The Thing About Witch Hunts

We turn the mic on each other for a fast, personal Q&A spanning Salem and global witch hunts, from the infamous Salem witch cake to pop-culture “broom” upgrades and the accused people we can’t stop thinking about, including Samuel Wardwell, Katherine Harrison, Mary Esty, and Rebecca Nurse. We dig into why confessions didn’t always save lives, how spectral evidence shaped cases, and how banishment could be a brutal alternative to execution. We break down our three podcast formats—Salem Witch Trials Daily, The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials, and The Thing About Witch Hunts—and share what listeners most ask about innocence, “real” witchcraft, and the reality that accusations still occur in at least 60 countries. We close with how End Witch Hunts grows through volunteering, donations, subscriptions, and petitions for exonerations.00:00 Welcome And Guests01:18 Witch Cake Debate02:23 Flying On Appliances03:52 Accused Who Haunt Us08:17 Banishment And Survival09:20 Three Podcasts Explained10:57 Questions We Get Asked13:32 Research Methods Shift15:21 Growing Reach Staying Grounded19:10 What Makes Our Show Different24:15 Devil Nicknames And Laughs26:58 Witch Trials Ice Cream29:38 Descendant Emotions And Ancestors35:31 Understanding Accusers And Fear43:43 Why The Accused Were Innocent45:31 June Trials And Daily Plug46:24 How To Support End Witch Hunts51:36 Final Thanks And Call To Action LinksSupport The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://endwitchhunts.org/donateThe Thing About Witch Hunts Website: https://aboutwitchhunts.comThe Thing About the Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.comSalem Witch Trials Daily: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/YouTube: https://youtube.com/@aboutwitchhuntsSalem Witch Hunt Facebook Page: https://facebook.com/salemwitchhunt

Divination folklore, folk magic history, and the practice of reading omens, cards, and natural signs are at the heart of this conversation with Icy Sedgwick, author of Fate or Fortune: The Art and Folklore of Divination, folklorist, and host of the Fabulous Folklore Podcast. From ancient liver divination in Mesopotamia to love divination games played by young women in early modern England, this episode traces the deep folk roots of divinatory practice across centuries and cultures.Icy Sedgwick is a writer, researcher, and diviner specializing in folklore, plant lore, and folk magic. Her book Fate or Fortune: The Art of Divination explores the history, folklore, and practice of divination from a folklore studies perspective. She is the creator and host of the Fabulous Folklore Podcast, based in Newcastle, England.Divination is one of the oldest and most universal human impulses, and its fingerprints are all over witch trial history. In this episode, Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack sit down with Icy Sedgwick to explore what folk magic tradition tells us about the people who practiced divination, why they sought answers through omens and tools and rituals, and what those practices reveal about the communities that preserved them. The conversation is wide-ranging, deeply grounded in folklore scholarship, and endlessly surprising.IN THIS EPISODE YOU WILL LEARN:What separates divination from fortune telling, and why has that distinction mattered throughout history?How did cunning women turn ordinary household objects into powerful folk magic tools?What do love divination rituals reveal about the real lives of women in early modern communities?Why did playing cards become so deeply entangled with the devil in folk tradition?What ancient civilizations left behind physical records of their divination practices, and what did those records reveal?How has dowsing been used for purposes far stranger than finding water?What does folklore say about omens you never asked for but receive anyway?Which forms of divination are experiencing a genuine resurgence right now, and which trend is Icy warning practitioners to avoid?Pick up Icy Sedgwick's book Fate or Fortune: The Art and Folklore of Divination through our affiliate bookshop at bookshop.org/shop/endwitchhuntsicysedgwick.com#divination #folklore #folkmagic #witchtrials #salemwitchtrials #fortunetelling #cunningfolk #omens #tarot #cartomancy #dowsing #folklorePodcast #witchhunts #occulthistory #historicalpodcast #folklorestudies #divinationhistory #witchcraft #palmistry #scapulamancy

Alice Young was the first person executed for witchcraft in the American colonies, in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1647, before the Salem witch trials. Award-winning author Beth Caruso and playwright Lauren Cavanaugh join Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack to explore her story and the new play Windsor's Daughter that is bringing her life back into the light.This conversation moves between historical research and present-day resonance, asking what it means to memorialize people whose graves were never marked, whose names faded from community memory, and whose persecution mirrors patterns still unfolding today.WHAT YOU WILL LEARNWhy Alice Young's 1647 execution changed American historyWhy her name nearly vanished from historyWhat made Windsor, Connecticut, a powder kegHow a play brings her execution to the stage without showing itWhy there is no grave to visitWhat the 2023 exoneration meant for her descendantsHow her story connects to persecution happening todayWhere to follow Windsor's Daughter as it finds its stageLinksAuthor Beth Caruso at OneofWindsor.com https://www.oneofwindsor.com/Playwright Lauren Cavanaugh https://hartford.culturalyst.com/CavanaughLMCConnecticutwitchtrials.org https://connecticutwitchtrials.org/Listen to more CT Witch Trials Podcast Episodes https://connecticutwitchtrials.org/witch-hunt-podcast/Support the Podcast Buy a Witch Trial History Book! https://bookshop.org/lists/connecticut-witch-trials

Elizabeth Bathory is one of pop culture's favorite monsters. Accused of torturing and killing hundreds of young women, she's inspired everything from Snow White's evil stepmother to Lady Gaga. But the actual historical record shows almost none of it happened.Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack sit down with Shelley Puhak, author of The Blood Countess: Murder, Betrayal, and the Making of a Monster, to trace the documented history behind one of history's most sensationalized witch trial-adjacent cases. From the fractured Kingdom of Hungary to a Lutheran minister's invisible demonic cat army, this episode connects the Bathory case to the broader European witch trials and the religious and political warfare driving them.What You'll LearnWhat the preserved record actually showsThe witchcraft and magic accusations woven into the caseThe political war that made Bathory a targetWhat the Palatine of Hungary stood to gain from her downfallThe one minister behind the witchcraft accusationsWhy no bodies were ever foundWhat her own letters reveal about who she really wasThe role of ointments, alchemy, and antimonyWhy widowed noblewomen were especially vulnerable to accusationThe tension between a pop culture monster and a real historical victimWhat justice could look like About Shelley PuhakShelley Puhak is a poet, essayist, and historian from Maryland. Her previous nonfiction book, The Dark Queens (Bloomsbury, 2022), was a national bestseller and Goodreads Choice Awards finalist. Her essays have appeared in The Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, and Virginia Quarterly Review.LinksBuy the book: Blood Countess by Shelley Puhak https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781639732159Learn about the Author on ShelleyPuhak.com https://shelleypuhak.com/End Witch Hunts endwitchhunts.orgAbout Witch Hunts aboutwitchhunts.comSalem Witch Trials History YouTube: https://youtube.com/@aboutwitchhunts

What does 1692 have to do with 1775? More than you might think.The families of 1692 did not vanish from history. One to two generations after the Salem witch trials, descendants of both the accused and the accusers were drilling on village training fields, defying British soldiers, and dying on the same battlefields. Israel Putnam, one of the Revolution's boldest generals, was born in Salem Village, raised in a family at the center of 1692, and though he moved to Connecticut, he answered the call when Massachusetts needed him most.From Leslie's Retreat in Salem to the Battle of Menotomy, Bunker Hill, the siege of Boston, Long Island, and Saratoga, the men of Essex County were present from the first confrontation to the wider war. And Benjamin Franklin's tie to the Salem witch trials runs closer than most people know.This episode connects two of American history's most significant chapters and asks: what did the witch trial era leave behind, and how did it shape the people who built this country?Danvers and Salem historian Dan Gagnon, author of A Salem Witch: A Biography of Rebecca Nurse, returns to The Thing About Witch Hunts to tell stories of the North Shore's role in the American Revolution as part of America 250. From a standoff at a toll bridge to the bloodiest stretch of road on Patriots Day 1775, the story of Essex County and the Lexington Alarm is one most Americans were never taught.Hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack trace the thread from the Salem witch trials through Lexington and Concord, from the Rebecca Nurse Homestead to the halls of the Continental Congress, and from the accused of 1692 to the soldiers of 1775.What You Will Learn:The through-line between 1692 and 1775 that changes how you understand bothWhy Leslie's Retreat in Salem months before Lexington and Concord matters more than you have been toldWhat happened when Salem witch trial family names started showing up on revolutionary muster rollsIsrael Putnam: the founding-era general with Salem Village roots whose story was nearly erased from history, and whyA founding father with a direct family tie to the Salem witch trials, and what that connection revealsWhat one brutal day at the Battle of Menotomy cost a single Massachusetts town, and why they brought their dead homeWhat you can see at the Rebecca Nurse Homestead today that quietly holds the story of two centuriesDan Gagnon leads walking tours in Danvers and the Rebecca Nurse Homestead is open seasonally. #AmericanRevolution #America250 #IsraelPutnam #LesliesRetreat #BattleOfMemotomy #BattleOfBunkerHill #SiegeOfBoston #LexingtonAndConcord #LexingtonAlarm #PatriotsDay1775 #BattleOfLongIsland #FrenchAndIndianWar #BostonTeaParty #GeneralGage #GeorgeWashington #BenjaminFranklin #RebeccaNurse #RebeccaNurseHomestead #DanversAlarmList #Minutemen #ContinentalCongress #CoerciveActs #Marblehead #Menotomy #Arlington #EssexCounty #NorthShore #ColonialHistory #AmericanHistory #FoundingFathers #RevolutionaryWarLinks Rebecca Nurse Homestead: rebeccanurse.orgA Salem Witch: A Biography of Rebecca Nurse by Dan Gagnon: www.bookshop.org/Shop/endwitchhuntsEnd Witch Hunts endwitchhunts.orgAbout Witch Hunts aboutwitchhunts.comSalem Witch Trials History YouTube: https://youtube.com/@aboutwitchhunts