Full Transcript for S1 – 6: Consequences

Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor himself, William Stoughton. WILLIAMS. Stonton is a ghost character, one of my least favorite people. That's Emerson Baker, professor of history at Salem State University. William Stoughton might have put on a humble front, but he was just like the rest of the judges, filthy, rich, and deeply embedded in powerful circles. Stoughton had managed to trick the Native Americans of western Massachusetts into selling him over a million acres of their land, which he then proceeded to cut up and sell in pieces for massive profit. It was so successful that he repeat of the process in Connecticut a short while later, and he was using his political positions to make it all happen, enriching himself through his public office. Taking it all into account, William Stoughton seems to have been a man focused purely on his own advancement of power and wealth, and he was willing to be ruthless to get it done. The coup that had ended the rule of Governor Andrews had set him back a bit, but thanks to his connections, he landed on his feet and managed to secure a place alongside Governor Phipps, a position he was now about to use to deliver hard justice to the people of Salem. If it's not already clear, this group of wealthy and interconnected power players were accustomed to the comfort and stability of their high positions, but in six they were shaking in their boots. The New Charter had only just arrived and their future was still uncertain, and all the while, Wabanaki forces were advancing as Maine and western Massachusetts, wiping out their personal fortunes. The witches of Salem were the closest thing these men could find to its target upon which they might vent their frustration. The Catholic French and their heathen Native American allies were all agents of the devil, sure, but so were the witches of Salem. While the battles to the west and north were less within their control, nothing was standing in their way to strike a decisive blow to these new enemies that threatened the Puritan mission. The first step was to assemble the jurors, which was done on more importantly, though, they needed a prosecutor to bring those minions of Satan to trial, and for that job they turned to a man named Thomas Newton. He was a lawyer trained in English law who was currently practicing in Boston, and he had a track record for ruthlessly pursuing the very thing that the judges needed, convictions. He would bring the cases before or the group of judges in the presence of the jury, and then a decision would be made for each. But rather than beginning with those who had been waiting the longest, or even those who were the most prominent in the community, Newton chose instead to start with his best chance of landing in early victory. Salem's new oyer and terminal trial would begin with the charges brought against just one person, bridget Bishop. If bridget Bishop's name sounds familiar, that's because we briefly discussed her examination in episode four that said she has a powerful story that requires a bit more exploration. Then honestly, if we can't slow down and unveil the humanity behind a list of names, we're missing the point. Bridget story is her own, but at the same time it's everyone's. Bridget's journey to the New World had begun painfully. She had married a man named Samuel in England, and the couple swiftly became parents. But sometimes joy is as fleeting as the morning fog, and that newborn infant and died before it could thrive. A short time later, Samuel passed away as well, leaving Bridget alone, well, not exactly. She was pregnant with their second child, which was at once both hopeful and sad. This child would never know its father or older sibling. It was a lot of darkness for one person to deal with, which might explain why Bridget boarded a ship bound for the New World. Maybe she just wanted to escape it all. She arrived in Boston in sixteen sixty four, and a short while later she gave birth for the second time in her life. This child, just like her first, failed to thrive, and when it was over, Bridget had no one, no one to care for, no one to care for her alone in a strange new land. She was lost two years later, though she married again. Her new husband, Thomas Oliver, seemed like a good man. He, like her, had lost a spouse, although the details were far different from her own. Thomas had three grown children, and his wife had been known to be a troublemaker, always insulting him and the people around them. Perhaps a fresh start was what both of them needed. It wasn't idyllic, though. Thomas turned out to be an abusive husband, perhaps shedding a bit of light on why he and his first wife quarreled so often. Soon Bridget and Thomas had their own version of that reputation, although most of the rumors and reports had to do with the physical abuse that he heaped upon her. One neighbor, Mary Ropes, later testified that she often saw Bridget with a bloody face or covered in black and blue marks. When the authorities got involved in sixteen seventy, they ordered both of them to be whipped publicly, ten stripes a piece, they said, and then find for their behavior. They took their beating and They paid their fine, but the trouble continued. Seven years later, they were in court again. Bridget was an abused woman fighting for her dignity and safety. Thomas was a smooth, talking wife beater in a society that elevated men high above the station of women, so naturally his deeds never went on record, while Bridget's behavior was seeing as stubborn, disobedient, and offensive. Despite that, both of them were punished again, and in the most public and humiliating way possible. They were forced to stand in the public market place with their backs to each other. Both of them were gagged to keep them silent, and each had a note tied to their forehead describing their crimes. Thomas's adult daughter paid the fine to have her father released, but Bridget was left to suffer the

humiliation alone. She suffered more than that, though, in the eyes of the people around her, any woman with the tenacity to call her husband an old devil most certainly had a bit of familiarity with the devil himself. As a result, people began to whisper that Bridget was a witch. Years before the afflicted girls would claim to see spectral images of their attackers. People in Salem were claiming to see Bridget in their own homes, and these visions were linked to unfortunate events. One man claimed to see Bridget spirit in his home right before his infant daughter passed away. Another man claimed Bridget had paid him for some labor, but the money later vanished from his pocket. Yet another person claimed to see her perched high up on a beam in his barn, holding a stolen egg. These rumors in our own society today would never mature beyond that point, but in the world of the Puritans, they were dark and ominous seeds that grew over time. In the winter of sixteen seventy nine, Bridget was charged with witchcraft and ordered to appear before the Court of Assistants in Boston. She paid her bond and waited for a trial date, but for whatever reason, the date never arrived. Thomas, the wife, beat her, died in sixteen seventy nine, leaving Bridget alone again, Although that might have been the first time in her life, she was glad to see a husband die, but as death left her responsible for his outstanding debts, and she spent the next six years in legal battles trying to take care of everyone demanding repayments. Then in sight, she met Edward Bishop. Edward had worked most of his life at one of the sawmills in Salem, but he also owned a bit of land in Salem Village, out on the north side of the territory. After their marriage, the couple tore down the house Thomas had left Bridget in Salem Town and constructed a tavern in its place, which was managed and operated by Edward's son, Edward Jr. Life was supposed to get better for Bridget. She had found a new husband and they had a promising future in front of them. No, it wasn't a path to immense riches, but it was better than a life of abuse and debt. Bridget just wanted to move on from the failings of her past and try to make a new start. Sadly, the community around her wasn't going to play along. Edward Junior and his wife Sarah brought some of that trouble back into her life. At one point, a neighbor woman got fed up with the loud and disorderly behavior taking place at the new Bishop tavern, and she confronted Edward Junr. About it. Immediately after that, this neighbor woman fell ill, She had seizures and spoke of wanting to die, all while her family watched helplessly. A month later, this woman was dead by her own hand. She had managed to obtain a pair of sharp scissors, which she used to stab herself in the side of the throat. Sarah Bishop, Bridget's daughter in law, didn't get charged with witchcraft, as we might expect from the stories like this, but people certainly did take notice. Sometime after

her marriage to Edward, Bridget was arrested for theft and served three months in jail before being charged with the crime and forced to pay a large fine. It had only been a small piece of brass hardware, but it was enough to ruin her reputation for good. Bridget had lost two children and a husband, only to find herself in an abuse of marriage. She had fought back for her safety and her dignity, only to be branded as a disobedient and outspoken woman. Now this, whether it was true or not, this theft and conviction was the final straw in everyone's mind. If any woman in Salem Village was a witch, it was Bridget. To a career prosecutor like Thomas Newton, Bridget offered a chance to begin the court of oyer and terminer on a strong note. Yes, she was one of dozens who had been dragged before the magistrates for months, and each of them possessed their own dark past and social baggage. But Bridget Bishop was the key that Newton would use to unlock the floodgates justice. If we can fool ourselves into calling it that was about to flow like a river. Newton began by requesting just eight of the prisoners be transferred up from the Boston jail to Salem Town. He explained that while yes, there were a lot more people awaiting trial, it was going to be a slow, tedious process working through all of them. The afflicted were sometimes disruptive and the cases were complex, so eight would be all he needed for in the first week. Bridget would be his first. Of course, his case didn't rest entirely on old events and accusations. There were fresh stories about Bridget that helped move her to the front of the line. Mercy Lewis and Annie Putnam both had claimed to see Bridget spirit in their home. They stated, as if it were indisputable fact, that she had bewitched her second husband, Thomas to death. It was damning evidence given the circumstances, but Bridget had also lied to the magistrates, and that didn't help her case. When they asked her if she was a witch, she denied it and claimed that she didn't even know what a witch was. She also claimed she hadn't known anyone else confessed to being agents of the devil, but that wasn't exactly true. On the morning of her examination back in April, she had been told that Abigail Hobbs and Mary Warren had confessed, and if Bridget was willing to lie about that, what else was she lying about. It was all word games. It was all a classic example of Bridget being considered guilty even before she was examined on April nineteenth, six two. Nothing she could say would change the public perception of her. All she could do was deny it as each question was fired at her one by one. I am innocent. I am innocent. I am innocent. It didn't help her. She had been carted off to jail on April nineteenth and remained there for a month and a half. Every day new accused arrived to join her. In the small, filthy room, she watched the constables drop off Sarah Wilds, a woman from Topsfield with a very similar story to Bridgets. She was even there long enough to see her stepson, Edward Jr. And his wife Sarah, added to the already overflowing jail. On June one, Thomas Newton's request for the transfer of eight prisoners was put into action. Bridget Bishop, along with John and Elizabeth Proctor, Rebecca Nurse, John Willard, Sarah Good, and two others were all placed in a wagon and carted north to Salem Town. While they rode north, another group of freshly accused were being sent south to Boston to take their place in the jail. It must have been maddening to everyone involved. Rather than making headway, they were just treading water and barely staying afloat. Well maddening to most. Some of the people making decisions seemed to lack any sense of compassion or common decency at all. Remember Sarah Good, one of the first women to be accused and carted off to jail. Her four year old daughter Dorothy was eventually accused as well, and together they had been waiting for their trial in the Boston jail. But when the constables transported Sarah Good and the others to sail in town on June one. They left Dorothy behind, a four year old girl, alone and afraid in a crowded room full of equally frightened strangers. It was abhorrent, but it didn't even cross their mind as the wrong thing to do. There were bigger wrongs that needed writing. As far as they were concerned, what difference did it make if the authorities had separated a mother and her child, so long as they were wrapped securely in the blankets of moral superiority and justification. So as you might imagine, those eight prisoners rode north with a lot of emotional baggage. They were afraid for sure. This was the first official trial, not some simple examination. The court could make a decision that would impact their very lives, and that was more than enough reason to feel fear and stress. But there was more. They were all frustrated as well. You see. Back in April, Hawthorn and Corwin had visited the Salem jail to question Mary Warren, one of the accusers, who had confessed her guilt. As the others in the jail listened from a distance, Mary recanted her confession, denying that she was ever a witch, and she went further. She claimed that the visions she had described had been nothing more than stories she made up to distract the authorities. It was a bombshell if it was true. Some of the people awaiting trial and jail were doing so purely on the testimony of Mary Warren, and she had been overheard telling Hawthorne and Corwin that her testimony was all alive. So the prisoners mobilized. One of the wealthiest among them, a woman named Mary English, organized these prisoners a group that included Edward Bishop Junior and his wife Sarah, and helped them write a joint statement. If Mary Warren's testimony was false, then they should all be released and sent home. Then Yet here they were writing in a wagon toward the court of Oyer and Terminer and their final judgment. We know the magistrates received the statement. It's one of the few

documents that survived to this day. But whether or not they even read it, let alone consider the request, is up for debate. The trials, even those for the people accused by Mary Warren, continued to march forward unchanged. Now, if we're looking for a reason why we don't have to go far beyond their Puritan mission. They had settled there decades earlier to build a city on a hill, a shining example of God's kingdom on earth. But the devil wanted to tear all of that to the ground. Things like false test ctimonies and lying prisoners were small matters when held up to the larger safety of the Puritan utopia they dreamt of. The day before the trials were to begin, that mission was driven home for a few of the presiding judges. Peter, Sergeant Samuel Sewell, and still Wait Winthrop all sat in their seats at Boston's Third Church that morning and listen to the minister. Samuel Willard preached from the Book of First Peter, chapter five. Be sober, be vigilant, It says, because your adversary, the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. Then, wanting to drive the point home, Willard issued his own personal warnings. He told the congregation that because God had banished the fallen angels from heaven, our world was full of invisible forces bent on our destruction. These invisible powers can assume any shape they desire, and they have enlisted evil people among us to do the work of the devil. Translation, prepare yourselves, we're about to go to war. M Sergeant Sewell and Winthrop weren't the only judges to receive messages from the church that weekend. John Richards, that self made man who started out life as a servant only to become one of the most powerful men in the colony, received a letter from his own minister Cotton Mother. Neither offered a laundry list of advice for Richards to follow in the weeks to come. He told him not to lay more stress upon pure specter testimony than it will bear. Noticed that he didn't tell Richard's that stories about the specters of which is were invalid as we might expect, just that he shouldn't rely too much on them. It was advice that seemed to legitimize something no sane person should accept as fact. Neither went on which is He told him shouldn't be able to recite the Lord's prayer correctly. They should be on the lookout for poppets, a sort of doll used by witches to focus spells on another person. He also told Richards that another great source of physical evidence was witches marks witches marks were also known as witches teats and were supposed to be physical marks that showed exactly where the witch would suckle. They're familiar, even though men could also have them. It was a concept that played into the female centric hatred that consumed witchcraft panics. These marks could be anything though dark spots on the skin, large freckles, skin tags, even moles. As you can imagine, most people had something on their body to worry about when viewed through such a lens. Neither closed out

his letter to Richards by suggesting that the best evidence of all that they could find would be physical manifestations of spectral origins, which seemed to contradict his earlier warning not to lean too much on the spectral evidence. If Richard's and the other judges noticed the contradiction, we don't see evidence of that. In fact, they clearly adopted Mather's list of proof in the weeks and months to come. On June two, William Stoughton, in his role as chief judge for the trial, called the Court of Oyer and Terminer into session. Thomas Newton was sworn in as Attorney General, and Stephen Sewell as the Clerk of the Court. The grand jury met and discussed their task. While witnesses for later cases were called to testify, They were laying out the good silver, so to speak, setting the table for the feast that was about to be served. While all of this was going on, the suspects were split up to be examined by smaller juries. John Proctor and John Willard, that former constable who had tried to escape, both had their bodies search for which is marks by a group of men, but they were unsuccessful. The ladies were examined by group of women for the same reason, and the results were much more fruitful. Bridget Bishop, Rebecca Nurse, and Elizabeth Proctor all showed signs of witches marks. Maybe because the other women didn't, Their examiners went back for a second look a couple of hours later. This time they found nothing, though, and while you and I might chalk that up to human error or a trick of the light, these women assumed it was because diabolical marks have the power to disappear and reappear at will, because of course they do. Finally, Bridget Bishop was brought forward to meet Thomas Newton and the team of judges. She stood before them in silence as witness after witness was brought in to speak to her character. Each person brought a mixture of old stories of her rough and disobedient ways and new stories of seeing her with devilish little creatures or spectral attacks. The most unusual witness that day had to have been the builders who had helped tear down bridgets old Salem town home. According to them, poppets were found in holes in the walls of the building. They were crafted of rags and hog bristles and needles had been shoved through their bodies. It was proof, they said, that something unnatural had gone on inside that house. After all of the witnesses and evidence were presented, the judges charged Bridget with her crimes. She had an I quote tortured, afflicted, pined, consumed, wasted, and tormented five individuals Mercy Lewis, Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Hubbard, Annie Putnam, and Mary Walcott. To make it official, the judges wrote up five separate indictments. This wasn't the end for her, not yet. At least an indictment was a charge an accusation. Essentially, the judges were declaring that, yes, a crime had been committed. Now, all that was left was for the jury to decide whether Bridget Bishop was guilty or not. Much later, Cotton Mather would write that the jury had no trouble determining her guilt. He wrote that her crimes had been evident and notorious to all beholders, and then went on to discuss the spectral evidence that had been key in the decision. Her conviction was a house of cards built out of invisible attackers, which is marks that weren't there, a turbulent past, and the hearsay of a handful of teenage girls. Yet somehow it stood. Of course, Thomas Newton was in charge of presenting all of those pieces to the grand jury. He would have picked the most convincing bits and left out the parts that were more difficult to believe. He knew what he was doing, of course, and that's why it worked. He had set out to begin the Oyer and Terminer with a victory, and that seemed to be headed his way. After this symphony of accusations artfully constructed by one of the fine mis legal minds and the colonies, the last step was to give Bridget a chance to speak for herself. We don't know what she said in her own defense. Honestly, what could she have said beyond the words she had muttered at her examination back in April? I am innocent. I am innocent. And we don't know what the court's response was that day. All we know is that she was moved to the Salem jail to await the final verdict. But weight must have felt like an eternity to considering what the stakes were. Would she die or would she be allowed to go free. Of all the documents that still survive from the Salem witch trials, the official oyer and termin or records are not among them. Most historians don't consider them lost either. They were most likely destroyed in the aftermath, like a criminal might burn down a house to hide the murder scene inside it. Because of that, we don't know how Thomas Newton built his case, and we don't know how Bridget responded. What we do know, though, is that it took the jury six days to issue their verdict. On June eighth, while he was in Boston for a meeting of the Governor's General Court, William Stoughton announced the court's decision. Bridget Bishop had been found guilty of all charges and was to be sentenced to death. The warrants also named the date of her execution. It would take place just two days later, on June tenth. Her executioner would be George Corwin, the sheriff of Essex County and the nephew of both Jonathan Corwin and wait Still Winthrop. But there was more news that day. Nathaniel Saltonstall, one of the nine judges on the oyer and terminer and the man respected throughout Massachusetts for his strong convictions and sense of right and wrong, announced his displeasure at the way the case had gone. We don't have a record of his exact words, but we know what he did. He walked away one case into the process. Saltonstall recognized it for the circus it was, and he quit. Sadly, that didn't stop the march of time, and on June tenth, bridget Bishop was escorted out of the Salem jail to a makeshift execution site on the edge of town. Her card was followed by a

number of the afflicted girls who were about to see the dark consequences of their accusations and tales. The people that you would have expected to see, though the judges were nowhere to be found that was bad enough for people like William Stowton or Samuel Sewell, who were key figures in the trial. But Hawthorne, Corwin and Gedney actually lived in Salem Town. They had zero excuses for not being there to see the consequences of their judicial fervor. Beverly Minister John Hale was present that morning to say a final prayer with Bridget and to utter a benediction over the gathered crowd. Some of the people gathered there were in shock. Others wore sneers on their faces, as if they reveled in the tension that hummed around them. Even in the darkest of times, it seems there's always one person in the crowd who approves. Finally, George Corwyn led Bridget up to the hastily built platform and tied her hands behind her back. Then he carefully slipped the noose over her head and stooped down to tie her petticoats to her legs. It would stop her from kicking and keep her decent at the same time. When he was ready, George Corwyn most likely took a long, deep breath and then muttered a prayer of his own, extending his arm toward her. He placed his hand on her back, and then he pushed bridget Fell and the world went dark. That's it for this week's episode of Unobscured. Stick around after this short sponsor break for a preview of what's in store for next week. Next time on Unobscured, Stoton believed that if someone witnessed the spectral image of a witch, then the person they saw was the person to blame. The ministers, though disagreed. They believed that the devil could impersonate innocent people, literally putting on their appearance as a disguise, just to get those people in trouble, So obviously, the next question was even trickier. How can you tell? It was bad enough that no one except a handful of the accused could actually see the specters of their attackers, but now they had to play detective and figure out which ones were the devil in disguise and which ones were real witches. And the solution, according to the ministers, was to avoid prosecuting virtuous people, people with blameless reputations and no history of any wrongdoing. It was a cop out answer, though, because Stoton believed that very few people were actually of unblemished reputation. He and his fellow judges were part of that select few, naturally, but outside of that, it was difficult to imagine anyone without a sordid past, even Rebecca Nurse, who was a full member of the Salem Village Church and well respected, and as she was about to find out, when your fate rested on invisible evidence, it was hard to see anything other than darkness. Unobscured was created and written by me Aaron Mankey and produced by Matt Frederick and Alex Williams in partnership with How Stuff Works, with research by Carl Nellis and original music by Chad Lawson. Learn more about our contributing historians further reading material, resource archive and links to our other thos at History unobscured dot com. Until next time, thanks for listening, m HM.