The Salem witch panic of 1692 can sometimes feel more like a natural disaster than a human event. When the crisis reached its peak in the late summer of 1692 it had become as chaotic and destructive as any extreme storm. The return of Governor William Phips from England with a new colonial charter in May 1692 meant that the official proceedings of the witch trials could finally get underway. However, the prosecution and execution of the first batch of Salem witches didn’t seem to slow the rate of accusations. The more people who were hanged in Salem, the larger the Satanic conspiracy seemed to grow. Before the crisis was over the even the Governor’s wife would be accused of consorting with the devil. Tune-in and find out how spectral evidence, a dude named Cotton, and a 300 year curse all play a role in the story.

Works Cited

Baker, Emmerson. A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience. Oxford University: Oxford, 2014.

Boyer, Paul S., and Stephen Nissenbaum. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1974.

Breslaw, Elaine G. Tituba: Reluctant Witch of Salem. New York University Press: New York, 1996.  

Demos, John Putnam. The Enemy Within: A Short History of Witch-Hunting. Penguin: New York, 2008.

Demos, John Putnam. Entertaining Satan: Witchcraft and the Culture of Early New England. Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2004.

Goss, David K. The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide. Greenwood Press: Westport, 2008.

Hoffer, Charles Peter. The Devil’s Disciples: Makers of the Salem Witchcraft Trials. Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore, 1996.

Reis, Elizabeth. Damned Women: Sinners and Witches in Puritan New England. Cornell Univeristy Press: Ithaca, 1997.