S04E01: THE SALEM WITCH TRIALS

Crime Family is back! To kick off our fourth season (and to celebrate spooky season), we're telling you the story of the Salem Witch Trials, a series of cases that took place over an 18-month period back in the late 1600's.

After two young girls in the Parris family household start to exhibit very strange symptoms in early 1692, it is soon speculated that the girls have had a curse placed on them by witches living among the community. It isn't long before paranoia starts taking over the village of Salem once hundreds of people are accused of witchcraft and many other people come down with similar symptoms over the next few months.

What follows is a series of accusations and executions of anyone suspected to be a witch, leading to mass hysteria and a mystery that still exists today. This is the story of a small American village that used fear and speculation to scapegoat outsiders, and the deadly consequences that result from it.

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EPISODE RESOURCES:

"What really happened during the Salem Witch Trials - Brian A. Pavlac" (Ted-Ed Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVd8kuufBhM&t

A Brief History of the Salem Witch Trials (Smithsonian Magazine):
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/a-brief-history-of-the-salem-witch-trials-175162489/

"The Haunting Of The Salem Witch Trials" (Buzzfeed Unsolved Network):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_ZaFmX72EY&t

The History Extra Podcast (9 episodes on the Salem Witch Trials):
https://www.historyextra.com/podcast-series/salem-witch-trials-history-podcast-series/

Music Credits:
"Alone With the Darkness" by NaturesEye (Pixabay)
Pre-theme intro music by LiteSaturation (Pixabay)