The Haunting Of The Salem Witch Trials

so terrified right now you're not even a little bit scared right now no what was that noise hello [ __ ] was that boo gets me T the the ghost all right so this is the Jonathan Corwin house one of the most notorious witchcraft judges but it's more known in a touristy aspect as the witch house now as you can see the signs right there yeah they're really uh going for that it definitely has a creepy vibe to it it looks pretty cozy right yeah have a different standard of cozy I think than normal people

great look on a wintry day like this that looks very welcoming it's a black house snow hitting it to me it's more eerie but you know I see things a little different than you so you know what let's just go in you're going in first yeah why not wow Brave this week in bus Meed and solv we explore the City of Salem home of the Salem Witch Trials as part of our ongoing investigation into the question are ghost real right now we're about to head out to some of the key locations that played a big

part in one of the darkest blemishes in American history and later I may even present some theories as to why the rich trials may have happened that sounds about right it's going to be a lot of fun yeah oh absolutely this is going to be a blast death hangings this has it all yeah all right let's get into it in 1641 the Puritan legal code was created and established a hierarchy of crimes starting with the worst the list goes idolatry witchcraft blasphemy murder poisoning and beastiality these people are no they're two blasphemy you can kill

a man but if you're like God stinks ah Jesus Christ blow his head off yeah how many people were poisoning each other I don't know how many people were [ __ ] donkeys back then everyone's always like how could they have done all this how could they have gone so crazy and killed so many innocent people well here's why cuz they're all insane let's jump forward to January 1692 when y- old Elizabeth Paris and 11-year-old Abigail Williams began exhibiting strange Behavior Elizabeth and Abigail were the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Paris respectively Reverend Paris

was Salem Village's first ordained minister the two girls Behavior included making odd sounds and screaming contorting their bodies and throwing objects Elizabeth and Abigail reported that an invisible being was biting and pinching them 11-year-old Anne putam and other girls in Salem began acting similarly shortly after this may come up in the theories but is it possible that these girls were very bored they were lost in the sauce that could be the footnote of the whole Salem witch trial lost lost in the sauce lost in the sauce their behavior was attributed to Supernatural causes according to

a doctor's diagnosis though it's worth noting that there was only one doctor in Salem Village and he could most likely read but not write oh that's not good no it's not doctors need to write yeah I mean how's he writing prescription he's not he's just pointing at things and saying yep that's a witch on February 9th 1692 the girls accused three women for causing their bizarre outbursts after Jonathan Corwin and John hathorne both magistrates pressured the girls into naming the people afflicting them and as mentioned before judge Jonathan Corwin's house is one of the places

we're visiting [Music] today so this is the actual interior of the house back in the day this is the Parlor this is apparently where he would discuss accusations in front of a big cozy fireplace how are you feeling right now Shane is this not cool to you to be in a place I I love history so yeah this is just history brought to life yeah shall we explore more of this house yeah rickety stairs so right now we are in the master bedroom this is where Jonathan and his wife Elizabeth would have slept if he

could sleep at night he slept like a baby to be honest in his mind he was doing the right thing doing the Lord's work he was doing the Lord's work exactly I know you're not big on energy but I mean like you can kind of feel that there's you're nervous right now I don't feel amazing let's just say that right I mean just just considering all the things that happened but you don't feel like a little strange that like one of the most notorious figures in the Salem Witch Trials slept right there it's neat it's

like being in Lincoln's bedroom L you just compar Jonathan Corin to Abraham Lincoln I mean they both lived a long time ago that's literally the only two things I have in common returning to the three accused women two of them named Sarah good and Sarah Osborne both professed their innocence and would eventually die as a result of the trials however the other accused was a woman named Tiba the slave of re in Paris strangely unlike the other two accused women Tiba actually admitted to afflicting the girls saying quote the devil came to me and bid

me serve him end quote so right now we're looking for the foundations of the former House of Reverend Paris his family and his slave Tiba so this is sort of where this was a hot bed this is where it all began according to a plaque that we found on site it was in this house in 1692 that t I Reverend paris's slave allegedly told the girl's household stories of Witchcraft that was CRA this is it and we could actually go inside the house let's go inside the house after you sir holy [ __ ] dude

Ryan I'm going in yeah if there was someone practicing witchcraft in this house you would know yeah I wonder if that was another part of it this may have been only a part of the house they salvaged they had to dig it up and this may just be just a rough outline of the foundation actually let me just take a rough EMF raing right after I mentioned taking an EMF reading our audio recorder picks up a voice possibly saying take it actually let me just take a r is this the voice of Reverend Paris do

believe in this stuff this is uh apparently some people think that ghosts can manipulate electromagnetic fields uh I don't know how much I buy into it but I'm not going to say this is definitively a thing right now it's doing normal readings apparently if it goes over to Migos then we're in some paranormal area but right now it looks like it's zero so you can see right there 0.1 zero it's worth mentioning that there are some who believe tiaba was forced to confess and thereby fabricated her testimony regardless to pus testimony is the longest in

the entire Salem Witch Trials she also detailed visions of eerie animals including red cats yellow birds and black dogs perhaps most importantly Tiba added that other witches were also working to harm the Puritans in Salem with this startling confession the trials and accusations vaulted forward giving them a purpose and Mission tiaba was also very accommodating to the judges and claimed to go blind at one moment a sign that the devil was punishing in her for speaking so candidly about him this showed she was at least trying to fight him after spending a year and 3

months in jail tiaba was not indicted and was the very last of the accused to be released right now we're referring to the woman named tiaba we know you admitted to some things that you may not have actually done there's good evidence to show that you didn't actually do those things you are forced to do you have anything to say about that do you think you're going to get physically harmed out here is that part of it I don't know her owners were evil pieces of [ __ ] oh but they lived here too Ryan

I know they're probably here and they heard you I don't like you that okay I'm making it worse uh let's find some ghosts Tia or the Reverend Paris or any of his family uh we are here to communicate with you if ghosts are real then call her Bluff they wouldn't know they're a ghost oh none of them know right after I suggest the dead are unaware they are ghosts our audio recorder picks up this voice oh none of them know none of them know I don't think they do so that's a ghost saying what and

just this particular ghost happens to have a cartoon voice so if someone's like he sound a little bit like Lil John what what he's upset he's upset at the notion that he's a ghost if I were to tell you right now you're dead say what skipping forward the infamous special Court of orer and terminer was established by Governor William fips on May 27th 1692 eight girls from Salem were Afflicted with witchcraft and making accusations in the court someone would warn that a witch was about to manipulate a victim and then the victim would begin to

act strangely in the first trial of this court Bridget Bishop an older woman of the community that many considered to be an immoral gossip was determined guilty of witchcraft and later became the first person executed in the Salem Witch Trials between the months of July and September 1692 18 more people were found guilty and executed including four men a rare occurrence in Witch Trials of the past one of the accused men was a man named George buroughs a Harvard educated Minister who was accused by other alleged witches from Andover of being their Mastermind the claims

made in court against Burrows range from bizarre to batshit the accusers claimed that he was biting them during their testimony their bite marks allegedly matched up with Burrow's teeth I guess they would have to pre- bite themselves yeah it's not that hard they probably just bit themselves and then showed it and they were like yep it looks like Teeth hang them yeah it's true don't hang them but it is peculiar they didn't have like a dentist on hand the doctor in town can't even write many people in the court not just the accusers claim to

see spirits in the room one girl claimed the spirits were faces of buroughs deceased wives colored as red as blood and thirsting for justice to be served to their husband finally the possibility that burrows had used an invisibility cloak given to him by the devil was suggested by the Chief Justice Oh my Jesus Christ this is so upsetting it's It's upsetting but it's kind of funny when you think about it like oh my God if you're an educated man from Harvard who is like well surely the Chief Justice will have something reasonable to say about

this chief justice what have you to say I seen him using invisibility cloak I know he gave it to him the devil before being executed burrow made an emotional speech where he recited the Lord's Prayer without any mistakes witches were not supposed to be able to do that which seed the seeds of doubt in the crowd gathered apparently this whole site was also the home of George Burrows if you're here make yourselves known I'm going to turn out the light or just like wiggle some snow around um not a lot happened all right I guess

it's my turn yeah good luck I'm going to scan [Music] around there's anybody in here right now with me show me a sign maybe move something say something something to me I'm going to turn off my light now and I'm just going to let you guys speak don't push me though all right here we go all right I'm gonna get out of here really quick but since I'm leaving I'm going to let you know how I kind of feel about you as I announce that I'm leaving we pick up another voice possibly saying I'm not

but since I'm leaving no no I think it's just people like it's breathing or it's wind I I honestly think if you want a voice find a voice don't give us garbage clear that's clearly a voice it's not a voice okay I found it to be compelling that I'm it's responding intelligently to things that I'm saying also I mean I did you hear that that was my shoes rubbing together yeah I know what that sounds like I'm able to discern what shoes and voices sound like ran I think I am I don't think I think

I am on October 3rd 1692 increas Mather implored the court not to consider spectral evidence in the trials around the same time Governor phipp's wife was brought in for interrogation if you recall governor fips was the man who created the infamous Court of oyer and terminer after Ma's statement and fips wife being interrogated fips released some of the people jailed for witchcraft halted all further arrests and replaced the court of oyer inter terminer with the superior court of judicature which was not permitted to consider testimonies of spectral evidence overall 20 people were executed in the

Salem Witch Trials 14 of the 20 were women and only six were men though official numbers vary it's possible that a further 13 people perished while in jail on charges of Witchcraft oddly all of the accusers were women between 9 and 20 years old an unusual fact due to the fact that most Witch Trials saw men doing the majority of the accusations I just want to say when an entire Community is basing their decisions around the decisions of eight little girls yeah don't listen to children when the hell in history would that ever happen again

where a bunch of high school kids go hey I think we should burn that building down I don't like it it's an evil building and everyone goes yeah most importantly none of the executed never admitted to Witchcraft one interesting thing to note is that almost all of the people that were executed were not given a proper burial and instead were buried in unmarked Graves somewhere in the area where those Graves lie nobody knows some believe they may be buried somewhere on Gallows Hill but regardless according to Spellbound tours a Salem tour company Gallows Hill has

the reputation of being extremely haunted so this is Gallows Hill I've actually always thought it it's it's spookier to imagine seeing a ghost in the middle of the day yeah I would agree with that it's spooky to see a ghost regardless all right this seems like a good spot we're near the top of the hill is there anybody uh up here besides birds that wants to talk to me and my stupid friend I don't think this is going to work I think we're going to have to go to an alternative method okay it occurred to

me the reason why ghosts may not talk to me and you is cuz you're Dawning a stupid jean jacket and I'm in h this peac coat but if I was in Period specific clothing maybe they'll actually be friendlier to us all right well I feel good there's no pockets on this I don't know what to do with my hands you don't look too happy come on ghosts act more natural be be a Puritan this is so dumb there's anybody that wants to come talk to us now is the time I heard what happened here I'm

sorry to hear that you're ghosts what we were engaging in a nice soft conversation you broke your friends you got to break the news to them a live a better they don't even know they're dead that's why we're dressed up like this so we're tricking them we're alive just like you let's go down to the pub God you're the worst so not a not a smashing success no this wasn't this didn't work out as well as I thought it would I really thought it was going to work we could have we could have researched a

little better nobody knows why the witch trials occurred but there are theories so let's quickly go over a few the first Theory comes from Harvard PhD student Emily auster who points to an economic explanation in the Journal of economic perspectives Emily auster suggests that the little ice age that lasted between 1550 in 1800 and intensified between 1680 and 1730 caused economic problems that encouraged the population to blame one another for their hardship basically this theory is they just got bored or they needed an outlet yeah this is what happens when people are passive aggressive this

is what happens when people don't have hobbies I think I think that everyone needs a hobby and if you don't have one you're probably going to start well they didn't have anything else to do that's what I'm saying they could have fingers they could have played ice soccer or something the second Theory comes from Linda caparal that The Afflicted girls could have been exposed to a kind of fungus called Urgot which can be found in grains like Rye which cause convulsive ergotism convulsive ergotism effects include hallucinations which are apparently similar to that of LSD muscle

attrations that resemble seizures vertigo and crawling and tingling Sensations in addition to Rye being commonly grown in the colony the moisture in the air and the grains lengthy storage time could have increased the likelihood of urgan infestation however the girls show no other visible signs of this illness which include disintegrating fingertips I I don't buy that one I mean like it's I think it's nice that someone maybe did their homework and maybe could provide a medical solution to this other than oh people are crazy sometimes yeah I think it's a little bit more more fun

to believe that humans are capable of some truly horrific things the third theory is that mass hysteria played a part in The Witch Trials it's accepted in most literature written about the Salem witch trials that some level of Hysteria was at work in Salem during this time the word hysteria is used throughout most descriptions of the Salem Witch Trials this is like those people in France oh God you and the [ __ ] people in France it's a real thing that happened all those people danced till they died Loosely it's kind of loosely true not

loose do you need to look up the body count on that thing I'll look it up those people [ __ ] danced until they died that's true well if you're going to go out that's a good way to go out yeah that's true the fourth Theory comes from one of the people in the community at the time of the trials a Salem Merchant named Robert caleff accused Reverend Paris of exploiting the trials for sociopolitical gain in the community he proposed that Reverend Paris forced his slave Tia to admit to Witchcraft so he could use the

resulting paranoia to seize back his diminishing power in s Village I love this Theory it's a pretty strong one it's a strong one and it came from someone in the community at that time yeah I wonder if he got shot after he said that I don't know I haven't heard about him since so he probably died to wrap up the theories and I hesitate to even list it as a theory but I imagine considering the fact that people at the time believed it and because there's been so many movies about it there are some out

there that actually entertain the idea that Salem witches were a real thing and I would like to express my own opinion on this notion no [ __ ] way great thank you thank you for once wait did you actually entertain the idea that I may believe in witchcraft it's really not that outlandish I think that you would believe that in the end nobody knows for sure what caused the Salem Witch Trials but what is known for certain are the unjust fates of the victims in 1957 the state of Massachusetts apologized for the Salem witch trials

in 1992 300 years after the trials The Witch Trials Memorial in Salem was dedicated by Noble laurate author and Holocaust Survivor Ellie visel all right so right now we're at the witch trial memorials every one of these benches has a name on it of someone who is either executed or died in jail during the trials as you can see it's quite a bit obviously these are here because they don't know where the bodies are for most of them so oh yeah that's why the benches are here let's see if we could clear a couple yeah

just Mary Parker hanged September 22nd it's a lot of people this is pretty crazy you know when you're standing in here in like in this little empty Courtyard and you just see all the benches it really is spooky but also like beautiful in a way this is Eerie yeah and I don't know if I feel uncomfortable just because of the Avalanche of History that's happening and converging in this spot or if it's because there's something here but either way I'd like to leave yeah I'm okay with that okay after all these years the questions remain

are there Spirits Left Behind from Salem's troubled history why did these trials even happen both questions May forever remain unsolved all I'm saying if there's a town full of people who are all like you this is what happens I feel like there if there was people start dying if there was a town of people who all thought like I did back in the day I don't think anything would get done because they'd hear a lot of the Hing in the woods and they just be like oh [ __ ] and they just run and they'd

all eventually die by themselves they start killing each other if there were a town full of me in the Puritan times we'd have landed on the moon in 1790 I think so absolutely I think you'd all just sit around and talk [ __ ] all day and just sit in the town circle and you know we talk about stroke each other about mathematical equations and sence say math but yeah there you go [Music] sh