What do you think of when you hear the term ‘witch hunt?’ While the phrase has decidedly become loaded over the years, it often conjures up visions of angry mobs with torches and pitchforks. The Salem Witch Trials were most certainly a witch hunt, and decidedly unjust, but it’s important to remember that they were also actual trials with judgements that were handed down based on testimony, evidence and other time-tested methods of adjudication.So, how could the system of failed so badly? To...

As English settlers began moving into the northern frontier of New England in the mid-17th century, clashes with the native population there often had brutal results. Years later, a surprising number of those who lived though this tumultuous period in the region known as the ‘Eastward Frontier’ played central roles in the Salem witch hysteria. We’re joined by Professor Mary Beth Norton, whose groundbreaking work on this startling connection helped to change how we think about the Salem Witch...

When two young girls in the household of Salem Reverend Samuel Parris begin to experience strange behaviors, three women find themselves accused of witchcraft. Historian Kathleen Brown, the David Boies Professor of History at the University of Pennsylvania, helps us understand the beginnings of the witch hunt during the first few months of 1692.  Learn more about Professor Brown's book, Undoing Slavery: Bodies, Race, and Rights in the Age of Abolition

Historian Daniel Gagnon explains the context that led to the witch hysteria in Salem in 1692.

Most of us have heard about the Salem Witch Trials, but what do we know about what really happened in and around Salem, Massachusetts in 1692? The Salem Witch Trials Podcast, hosted by Greg Houle, goes beyond the myth and gets to the heart of the action. Beginning in October 2023, we will release episodes that include interviews with experts who will shed light onto the people and events of that horrifying year, as well as provide valuable context that help us understand how and why this...