands of

369
00:30:55,320 --> 00:31:00,000
Speaker 1: the apparent witches. The townspeople begin to gossip among themselves,

370
00:31:00,720 --> 00:31:04,840
Speaker 1: trading stories of their own experiences with the accused women.

371
00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:10,520
Speaker 1: Sarah Good has always been difficult and rarely thankful whenever

372
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:13,920
Speaker 1: anyone offers her charity or a place to stay with

373
00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:17,880
Speaker 1: her husband, They say, isn't it strange how she goes

374
00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:21,080
Speaker 1: around muttering to herself? And didn't she do it that

375
00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:25,760
Speaker 1: one time after paying a visit to the Paris's home, Perhaps,

376
00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:29,240
Speaker 1: they wonder, is that when she first cast her spell

377
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:34,640
Speaker 1: on the minister's daughter and niece. As for Sarah Osborne,

378
00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:39,080
Speaker 1: married to her own indentured servant, it's no surprise that

379
00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:43,680
Speaker 1: a woman of such a subversive and antagonizing nature would

380
00:31:43,720 --> 00:31:47,600
Speaker 1: be in league with the devil. And then there is Tituba,

381
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:52,200
Speaker 1: who knew what sort of things her people were capable of.

382
00:31:54,240 --> 00:31:58,960
Speaker 1: On February twenty ninth, sixteen ninety two, a group of

383
00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:03,440
Speaker 1: men led by Thomas Putnam ride out to Salem Town

384
00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:08,160
Speaker 1: to pay a visit to the town's magistrates, Jonathan Corwin

385
00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:13,600
Speaker 1: and John Hathorne. The men on behalf of Salem Village

386
00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:20,240
Speaker 1: request that Sarah Osborne, Sarah Good and Titchuba be charged

387
00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:26,560
Speaker 1: with suspicion of witchcraft. Later that afternoon, three arrest warrants

388
00:32:26,640 --> 00:32:29,520
Speaker 1: are duly issued, and by the end of the day

389
00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:34,480
Speaker 1: all three women are arrested, taken into custody, and placed

390
00:32:34,520 --> 00:32:38,520
Speaker 1: in the home of Nathaniel and Goody Ingersoll the village

391
00:32:38,600 --> 00:32:45,040
Speaker 1: tavern to await inspection. The Salem witch trials have begun.

392
00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:56,640
Speaker 1: You've been listening to Unexplained Season seven, episode twenty five,

393
00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:01,840
Speaker 1: The City upon the Hill, Part one of three, Part

394
00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:07,880
Speaker 1: two will be released next Friday, July fifth. This episode

395
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:13,000
Speaker 1: was written by Ella McCloud and Richard McClain smith. Unexplained

396
00:33:13,040 --> 00:33:17,440
Speaker 1: is an AV Club Productions podcast created by Richard McClain smith.

397
00:33:18,120 --> 00:33:21,400
Speaker 1: All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are

398
00:33:21,440 --> 00:33:26,080
Speaker 1: also produced by me Richard McClain smith. Unexplained. The book

399
00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:29,560
Speaker 1: and audiobook, with stories never before featured on the show,

400
00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:34,080
Speaker 1: is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon,

401
00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:39,160
Speaker 1: Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, and other bookstores. Please subscribe to

402
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,440
Speaker 1: and rate the show wherever you get your podcasts, and

403
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:44,800
Speaker 1: feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or

404
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:48,640
Speaker 1: ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps

405
00:33:48,640 --> 00:33:51,120
Speaker 1: you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share.

406
00:33:51,800 --> 00:33:55,240
Speaker 1: You can find out more at Unexplained podcast dot com

407
00:33:55,280 --> 00:33:59,000
Speaker 1: and reach us online through Twitter at Unexplained Pod and

408
00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:03,920
Speaker 1: Facebook at Facebook dot com, Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast