The Thing About Salem

Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack•aboutsalem.com

The Thing About Salem is the ultimate podcast of the Salem Witch Trials. Each week, we bring you an engaging 15-minute discussion of a different "thing" or person associated with the witchcraft accusation crisis in and around Salem in 1692 and 1693. Tune in as we discuss "things" like poppets, bewitchment, and witches' sabbaths, and people like Tituba, John Proctor, and Rebecca Nurse. #salemwitchtrials #witchtrials #witchcraft

Last refreshed: July 17th, 2025 at 3:11 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

Omelette You Finish, But Did an Afflicted Girl in Salem Divine Her Future with an Egg?

We look at the reported use of oomancy—egg divination—allegedly preceding the Salem Witch Trials. The discussion centers around a haunting account from Reverend John Hale about an afflicted girl who used an egg and glass to divine her future, only to see a coffin appear in the reflection. This ominous vision allegedly led to her eventual death, serving as what Hale callously called "a just warning" about dabbling with divination. The hosts explore the ancient origins of divination practices, tra...

Jul 13, 2025•14 min•Ep. 7

Did Bad Bread Bewitch Salem?

You've heard the theory: ergot-poisoned rye bread caused hallucinations that sparked the Salem witch trials. It sounds so logical, so scientific, so... wrong. When the afflicted girl Elizabeth Hubbard accused alleged witch Sarah Good of witchcraft through spectral torture - pinching, pricking, and demanding she sign the devil's book - was she describing a fungal poisoning? Or something far more complex? Join Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack as they finally address one of the most popular silver bu...

Jul 06, 2025•15 min•Ep. 6

Caution: May Contain Specters

In Salem, people were hanged based on crimes no one else could see. In Salem, accusers claimed to see the ghostly “shapes” of their neighbors tormenting them from miles away. These spectral attacks left real bruises, real terror, and real questions: Could the Devil impersonate innocent people? Why did Connecticut reject this evidence decades earlier while Salem embraced it with deadly consequences? From midnight visitations to courtroom chaos, discover how testimony about invisible crimes became...

Jun 29, 2025•14 min•Ep. 5

Dining with the Devil in the Pastor's Pasture: Salem's Witches' Sabbath

What happens when a few cryptic accusations transform into elaborate tales of midnight gatherings with the Devil himself? In Salem, the introduction of witches' sabbath stories didn't just add fuel to the fire—it created an inferno that would consume an entire community. These stories reveal how panic spreads and conspiracies grow, transforming neighbors into enemies and turning familiar landscapes into theaters of supernatural warfare. Episode Highlights: European Origins of Sabbath Stories • I...

Jun 22, 2025•15 min•Ep. 4

Why The Crucible Never Gets Old

Arthur Miller's timeless play, The Crucible, transformed the Salem witch trials into America's most powerful allegory for McCarthyism. When The Crucible premiered in 1953, Miller—who would later marry Marilyn Monroe—created a dramatized version of Salem that exposed the dangerous parallels between witch hunts and communist hysteria. Hosts Josh and Sarah explore Miller's deliberate historical changes and why he chose fiction over fact to reveal deeper truths about accusation, confession, and mora...

Jun 15, 2025•14 min•Ep. 3

The Salem Witch Trials Judges Played with Magic Poppets in Court

Explore one of the more bizarre forms of evidence used to convict witches in colonial America. When the Salem Witch Trials judges accepted poppets as deadly proof of witchcraft, they turned dolls and rags into evidence that cost innocent people like Bridget Bishop their lives. The judges admitted all kinds of evidence that wouldn't survive five minutes in a modern courtroom, including poppets—dolls crafted with malicious intent—that were allegedly used to afflict targets from afar. The hosts rev...

Jun 08, 2025•14 min•Ep. 2

The Thing About Tituba

In the inaugural episode of The Thing About Salem , hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack take you inside the Salem Witch Trials, focusing on the early events that triggered the infamous witch-hunt. Discover how Tituba became the unwitting catalyst for America's most infamous witch hunt. This isn't the sanitized version you learned in school or saw in The Crucible —this is the raw, documented truth about three pivotal days that changed history forever. When 9-year-old Betty Parris and 11-year-old...

Jun 01, 2025•15 min•Ep. 1

The Thing About Salem Trailer

Are you curious about the Salem Witch Trials? Fascinated? Intrigued? Maybe even fully obsessed? Josh and Sarah from Witch Hunt podcast bring you The Thing About Salem , a podcast dedicated to uncovering all things about the Salem Witch Trials. Each week, in 15 minutes or less, we go through all the feels as we share a story and a discussion. Together, we will cry, rage, and even laugh a little about some of the silliness, like the witch cake baked with the urine of the afflicted girls. Early top...

May 07, 2025•1 min

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