Backroad Odyssey : Travel, Van Life & Lost Locations
Traveling America's backroads, history and road trip enthusiasts - Noah and Noodles - unearth fascinating locations overlooked while traveling.
Living out of a van, they research and visit each story location to share the (often shocking) secrets held within.
If you love travel, history and thoughtful storytelling - join us on the road!
Backroad Odyssey : Travel, Van Life & Lost Locations
The Real Salem - Road to the Trials (BONUS EPISODE)
The REAL story behind the infamous Salem Witch Trials might surprise you ...
Noodles and I travel to the ruins where the first accusations of witchcraft were made in 1692.
In this bonus compilation - we revisit dark secrets, bizarre proceedings and ponder the enduring legacy of the trials.
Why did the Salem Witch happen? Join us at the ruins of the village parsonage to find out.
Noah and Noodles here!
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It's Noah here. With Halloween coming up, we wanted to do something special here at Backroad Odyssey. Many months ago, noodles and I went to Salem Massachusetts, to explore the ruins of the house where the first accusations of witchcraft were made. After visiting the ruins, then researching the history of the trials, we recorded two separate episodes detailing our experiences and the events of the trials themselves For Halloween this year, this bonus episode pulls together both of these episodes into one single narrative. Sit down, get spooky and enjoy Walking down the street. I wonder where this road would lead. So many possibilities. Care to share what you think. Oh noodles, what do you see? Back road odyssey. A false tongue will never make a guilty person. Susanna Martin executed for witchcraft.
Speaker 1:Salem, massachusetts, july 19th 1692. A small shop is filled to the brim with sage tarot cards and spell books. Thick incense obscures eager shoppers and visiting tourists. In the bustle, a small book captures your attention the Witches Salem 1692. The story contained within its pages began not in the bustling modern town of Salem with its shops and attractions, but miles inland, in the small house of a pastor. The first accusations of witchcraft are made inside its walls, stoking the fire of communal hysteria, religious zealotry and, ultimately, the conviction and execution of 20 individuals. We visit the Dark Stone Foundation. Far from the attractions of Salem, we're currently standing at the center of the village parsonage just outside of Salem modern Salem. And what's wild is this is so hard to find. To find the now called village parsonage, you must actively look for it. The remains of the one-room building lie tucked between quaint residential houses in Danvers, massachusetts, formerly known as Salem Village. The road leading to the first accusation made within the parsonage walls is long and requires context. For witchcraft, which is a thing grown very common among us, I know it to be the most abominable sin and I have been occupied these three quarters of the year for sifting out them that are guilty herein. King James VI of Scotland, 1591.
Speaker 1:Going back as far as the 14th century, the concept of witchcraft was commonplace across Europe. The belief was that a person, commonly but not exclusively female, would make a diabolical pact with the devil. The witch would then be able to unleash woes, channeling their newfound evil powers upon people of their choosing. Persecutions of these witches surfaced in waves at different times in different places the Valalleus Trials in France and Switzerland in 1428, the Trier Trials in 1580s, germany, and eventually reaching London with the Pendel Hill Trials in 1612 and beyond. But interestingly, what was accepted for centuries back in Europe was already fading from the public consciousness by 1690. The events of Salem then seemed to be the last labored breaths of a tradition of persecution going back centuries. The hysteria at Salem and the violence it brings can only be understood by gaining a better understanding of the community that brought it about, of the community that brought it about. To me, there is nothing more fraught with mystery and terror than a remote Massachusetts farmhouse against a lonely hill. Where else could an outbreak like the Salem Witchcraft have occurred? Hp Lovecraft.
Speaker 1:Salem Town was part of the original Massachusetts Bay Colony, which was established in 1620. As population increased, settlers moved west to farm the less occupied but rough and rocky New England soil. In 1638, a group of farmers settled in the Danvers Highlands in what was first known as Salem Farms and later as Salem Village. This village, which was located about five miles inland from Salem Town at the coast, grew to become a relatively reclusive community of some 500 by 1690. And, as is common in small communities, everyone in Salem Village knows each other in some capacity. What is also common specifically in this time, in this particular place, people stick to their own. They're prone towards suspicion of others and ultimately will do what it takes to survive.
Speaker 1:With the onset of King William's War in 1689, a conflict in the regions of upstate New York, quebec and Nova Scotia, the movement of refugees southwards, including Salem Village, disrupted the already delicate balance of the community. The growing population strained an already tense economic situation and provoked an already deeply paranoid people. Paranoid people, limited resources, growing population, strong puritanical traditions, including the belief that God and the devil tangibly affect the world, and what amounted to a theocratical judicial system. What could go wrong? I am not some preaching farmer with a book under my arm. I am a graduate of Harvard College, samuel Parris. All right, let me describe what I see. The foundation is a collection of dark rocks in the shape of kind of a small rectangle. I'm six feet tall, so lying down I'd probably take up a large amount of the available space. On either side of the rectangle there is what? Six people living here at the time man. There's also a stone staircase leading into what amounts to be a hole, so not much physically. This site is kind of surrounded by suburban houses. It literally could be somebody's backyard. When I stopped to think about the legacy of this place, the pain it ended up causing people, the eventual impact it had on all of our collective imagination. That's what makes it one of the most interesting sites in and around Salem.
Speaker 1:In my experience, salem Village filters through parishioners faster than most. Some blame tensions within the community, others credit the location itself as being undesirable. Regardless, reverend Samuel Parris enters Salem Village in 1689 after a slew of short-lasting parishioners, and Parris was, by most accounts, a greedy and stubborn man, not entirely respectable qualities. When entering the social powder keg of Salem Village, paris combined evangelical enthusiasm and structural rigidity which widened the already substantial divides within the Salem Village community. Upon arriving, reverend Paris essentially made it harder to become a full member of the church, which did two things. One, it elevated the status for full members of the church who, by extension, supported Paris and his policies Because, remember, this is a community deeply entrenched in rigid Christian theology, unlike Boston or more mercantile communities, and to be respected in the church was to be respected in the village. Secondly, previous full members dissented and then found allies among non-members who constituted a large amount and influential portion of the Salem village community.
Speaker 1:Within two years of Paris's arrival, the conditions were perfect for conflict and, as fate would have it, the source of evil would arise not from the house of partial members or deserters, but from the house of the reverend himself. It's wild to think everybody knows about the Salem witch trial Few, including me, before I did research, knew what or who really caused it, and the person living inside of this house was a big part of that. And to walk where he walked, where he lived, is truly remarkable. And in the fact that everything stems back to what happened, feet around where I'm standing right now, many within Salem Village came to believe that the increased conflict was the work of the devil. This would be proven true in their minds when, in January 1962, reverend Parrish's daughter Elizabeth, age nine, and his niece, abigail Williams, age 11, start to have episodes Without warning. They would scream, produce sounds and contort their bodies in strange, seemingly impossible positions. Soon after, another girl, ann Putnam Jr, age 12, exhibited similar behavior. After some time, when no improvements are shown, the girls are taken to a doctor who, seeing no physical reason for these episodes, cite the supernatural as the main cause of their conditions.
Speaker 1:Witchcraft is here in Salem Village. This leads to the most consequential baking of a cake in history baking of a cake. In history. Concerned by the diagnosis of the supernatural, likely witchcraft, mary Sibley, a neighbor of Reverend Parris, recommends the baking of a witch cake. Basically, in what is a well-known folk practice in English culture at the time, a witch cake is a cake or biscuit that is made with rye flour and the urine of the afflicted person, namely one of the girls. The cake was then naturally fed to a dog. If the dog exhibits the same symptoms as the ill person, the presence of witchcraft is proven. The dog is then expected to point out the witch or witches that are practicing their evil crafts. The baking of the witch cake in this case predictably reveals nothing, but ironically, it is in the baking of this witch cake meant to help the problem where the seeds of paranoia are deeply planted. Reverend Parris denounces the baking of the cake loudly to his congregation, perhaps in a bid to steer suspicion away from himself and his household where the cake was baked in the first place. This only fueled communal suspicion within Salem Village. It was Tituba, an enslaved Barbados woman to the Paris family, that actually baked the witch cake and fed it to the dog that lived within Paris' household, to dire consequences, sadly, for in the growing witchcraft hysteria brought about by the baking of this witch cake inside the Paris household, the three afflicted girls make the first of many accusations Two locals, sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, and the unfortunate Tituba.
Speaker 1:I also think about just how powerless people must have felt, thinking that they could be next, and as I kept looking into who was accused. As is kind of so often in history, it's usually the people at the fringes of society that fall first and just deeply feel for all of those who caught up in the middle of this. The first three to be accused are not the first to face the gallows. The cracks in Salem society are beginning to show themselves. Bridget Bishop, on her third husband, unliked largely by the community and more outspoken than is desirable for women of the time, was an easy first target. Rumors start to spread that she is the one responsible for the deaths of her first two husbands. Others claim that small items go missing when Bishop is around. All in all, she did not fit in the rigorous social structure enforced in Salem Village. She was brought to trial on June 2nd, convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death by hanging. Bridget Bishop is the first to be executed in the summer of 1692, but she would not be the last. The paranoia is just starting.
Speaker 1:A small stone foundation rests in silence. Cars pass nearby in the gloomy gray light. I walk to the rocky center of the structure. A somber feeling washes over me in the quiet. This is the real Salem, I think to myself. A dark cloud gathers over Salem Village. The hanging of Bridget Bishop, the first of what would be many victims of the trials, only deepened the tensions within the community.
Speaker 1:All right, I'm going to sit down a bit. I'm about five feet from the village Parsonage, just sitting on the grass which is slightly overgrown. The dark stones and the location as a whole is kind of in total contrast of the surrounding suburban houses and the busy roads. I don't know. As I started to pack up my gear, I thought of a question that I think is worth exploring. If the first accusations were never made, if Reverend Paris didn't break the already fragile social contract that Salem Village had, if the community liked each other, if they were more cohesive, could death have been avoided at all? Or was everything already in place for something like the trials to occur? Were the trials themselves inevitable? If a man or woman be a witch, that is hath consulteth with a familiar spirit, they shall be put to death.
Speaker 1:The 1641 Body of Liberties, the first legal code established in New England. Just what did the legal system in 1692 Salem look like? More specifically, once an accusation of witchcraft was made, how was due justice carried out In practice? Few witches were actually executed in colonial America prior to the witch trials, because clear and convincing proof of a crime, including that of witchcraft, was needed for a conviction. However, in addition to growing tensions between neighbors, a strict, puritan-influenced social structure strengthened by Reverend Paris, and an influx of witchcraft accusations led by the so-called afflicted, those targeted and tormented by the witches, the trials followed a temporary suspension of the Massachusetts colony charter due to political tensions with England at the time. So laws that would have provided necessary due process were now argued over and deeply uncertain.
Speaker 1:To provide clarity during this lapse in order, governor William Phipps established the Court of Oyer and Terminer, which would preside over the growing witchcraft accusations throughout the colony Without the strict system of law and order in place under the previous charter. This court would rely upon three kinds of evidence Confessions by the accused, innocent or guilty. Testimony by eyewitnesses to any act of witchcraft. Most controversially, the court accepted the use of spectral evidence. I saw the apparition of Sarah Good, who did most grievously afflict me by pinching and pricking me, and so she continued hurting me till the first day of March, sarah Good being accused of spectral attacks by Elizabeth Hubbard.
Speaker 1:Spectral evidence at its core is assertion without physical evidence. It is evidence based on visions, hallucinations, dreams of the accused witch's specter or spirit. It is essentially a testimony about what the accused person's spirit did, rather than the actions of the accused person physically. With the help of the devil, in order to torment their chosen victims, witches were thought to project these apparitions at will and punch, pinch, bite, choke and otherwise harass their chosen enemies. The court would then use witness testimony the spectral evidence, to support a witchcraft conviction and, tragically, spectral evidence was used widely and deliberately. By the end of the trials, 156 were indicted for witchcraft directly following reports of spectral attacks, some of which would happen during the actual court proceedings. The accuser would wail and complain of this ghostly harassment, unseen by everyone else Invisible, yes, unprovable, most definitely Admissible in court, irrefutably.
Speaker 1:Just how fast systems can collapse in a society is something that I find fascinating. You know, even with all the context, the growing resentments in the community, the introduction of Reverend Paris, the refugees coming south into Salem Village, dwindling resources all of it still doesn't really explain how an otherwise relatively reasonable group of people support the use of spectral evidence. You know, imagine you're sitting in court. You're accused of maybe punching someone in the face, not because you actually committed the offense, but because that person accuses your spirit of doing so. Then you're found guilty with no physical evidence and everyone just accepts this as the norm. It's just overlooking any semblance of due process, even by the standards of the time. So my question now is how does it go from several accusations made in the spot right in front of me to ghosts, punching accusers, mid-trial and everyone believing it? You taxed me for a wizard, yet you may as well tax me for a buzzard. I have done no harm. George Jacobs Sr. Accused and executed for witchcraft. No harm, george Jacobs Sr. Accused and executed for witchcraft.
Speaker 1:When accused, after receiving a warrant for your arrest, multiple intrusive examinations and testimonies, you would then be taken to the Salem Courthouse to stand before the court of Oyer Interminer. Ironically, though, if you confessed to witchcraft before the court, you often were spared a hard sentence owing to the Puritan belief that they would receive their due punishment by God. It was those who insisted upon their innocence that often met the gallows. But what of those who refused either option? More weight, more weight. These are the reported words of Giles Corey, who was slowly crushed to death over the course of three days. After refusing to plead innocent or guilty for witchcraft, giles was forced to strip naked by officials while stone weights were slowly added to a board atop his faltering body. He wanted death to come quickly, but that would not be the case. I am no more a witch than you are a wizard, and if you take away my life, god will give you blood to drink. The words of Sarah Good, who was quickly convicted and sent to the gallows after several afflicted girls claimed could specter attacked, she was hung alongside an elderly church-going grandmother named Rebecca Nurse. I would rather die than confess a falsehood so filthy. The last words of Martha Carrier, convicted after her teenage sons were tortured into confessing for witchcraft implicating their mother. John Proctor, featured in Arthur Miller's the Crucible and Reverend. George Burroughs, suspected to be the ringleader of the Salem witches, were executed on the same day.
Speaker 1:All the stories told about the trials, people confessing, proclaiming innocence, turning on neighbors, turning on friends or just even refusing to take place in the trials at all. They all kind of seem outlandish and insane, frankly, especially if you ignore context, the reasons behind everything. The witch trials enjoy near-mythical status in the American consciousness. But what actually caused the trials in Salem 400 years ago? Three prominent theories are often brought up. Theory number one cold weather. This theory asserts that most historical witchcraft trials coincide with a 400-year period of lower-than-average temperatures, known by climatologists as the Little Ice Age. The year of the trials happened to fall in the middle of a particularly cold 50-year spell from 1680 to 1730. In the midst of such stunning weather patterns, which led to crop failure and colder seas yielding less fish, people start to look for scapegoats, reasons for their misfortune. Who was thought to have the ability to control weather and destroy crops? Witches.
Speaker 1:The second theory Simple boredom. This is a time and place that restricted almost all forms of play for children. You were expected to do your chores, study the Bible and otherwise, do as you're told and be quiet. Any child facing such a scene would look for other outlets to escape the monotony. Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, two of the very first to be afflicted, became interested in fortune-telling introduced to them by the aforementioned Tituba, the Paris family slave. It may be that their involvement in such forbidden activities, as well as the coinciding guilt for participating in them, that may have contributed to their strange behavior and the accusations that followed.
Speaker 1:Finally, perhaps the most pervasive theory of all, the ergot or moldy bread theory. Ergot is a fungus that grows on grain, especially rye. It produces neurotoxins that remain in the bread that you make from the infected grain when ingested. Ergot poisoning leads to convulsions, vomiting, prickling sensations under your skin and vivid hallucinations, all symptoms associated with the afflicted. The theory maintains that those afflicted, as well as a substantial portion of the community, ingested the contaminated grain, which would explain the sudden shift into communal hysteria.
Speaker 1:According to this theory, the abrupt end of the witch trials happened quite simply because Salem ran out of the contaminated grain. However, this is the only theory I'll push against. To start, entire families would have to have eaten the same infected source of rye. In turn, everyone would have been susceptible to the effects of the poisoning, would have been susceptible to the effects of the poisoning. In the Paris household, for example, a house with four adults and four children, only two became sick and showed symptoms associated with ergot poisoning. Secondly, afflictions and accusations were spread well beyond Salem Village and town. In fact, the highest rate of accusations and afflictions occurred 20 miles northwest of Salem. Throughout this wide area, afflictions were sporadic and spread far beyond singular locations where infected grain would have been stored and ingested. Lastly, cases of outright fakery existed. An afflicted witness claimed to see a specter but later admitted she did it for sport. This is by no means an isolated case. Still the Urgot theory continues in prevalence and in some cases is included in school curriculums as an explanation for the Salem Witch Trials.
Speaker 1:It's easy to sit here by the parsonage some 400 years later and condemn all these stories, the trials, everything as a foregone era of superstition. But the more I look into the causes, the context and the more I consider human nature, you know the need for safety, for acknowledgement, for standing in the community. The less strange this story becomes, you know, the more familiar everything feels. The General Court of Massachusetts declares its belief that such proceedings, even if lawful under the province charter and the law of Massachusetts as it was then, were and are shocking and the result of a wave of popular hysteria, fear of the devil in the community. The formal apology of Massachusetts, made in 1957. The trials came to an end after Governor William Phipps' own wife was accused of witchcraft. He promptly orders the court of Oyer and Terminer to disband and replaces it with another, more reasonable court, which forbid the use of spectral evidence in court, all but ending the tide of accusations, executions and hysteria. No further executions took place after September 22nd, just over three months after the hanging of the hysteria's first victim. In the end, 19 victims were hanged near Gallows Hill, one crushed to death, four died in jail awaiting trial, and more than 200 were accused For what? And more than 200 were accused For what?
Speaker 1:Although it's tempting to attribute just one cause to the Salem Witch Trials, the reality is its implications are much more complex. What happened in Salem Village in 1692 is both strange and familiar, ridiculous and understandable, outlandish and conventional. More than anything, the story of the trials, with its showings of fear, courage, cruelty, unpredictability, showcase the deepest parts of human nature in us all. Dark clouds linger above the ruins of the parsonage. Its heavy stone foundation, ingrained in the ground itself, starts to glisten under the starting rain. Despite the passing cars surrounding houses, new buildings and a nearby swing set, the location emanates a legacy that still echoes miles south in the busy shops, museums and bars of Salem.
Speaker 1:It's Noah. Here again, noodles, and I appreciate every single minute you spend listening to this show Genuinely. It means the world to us If you find value in the show and continue to find value. Rating and reviewing is the best way to help us continue to put the amount of work we'd like to into the show. Stay tuned later this week for spooky content as we explore a famous cursed object in a cemetery in iowa city. Be good to each other. Where to next.
