Episode Description
Follow the events of April 4, 1692, as new testimony and complaints target recent suspects. We cover a reported spectral attack involving the shape of John Proctor afflicting Abigail Williams, then dig into multiple depositions against Rachel Clinton, including claims of meetinghouse disturbances, strange animal apparitions, a mysterious loss of beer, and a tense late-night confrontation followed by an apparent affliction and near-death of Betty Fuller. We also examine Mercy Lewis’s statements about being bitten, pinched, choked, and urged to “write in a book,” attributed to the shape of four-year-old Dorothy Good and to Sarah Osburn. Finally, we follow new complaints filed against Sarah Cloyce and Elizabeth Proctor, including an early mention of John Indian among the afflicted.
00:00 April 4 Overview
00:23 Proctor Spectral Attack
00:38 Boarman vs Clinton
01:49 Beer Barrel Curse
02:56 Edwards Livestock Losses
04:38 Fuller Night Visit
06:10 Dorothy Good Accusation
06:34 Osburn Book Pressure
06:54 New Complaint Filed
07:19 Afflicted List Update
A Brief and True Narrative by Deodat Lawson
Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims
Find My Massachusetts Legislators
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
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