Salem Witch Trials Daily

Dorcas Hoar’s Reprieve Petition and Joan Penny’s Examination Fragment (Sept 21, 1692)On September 21, 1692, Ipswich Constable John Choate arrested Joan Penny and took her to Salem for her examination. A surviving fragment of this hearing indicates she made one mistake while attempting the Lord’s Prayer. Beverly minister John Hale, Salem minister Nicholas Noyes, and schoolteachers Daniel Epps Jr. a...

On September 20, 1692, Cotton Mather wrote to Stephen Sewall, requesting copies of the records of six to twelve trials of “the principal witches that have been condemned.” He was working on a book (Wonders of the Invisible World) about the trials, which was approved by Gov. William Phips and other colonial leaders. In this book, Cotton would defend the witch trials and defame the accused. Chapters...

On September 19, 1692, Giles Cory was pressed to death. According to judge Samuel Sewall, Giles Cory’s old friend, Capt. Thomas Gardner, had spent two days pleading with Giles to change his mind and agree to a trial, to no avail. According to tradition, Giles was pressed in a pasture across the street from a jail. Officers compelled Giles to lie on the ground, placed boards over his body, and bega...

Giles Cory Excommunicated: Putnam’s Letter, Ann’s Torment, and the Ghost of Jacob Goodell The Salem church excommunicated Giles Cory on Sunday, September 18, 1692. The day before, he had  refused to answer when he was asked if he would stand trial. His silence was treated as guilt. In other news, Ann Putnam Jr reportedly encountered the specters of witches, who warned her she would die before Gile...

Abigail Faulkner Convicted as Nine Are Condemned: Salem Witch Trials Daily (Sept. 17, 1692) On September 17, 1692, the Court of Oyer and Terminer continued its work in Salem. Before the grand jury and then the trial jury, Abigail Faulkner Sr. faced charges of allegedly afflicting Sarah Phelps and Martha Sprague. William Procter was examined again, even though two indictments against him had alread...

Sept. 16, 1692: Mary Parker and Margaret Scott Tried; Giles Cory Stands Mute In Salem on September 16, 1692, Mary Parker and Margaret Scott were tried and 6 new Andover residents were examined. Significantly, Giles Cory was asked if he would stand trial. Instead of answering, he stood mute. For this transgression, the justices ordered him to be tortured through a process only used this once in Mas...

September 15, 1692: Indictments, Confessions, and Petitions in the Salem Witch TrialsOn September 15, 1692, as grand jurors weighed cases against Sarah Buckley, Rebecca Eames, Margaret Scott, Job Tookey, and Mary Whittredge, Deputy Sheriff George Herrick arrested Sarah Cole on a warrant tied to alleged afflictions. Confessions were reaffirmed in court, and new statements and depositions were submi...

September 14, 1692: Elizabeth Colson Captured, Grand Juries Convene, and Redd & Wardwell Condemned Wednesday, September 14, 1692 was another busy day for the Court of Oyer and Terminer in Salem, as grand juries weighed cases against Sarah Buckley, Margaret Jacobs, Mary Lacey Sr., Wilmot Redd, and Samuel Wardwell. Authorities finally captured the elusive witchcraft suspect Elizabeth Colson and...

September 13, 1692: Ann Foster Convicted as Wardwell Recants and John Alden EscapesOn Tuesday, September 13, 1693, Ann Foster, a confessor, was found guilty of witchcraft, and Samuel Wardwell retracted his own confession, perhaps because two confessors were convicted on September 10 and another today. Around this time in September 1692, Capt. John Alden escaped the Boston jail and began making his...

September 12, 1692: 50 Witches and a Jail Bill On Monday, September 12, 1692, sisters-in-law Alice and Elizabeth Booth claimed they saw a witches’ sabbat in Salem featuring 50 spectral witches. The Booths said they knew 13 of the witches and that the group shared a sacrament of bread and wine. Giles Cory even supposedly offered the sacrament to the Booths and then afflicted them when they declined...

Samuel Parris Declares a “War with the Lamb” as Salem Condemns Six and Excommunicates Martha Cory On Sunday, September 11, 1692, minister Samuel Parris noted that six people had recently been condemned to die for witchcraft, including Martha Cory (a member of Parris’s church), Mary Esty, Ann Pudeator, Dorcas Hoar, Mary Bradbury, and Alice Parker. Today, Parris used Revelation 17:14 as the basis of...

Sentences, Warrants, and Grand Jury Indictments: Salem Witch Trials Daily — September 10, 1692 We follow a pivotal day in the Salem Witch Trials as the Court of Oyer and Terminer condemns Martha Cory, Mary Esty, Ann Pudeator, Dorcas Hoar, Mary Bradbury, and Alice Parker to hang, while new warrants and accusations widen the panic across Essex and Suffolk counties. A third arrest warrant targets the...

September 9, 1692: Mary Bradbury Convicted, Giles Corey Pressed, Mary Esty SentencedWe take you inside Salem’s town house on Friday, September 9, 1692, as the Court of Oyer and Terminer drives the Salem witch trials forward with grand jury hearings and trials for Mary Bradbury, Giles Corey, and Mary Esty. Our focus follows the testimony that fueled convictions—spectral torment, claims of murder an...

Andover’s Mass Touch Test and Martha Cory’s Conviction — September 8, 1692 The Andover phase of the witch-hunt escalates with a rare mass “touch test” at the Andover meetinghouse, where suspects are blindfolded, made to touch the afflicted, and then arrested under a warrant from Justice Dudley Bradstreet before being taken to Salem for examination.  Using later declarations and Increase Mather’s r...

September 7, 1692: Divination, Spectral Claims, and Guilty Verdicts for Alice Parker and Ann PudeatorWe take you straight into September 7, 1692, as Salem Witch Trials history turns on examinations, divination, and courtroom spectacle. Our hosts follow Rebecca Johnson Sr. and Henry Salter as “sieve and scissors” and “Bible and key” methods are treated as witchcraft, while afflicted witnesses colla...

September 6, 1692: Ann Pudeator’s Grand Jury Evidence and Dorcas Hoar’s Guilty VerdictStep into September 6, 1692, as we track a pivotal day in the Salem witch trials: Alice Parker is re-examined, the Court of Oyer and Terminer summons witnesses against Mary Esty, and the grand jury presses forward on Ann Pudeator with accusations from Sarah Churchill, Mary Warren, Elizabeth Hubbard, Ann Putnam Jr...

Touch Tests and Confessions: September 5, 1692 at Salem CourtWe take you straight into the Salem Witch Trials on September 5, 1692, as arrests in Gloucester bring Elizabeth Dicer and Margaret Prince before the Salem justices alongside Jane Lilly, Mary Colson, and Mary Taylor. Our account follows the courtroom chaos of fits, the notorious touch test, and escalating accusations tied to the deaths of...

Constable Parker’s Arrests and Elizabeth Colson’s Escape — September 4, 1692We follow Reading Constable John Parker as he arrests Mary Colson, Mary Taylor, and Jane Lilly, including a chilling remark attributed to Taylor about Mrs. Marshall facing a fate like Mary Warren’s and a “hotter pot” hereafter. The search intensifies when Parker tries to seize Elizabeth Colson, long complained of, and with...

Salem Witch Trials Daily: Gloucester Accusations Spark Arrest Warrant (Sept 3, 1692)We take you to Gloucester on Saturday, September 3rd, 1692, where the Salem Village afflicted girls are brought in to witness chilling spectral attacks targeting Eleanor Babson and her neighbor Mary Sargent. Their accusations point to Elizabeth Dicer and Margaret Prince as the unseen assailants, pushing Ebenezer Ba...

Mary Parker Stands Firm as Salem Court Erupts, and Cotton Mather Seeks to Vindicate the TrialsWe go to Salem, Massachusetts on September 2, 1692, as justices examine Mary Parker and the courtroom chaos ignites the moment her name is spoken—afflicted girls fall into fits, then briefly recover when she touches them, even as she refuses to confess and denies the devil’s snare. Our account follows poi...

Sept 1, 1692: Andover Arrests, Salem Examinations, and the Five Mile Pond BaptismsWe follow the Andover arrests that brought Samuel and Sarah Wardwell, Mercy Wardwell, Sarah Hawkes, Stephen Johnson, and 14-year-old William Barker Jr. before Salem justices Bartholomew Gedney, John Hathorne, Jonathan Corwin, and John Higginson Jr., where confessions, “touch tests,” and detailed devil-covenant storie...

Confessions at Five Mile Pond and a Warrant for jurors the Court of Oyer and TerminerWe track the accelerating pressure of the Salem witch trials on August 31, 1692, as Rebecca Eames gives a false confession claiming she and her son Daniel were baptized by the devil at Five Mile Pond, accusing jailed suspects Mary Toothaker and Abigail Faulkner, and describing how personal anguish and suicide atte...

Andover Arrests and the Confessions of Elizabeth Johnson Sr. (Aug. 30, 1692)We follow the August 30, 1692 Andover arrests that sent Abigail Johnson and her mother, Elizabeth Johnson Sr., to Salem on charges of afflicting Martha Sprague and Abigail Martin, then move straight into the surviving examination record that exposes how coercion, fear, and family rupture shaped Salem Witch Trials testimony...

Andover Arrests and Confessions: Mary Barker, William Barker Sr., and Mary Marston (Aug. 29, 1692)We follow the Salem witch trials on August 29, 1692, as Andover constable Ephraim Foster arrests Mary Barker, William Barker Sr., and Mary Marston, and Salem magistrates examine their accusations and confessions. A 13-year-old girl describes signing the devil’s book, supernatural travel, threats from...

August 28, 1692: A Massachusetts Fast Day Amid Andover, Reading, and Lynn AfflictionsWe follow Sunday, August 28, 1692, as Governor Sir William Phips and the Massachusetts council order another colony-wide fast day to seek mercy amid the “afflicted state of things.” In Andover, the specters of Mary Marston and Mary Barker are said to afflict Martha Sprague and Rose Foster again, with later examina...