x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

The Thing About Salem

Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack

The Thing About Salem is your resource for in-depth coverage of the Salem Witch Trials, the largest outbreak of witchcraft accusations in American history. Witch trial descendants and experts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack examine a different “thing” about the Salem Witch-Hunt in each new conversational episode, uncovering a topic, person, or place associated with the witch hunt of 1692-1693. 15-minutes a week is all you need to have all your Salem Witch Trials questions answered. Were there any

history

All Episodes

00:15:02

Why the Salem Witch Trials Went Viral

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/12/14

More than 150 people were accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Had the Court of Oyer and Terminer tried them all, they may all have been hanged.They sat chained in dungeons to prevent their specters from roaming. They watched as friends and neighbors were dragged to the gallows. As the body count rose, the terror must have reached unimaginable levels. And yet the accusations kept coming.How did an entire community participate in its own destruction?In this essential introduction to

en-us

00:16:40

Salem Questions from the Next Generation

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/12/07

When a seventh grader reached out with questions for their National History Day documentary, podcast hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack knew they'd been asked something special. The student's thoughtful inquiries became the foundation for this episode of The Thing About Salem.This wasn't just another school assignment. The questions this student asked revealed a depth of engagement that many adults never reach when studying 1692. They saw past the surface story to the human complexity

en-us

00:15:55

Captain John Alden: Son of Pilgrims and Salem...

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/11/30

In May 1692, one of Boston's most respected citizens walked into a Salem courtroom—and the accusers couldn't even identify him. Captain John Alden Jr., son of Mayflower passengers and decorated war hero, seemed an unlikely target for witchcraft accusations. But his connections to Native Americans and the French made him dangerous in the eyes of wartime Massachusetts.What happened when Salem's witch hunt reached beyond the village to pull in a prominent Bostonian with impeccable colonial

en-us

00:14:49

Before Salem: Boston's Forgotten Victims

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/11/23

Episode Description:When you think "Massachusetts witch trials," you think Salem, 1692. But what if we told you that 44 years before Salem, Massachusetts was already executing people for witchcraft in Boston?Between 1648 and 1693, more than 200 people were formally charged with witchcraft across Massachusetts. In 1957, the state cleared 31 Salem victims. But Boston's victims have been forgotten.On November 25, 2025, Bill H.1927 goes before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on the

en-us

00:14:53

What's a Witch's Teat: The Bizarre Body Searches of...

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/11/16

In this episode of The Thing About Salem, co-hosts Sarah Jack and Josh Hutchinson examine one of the most invasive and degrading practices used during the Salem Witch Trials: the search for witch's marks and devil's teats. Discover how this invented "evidence" was used to convict innocent people—including the hosts' ancestors.What You'll Learn:The Origins of Witch Mark TheoryHow English legal writers like Michael Dalton (1618) and William Perkins created detailed instructions for finding "devil's

en-us

00:15:29

How Did Salem Become the Witch City?

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/11/09

Episode Description:How does a town infamous for executing twenty people for alleged diabolical witchcraft rebrand itself as "Witch City"? Salem spent centuries trying to forget 1692, then something changed. Join descendants Sarah and Josh as they uncover the surprising story of how grief, guilt, and capitalism collided to transform Salem into America's Halloween capital. From the first witch-themed business to the controversy over memorializing victims, this is the untold story of who

en-us

00:14:53

Haunted Happenings: Salem's Halloween Takeover

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/11/02

What happens when an entire city becomes Halloween for a month?Salem's Haunted Happenings started with the Salem Witch Museum as one weekend in 1982. Now it's a month-long community event of costumes, crowds, street performers, and pure October magic.This episode captures the spirit of it all—the performers who show up year after year, the locals that go ALL OUT, the Grand Parade that kicks it off, and the chaotic, joyful energy that makes October in Salem unlike anywhere else.What to

en-us

00:14:48

Salem's Original Ghost Tour Started During the Witch...

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/10/26

Discover the shocking truth about ghosts in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. This isn’t your typical ghost story. These supernatural encounters were used as courtroom evidence that sent innocent people to the gallows. Join hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack as they explore the different types of apparitions that appeared in Salem testimony, from murdered wives seeking vengeance to protective angels revealing hidden crimes.Some Featured Historical Cases- George Burroughs. Former minister accused by

en-us

00:17:29

Slender Man and Salem: When Children Create Monsters

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/10/19

What connects a 2014 internet horror tragedy to the fear of 1692 Salem? In this captivating 15-minute clip from our full conversation, Josh and Sarah—along with Ain't it Scary with Sean and Carrie Podcast —draw haunting parallels between the young girls involved in the Slender Man stabbing case and the afflicted girls of the Salem witch trials.How do fear, belief, and community pressure transform young people into actors in real-world tragedies? From oppressed accusers in colonial Massachusetts

en-us

00:14:37

The Salem Witch Trials in Popular Culture

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/10/12

In this episode of 'The Thing About Salem,' hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack explore the various ways the Salem Witch Trials have been depicted in films and TV shows over the decades. They discuss the historical and fictional elements in productions like 'The Crucible,' 'Maid of Salem,' the 'Bewitched' TV series, and 'Hocus Pocus,' highlighting how these portrayals have shaped and transformed Salem's image in popular culture. The episode also covers

en-us

00:17:27

Ben Wickey's More Weight: Salem's Modern Relevance...

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/10/05

The Thing About Salem concludes our exclusive three-part series with Ben Wickey as we explore the modern implications of his debut graphic novel "More Weight: A Salem Story" in Part 3. With the book out now, we examine why this Salem Witch Trials story resonates powerfully with contemporary readers.Wickey discusses Salem's modern identity and how his work addresses the town's complex relationship with its tragic past. We explore the visual challenges of depicting historical horror,

en-us

00:16:28

Unveiling the Past: Ben Wickey's More Weight

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/09/28

The Thing About Salem continues our exclusive conversation with Ben Wickey in Part 2 of our three-part series about his groundbreaking graphic novel "More Weight: A Salem Story," releasing next week. This installment focuses on the heart of Wickey's narrative: the psychological transformation of Giles Corey.We explore Corey's devastating journey from testifying against his wife Martha to his defiant final moments uttering "more weight" as stones crushed him to death

en-us

00:10:56

Ben Wickey's More Weight: The Artist Behind Salem's...

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/09/21

The Thing About Salem presents an exclusive three-part series with Massachusetts-born author Ben Wickey, whose highly anticipated debut graphic novel "More Weight: A Salem Story" releases next week. This Alan Moore-praised "appalling masterpiece" tells the harrowing tale of Giles Corey, the only person pressed to death under stones during the 1692 Salem Witch Trials.In Part 1, we dive into Wickey's extraordinary background as an Edward Gorey Award-winning artist whose

en-us

00:14:58

Salem and Friends: The Plethora of Witch Trials in...

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/09/14

Episode SummaryNot all witch trials were the Salem Witch Trials. To truly understand the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692-1693, we must examine the broader context of witch hunting that swept through colonial America. This episode explores the extensive history of witch trials in British North America that preceded and influenced the Salem events, revealing how witch hunts affected dozens of communities across New England and beyond.The Context Behind SalemWhy Salem didn't happen in a

en-us

00:14:58

Bewitched and Bothered: The Real Witch’s Brew of Salem

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/09/07

Episode OverviewIt wasn't moldy bread, mass hysteria, or girls dabbling in magic. Join hosts Josh and Sarah (whose ancestors lived through these events) as they uncover the real forces that created one of America's darkest chapters.What You'll DiscoverThe Real Causes: Multiple explosive factors that turned Salem into a powder kegPolitical Chaos: How governmental instability set the stage for tragedyCommunity Tensions: The deadly mix of wealth gaps, frontier trauma, and religious

en-us

00:14:43

Pens not Panic: The Petitions of the Salem Witch Trials

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/08/31

What happens when your only defense against a death sentence is a handwritten letter? In 1692 Salem, petitions became lifelines for the accused, their families, and entire communities caught in the witch trial hysteria.In this episode, we explore:Mary Esty's remarkable final petition that prioritized saving others over herselfThe creative legal strategies colonists used to challenge "spectral evidence"How torture was used to extract confessions (and documented in writing)The economic

en-us

00:14:52

Whatcha got to hide, Salem? The Conspiracy to Cover...

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/08/24

The thing about witch hunts is what happens after can be just as revealing as the hunt itself. After 20 executions and over 150 arrests, Salem had a serious PR problem on its hands. How do you explain away one of colonial America's most notorious legal disasters? Simple: you control who gets to tell the story.But here's the thing about cover-ups—they rarely go according to plan. Join us as we dive into Salem's messy aftermath, where the real question wasn't who practiced witchcraft,

en-us

00:15:05

What's the Worst that Could Happen? Salem: Let Us...

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/08/17

What if history's most infamous witch hunt could have been stopped with just a few different decisions? We're examining the pivotal moments between January 1692 and May 1693 when someone—anyone—could have pumped the brakes on Salem's runaway train of accusations.From the shocking arrest of four-year-old Dorothy Good to Martha Carrier's unfortunate promotion to "Queen of Hell," we'll explore how escalating choices transformed a local crisis into colonial America's

en-us

00:16:34

The Salem Witch Trials: TL;DR Edition

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/08/10

Josh and Sarah tell the TL;DR version of the story of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692-93, where 156 people faced formal accusations and over 1,000 became entangled in a legal system that had lost its moral compass. They examine what transformed a small Massachusetts community into the epicenter of mass persecution, from the unprecedented scale of the proceedings to the types of people targeted. This wasn’t just colonial paranoia—it was a perfect storm of social tensions, legal failures, and human

en-us

00:14:53

From Witch Cakes to Blood Wine: The Flavor of the...

The Thing About Salem ·

2025/08/03

Sarah Good's final words to the minister who demanded her confession—"God will give you blood to drink"—would echo through Salem long after her death. In a community where everyday foods like butter, bread, and pudding became evidence of witchcraft, the line between nourishment and damnation blurred beyond recognition. Explore how Salem's fears transformed the most basic human need into suspicions of a pact with the devil, from spoiled butter that doomed a sea voyage to cheese

en-us

29 results

Similar Podcasts

The Old Front Line

Paul Reed

Today In History with The Retrospectors

The Retrospectors

جنود خلدهم التاريخ

ALSUMOOD PODCAST

Film History - Daily

Inception Point Ai

Madonna - Audio Biography

Inception Point Ai