What's a Witch's Teat: The Bizarre Body Searches of Salem
NOV 16, 202514 MIN
What's a Witch's Teat: The Bizarre Body Searches of Salem
NOV 16, 202514 MIN
Description
<p>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.</p><p><strong>What You'll Learn:</strong></p><p><strong>The Origins of Witch Mark Theory</strong></p><ul><li><p>How English legal writers like Michael Dalton (1618) and William Perkins created detailed instructions for finding "devil's marks"</p></li><li><p>Why Richard Bernard claimed these marks appeared in "secretest parts" requiring invasive searches</p></li><li><p>The shocking truth: none of this evidence appears in the Bible</p></li></ul><p><strong>Familiar Spirits in Salem</strong></p><ul><li><p>Cotton Mather's definition of familiar spirits as "devils in bodily shapes"</p></li><li><p>Strange creatures described in testimony: hairless cats with human ears, rooster-monkey hybrids, and hairy upright beings</p></li><li><p>How these supposed demons were believed to feed from witch's teats</p></li></ul><p><strong>The Salem Examinations</strong></p><ul><li><p>Documented searches of accused witches including Rebecca Nurse, Bridget Bishop, and Elizabeth Procter</p></li><li><p>George Jacobs Sr.'s brutal examination with pins driven through his flesh</p></li><li><p>Four-year-old Dorothy Good's traumatic examination and the "flea bite" used as evidence</p></li><li><p>Why some marks disappeared between examinations—and what that tells us</p></li></ul><p><strong>Dehumanizing Practices</strong></p><ul><li><p>The invasive nature of stripping and examining prisoners in their "most intimate areas"</p></li><li><p>How postpartum scarring from childbirth was twisted into evidence of witchcraft</p></li><li><p>Why the Court of Oyer and Terminer convicted all 27 people tried in 1692—whether marks were found or not</p></li></ul><p><strong>Modern Connections</strong> As Robert Calef pointed out in <em>More Wonders of the Invisible World</em>, witch marks weren't biblical—they were man-made tests designed to find guilt. This pattern continues in modern witch hunts worldwide, where accusers still decide what constitutes "evidence" against innocent victims.</p><p><strong>Perfect for listeners interested in:</strong></p><ul><li><p>Salem Witch Trials history</p></li><li><p>Colonial American history</p></li><li><p>Wrongful convictions and false evidence</p></li><li><p>Women's history and bodily autonomy</p></li><li><p>Modern witch hunts and human rights</p></li><li><p>Historical witchcraft accusations</p></li><li><p>Legal history and justice reform</p></li></ul><p><strong>Featured Historical Sources:</strong></p><ul><li><p>William Perkins, <em>A Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft</em></p></li><li><p>Michael Dalton, <em>The Countrey Justice</em> (1618)</p></li><li><p>Richard Bernard, <em>The Certainty of the World of Spirits</em></p></li><li><p>Cotton Mather, <em>Wonders of the Invisible World</em></p></li><li><p>Robert Calef, <em>More Wonders of the Invisible World</em></p></li><li><p>Deodat Lawson, <em>A Brief and True Narrative</em></p></li><li><p>Original Salem Witch Trial examination records</p></li></ul><p><strong>About the Hosts:</strong> Sarah Jack and Josh Hutchinson are descendants of Salem witch trial victims and co-founders of End Witch Hunts, a nonprofit addressing modern witch hunts globally. Together, they co-host The Thing About Salem and The Thing About Witch Hunts (265+ episodes).</p><p><strong>Related Episodes:</strong> [Links to episodes about Rebecca Nurse, Mary Easty, familiar spirits, spectral evidence, etc.]</p><p><strong>Support Our Work:</strong> Learn more about modern witch hunts and how to help at EndWitchHunts.org</p><p><strong>Links</strong></p><p><a href="https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project</a></p><p><a href="https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection/salem-witch-trials-documents" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Massachusetts Court of Oyer and Terminer Documents, The Salem Witch Trials Collection, Peabody Essex Museum</a></p><p><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt</a></p><p><a href="https://aboutsalem.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Thing About Salem Website</a></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@witchhuntshow" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Thing About Salem and The Thing About Witch Hunts YouTube</a></p><p><a href="https://witchhuntshow.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Thing About Witch Hunts Website</a></p><p><a href="http://www.change.org/witchtrials" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign the Petition: MA Witch Hunt Justice Project</a> </p><p><a href="https://massachusettswitchtrials.org/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.massachusettswitchtrials.org</a></p><p><a href="https://endwitchhunts.org/donate/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Support the nonprofit End Witch Hunts Podcasts and Projects</a></p>
![<p>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.</p><p><strong>What You'll Learn:</strong></p><p><strong>The Origins of Witch Mark Theory</strong></p><ul><li><p>How English legal writers like Michael Dalton (1618) and William Perkins created detailed instructions for finding "devil's marks"</p></li><li><p>Why Richard Bernard claimed these marks appeared in "secretest parts" requiring invasive searches</p></li><li><p>The shocking truth: none of this evidence appears in the Bible</p></li></ul><p><strong>Familiar Spirits in Salem</strong></p><ul><li><p>Cotton Mather's definition of familiar spirits as "devils in bodily shapes"</p></li><li><p>Strange creatures described in testimony: hairless cats with human ears, rooster-monkey hybrids, and hairy upright beings</p></li><li><p>How these supposed demons were believed to feed from witch's teats</p></li></ul><p><strong>The Salem Examinations</strong></p><ul><li><p>Documented searches of accused witches including Rebecca Nurse, Bridget Bishop, and Elizabeth Procter</p></li><li><p>George Jacobs Sr.'s brutal examination with pins driven through his flesh</p></li><li><p>Four-year-old Dorothy Good's traumatic examination and the "flea bite" used as evidence</p></li><li><p>Why some marks disappeared between examinations—and what that tells us</p></li></ul><p><strong>Dehumanizing Practices</strong></p><ul><li><p>The invasive nature of stripping and examining prisoners in their "most intimate areas"</p></li><li><p>How postpartum scarring from childbirth was twisted into evidence of witchcraft</p></li><li><p>Why the Court of Oyer and Terminer convicted all 27 people tried in 1692—whether marks were found or not</p></li></ul><p><strong>Modern Connections</strong> As Robert Calef pointed out in <em>More Wonders of the Invisible World</em>, witch marks weren't biblical—they were man-made tests designed to find guilt. This pattern continues in modern witch hunts worldwide, where accusers still decide what constitutes "evidence" against innocent victims.</p><p><strong>Perfect for listeners interested in:</strong></p><ul><li><p>Salem Witch Trials history</p></li><li><p>Colonial American history</p></li><li><p>Wrongful convictions and false evidence</p></li><li><p>Women's history and bodily autonomy</p></li><li><p>Modern witch hunts and human rights</p></li><li><p>Historical witchcraft accusations</p></li><li><p>Legal history and justice reform</p></li></ul><p><strong>Featured Historical Sources:</strong></p><ul><li><p>William Perkins, <em>A Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft</em></p></li><li><p>Michael Dalton, <em>The Countrey Justice</em> (1618)</p></li><li><p>Richard Bernard, <em>The Certainty of the World of Spirits</em></p></li><li><p>Cotton Mather, <em>Wonders of the Invisible World</em></p></li><li><p>Robert Calef, <em>More Wonders of the Invisible World</em></p></li><li><p>Deodat Lawson, <em>A Brief and True Narrative</em></p></li><li><p>Original Salem Witch Trial examination records</p></li></ul><p><strong>About the Hosts:</strong> Sarah Jack and Josh Hutchinson are descendants of Salem witch trial victims and co-founders of End Witch Hunts, a nonprofit addressing modern witch hunts globally. Together, they co-host The Thing About Salem and The Thing About Witch Hunts (265+ episodes).</p><p><strong>Related Episodes:</strong> [Links to episodes about Rebecca Nurse, Mary Easty, familiar spirits, spectral evidence, etc.]</p><p><strong>Support Our Work:</strong> Learn more about modern witch hunts and how to help at EndWitchHunts.org</p><p><strong>Links</strong></p><p><a href="https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project</a></p><p><a href="https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection/salem-witch-trials-documents" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Massachusetts Court of Oyer and Terminer Documents, The Salem Witch Trials Collection, Peabody Essex Museum</a></p><p><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt</a></p><p><a href="https://aboutsalem.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Thing About Salem Website</a></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/@witchhuntshow" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Thing About Salem and The Thing About Witch Hunts YouTube</a></p><p><a href="https://witchhuntshow.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Thing About Witch Hunts Website</a></p><p><a href="http://www.change.org/witchtrials" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sign the Petition: MA Witch Hunt Justice Project</a> </p><p><a href="https://massachusettswitchtrials.org/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.massachusettswitchtrials.org</a></p><p><a href="https://endwitchhunts.org/donate/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Support the nonprofit End Witch Hunts Podcasts and Projects</a></p>](https://us-central1-podcastguru-217d6.cloudfunctions.net/gcf_get_image?image_url=https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts221/v4/ff/05/6f/ff056f5d-9528-d362-c4b8-80bf07e92bb2/mza_1896282373052824969.jpg/600x600bb.jpg&width=300&height=300&api_key=xqFmUFX5BHLBTA)
