Episode 81: The Salem Witch Trials

Spooky season is synonymous with fall, but it turns out the spookiest time of all was the summer of 1692 in Salem, Massachusetts. New England was plagued with division everywhere you turned - natives and colonists were battling one another, smallpox was killing people left and right, and Salem itself was forming two distinct identities. So it came as no surprise when Reverend Samuel Parris claimed the devil was out to get him and his entire congregation. Soon thereafter, young women began exhibiting strange behaviors - barking, writhing in pain, seeing things that weren't there. When conventional medicine failed to heal them, they blamed it on the "Evil Hand." In turn, hundreds of people were wrongfully accused of witchcraft, and 19 innocent men and women faced execution. What caused the initial outbursts? And what happened to those who made up such tall tales? Were there any actual witches involved? Tune in to learn all about the infamous trials that became one of our nation's first government coverups. Spoiler alert : humans are the true ghouls at the heart of this story - aren't they always? Happy haunting!