In 1692 in the town of Salem Village, Massachusetts, two young girls started acting very strangely. The girls suffered from uncontrollable fits, bouts of incoherence, and odd outbursts including barking and choking sounds. A physician summoned to examine them concluded that the only explanation was that the girls were “under an evil hand.” They were bewitched. This sparked a full fledged witchcraft panic that ended up claiming the lives of 25 people and destabilizing the entire Massachusetts Bay Colony. The ensuing Salem Witch Trials have been pointed to as a pivotal moment in American colonial history, but so much of the incident remains mysterious and clouded by mythmaking. How do you explain one of the strangest events in American history? Tune-in and find out how Black Sabbath, Cunning Folk, and the Miracle Max 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.

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.