Episode Description
In this episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we cover March 12, 1692, when the witch-hunt expands with an unlikely new suspect and a new accuser. Ann Putnam Jr. claims she is afflicted by Martha Corey, wife of Giles Corey, prompting Deacon Edward Putnam and Ezekiel Cheever to visit Ann and then question Martha directly. We discuss an attempted “experiment” involving what Ann could see, and we share how Martha responds to their concerns about the accusations, witches, and the church. After the visit, Ann initially says Martha has not hurt her, but later reports renewed nighttime afflictions. Meanwhile, Mary Warren, a servant in the Proctor household, also complains that Martha Corey is afflicting her, widening the dragnet to more church members.
00:00 A New Suspect Named
00:25 Testing Martha Corey
01:31 Confronting Martha at Home
02:58 Martha Denies Witchcraft
03:37 Ann Putnam’s Night Affliction
03:54 Mary Warren Joins In
04:05 Witch Hunt Widens
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The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel
Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692
Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619
Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience
Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege