I briefly posted about this last night, but I've been down a podcast and documentary and book rabbit hole on the Salem Witch Trials and British Witch Massacre. Spent way way too many hours over the last month or so listening to podcasts, reading books, or watching docs.

British Witch Massacre

From late 1500s to mid-1600s, more than 2000 women were convicted of being witches and were hanged and burned at the stake in Scotland and England. The panic started in Scotland and then spread to England. There are a variety of reasons it happened, but basically people in towns, parishes and neighborhoods would ID the person they didn't like and send 'Witchfinders' to go get them (some witchfinders made the equivalent of $4000 per witch that was convicted). They would then be tortured until they confessed to being a witch AND identified other people in their coven. It was near constant hysteria in some parts of Scotland and England for the better part of 100 years. In some towns there would be 15 people convicted and hanged at a time EVERY DECADE OR SO.

One modern historian called it a form of 'social cleansing' where towns would be able to just get rid of the people they didn't like (usually the poor or rude/obnoxious) by accusing them of being a witch. Don't like the local Priest? Tell the witchfinder that he's a witch. The lady who owns the store was rude to you? She's a witch. etc. etc.

Their hardcore religious views backed up their claims and gave them license to execute these people.

Salem

This one is obviously closer to home and in some ways is a bit more complex.

In Salem there were two prominent families who hated one another--the Putnams and the Porters. The Putnams had the power and money. In early 1692, the Putnam's daughter and other girls (age 10-15ish) that were her friends started having 'fits' during Church meetings and at home and accusing people of being witches. They accused a slave named Tituba (who later confessed after being tortured). Then they started accusing women in town who didn't go to Church frequently or were widows. Then it spread to anyone who defended the women OR who called into question the girls' stories.

By mid-1693 25 people had died in this town of 400 people (19 executed by hanging, 1 was crushed with rocks, and 5 died in prison awaiting execution). 5 of the 25 were men.

It was a perfect storm of a) insanely strict and superstitious Puritanical beliefs b) a deep internal feud within the town c) teenage girls who wanted attention of older men who ran the town, d) relative isolation from other towns/cities.

The other thing that makes it unique is that nearly every document is firsthand. The actual minutes of the trial still exist. You can read every cross-examination etc.

The executions and trials stopped when, instead of just accusing poor people, the girls accused a prominent and pious older woman who had lived in the town basically her whole life and was well-respected. She was executed BUT it got the attention of clergy and government leaders in Boston who came out to Salem and put a stop to it all.

A few learnings and interesting tidbits

- Future Influence - The Salem witch trials GREATLY influenced the Founders (Dec of Independence was written only 80 years later) and modern criminal law in the US. Some Founders even referenced the lessons learned from Salem directly. The concept of 'Innocent until proven guilty', warrants, requiring legal counsel, etc. etc. all grew out of the insanity of Salem. People like John Adams and other Founders grew up hearing about the Salem Witch Trials. It'd be the equivalent of an adult today learning about WWII. It was still 'fresh' and people knew a lot about it.

- Everything As A Result of God or the Devil - The colonists were a superstitious bunch. They believed that EVERY SINGLE thing that happened to them was the direct result of God or the Devil. Fields didn't yield crops? Must be because the devil cursed us or God is punishing us. A child dies? God is punishing us. My goat got sick? The devil or his witch cursed him. In that world, it's easy to see how fingers can start to be pointed towards those who aren't pious or devout and blame them for a bad crop season, etc.

We still carry vestiges of this with us today IMHO (I'm not saying that's good or bad or whatever). We believe more prayer will produce rain in times of drought, or that losing a job is used by God to teach us a lesson, or that righteousness equates to prosperity. I know many people who blame poor societal moral behavior for hurricanes, natural disasters, and even 9/11.

- Folk Magic and Superstition - It's hard to overstate how superstitious these people were. This belief in white magic continued and influenced deeply early Mormonism. Things like spirts guarding hidden treasure, incantations, amulets, seer stones, were deeply influential on early Mormonism and largely defined who followed Joseph and who didn't. If someone believed in those things, they followed him. If they didn't, they didn't.

- Modern Witchhunts - Humans have a tendency to identify people they want to marginalize and then go after them. McCarthyism in the 50s is a good example, but woke-ism today is also a good example. It's easy to get people in a frenzy and go after the 'enemy' that is to blame for all of our troubles. The people in Salem believed that if they could ID the witches and remove them, their children would stop suffering, their crops would grow, their animals would live, and the weather would be kinder. The Nazis believed if they could ID and remove the Jews that all their societal ills would go away. The same is true of McCarthyism, woke-ism etc. etc. It's a human impulse: blame someone else for the things that happen to us OR for large societal problems.

- Teenage Girls Can Be Evil - Holy crap. These girls in Salem were brutal. Most scholars believe they were simply faking everything. They'd heard their parents ridicule certain members of society and so to gain favor and get attention, they pretended to have seizures, fits, bit themselves, burned themselves, stuck themselves with needles, lied in court, lied in Church, etc. etc. etc. until these women were executed. 13 girls from Salem were viewed as so proficient at identifying witches that they were taken in wagons to nearby towns (Andover and Malden) to ID witches there. 292 women were convicted as witches as the result of the testimony of 13 teenage girls. Fortunately only 25 people actually died. Men with years of education in England were taking the word of these girls as THE ONLY EVIDENCE NEEDED to get a conviction and execution.

Anyway, that's my history lesson for the day. Message me if you want a list of books/podcasts/docs about any of the above.

Enjoy your Monday WITCHES!!