new england – The Thing About Salem

January 19-25, 2026

Four weeks in, and you’ve built a foundation. You started with the social powder keg of Salem Village, moved through the legal chaos of Massachusetts, traced the charter crisis and ministerial conflicts, and now you understand how 250 years of European witch-hunting methodology culminated in the machinery that would kill 20 people for witchcraft in 1692 New England. This week, you moved from abstract theory to concrete application, watching how theological concepts became legal procedures, how books became instruction manuals, and how invasive physical examinations became “evidence.” We’re still in January 1692, but the machinery of death is now fully assembled.

This Week’s Content

Daily Videos (Salem Witch Trials Daily YouTube Playlist)

Weekly Podcast The Thing About Salem: “Who Wrote the First Book on the Salem Witch Trials?” Explore how Deodat Lawson, Thomas Brattle, the Mathers, Robert Calef, and others documented the evolution from terror to regret

From Europe to Salem: 250 Years of Methodology

The Salem Witch Trials didn’t emerge from a vacuum. They were the culmination of 250 years of European witch-hunting methodology, transmitted through books, legal precedents, and shared beliefs across the Atlantic.

Between 1428 and 1436, witch trials in the Canton of Valais resulted in over 100 executions. Authorities believed witches were so numerous and organized they could raise up a king to challenge Christendom. The elaborated theory emerged: witches made pacts with the devil, attended sabbats, and formed a conspiracy against Christianity.

In 1486, Heinrich Kramer’s Malleus Maleficarum standardized these beliefs and spread them across Europe through the printing press. Roughly 100,000 people were tried for witchcraft across Europe from 1400 to 1750. Between 40,000 and 60,000 were executed.

The Holy Roman Empire was the epicenter, accounting for roughly half of all executions. Torture extracted confessions leading to chain-reaction accusations. England treated witchcraft as a felony, not heresy. Witches were hanged rather than burned. Scotland was far more brutal, executing five times as many people per capita as England. Southern Europe’s Inquisitorial Courts were skeptical, executing very few people.

Witch trials declined in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Magistrates realized it was impossible to prove that a crime had taken place. Centralized justice systems made convictions harder. High profile failures undermined credibility. Witch trials were expensive and socially disruptive. The hunt didn’t end because of enlightenment, but rather due to legal reform, judicial skepticism, and social exhaustion.

Proving the Unprovable: Methods That Crossed the Atlantic

Witchcraft was classified as crimen exceptum, an exceptional crime. Courts suspended normal legal protections, justifying torture to secure confessions. They searched for the Devil’s mark, believing the devil left an insensitive spot on the witch’s body. The swimming test relied on the belief that pure water would reject a witch. Spectral evidence allowed testimony that a witch’s spirit performed harm while their body was elsewhere.

During England’s civil war in the 1640s, Matthew Hopkins, the self-styled Witchfinder General, exploited the legal vacuum. He employed watching and walking, keeping suspects awake for days. The stated purpose was to watch for demonic familiars. The actual result was sleep deprivation that induced hallucinations and extracted confessions. These methods were later exported to New England.

In 1649, Newcastle experienced the largest single mass execution for witchcraft in English history. Approximately 15 people were hanged in a single day. The witch pricker was eventually exposed, confessing he had been responsible for the deaths of over 200 women, all for financial gain.

New England Before Salem: The Precedents

The first execution for witchcraft in the American colonies happened in Hartford, Connecticut on May 26, 1647 when Alice Young was hanged. Between 1647 and 1654, Connecticut executed seven people consecutively, a 100% conviction rate.

The Hartford Witch Panic of 1662 to 1663 reached its peak when Ann Cole experienced what was interpreted as demonic possession. Her fits implicated Rebecca Greensmith, who confessed and implicated others. Mary Barnes and Rebecca and Nathaniel Greensmith hanged on January 25, 1663.

Connecticut established a crucial precedent for ending witch trials. In 1669, Governor Winthrop and minister Gershom Bulkeley ruled that spectral evidence was insufficient for conviction. This effectively ended executions in Connecticut decades before Salem.

Between 1648 and 1688, five women were executed in Boston. Margaret Jones became the first woman executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts Bay. Her case established the precedent for searching accused’s bodies for witch teats, a practice imported from English witchfinders like Matthew Hopkins.

The 1688 execution of Goody Glover in Boston served as a direct precursor to Salem. Her alleged bewitchment of the Goodwin children was chronicled by Cotton Mather in Memorable Providences, widely disseminating the symptoms of bewitchment: fits, biting, flying objects. These same symptoms would reappear four years later in Salem Village.

Witch trials occurred across North America with varying results. New York saw no such executions under colonial authority, reflecting Dutch legal skepticism. Pennsylvania’s jury found Margaret Mattson guilty only of having the reputation of a witch, but not guilty of actual witchcraft. Virginia treated witchcraft as harmful magic, with accusations typically handled as slander suits.Colonial New Mexico’s centralized Inquisition largely viewed accusations with skepticism. In early 1651, news that Bermuda was experiencing witch trials would reinforce New England colonists’ belief that they were part of a global battle against the devil.

The Devil’s Mark: Invented Evidence

English legal writers created detailed guides for finding witches. In 1618, Michael Dalton’s The Country Justice described marks as blue or red spots like flea bites, insensible to pain, often in their secretest parts. Richard Bernard listed exactly where to look: breasts under the nipples, thighs, buttocks, under the ears, armpits, within the lips, and in the secret parts. But as Robert Calef pointed out, none of this was in the Bible. This was invented by men.

On June 2, 1692, examiners claimed that Bridget Bishop, Elizabeth Procter, and Rebecca Nurse each had marks in their secret parts. Bishop’s mark disappeared three hours later, Proctor’s vanished, and Nurse’s appeared as only dry skin on reexamination. Rebecca explained hers was from childbirth and asked for a new inspection by real experts. Even 4-year-old Dorothy Good had a red spot where they claimed a snake suckled.

The War of Words: From Terror to Regret

While blood was being spilled, ink was flowing. The narrative of 1692 shifted from terrified panic to deep regret.

Two months before the trials began, Deodat Lawson documented his March 1692 trip to Salem Village. He saw Mary Walcott and Abigail Williams in violent fits with visible teeth prints on their arms. He noted that during examinations, if the accused bit their lip, the afflicted would instantly cry out in pain. His account, A Brief and True Narrative, published April 5, validated the supernatural attacks as real.

Almost immediately, there was pushback. Reverend Samuel Willard wrote a dialogue between S, representing Salem prosecution, and B, representing the skeptical view. B argued you need humane evidence, not supernatural guesses. B attacked the touch test: If the Devil is doing the tormenting, why are we trusting him to tell us who the witch is?

In October 1692, three heavyweights entered the ring: Thomas Brattle, Increase Mather, and Cotton Mather. Brattle’s letter condemned the touch test as sorcery and exposed violent methods used to force confessions. Cotton Mather’s The Wonders of the Invisible World defended the trials as battles won in a holy war.

But Increase Mather’s Cases of Conscience stopped the machinery of death. He asserted that Satan can transform into an Angel of Light. Therefore, seeing a ghost of your neighbor doing harm isn’t proof of guilt. He famously wrote that it is better for ten suspected witches to escape than for one innocent person to be condemned. Once Increase Mather changed the standard of evidence, the trials collapsed.

By 1697, Reverend John Hale wrote A Modest Enquiry, admitting they walked in clouds and darkness. In 1700, Robert Calef published More Wonders of the Invisible World, directly attacking Cotton Mather and documenting the recantations of confessors who admitted they lied to save their lives.

Thomas Maule saw the trials as Divine Judgment against New England for persecuting Quakers. He said it is better that one hundred Witches should live, than that one person be put to death for a Witch, which is not a Witch.

These documents map the psychological collapse of the witch trials, showing how fear can hijack a system, and how difficult but necessary it is to walk that back.

Governor Sir William Phips: Absent Leadership

William Phips couldn’t read until age 21. He made his fortune diving for Spanish treasure, becoming the wealthiest man in New England. King Charles II knighted him, making him the first New England-born knight.

He spent most of 1691 and early 1692 in London petitioning for a new colonial charter. He landed in Boston with the charter on May 14, 1692. No witches had been hanged yet.

On May 27, 1692, Governor Phips created the Court of Oyer and Terminer with Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton as chief justice. In June, ministers urged caution on spectral evidence but also urged “the speedy and vigorous prosecution” of witches. On June 25, Phips arrested a minister for questioning the court’s judgment. In July, he granted Rebecca Nurse a reprieve but was dissuaded by “Salem gentlemen.” By September, he approved Cotton Mather’s defense of the trials.

Phips did not write to England about the witch panic until October 12, 1692, five months after arriving. Sometime in fall 1692, his own wife was named as a witch. On October 29, 1692, Phips finally shut down the Court of Oyer and Terminer. On January 31, 1693, he overruled the final execution warrant. He blamed his lieutenant governor, William Stoughton, for what had happened on his watch.

This Week’s Podcast: Who Wrote the First Book on the Salem Witch Trials?

The Thing About Salem explores the many early writings about the Salem Witch Trials. Even from the beginning, people couldn’t wait to write about it. People continued writing despite a colony-wide ban on publication.

Deodat Lawson gives us the ground zero perspective. Samuel Willard wrote a fascinating underground dialogue questioning the evidence. In October 1692, Thomas Brattle exposed torture while Cotton Mather defended the trials. But Increase Mather effectively ended them by rejecting spectral evidence. By 1697, John Hale admitted they walked in clouds and darkness. In 1700, Robert Calef directly attacked Cotton Mather. Thomas Maule saw the trials as judgment against New England for persecuting Quakers.

These documents map the psychological collapse of the witch trials, showing how fear can hijack a system.

Conclusion

Week 4 reveals the machinery of death fully assembled. European witch-hunting methodology was imported through books. Precedents were set in Connecticut and Massachusetts executions decades before Salem. Methods like sleep deprivation, searching for the devil’s mark, and accepting spectral evidence became standard procedure. Print culture created templates. Professional witch-finders showed it could be profitable. Legal vacuums enabled mass panics. An absent governor returned to jails packed with accused witches, creating an emergency court with disastrous consequences.

These weren’t myths. They were real methods, real precedents, real books, and real decisions made under extraordinary pressure. The powder keg was packed in Week 2. The fuse was lit in Week 3. Now in Week 4, you understand exactly how the mechanism works. The first arrests are days away.

Where We Are

Week 4 of ~75 weeks | ~5% Complete | January 2026 – May 2027

January 19 through 25, 1692. The imported methodology is in place, precedents are set, invasive examinations are normalized, and the governor has assembled an emergency court. Next week: late January when afflictions spread beyond Betty and Abigail and the first accusations are made.

Key People This Week

Matthew Hopkins was the English “Witchfinder General” during the 1640s who developed sleep deprivation methods exported to New England

Margaret Jones was the first woman executed for witchcraft in Massachusetts Bay in 1648, establishing the precedent for searching bodies

Goody Glover was executed in Boston in 1688, her case chronicled by Cotton Mather creating the template for Salem afflictions

Deodat Lawson published the first book on Salem in April 1692, validating supernatural attacks as real

Thomas Brattle wrote a scathing October 1692 letter exposing torture and hypocrisy in the trials

Increase Mather published Cases of Conscience in October 1692, effectively ending the trials by rejecting spectral evidence

Robert Calef published More Wonders of the Invisible World in 1700, directly attacking Cotton Mather and blaming clergy for the bloodshed

William Phips was Massachusetts’s first royal governor who created the Court of Oyer and Terminer and eventually shut it down

Key Terms

Cumulative Theory was the belief that witches formed an organized diabolical sect threatening Christendom, developed in 15th century Western Alps

Crimen Exceptum was classification of witchcraft as an exceptional crime justifying suspension of normal legal protections

Watching and Walking was sleep deprivation method used by Matthew Hopkins to extract confessions

Witch’s Mark or Teat was supposedly left by the devil on a witch’s body, searched for in invasive examinations

Spectral Evidence was testimony about what a person’s spirit allegedly did, ultimately rejected as unreliable

Court of Oyer and Terminer was the emergency court created by Governor Phips on May 27, 1692 to try witchcraft cases

Familiar Spirits were devils in bodily shapes like birds, cats, rats, and dogs that supposedly

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