1 00:00:10,080 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 1: The sun was warm and bright in the sky as 2 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: the wagons slowly rolled down the road to and Over. 3 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:20,200 Speaker 1: It was a community about fifteen miles northwest of Salem Town, 4 00:00:20,440 --> 00:00:23,000 Speaker 1: then one of the earliest settlements to get its own 5 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:27,480 Speaker 1: church and autonomy from Salem. But on this particular July morning, 6 00:00:27,960 --> 00:00:33,479 Speaker 1: someone in and Over needed Salem's help, not that Salem 7 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:36,879 Speaker 1: didn't need help as well. The official Oyer and Terminer 8 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:40,280 Speaker 1: trials had been rolling along, but it was far from smooth. 9 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 1: After the first session, one of the nine magistrates resigned 10 00:00:44,159 --> 00:00:47,680 Speaker 1: his position on the trial. After the second trial, one 11 00:00:47,720 --> 00:00:51,240 Speaker 1: that convicted five more witches and scheduled them for execution 12 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:56,400 Speaker 1: on July, the Attorney General himself, Sir Thomas Newton, also 13 00:00:56,480 --> 00:01:01,440 Speaker 1: resigned his post. But despite those setbacks, things weren't slowing down. 14 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: So when Joseph Ballard sent a message to Salem asking 15 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:11,160 Speaker 1: for help, they were happy to assist. Joseph's wife, Elizabeth, 16 00:01:11,240 --> 00:01:13,319 Speaker 1: had been sick for a while and no one seemed 17 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:15,520 Speaker 1: to be able to help her, and as the weeks 18 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:19,479 Speaker 1: went by, she was looking worse and worse off. Most 19 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:22,960 Speaker 1: of the people around her, her husband included, expected her 20 00:01:22,959 --> 00:01:26,399 Speaker 1: to pass away sometime very soon, but they also began 21 00:01:26,440 --> 00:01:29,880 Speaker 1: to wonder if there might be darker reasons for her 22 00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:35,759 Speaker 1: illness witchcraft. Knowing what the people of Salem had been 23 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: dealing with and the sorts of experts that had come 24 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: out of the woodwork, Joseph Ballard decided to take a chance. 25 00:01:42,360 --> 00:01:45,320 Speaker 1: He sent word to the neighboring town that he suspected 26 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: his wife had been bewitched and asked if they might 27 00:01:48,040 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: be able to send someone to help find the person 28 00:01:50,880 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: or people responsible. So the wagon heading to end Over 29 00:01:55,360 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 1: on that bright July morning held someone special, two people actually, 30 00:02:00,360 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: two young women who had become known and trusted as 31 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: witch finders, and their task was simple, go to and 32 00:02:07,720 --> 00:02:11,040 Speaker 1: Over and find the witches who were killing Elizabeth Ballard. 33 00:02:12,680 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 1: Now I need to pause and make something clear. We 34 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,959 Speaker 1: don't know who these two young women were. We have guesses, 35 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 1: but those guesses vary from historian to historian. All of 36 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:26,720 Speaker 1: them pull from the same pool of accusers that sat 37 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:29,280 Speaker 1: at the center of the Salem trials, but the two 38 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 1: names will differ depending on who you read. The best 39 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,440 Speaker 1: hints we have are the records of other witch finding events, 40 00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:38,560 Speaker 1: and most of those were carried out by Mercy Lewis 41 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:41,840 Speaker 1: and Elizabeth Hubbard, so that's who we're going to go with. 42 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: But I think it also illuminates just how easy it 43 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:49,840 Speaker 1: is to forget now. Their activity in and Over certainly 44 00:02:49,880 --> 00:02:53,960 Speaker 1: wouldn't be the first. Martha Carrier, an abrasive and stubborn 45 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 1: mother of five in her mid thirties, had been arrested 46 00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 1: nearly two months before, back at the end of May, 47 00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: and she still sat in a Salem jail, and her 48 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: family connections had already landed her brother in law, Roger Toothaker, 49 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: in jail, where he died at the end of June. 50 00:03:11,160 --> 00:03:14,920 Speaker 1: But this witch finding expedition was something new and different, 51 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:18,839 Speaker 1: something deadly, because it wasn't going to be a one 52 00:03:18,880 --> 00:03:22,880 Speaker 1: off that would happen and then be forgotten. Now, if 53 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: the Salem events were like a giant cistern holding millions 54 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,000 Speaker 1: of gallons of water, this little trip to and Over 55 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:33,800 Speaker 1: was a breach. The hole was being punctured in the 56 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:37,680 Speaker 1: side of the cistern and a leakue had sprung, and 57 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: and Over was about to be swept away in the flood. 58 00:03:44,080 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: This is unobscured. I'm Aaron Manky. The Ballards were an 59 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:25,640 Speaker 1: old family. The city of Andover is listed as first 60 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:30,400 Speaker 1: settled in six fifty years before the events in Salem, 61 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:33,560 Speaker 1: but the Ballards arrived a year before that. They were 62 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:36,279 Speaker 1: part of that first wave of risk takers who packed 63 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,440 Speaker 1: up and planted their lives farther inland from the safety 64 00:04:39,480 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: of the Atlantic. As far as I can tell, the 65 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:48,799 Speaker 1: original Ballard family had three sons, John, William, and Joseph. Remember, 66 00:04:48,920 --> 00:04:51,080 Speaker 1: in those days, there weren't a lot of people living 67 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,120 Speaker 1: in the area, so apparently the ratio of men to 68 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 1: women was slightly off and over constable. Joseph Ballard managed 69 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,599 Speaker 1: to find a wife, a Elizabeth, the woman who was 70 00:05:01,640 --> 00:05:05,240 Speaker 1: sick and dying, but his brothers weren't so lucky. It 71 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:08,720 Speaker 1: wasn't until around six eight that all of that changed. 72 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,560 Speaker 1: That's when Samuel Wardwell moved to town. He was roughly 73 00:05:13,600 --> 00:05:16,360 Speaker 1: the same age as the Ballard boys, and his household 74 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: included not only his wife and children, but his wife's sister, Rebecca. 75 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: Soon enough, Rebecca married John Ballard and the family had 76 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:28,960 Speaker 1: grown a little larger. But in the summer of six 77 00:05:30,320 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 1: Joseph's wife, Elizabeth took sick, and no one knew what 78 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 1: was causing it. Medical science was barely more than folklore 79 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:41,280 Speaker 1: and herbs at the time, especially miles from a trained physician, 80 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: so it was common for minds to wander towards unusual suspicions, 81 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,920 Speaker 1: and one of those ideas apparently popped into Samuel Wardwell's head. 82 00:05:50,920 --> 00:05:52,840 Speaker 1: He claimed to have heard through the grape vine that 83 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 1: Joseph suspected Samuel of bewitching his wife. He was a 84 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,520 Speaker 1: bit embarrassed by the idea, though, so rather than confront 85 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 1: Joseph directly, he approached John Ballard instead. Had Joseph, ever 86 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:08,080 Speaker 1: voiced a suspicion that Samuel was a witch, he asked him. 87 00:06:08,200 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: John Ballard shook his head, answering with an honest denial. 88 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,159 Speaker 1: But John told Joseph about the conversation, and that put 89 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,479 Speaker 1: a bug in Joseph's head. Why would Samuel ask such 90 00:06:19,520 --> 00:06:24,360 Speaker 1: a question? Why would he believe in such nonsense? Why? 91 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:27,960 Speaker 1: But then the obvious answer struck him right between the eyes. 92 00:06:28,600 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: Samuel was asking because he was trying to see if 93 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,799 Speaker 1: anyone suspected him of something he knew he was doing. 94 00:06:35,520 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: Thanks to Samuel's own initiation, Joseph now believed the man 95 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,360 Speaker 1: was a witch, so he sent one of his employees 96 00:06:43,400 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: to Salem to bring back a witch finder. It's ironic, 97 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:50,039 Speaker 1: I know. The man with crazy ideas decided to be 98 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,760 Speaker 1: as logical as possible, and that logic included employing the 99 00:06:53,800 --> 00:06:56,240 Speaker 1: services of young women who claimed to be able to 100 00:06:56,320 --> 00:07:00,320 Speaker 1: track down witches. It was almost comical in its addy, 101 00:07:00,800 --> 00:07:06,279 Speaker 1: but to Joseph Ballard it made perfect sense. Days before 102 00:07:06,320 --> 00:07:09,120 Speaker 1: Rebecca Nurse and the other four women convicted in the 103 00:07:09,160 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: second trial would hang. Mercy Lewis and Elizabeth Hubbard arrived 104 00:07:13,160 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: in and Over and got to work. But when they did, 105 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:20,360 Speaker 1: they discovered that Samuel Wardwell wasn't the only suspicious person. 106 00:07:21,080 --> 00:07:24,840 Speaker 1: There was also Timothy Swan. Swan moved to the area 107 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 1: from the neighboring town of haverl years before. In five though, 108 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,960 Speaker 1: Swan was accused of attacking and raping his neighbor's daughter, Elizabeth, 109 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:37,400 Speaker 1: the proof, as presented in court, was that Elizabeth was pregnant. 110 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:40,640 Speaker 1: The court decided to force Swan to pay child support, 111 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 1: but leveled no other punishment against him, which obviously upset 112 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 1: the community around him thanks to his reputation as a 113 00:07:49,080 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: rapist and abuser. Timothy Swan never married, He never even 114 00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:56,680 Speaker 1: made friends. He just lived alone with his brother seething 115 00:07:56,760 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: with bitterness about the way he had been treated and 116 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: feeling welcome everywhere he went, and rightly so, because the 117 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,480 Speaker 1: people of andover hated him. So when the girls from 118 00:08:07,480 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 1: Salem got to work, Timothy Swan and Samuel Wardwell were 119 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:15,200 Speaker 1: both likely suspects. They were both outsiders, and both had 120 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:19,360 Speaker 1: reputations that placed them outside the norms of the Puritan society. 121 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:23,240 Speaker 1: But there was one problem. Swan was definitely ill when 122 00:08:23,240 --> 00:08:26,679 Speaker 1: they arrived, and he was pointing the finger at someone else, 123 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 1: someone he believed who had bewitched him with crippling sickness. 124 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: And Foster, with a lead to follow up on, the 125 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:39,679 Speaker 1: witch finders got to work digging into the stories and accusations, 126 00:08:40,440 --> 00:08:44,000 Speaker 1: but as they did, they encountered a problem. The pit 127 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:48,200 Speaker 1: was much deeper and far more dark than they ever 128 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:56,800 Speaker 1: could have imagined. I realized that I've thrown a lot 129 00:08:56,800 --> 00:09:00,280 Speaker 1: of names at you, and it's easy to get confused me. 130 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 1: I'm right there with you. Although I thankfully have hundreds 131 00:09:03,640 --> 00:09:06,320 Speaker 1: of pages of research outlines and notes to lean on. 132 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: Still I want to take a moment to point out 133 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:12,320 Speaker 1: that the Unobscured website has a resources page that will 134 00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:15,480 Speaker 1: continue to grow over the next couple of months. You 135 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:20,079 Speaker 1: can find that over and history unobscured dot com slash resources. 136 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:23,600 Speaker 1: There are a lot of fantastic books listed there that 137 00:09:23,640 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: you can use to look up names and keep all 138 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:28,840 Speaker 1: of the families straight. The Salem witch Trials is a 139 00:09:28,880 --> 00:09:32,680 Speaker 1: complex network of families and neighbors, and there's nothing I 140 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: can do through audio to completely simplify that mess, but 141 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:40,360 Speaker 1: I'll do my best. The Fosters were another of those 142 00:09:40,400 --> 00:09:43,640 Speaker 1: old and over families. Ann's husband had been one of 143 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:46,400 Speaker 1: the earliest to arrive in the area, right alongside the 144 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 1: Ballard's patriarch, but after he passed away in trouble started 145 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:54,480 Speaker 1: calling at the Foster family door and for a widow 146 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,199 Speaker 1: in her seventies who was too frail to even walk 147 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:02,040 Speaker 1: around town anymore. It was a bit overwhelming. First, there 148 00:10:02,160 --> 00:10:06,120 Speaker 1: was the murder. Four years earlier. One of Ann's daughters, Hannah, 149 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:09,680 Speaker 1: was murdered by her husband, Hugh Stone, and on the 150 00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 1: scale of bad to worse, this crime was horrid. Ann's 151 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:15,520 Speaker 1: daughter had been pregnant at the time with what would 152 00:10:15,559 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 1: have been their eighth child, and Hugh didn't commit the 153 00:10:18,640 --> 00:10:22,200 Speaker 1: crime in private. Now he killed her in cold blood 154 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: right in the middle of town. It was a horrifyingly 155 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 1: tragic moment in and over his young history, and went 156 00:10:29,600 --> 00:10:32,600 Speaker 1: on the record books as the first murder in their community. 157 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:36,280 Speaker 1: Ann's son in law hanged for the crime, but from 158 00:10:36,320 --> 00:10:38,680 Speaker 1: the gallows he had shouted out that it was all 159 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:41,520 Speaker 1: the fault of the Foster family. His wife had been 160 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:45,200 Speaker 1: contentious and because of that it was her fault that 161 00:10:45,280 --> 00:10:50,000 Speaker 1: he had murdered her. Exactly a century before William Murdoch 162 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,000 Speaker 1: became the first person to use flammable gas as a 163 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 1: lighting source, and two d and fifty years before the 164 00:10:56,000 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: film that established the concept, Hugh Stone was gassing his 165 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:03,959 Speaker 1: victims from the gallows. Some thing's never change. I guess 166 00:11:05,480 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 1: The murder wasn't the end for Anne Foster's problems, though. 167 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:12,560 Speaker 1: Her teenage granddaughter Mary Lacey Jr. Ran away from home 168 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:15,360 Speaker 1: for a time, and that seemed to echo Hugh Stone's 169 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:19,080 Speaker 1: claims from his execution day that the family was wild 170 00:11:19,160 --> 00:11:23,480 Speaker 1: and unruly through and through. So when Timothy swan known 171 00:11:23,640 --> 00:11:28,200 Speaker 1: rapist and unwelcome outsider, pointed his finger at her and 172 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:31,440 Speaker 1: claimed she was a witch, those rumors had enough weight 173 00:11:31,480 --> 00:11:36,280 Speaker 1: to make him believable, and Foster was carried before the 174 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: magistrates in Salem. Literally, she wasn't strong enough to walk, 175 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 1: so they carted her to town and carried her inside 176 00:11:43,720 --> 00:11:47,000 Speaker 1: the meeting house. It was only an examination, not an 177 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:50,040 Speaker 1: official trial, but there was very little to separate them 178 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:52,480 Speaker 1: in the minds of the community as of late. It 179 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:54,640 Speaker 1: was the beginning of a journey that could not end 180 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 1: well for the seventy five year old and over widow. 181 00:11:58,800 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 1: The Ray of Hope. Was the newcomer to the team 182 00:12:01,040 --> 00:12:05,120 Speaker 1: of magistrates, taking the place of Nathaniel Saltonstall, was John 183 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: Higginson Jr. The respected son of the Salem Town minister. 184 00:12:09,440 --> 00:12:12,680 Speaker 1: In fact, John's father, John Sr. Had been one of 185 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:16,560 Speaker 1: the biggest advocates for the more liberal Halfway Covenants years before, 186 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:20,520 Speaker 1: and almost gave up his job for it. Reverend Higginson 187 00:12:20,600 --> 00:12:23,199 Speaker 1: in Salem Town nearly left. He was willing to leave 188 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:25,480 Speaker 1: Salem if they didn't loosen up those rules and adopt 189 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:28,360 Speaker 1: the Halfway Covenant by the way, as had people like 190 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:31,760 Speaker 1: Bartholemew Gedney and John Haythorn were two of the first 191 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:35,920 Speaker 1: members to command under Higginson's loosened rules in Salem Town. 192 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:39,440 Speaker 1: He had the potential to be the voice of common 193 00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:43,240 Speaker 1: sense over piety. Added to that, just the month before, 194 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:46,959 Speaker 1: John's own sister had been arrested on suspicion of witchcraft 195 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:50,440 Speaker 1: and was sitting inside a filthy jail awaiting a trial 196 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:53,320 Speaker 1: of her own. He had more than enough reason to 197 00:12:53,400 --> 00:12:58,760 Speaker 1: approach this new examination with caution and logic, and Foster 198 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: ruined of that though when she did the unthinkable she 199 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:06,600 Speaker 1: confessed to being a witch. She told the magistrates that 200 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:08,400 Speaker 1: the devil had appeared to her in the shape of 201 00:13:08,400 --> 00:13:11,600 Speaker 1: a colorful bird, something that echoed the imagery used by 202 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:15,720 Speaker 1: the Paris slave Tichiba. The devil had offered her prosperity 203 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,200 Speaker 1: and instructed her to harm people as part of the deal. 204 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:22,720 Speaker 1: One of the witches who came with the devil to 205 00:13:22,760 --> 00:13:26,040 Speaker 1: recruit her was none other than Martha Carrier. As I've 206 00:13:26,080 --> 00:13:29,079 Speaker 1: mentioned before, she was the first andover resident to be 207 00:13:29,120 --> 00:13:32,440 Speaker 1: accused and thrown in jail, but for six long years 208 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:35,960 Speaker 1: Martha Carrier had been training her, teaching her to make 209 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:38,640 Speaker 1: poppets and how to squeeze them and stick them with 210 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:42,880 Speaker 1: pins to inflict pain on others. Over the course of 211 00:13:42,960 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: three days of examination, and Foster unloaded a treasure trove 212 00:13:47,040 --> 00:13:50,640 Speaker 1: of confessions. They held witch meetings with hundreds of their 213 00:13:50,720 --> 00:13:54,680 Speaker 1: kind and flew from all over on wooden sticks. Martha 214 00:13:54,720 --> 00:13:58,400 Speaker 1: Carrier was there, as was the minister George Burrows, leading 215 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:01,880 Speaker 1: the evil Congregation, which earned them the nicknames the King 216 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:06,880 Speaker 1: and Queen of Hell. Here's Stacy Schiff, historian and author 217 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:10,240 Speaker 1: of the Witches. That's an expression of Cotton Mathers. I 218 00:14:10,280 --> 00:14:11,880 Speaker 1: think he kind of makes that up. To be honest 219 00:14:11,880 --> 00:14:13,400 Speaker 1: with you, I don't think there's a King and Queen 220 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: of Hell. I don't know. I think that was just, 221 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:18,319 Speaker 1: you know, Mother trying to make the whole thing a 222 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:21,520 Speaker 1: little bit more dramatic. He really goes to great lengths 223 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:25,000 Speaker 1: to paint Martha Carrier in the most wretched terms and 224 00:14:25,200 --> 00:14:28,360 Speaker 1: con mother would have been at the trials, and he 225 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: bases his portraits there loosely on the testimony. If you 226 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:35,280 Speaker 1: look at it, you see he's taken some liberties with 227 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:38,040 Speaker 1: the testimony. He's left out a great number of things. 228 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 1: He's left out things that were to people's credit. He's 229 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 1: injected things that weren't actually in the testimony, and my 230 00:14:44,080 --> 00:14:46,880 Speaker 1: senses that would for whatever reason, Martha Carrier rubbed him 231 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:48,960 Speaker 1: the wrong way. And that's why she gets promoted to 232 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:53,160 Speaker 1: Queen of Hell. I also want to point out something intriguing, 233 00:14:53,720 --> 00:14:57,560 Speaker 1: and Foster, through her stories, actually painted herself in the 234 00:14:57,640 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 1: stereotypical image of a witch that most modern people have 235 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:05,120 Speaker 1: in their heads today, an old, decrepit woman riding through 236 00:15:05,120 --> 00:15:09,320 Speaker 1: the night sky on a wooden broom handle. In the 237 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:12,560 Speaker 1: midst of all of this, Mercy Lewis and Elizabeth Hubbard 238 00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,200 Speaker 1: reached the conclusion of their own witch finding investigation back 239 00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:20,120 Speaker 1: in and Over. Despite the clear suspects that Samuel Wardwell 240 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:23,880 Speaker 1: and Timothy Swan presented, the two women seemed to follow 241 00:15:23,920 --> 00:15:27,320 Speaker 1: the excitement out of and Over and back home. In 242 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:31,360 Speaker 1: their minds, the witch is responsible for Elizabeth Ballard's illness 243 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:37,320 Speaker 1: were obvious, and Foster her daughter Mary Lacey Sr. And 244 00:15:37,360 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 1: her granddaughter Mary Jr. With actual names from official witch finders. 245 00:15:47,560 --> 00:15:50,560 Speaker 1: Joseph Ballard had a case and a chance to save 246 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:54,560 Speaker 1: his dying wife. He traveled to Salem on July and 247 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 1: filed his complaint the same day. By the way that 248 00:15:57,880 --> 00:16:00,440 Speaker 1: Rebecca Nurse and the others were carded out to the 249 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:05,360 Speaker 1: execution site and hanged. It's interesting to note that Joseph 250 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,880 Speaker 1: Ballard's legal complaint represents the first time in the entire 251 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,360 Speaker 1: months long event that anyone actually paid the bond that 252 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:16,040 Speaker 1: was supposed to accompany such serious charges. Maybe it was 253 00:16:16,120 --> 00:16:19,120 Speaker 1: because he was from out of town, or perhaps having 254 00:16:19,200 --> 00:16:22,360 Speaker 1: John Higginson on the court brought a refreshed view of 255 00:16:22,480 --> 00:16:25,840 Speaker 1: proper procedures. All we know is that he paid the 256 00:16:25,880 --> 00:16:31,680 Speaker 1: one pound fee. On July and and over, Constable, although 257 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:36,360 Speaker 1: not Joseph Ballard, arrested Mary Lacey Senior and Mary Lacey Jr. 258 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:39,760 Speaker 1: And brought them to Salem. Another person searched their home 259 00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:42,560 Speaker 1: for proof of witchcraft, but all they managed to find 260 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,560 Speaker 1: was a bundle of sticks and some yarn, nothing that 261 00:16:45,600 --> 00:16:51,360 Speaker 1: would scream diabolical plots and devil worship. Much like a 262 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:55,080 Speaker 1: number of the previous cases, Mary Lacey Senior was questioned 263 00:16:55,120 --> 00:16:58,720 Speaker 1: thoroughly before she ever stepped foot into her formal examination 264 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:02,840 Speaker 1: later that day. Records of the conversation no longer exist, 265 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:06,000 Speaker 1: if they were ever written down at all, but we 266 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,320 Speaker 1: do know that she confessed and the details she revealed 267 00:17:09,720 --> 00:17:14,120 Speaker 1: were swallowed whole by the magistrates. I want to point 268 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:16,600 Speaker 1: out that we also have a new type of person here. 269 00:17:17,160 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: In the beginning, we just had the afflicted Those were 270 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:22,680 Speaker 1: the people who appeared to be victims of attacks by 271 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:25,800 Speaker 1: the witch, and the afflicted had driven much of the 272 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:30,080 Speaker 1: proceedings for months. Then there's the accused. I think that 273 00:17:30,119 --> 00:17:33,080 Speaker 1: one makes more sense, right. These are the people who 274 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:36,080 Speaker 1: the afflicted pointed at and declared to be a witch. 275 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: The accused had been rounded up through scores of warrants, 276 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:42,639 Speaker 1: examined in front of the magistrates prior to a trial, 277 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,360 Speaker 1: and then housed in one of a handful of jails 278 00:17:45,400 --> 00:17:48,160 Speaker 1: around the area until their day in court would arrive. 279 00:17:49,160 --> 00:17:53,159 Speaker 1: But the confessors, these were new. Sure, there were a 280 00:17:53,160 --> 00:17:57,359 Speaker 1: few random cases earlier, accused women who spoke freely about 281 00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:00,240 Speaker 1: their interactions with the Devil and his book and the 282 00:18:00,280 --> 00:18:04,119 Speaker 1: Red Communion and witches gatherings, but it always came in 283 00:18:04,320 --> 00:18:07,720 Speaker 1: small pieces, requiring the magistrates to put it all together 284 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:13,560 Speaker 1: over time. The confessions, though, we're different. Looking back, it's 285 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:16,160 Speaker 1: easy to wonder why anyone would do something like that. 286 00:18:16,760 --> 00:18:21,040 Speaker 1: Here's Mary Beth Norton, professor of American History at Cornell University, 287 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:25,840 Speaker 1: an author of In the Devil Snare. The question of 288 00:18:26,240 --> 00:18:30,679 Speaker 1: why people confessed has always been something that people have 289 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:35,840 Speaker 1: been wondering about. But when it became clear as it 290 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:40,040 Speaker 1: became clear later in the trials that if you confessed, 291 00:18:40,080 --> 00:18:43,000 Speaker 1: you would be kept alive so you could testify against 292 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 1: other people. Is when more and more people started to confess. 293 00:18:46,640 --> 00:18:50,600 Speaker 1: And one of the things I noticed was that when 294 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:58,080 Speaker 1: adults confessed late in the sequence of the trials, they 295 00:18:59,080 --> 00:19:03,960 Speaker 1: accused only people who were already dead, who had already 296 00:19:03,960 --> 00:19:07,360 Speaker 1: been hanged, or they accused people who had been accused 297 00:19:07,359 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 1: by other people. They did not name new people. It 298 00:19:11,600 --> 00:19:14,280 Speaker 1: seemed clear to me that it was very strategic when 299 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:17,560 Speaker 1: they confessed. They did not want to hurt anyone who 300 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:21,959 Speaker 1: wasn't already hanged or already had been accused of others. 301 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:26,320 Speaker 1: These were people who stood before the authorities and when 302 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:29,160 Speaker 1: they were asked if they were a witch, they answered yes, 303 00:19:29,840 --> 00:19:34,320 Speaker 1: and then they detailed every single moment of their diabolical lifestyle. 304 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:38,760 Speaker 1: Step by step, they exposed themselves as the enemy, and 305 00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:43,200 Speaker 1: oftentimes pulled their own family into the fire with them. 306 00:19:43,200 --> 00:19:46,800 Speaker 1: Mary Lazy Sr. Was one of those people. She freely 307 00:19:46,840 --> 00:19:51,440 Speaker 1: confessed on julye giving the magistrates powerful tools to use 308 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:54,320 Speaker 1: on her mother and her daughter. When they brought Anne 309 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,040 Speaker 1: Foster back into the examination room and told her that 310 00:19:57,080 --> 00:20:00,880 Speaker 1: her daughter had confessed and didn't freak out and deny it. 311 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:03,920 Speaker 1: She seems to have accepted it as fact and then 312 00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:07,440 Speaker 1: added her own details to the story. Then they brought 313 00:20:07,480 --> 00:20:10,520 Speaker 1: Mary Lacey Sr. Back in to see Anne, right in 314 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:15,399 Speaker 1: front of the magistrates. When Mary saw her, she cried out, Oh, Mother, 315 00:20:16,040 --> 00:20:19,000 Speaker 1: we have left Christ and the devil hath got hold 316 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:22,400 Speaker 1: of us. How shall I get rid of this evil one? 317 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:26,480 Speaker 1: When their moment was over, both of the women were 318 00:20:26,600 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: escorted back out of the room, and young Mary Lacey Jr. 319 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:34,040 Speaker 1: Was brought in alone. At first, she denied everything, even 320 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:36,960 Speaker 1: when one of the afflicted girls started convulsing and fits 321 00:20:37,000 --> 00:20:39,520 Speaker 1: on the floor, But when the judges told her that 322 00:20:39,600 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 1: her mother and grandmother had already confessed, she crumbled. She 323 00:20:44,400 --> 00:20:46,520 Speaker 1: told them that she had seen a horse just a 324 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:49,360 Speaker 1: week before and now wondered if that horse had been 325 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 1: the devil in disguise. The magistrates told her that her 326 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 1: only chance to obtain mercy and be saved by Christ 327 00:20:57,320 --> 00:21:01,159 Speaker 1: was to freely and openly confess, and with that ultimatum 328 00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:04,920 Speaker 1: hanging over her head, she gave in, adding even more 329 00:21:04,960 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 1: details to the stories told by her mother and grandmother. 330 00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:12,800 Speaker 1: All three of the women did something unusual too. You 331 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:15,359 Speaker 1: would expect them to name the less savory people in 332 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:19,400 Speaker 1: their community as witches, but instead they pointed their fingers 333 00:21:19,400 --> 00:21:24,480 Speaker 1: at family. Here's Mary Beth Norton. Once again, it's very interesting. 334 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:27,359 Speaker 1: It's a completely different pattern in and over. Then you 335 00:21:27,359 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 1: get in Salem Village. Salem Village, people accuse their enemies, 336 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:34,879 Speaker 1: and and over people accuse their friends and their relatives. 337 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:38,600 Speaker 1: There's this one family where five sisters and the mother 338 00:21:38,760 --> 00:21:42,200 Speaker 1: all confess and basically accuse each other and say they're 339 00:21:42,240 --> 00:21:47,880 Speaker 1: all working together. So it's a very different pattern. It 340 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:51,600 Speaker 1: was easy to believe them though. When questioned individually, they 341 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:54,760 Speaker 1: each told stories about the same event, and many of 342 00:21:54,760 --> 00:21:57,560 Speaker 1: the details seemed to line up. It was as if 343 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:01,159 Speaker 1: the things they described were real. I asked Stacy Scheff, 344 00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:03,919 Speaker 1: author of The Witches, why is she thought that was 345 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:06,320 Speaker 1: the case. The answer to your question really is when 346 00:22:06,359 --> 00:22:08,520 Speaker 1: you when you get toward and over the sale and 347 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:11,959 Speaker 1: witchcraft of ultimately will will migrate to and over, and 348 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:14,480 Speaker 1: by that time all the imagery has really changed. It's 349 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:17,919 Speaker 1: less about the enchanted hey and the Satanna cat, and 350 00:22:17,960 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 1: it's more about this diabolical meeting to which people have 351 00:22:20,880 --> 00:22:24,080 Speaker 1: flown from all over New England, and there most of 352 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:26,879 Speaker 1: the testimony is utterly on point. It's extremely as as 353 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:29,840 Speaker 1: if everyone compared no swall in prison. Everyone has. Everyone 354 00:22:29,840 --> 00:22:32,600 Speaker 1: talks about precisely the same sound to call the people 355 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:34,960 Speaker 1: to the field. They talk about the same person presiding 356 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,360 Speaker 1: over this dark sabbath. They mentioned the same guest list 357 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:41,919 Speaker 1: of who was there. Every detail corroborates each detail, and 358 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:44,840 Speaker 1: that's obviously because they're being told either by their friends 359 00:22:44,840 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: in prison, or their family who think they're guilty, or 360 00:22:47,880 --> 00:22:51,680 Speaker 1: the ministers in charge what to say. Looking back, it's 361 00:22:51,680 --> 00:22:55,560 Speaker 1: easy to see countless examples of the authorities leading the witness. 362 00:22:56,080 --> 00:22:59,240 Speaker 1: They suggest answers with their questions and give the accused 363 00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:03,520 Speaker 1: just enough detail to reply with answers that fit their expectations. 364 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:07,840 Speaker 1: Maybe these men were just really bad at interviewing the accused, 365 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:10,920 Speaker 1: or perhaps they allow their bias to steer the ship. 366 00:23:11,640 --> 00:23:14,840 Speaker 1: We might never know. But something else came out of 367 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:18,600 Speaker 1: the examination of Anne Foster and her family New names 368 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 1: from andover. Mary Lacey Sr. Mentioned two of Martha Carrier's 369 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:26,120 Speaker 1: own children as one of their own, sending the court 370 00:23:26,200 --> 00:23:29,919 Speaker 1: into a frenzy. The following day, eighteen year old Richard 371 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:33,640 Speaker 1: and sixteen year old Andrew were arrested and brought to town. 372 00:23:34,920 --> 00:23:39,240 Speaker 1: What awaited them, however, was not the usual examination we 373 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:42,680 Speaker 1: have come to expect. Their fate would be much more 374 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:53,560 Speaker 1: painful than anyone thus far torture. The Carrier boys were 375 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:56,800 Speaker 1: brought to a tavern in Salem Town owned by Thomas Beadle. 376 00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,640 Speaker 1: The end Over constable who delivered the warrant and brought 377 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,840 Speaker 1: them there was none other than Joseph Ballard. There were 378 00:24:02,880 --> 00:24:07,280 Speaker 1: magistrates waiting for the boys when they arrived. The authorities 379 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:10,560 Speaker 1: asked Richard and Andrew a whole slew of questions, but 380 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 1: they refused to answer. Maybe it was because they weren't 381 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:17,119 Speaker 1: alone in the tavern. Seated around them were some of 382 00:24:17,119 --> 00:24:20,879 Speaker 1: the afflicted girls, along with Mary Lacey Senior and junior. 383 00:24:21,520 --> 00:24:24,520 Speaker 1: Those two women would eventually cry out that the spirit 384 00:24:24,560 --> 00:24:28,280 Speaker 1: of Martha Carrier and the devil himself were standing among them, 385 00:24:28,280 --> 00:24:31,600 Speaker 1: preventing the boys from answering. It can't have been a 386 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:37,080 Speaker 1: pleasant experience, so they refused to talk. In response, the 387 00:24:37,119 --> 00:24:39,719 Speaker 1: magistrates had the boys removed from the main room and 388 00:24:39,840 --> 00:24:42,919 Speaker 1: taken elsewhere in the tavern, where the questions picked up 389 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: speed and urgency. Still they remained silent, and that's when 390 00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:52,119 Speaker 1: the authorities moved on to a new method of extracting information. 391 00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,560 Speaker 1: The English called it neck and heels, and it was 392 00:24:56,600 --> 00:24:59,920 Speaker 1: an old military punishment. A person would have one bore 393 00:25:00,119 --> 00:25:03,400 Speaker 1: strapped across the backs of their knees and another across 394 00:25:03,440 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 1: the back of the neck. Then rope was looped around 395 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:11,320 Speaker 1: both boards, one on each side, and slowly tightened. The 396 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:14,080 Speaker 1: result was that as the boards were pulled closer and 397 00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:18,480 Speaker 1: closer together, the person would be bent forward, essentially folding 398 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:22,959 Speaker 1: in half. It was cruel and painful too. There are 399 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:26,440 Speaker 1: stories of victims bleeding from their mouth, ears, and nose 400 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,440 Speaker 1: as the pressure inside their body built up. Some people 401 00:25:30,600 --> 00:25:34,119 Speaker 1: actually died from the technique. And here we have military 402 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:38,719 Speaker 1: level torture being used on two teenage boys simply because 403 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:44,480 Speaker 1: they refused to answer questions. It worked, too, Both young 404 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:47,600 Speaker 1: men agreed to tell the magistrates everything they wanted to hear. 405 00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,280 Speaker 1: They began to reveal details that would have sounded very 406 00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: familiar to anyone familiar with the accusation so far. The 407 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,480 Speaker 1: dark man in a black hat, the Devil's book of Names, 408 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:03,840 Speaker 1: even the gathering of local witches outside Reverend Paris's House, 409 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,960 Speaker 1: Richard actually named names. He named his mother Martha, who 410 00:26:09,000 --> 00:26:11,399 Speaker 1: had been in jail for months, as well as his 411 00:26:11,480 --> 00:26:14,720 Speaker 1: uncle Roger Toothaker, although he had passed away in jail 412 00:26:14,840 --> 00:26:20,199 Speaker 1: weeks before. He listed Rebecca Nurse, Elizabeth Howe, and Bridget Bishop, 413 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:25,240 Speaker 1: all of whom had been executed already. He also named 414 00:26:25,240 --> 00:26:28,280 Speaker 1: others who were still alive and awaiting their trial from 415 00:26:28,320 --> 00:26:32,200 Speaker 1: within a hot, dirty jail cell escaped Constable John Willard, 416 00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:37,800 Speaker 1: John and Elizabeth Proctor, Giles, and Martha Corey and Mary Bradberry. 417 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:42,160 Speaker 1: When word about his confession reached their ears, they were enraged. 418 00:26:42,600 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: They had been doing all they could to deny the accusations, 419 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:50,960 Speaker 1: and now Richard had spoiled everything by contradicting them. John 420 00:26:50,960 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 1: Proctor wrote a note to the local ministers, including Cotton, 421 00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:58,439 Speaker 1: Mother and Samuel Willard, begging for more objective trials, and 422 00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:00,760 Speaker 1: he asked the ministers to take his quest to Governor 423 00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:05,040 Speaker 1: Phipps himself. The trouble was Phipps was no longer in 424 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:09,440 Speaker 1: Massachusetts now. He had gone on a sort of victory 425 00:27:09,480 --> 00:27:12,120 Speaker 1: tour to the places where he had seen the most success. 426 00:27:12,680 --> 00:27:15,200 Speaker 1: Despite the fact that the very foundation of their government 427 00:27:15,359 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: was under assault. Phipps had chosen to abandon his worn 428 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:22,040 Speaker 1: duties and head north to Maine to watch his troops 429 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:26,520 Speaker 1: defend the land from invaders by building new fortifications, walls, 430 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:31,679 Speaker 1: and structures designed to keep the devil out. William Stoughton 431 00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 1: was next in command, but he already sat on the 432 00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:37,679 Speaker 1: court of Oyer and Terminer, making it a lost cause. 433 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:42,359 Speaker 1: Richard Carrier's confession was accepted as evidence, and when it 434 00:27:42,520 --> 00:27:45,480 Speaker 1: was it was as if gasoline had been thrown on 435 00:27:45,560 --> 00:27:50,080 Speaker 1: the fire. A week later, Joseph ballard sick wife Elizabeth, 436 00:27:50,119 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 1: passed away. Three days later, on j Martha Carrier's sister, 437 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:58,160 Speaker 1: Mary Toothaker, from the town of bell Rica, was arrested 438 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:01,080 Speaker 1: and questioned. Her husband, rod Your had already died in 439 00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,879 Speaker 1: jail awaiting his trial. And I can't help but wonder 440 00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,960 Speaker 1: if she worried about the same fate for herself. And then, 441 00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:12,640 Speaker 1: on August one, with the entire community of Salem petrified 442 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:15,720 Speaker 1: that the devil was winning, that he was driving deeper 443 00:28:15,760 --> 00:28:19,919 Speaker 1: into their safe territory, a Native American raid struck a 444 00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 1: bit too close to home. Here's Marybeth Norton once again. 445 00:28:24,280 --> 00:28:26,199 Speaker 1: Bill Rick is only twenty miles away. Now, that was 446 00:28:26,240 --> 00:28:29,760 Speaker 1: the closest attack that I know of to Salem. But 447 00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:33,640 Speaker 1: remember all these people had relatives in Maine and New Hampshire, 448 00:28:33,800 --> 00:28:36,720 Speaker 1: and the people in Maine and New Hampshire were constantly 449 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:39,480 Speaker 1: under threat. Even in the most southern parts of Maine 450 00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 1: and New Hampshire in um West now Portsmouth, which was 451 00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:46,560 Speaker 1: then called Strawberry Bank, what was Wells Main, there were 452 00:28:46,600 --> 00:28:51,320 Speaker 1: attacks nearby all the time. The people felt under constant threat, 453 00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:54,040 Speaker 1: shall we say so? The attack in bill Rico was 454 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:56,720 Speaker 1: the closest, but eventually later in the war, actually after, 455 00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:00,200 Speaker 1: there was a big attack on and over, so it's 456 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:04,280 Speaker 1: not as though the war wasn't right there. Ironically, Mary 457 00:29:04,280 --> 00:29:08,480 Speaker 1: tooth Picker's arrest saved her life. When the Wabanaki raided Belrica, 458 00:29:08,800 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 1: they killed every single resident of the homes on either 459 00:29:11,840 --> 00:29:15,000 Speaker 1: side of Mary's. Had she not been in jail, she 460 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:17,720 Speaker 1: would have died in the attack. But of course that 461 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,560 Speaker 1: didn't mean her life was any safer just because she 462 00:29:20,720 --> 00:29:24,040 Speaker 1: dodged that bullet. There were plenty more rounds in the chamber, 463 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:27,120 Speaker 1: and they were all aimed at her. The man who 464 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:30,640 Speaker 1: would do the metaphorical shooting was the newly appointed attorney 465 00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:34,200 Speaker 1: general for the trial, Sir Thomas Newton, if you remember, 466 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:38,520 Speaker 1: had resigned after convicting Rebecca Nurse and the others. Taking 467 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:42,400 Speaker 1: his place was a newcomer, Anthony Checkley, and he was 468 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:45,680 Speaker 1: ready to get to work. The third Oiler and Terminer 469 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:49,400 Speaker 1: session would begin two days later on August three, and 470 00:29:49,440 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 1: it was the event everyone had been waiting for because 471 00:29:53,000 --> 00:29:57,480 Speaker 1: they were about to witness something completely unheard of, the 472 00:29:57,520 --> 00:30:07,880 Speaker 1: witchcraft trial of an actual minister of God. Like a 473 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:10,440 Speaker 1: lot of the pieces of the Salem witch trials, we're 474 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:13,800 Speaker 1: not exactly sure when some of the trials happened. What 475 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:16,560 Speaker 1: we know is that the third official session of the 476 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:19,360 Speaker 1: Oyer and Terminer was called to order on August two 477 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:23,840 Speaker 1: and ran through the end of August five. We even 478 00:30:23,880 --> 00:30:27,160 Speaker 1: know what days certain cases were heard, but we're not 479 00:30:27,320 --> 00:30:31,080 Speaker 1: sure about others. The Proctors are one of those mysteries. 480 00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:35,440 Speaker 1: They remind me a lot of Rebecca Nurse. While most 481 00:30:35,480 --> 00:30:38,280 Speaker 1: of the accused were outsiders or people with very few 482 00:30:38,320 --> 00:30:41,160 Speaker 1: friends and family to lean on, the Proctors were a 483 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:44,480 Speaker 1: well connected family. They ran that busy tavern on the 484 00:30:44,520 --> 00:30:46,880 Speaker 1: northern edge of the village, and that had a way 485 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:50,640 Speaker 1: of putting them into a lot of people's lives. So 486 00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,600 Speaker 1: when their trial date arrived, they brought two separate petitions 487 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 1: with them. One of them included the names and signatures 488 00:30:56,560 --> 00:31:00,880 Speaker 1: of nineteen neighbors and friends, including George Locker, the constable 489 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:04,160 Speaker 1: who had been responsible for arresting Sarah Good all the 490 00:31:04,200 --> 00:31:07,040 Speaker 1: way back on March first. I can't help but wonder 491 00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:10,680 Speaker 1: if Lockers work with the trial had begun to soften 492 00:31:10,760 --> 00:31:14,920 Speaker 1: his heart. The second was most likely started by Ipswich 493 00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:18,520 Speaker 1: minister John Wisse and included thirty one other names on 494 00:31:18,600 --> 00:31:22,760 Speaker 1: that list, and Wise, being a trained minister, used the 495 00:31:22,800 --> 00:31:27,240 Speaker 1: petition to also make an important theological point. He referenced 496 00:31:27,240 --> 00:31:29,880 Speaker 1: the Old Testament story of the Witch of Endor and 497 00:31:29,920 --> 00:31:33,560 Speaker 1: how Satan had once counterfeited a specter of the Holy 498 00:31:33,600 --> 00:31:38,280 Speaker 1: Prophet Samuel. In other words, just because people have claimed 499 00:31:38,280 --> 00:31:41,760 Speaker 1: to see John Procter's specter doesn't mean it actually was 500 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:46,880 Speaker 1: John Procter. But it didn't work. As we've been discussing 501 00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:50,280 Speaker 1: for a number of episodes, Salem wasn't inside a safe 502 00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:53,080 Speaker 1: little bubble. It was a community on the edge of 503 00:31:53,080 --> 00:31:56,080 Speaker 1: a great dark wilderness where the agents of the devil 504 00:31:56,120 --> 00:31:58,840 Speaker 1: were prowling through the shadows looking for a way to 505 00:31:58,960 --> 00:32:02,960 Speaker 1: tear them down. One minister speaking out with common sense, 506 00:32:03,520 --> 00:32:05,959 Speaker 1: was not about to alter their perception of the world. 507 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:10,400 Speaker 1: As sad as that sounds, sometimes the crowd lets their 508 00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:16,360 Speaker 1: fears propel them down terrifying roads. Sometimes their leaders encourage it. 509 00:32:18,440 --> 00:32:20,760 Speaker 1: After the Proctor's case was heard, it was time for 510 00:32:20,800 --> 00:32:24,280 Speaker 1: the Queen of Hell herself, Martha Carrier. We don't have 511 00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:27,120 Speaker 1: the official court records for her trial, but Cotton Mather 512 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:29,960 Speaker 1: was there and he wrote down all his observations of 513 00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:33,920 Speaker 1: the day. His simple words, it followed the standard pattern, 514 00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,920 Speaker 1: are all we really need to know. Thomas Putnam was 515 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:40,520 Speaker 1: said to have sworn an oath that had the judges 516 00:32:40,640 --> 00:32:43,640 Speaker 1: not required Martha to be bound by rope, she might 517 00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:46,640 Speaker 1: have broken loose and killed them all. And he had 518 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:49,840 Speaker 1: good reason to be afraid, because the rumors were powerful. 519 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:55,160 Speaker 1: Curses and illness and death were on every whisper. Some 520 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:57,320 Speaker 1: of her neighbors in andover had gone on record to 521 00:32:57,360 --> 00:33:01,400 Speaker 1: claim that Martha had often cursed them after disagreements. Once 522 00:33:01,720 --> 00:33:05,720 Speaker 1: several of Benjamin Abbott's cows mysteriously died, and later his 523 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:09,400 Speaker 1: foot became infected and needed treatment from a doctor. Two 524 00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:13,520 Speaker 1: other neighbors, John Rogers, and Samuel Preston both claimed that 525 00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,680 Speaker 1: Martha had killed some of their livestock after an argument. 526 00:33:17,920 --> 00:33:21,760 Speaker 1: Even family got involved in her trial. Alan Toothaker was 527 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:24,600 Speaker 1: her nephew and also the son of Mary and Roger. 528 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,840 Speaker 1: With his father dead and his mother awaiting her turn 529 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,560 Speaker 1: in court, maybe Allan saw darkness closing in around him 530 00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:35,320 Speaker 1: and wanted away out, so he joined the accusers and 531 00:33:35,400 --> 00:33:38,040 Speaker 1: blamed the death of his own cattle on his aunt. 532 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:42,200 Speaker 1: Other victims were brought to trial that week as well. 533 00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:46,080 Speaker 1: George Jacobs and John Willard both stood before the magistrates 534 00:33:46,120 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 1: to make their case and have evidence against them be presented. 535 00:33:49,960 --> 00:33:52,640 Speaker 1: If you don't remember, John Willard was the thirty year 536 00:33:52,680 --> 00:33:55,600 Speaker 1: old outsider who had married into the Wilkins family, but 537 00:33:55,800 --> 00:34:00,000 Speaker 1: had fled the area when accusations had been hurled against him. 538 00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:04,080 Speaker 1: To make matters worse, young Daniel Wilkins had mysteriously died, 539 00:34:04,400 --> 00:34:07,480 Speaker 1: and everyone seemed to suspect Willard had bewitched him to death. 540 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:11,719 Speaker 1: John had been an abusive husband too, giving his reputation 541 00:34:11,880 --> 00:34:14,160 Speaker 1: just enough of a tarnish that it was easy for 542 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:17,560 Speaker 1: most people to consider him a witch. His trial was 543 00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:20,400 Speaker 1: over in just a few hours, and he was taken 544 00:34:20,440 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 1: back to jail to await the verdict. George Jacobs was 545 00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:28,600 Speaker 1: a rough spoken, illiterate farmer with a wild sense of humor, 546 00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:30,839 Speaker 1: but none of that was going to help him. Before 547 00:34:30,880 --> 00:34:35,120 Speaker 1: the magistrates. Some of the original afflicted girls, including Annie 548 00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:38,600 Speaker 1: Putnam and Elizabeth Hubbard, came forward to swear that Jacob's 549 00:34:38,600 --> 00:34:42,520 Speaker 1: spirit was tormenting them. Even there during the trial, they 550 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:45,640 Speaker 1: could see it flying about, trying to attack them and 551 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:51,399 Speaker 1: disrupt the proceedings. Jacob's own granddaughter, Margaret, had previously been 552 00:34:51,400 --> 00:34:55,320 Speaker 1: accused by others and saved herself by confessing and pledging 553 00:34:55,320 --> 00:34:59,480 Speaker 1: to help name other witches. Here at her grandfather's trial. 554 00:35:00,080 --> 00:35:02,719 Speaker 1: She made good on that promise, pointing a finger at 555 00:35:02,800 --> 00:35:07,759 Speaker 1: him and adding her voice to the accusations. Poor George Jacobs, 556 00:35:08,200 --> 00:35:12,320 Speaker 1: they didn't stand a chance. These were all difficult cases 557 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:16,160 Speaker 1: to watch, I'm sure prominent respected people who were being 558 00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:19,840 Speaker 1: dragged before the court and accused of witchcraft. And despite 559 00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:22,800 Speaker 1: the ridiculousness of it all to us today, the evidence 560 00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:27,120 Speaker 1: presented was damning for each and every one of them. 561 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:28,880 Speaker 1: But that's not why. Most of the people in the 562 00:35:28,880 --> 00:35:32,680 Speaker 1: courtroom had traveled from so far and wide. They weren't 563 00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:36,279 Speaker 1: there to see widowed farmers and tavern owners raked over 564 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:39,439 Speaker 1: the coals of justice. No, they had come to see 565 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:43,799 Speaker 1: a bigger trial, one with more weight and importance, the 566 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:47,560 Speaker 1: trial of the rumored leader of those lesser witches, the 567 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: King of Hell himself, George Burrows. There was something undeniably 568 00:35:59,640 --> 00:36:04,040 Speaker 1: extra ordinary about George Burrows. Here's Stacy Schiff. Once again, 569 00:36:04,560 --> 00:36:07,000 Speaker 1: it's conjectural, but I think it's something a little bit different. 570 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:10,759 Speaker 1: I think with Burrows. Burrows goes to Maine and protects 571 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,239 Speaker 1: his parishioners in a very small community against a hideous 572 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,640 Speaker 1: and very savage Indian assault. And he's forced to do 573 00:36:17,680 --> 00:36:22,080 Speaker 1: that because the Massachusetts authorities have essentially stopped protecting those 574 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:23,759 Speaker 1: communities because they don't have the funds to do it, 575 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,120 Speaker 1: and they're trying to cut back. And I feel as 576 00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:27,920 Speaker 1: if it might have been a piece of residual guilt 577 00:36:27,960 --> 00:36:32,719 Speaker 1: there for having left those communities unprotected. Burrows would have 578 00:36:32,719 --> 00:36:36,040 Speaker 1: had every reason to chastise them for kind of cutting 579 00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:38,880 Speaker 1: off those settlers who are really at the very forefront 580 00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:40,759 Speaker 1: of the really at the edge of the frontier there 581 00:36:40,960 --> 00:36:43,600 Speaker 1: and are getting no protection. And he'll write the one 582 00:36:43,640 --> 00:36:46,480 Speaker 1: document we have of his which is really extraordinary is 583 00:36:46,480 --> 00:36:48,680 Speaker 1: an account of an Indian raid on the community where 584 00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:52,680 Speaker 1: he's protecting his parishioners inside a barricade, And you know, 585 00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:54,880 Speaker 1: he writes a bit in biblical terms. It's an astonishing 586 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:57,600 Speaker 1: document in which he proves to be a very courageous 587 00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:01,640 Speaker 1: and ingenious man. But if Burrows was painting himself in 588 00:37:01,800 --> 00:37:05,640 Speaker 1: a biblical light and perhaps adding in embellishments about his 589 00:37:05,719 --> 00:37:09,920 Speaker 1: prowess and cunning, those traits might have backfired. And the 590 00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:12,600 Speaker 1: other interesting thing about Burrows is that he's very strong, 591 00:37:12,640 --> 00:37:15,640 Speaker 1: and he's very canny, And a lot of the testimony 592 00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:20,840 Speaker 1: against him will be testimony about his somehow magical strength. 593 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:23,120 Speaker 1: How did he lift that barrel? How did he fire 594 00:37:23,200 --> 00:37:25,799 Speaker 1: that very long musket? How is it possible that he 595 00:37:25,800 --> 00:37:28,080 Speaker 1: heard that conversation from that distance? How did he get 596 00:37:28,080 --> 00:37:31,720 Speaker 1: to be two places at once? Not everything about Burrows 597 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:35,040 Speaker 1: was a rumor about his strength or brilliance. There were 598 00:37:35,080 --> 00:37:37,399 Speaker 1: some who viewed parts of his life, or at least 599 00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:41,440 Speaker 1: the rumors about them, as less than savory. To them, 600 00:37:41,520 --> 00:37:44,200 Speaker 1: that nickname of King of Hell made a lot of sense. 601 00:37:44,840 --> 00:37:49,520 Speaker 1: Here's Mary Beth Norton. Burrows is the right person to 602 00:37:49,600 --> 00:37:52,040 Speaker 1: be the leader of the witches, because he's a minister, 603 00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:55,520 Speaker 1: and because he's a kind of a weird minister. That is, 604 00:37:55,520 --> 00:37:59,560 Speaker 1: he's never been ordained, he's been educated at Harvard, and 605 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:01,960 Speaker 1: because there's all kinds of gossip about him, which I 606 00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:05,799 Speaker 1: explore in my book. He has a very peculiar relationship 607 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:08,520 Speaker 1: with his wives. It's hard to know a lot about 608 00:38:08,560 --> 00:38:10,680 Speaker 1: the details, but he seems to have been quite brutal 609 00:38:10,719 --> 00:38:14,360 Speaker 1: and quite an aggressive husband. He at least is accused 610 00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:18,600 Speaker 1: of beating them or at least being very controlling of them. 611 00:38:19,120 --> 00:38:22,440 Speaker 1: He wants them to quote keep his secrets, and so 612 00:38:22,520 --> 00:38:25,600 Speaker 1: the question becomes, what are those secrets he wants them 613 00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:29,839 Speaker 1: to keep. So when Burrows began his trial on August five, 614 00:38:30,160 --> 00:38:33,520 Speaker 1: the courtroom was packed. Even ministers from up and down 615 00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:35,520 Speaker 1: the coast had made the journey to see one of 616 00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:39,280 Speaker 1: their peers stand trial. Maybe they were there to silently 617 00:38:39,400 --> 00:38:41,759 Speaker 1: root for one of their own, or perhaps they were 618 00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:45,359 Speaker 1: nervous about their own safety and saw Burroughs trial as 619 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:49,600 Speaker 1: a canary in the mind for their own future. Burrows 620 00:38:49,680 --> 00:38:53,160 Speaker 1: supernatural strength was a topic of discussion, as it was 621 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:56,200 Speaker 1: his unnatural cunning. Never mind the fact that both of 622 00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:59,960 Speaker 1: those characteristics had been exaggerated in descriptions of the Native 623 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:03,520 Speaker 1: American raid on his community in Maine, and he used 624 00:39:03,560 --> 00:39:06,279 Speaker 1: that cunning in the courtroom too. His life was on 625 00:39:06,320 --> 00:39:08,839 Speaker 1: the line, after all, I'm not sure any of us 626 00:39:08,880 --> 00:39:11,960 Speaker 1: would have done it any other way. He knew the 627 00:39:11,960 --> 00:39:14,960 Speaker 1: court system better than almost all of the accused. He 628 00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:18,200 Speaker 1: knew the rules and procedure. He knew what his rights 629 00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:22,000 Speaker 1: were and what the magistrates had to accommodate. For example, 630 00:39:22,320 --> 00:39:26,520 Speaker 1: he began his defense by exercising his right to challenge 631 00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:30,799 Speaker 1: the perspective jurors. After discussing each of them, he requested 632 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:33,920 Speaker 1: that a few of them be replaced. It was smart 633 00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:36,680 Speaker 1: and logical. He was trying to bring order to the 634 00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:40,200 Speaker 1: chaotic trial that was sweeping innocent people along in the flood. 635 00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:43,960 Speaker 1: But from the outside looking in, it also looked like trickery. 636 00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:47,680 Speaker 1: No one else played the system so well, so naturally 637 00:39:47,760 --> 00:39:49,920 Speaker 1: people assumed that this was the sort of thing you 638 00:39:50,000 --> 00:39:52,920 Speaker 1: might expect from the reputed wizard known as the King 639 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:58,320 Speaker 1: of Hell. There were witnesses with stories about him tormenting them, 640 00:39:58,560 --> 00:40:01,359 Speaker 1: stories about him leading the coven of witches in their 641 00:40:01,400 --> 00:40:06,160 Speaker 1: plot to destroy the Puritan experiment. Even courtroom, theatrics, as 642 00:40:06,200 --> 00:40:09,359 Speaker 1: some of the afflicted bell into trances and seizures at 643 00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:11,600 Speaker 1: the sight of him. It was all what you might 644 00:40:11,640 --> 00:40:16,640 Speaker 1: expect at this point, and yet all somehow worse. Burrows 645 00:40:16,800 --> 00:40:19,439 Speaker 1: put up a mighty fight, but in the end even 646 00:40:19,520 --> 00:40:22,919 Speaker 1: he failed to beat the magistrates at their game. Even 647 00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:25,920 Speaker 1: the ministers who had gathered there for the trial walked 648 00:40:25,960 --> 00:40:29,840 Speaker 1: away believing in his guilt. The great and respected Increase 649 00:40:29,920 --> 00:40:33,400 Speaker 1: Mather later wrote that had I been one of the judges, 650 00:40:33,960 --> 00:40:39,600 Speaker 1: I could not have acquitted him. Burrows, along with Martha Carrier, 651 00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:44,160 Speaker 1: George Jacobs, John Willard, and John and Elizabeth Proctor, we're 652 00:40:44,200 --> 00:40:47,799 Speaker 1: all convicted on charges of witchcraft. Each of them was 653 00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:50,640 Speaker 1: sentenced to death by hanging, and the date of their 654 00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:55,400 Speaker 1: execution was set and announced. Despite their best efforts to 655 00:40:55,440 --> 00:41:07,640 Speaker 1: save themselves, their time had run out. On August four, 656 00:41:07,880 --> 00:41:11,960 Speaker 1: the people of Salem received terrifying news an earthquake had 657 00:41:12,040 --> 00:41:14,960 Speaker 1: rumbled off the coast of Jamaica and sent a tsunami 658 00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:18,480 Speaker 1: crashing over the island. It had happened on the seventh 659 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:21,920 Speaker 1: of June, two months earlier, but of course news traveled 660 00:41:22,040 --> 00:41:25,840 Speaker 1: very slowly in the pre internet era. The city of 661 00:41:25,920 --> 00:41:29,400 Speaker 1: Kingston had been destroyed and over one thousand, seven hundred 662 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:32,600 Speaker 1: people had been killed. And in the Puritan world view, 663 00:41:32,680 --> 00:41:36,160 Speaker 1: where nothing happened by chance, the people of Salem were 664 00:41:36,239 --> 00:41:41,399 Speaker 1: quick to assign meaning to the tragedy. Dark meaning. They 665 00:41:41,440 --> 00:41:43,800 Speaker 1: had just mounted an attack on the King and Queen 666 00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:46,920 Speaker 1: of Hell. They had fired a shot straight into the 667 00:41:46,920 --> 00:41:49,759 Speaker 1: heart of the witchcraft problem in their community, and that 668 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:53,160 Speaker 1: was a direct attack on the devil himself. What if 669 00:41:53,200 --> 00:41:56,839 Speaker 1: the tragedy in Kingston was a retaliation for their own 670 00:41:56,880 --> 00:42:01,560 Speaker 1: advancement forward. It didn't help that just days before news 671 00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:04,359 Speaker 1: of the tsunami, Cotton Mother had preached from the Book 672 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:08,600 Speaker 1: of Revelation, Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth and 673 00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:11,800 Speaker 1: of the sea. He had read from chapter twelve, verse twelve, 674 00:42:12,320 --> 00:42:15,680 Speaker 1: for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, 675 00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:19,320 Speaker 1: because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 676 00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:24,000 Speaker 1: I can't help but wonder if the upcoming executions were 677 00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:28,160 Speaker 1: viewed with equal parts on easiness and relief. It was 678 00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:31,200 Speaker 1: their chance to strike back again. For those who had 679 00:42:31,239 --> 00:42:34,359 Speaker 1: been convicted, though it must have been torture to wait 680 00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:38,040 Speaker 1: for it. But not everyone had the same fears and 681 00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:41,480 Speaker 1: dread While all of them had been convicted and sentenced 682 00:42:41,520 --> 00:42:45,160 Speaker 1: to death, Elizabeth Proctor had a different path ahead of her. 683 00:42:45,760 --> 00:42:50,600 Speaker 1: You see, she was pregnant. Here's Mary Beth Norton. Once again. 684 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:54,160 Speaker 1: Pregnancy was an excuse in England. It was in English law. 685 00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:57,319 Speaker 1: It was called pleading your belly. When a woman was 686 00:42:57,360 --> 00:43:00,719 Speaker 1: convicted of a capital offense, she could, as they said, 687 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:03,520 Speaker 1: plead her belly. And if she was pregnant, if the 688 00:43:03,560 --> 00:43:06,560 Speaker 1: midwives confirmed that she was pregnant, then she wasn't hanged 689 00:43:06,600 --> 00:43:11,000 Speaker 1: until after she gave birth. So Elizabeth Proctor had to wait. 690 00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:14,600 Speaker 1: I can't imagine the darkness they must have felt. John 691 00:43:14,640 --> 00:43:17,759 Speaker 1: and Elizabeth knowing that he was about to die, and 692 00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:20,759 Speaker 1: she was only kept alive by the child inside her, 693 00:43:21,239 --> 00:43:24,080 Speaker 1: a child she would never get to hold and love 694 00:43:24,600 --> 00:43:28,200 Speaker 1: and see grow up. Her own life was simply borrowing 695 00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:31,080 Speaker 1: time until a new life arrived to take its place. 696 00:43:33,200 --> 00:43:36,520 Speaker 1: On August nineteen, the crowds returned to see the job completed. 697 00:43:37,200 --> 00:43:40,600 Speaker 1: All of those ministers and all of those curious onlookers 698 00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:44,840 Speaker 1: gathered to watch as John Proctor, George Jacobs, Martha Carrier, 699 00:43:45,239 --> 00:43:48,560 Speaker 1: John Willard, and George Burrows arrived at the site of 700 00:43:48,560 --> 00:43:53,080 Speaker 1: their execution in the back of a cart. Eyewitnesses claim 701 00:43:53,160 --> 00:43:56,480 Speaker 1: that some of them spoke up for themselves. John Willard 702 00:43:56,520 --> 00:43:59,120 Speaker 1: and John Proctor are both said to have forgiven their 703 00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:03,400 Speaker 1: accusers and prayed for forgiveness for whatever wrongs they themselves 704 00:44:03,440 --> 00:44:06,319 Speaker 1: might have committed. But when it was George Burrow's turn, 705 00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:10,760 Speaker 1: he broke that peaceful mood. He used his final moments 706 00:44:10,760 --> 00:44:14,279 Speaker 1: to declare his innocence one last time, and then with 707 00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:17,680 Speaker 1: the crowd gathered around to listen, he began to recite 708 00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:21,840 Speaker 1: the Lord's Prayer. Here's Stacy Schiff. Once again, it was 709 00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:24,360 Speaker 1: understood that a which could not recite the Lord's Prayer. 710 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:30,120 Speaker 1: Burrows on the gallows is apparently a tremendously moving and 711 00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:32,839 Speaker 1: and troubling site, because he is, in fact a man 712 00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:36,120 Speaker 1: of great presence, and he clearly knows how to speak, 713 00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:38,719 Speaker 1: and he's delivered sermons that many of these people have heard. 714 00:44:39,120 --> 00:44:41,840 Speaker 1: And here he is, in that same it sounds deep voice, 715 00:44:42,200 --> 00:44:44,839 Speaker 1: reciting the Lord's Prayer. So here he is doing something 716 00:44:44,840 --> 00:44:47,520 Speaker 1: that which was understood, which would be proof in fact 717 00:44:47,600 --> 00:44:50,400 Speaker 1: that you were not a witch. And the crowd apparently 718 00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:52,360 Speaker 1: at that moment, has a moment of doubt and begins 719 00:44:52,400 --> 00:44:55,680 Speaker 1: to surge toward him as if to somehow bring the 720 00:44:55,719 --> 00:44:57,799 Speaker 1: proceeding to an end, bringing the hanging to an end, 721 00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:01,160 Speaker 1: and they're pushed back by the authorities, which does indicate 722 00:45:01,160 --> 00:45:04,120 Speaker 1: that it's the upper echelon really that has that's holding 723 00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:08,160 Speaker 1: the the anomous for for Burrows. In some way, Burrows 724 00:45:08,239 --> 00:45:12,160 Speaker 1: had declared his innocence. He had worked within the court system, 725 00:45:12,280 --> 00:45:15,719 Speaker 1: using their own rules and procedures against them. He had 726 00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:20,040 Speaker 1: explained his actions clearly and defended himself against his accusers 727 00:45:20,080 --> 00:45:22,840 Speaker 1: with cunning. He even stood before the crowd on his 728 00:45:22,920 --> 00:45:27,799 Speaker 1: execution day and recited the Lord's Prayer perfectly, and yet 729 00:45:27,840 --> 00:45:31,560 Speaker 1: none of it helped Burrows, along with all the others 730 00:45:31,600 --> 00:45:35,120 Speaker 1: standing around him that mid July morning, hanged for the 731 00:45:35,200 --> 00:45:39,920 Speaker 1: crimes the court said they'd committed for the people of Salem. 732 00:45:39,960 --> 00:45:43,520 Speaker 1: The message was clear. The chaos of the witchcraft trials 733 00:45:43,560 --> 00:45:46,520 Speaker 1: that swirled around them was a tempest that had no 734 00:45:46,680 --> 00:45:50,440 Speaker 1: care for the nuances between truth and lies. It was 735 00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:55,080 Speaker 1: a storm fueled by fear and panic and religious conviction, 736 00:45:55,760 --> 00:45:59,879 Speaker 1: and its indiscriminate path of destruction so far had only 737 00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:05,279 Speaker 1: taught them one key truth. Any one of them could 738 00:46:05,280 --> 00:46:10,759 Speaker 1: be next that's it for this week's episode of Unobscured. 739 00:46:11,320 --> 00:46:14,600 Speaker 1: Stick around after this short sponsor break for a preview 740 00:46:14,719 --> 00:46:20,680 Speaker 1: of what's in store for next week. Next time on Unobscured, 741 00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:26,160 Speaker 1: Historians today have no idea where Daniel Andrew and George 742 00:46:26,239 --> 00:46:29,920 Speaker 1: Jacobs Jr. Found shelter, but their stories tell us something 743 00:46:30,000 --> 00:46:33,400 Speaker 1: important about the culture they lived in and how similar 744 00:46:33,480 --> 00:46:36,440 Speaker 1: it is to our own world today. That when it 745 00:46:36,480 --> 00:46:39,480 Speaker 1: comes to the mocking nations of power, who you know 746 00:46:40,160 --> 00:46:43,800 Speaker 1: is often more important than what you know. That money 747 00:46:43,920 --> 00:46:48,120 Speaker 1: and status, those elusive tools of the elite, are useful 748 00:46:48,160 --> 00:46:51,600 Speaker 1: in avoiding the power of the law, And that ultimately, 749 00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:56,800 Speaker 1: while some people's connections might save them, vast majority faced 750 00:46:56,880 --> 00:47:01,880 Speaker 1: a less hopeful truth, who you know could get you killed. 751 00:47:57,000 --> 00:48:00,040 Speaker 1: Unobscured was created and written by me Aaron May and 752 00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:03,319 Speaker 1: Key and produced by Matt Frederick and Alex Williams in 753 00:48:03,440 --> 00:48:07,080 Speaker 1: partnership with How Stuff Works, with research by Carl Nellis 754 00:48:07,080 --> 00:48:10,919 Speaker 1: and original music by Chad Lawson. Learn more about our 755 00:48:10,920 --> 00:48:16,120 Speaker 1: contributing historians further reading material, resource archive and links to 756 00:48:16,200 --> 00:48:21,439 Speaker 1: our other shows at History unobscured dot com. Until next time, 757 00:48:22,239 --> 00:48:23,160 Speaker 1: thanks for listening.