Confessions and Tragedy: The Andover Witch Hunt

Andover’s Witch Hunt: Coerced Confessions, Family Betrayals, and the Touch Test 45 of the total 150–200 accused witches in the Salem Trials came from a single town that bordered Salem—Andover, where nearly 10% of the town population was accused of witchcraft and a lethal rumor spread: confess and live. Grounded in the real1692 examination transcripts and contemporary accounts from writers like Robert Calef, we trace how Martha Carrier’s May 1692 arrest ignited a wider dragnet, then how Elizabeth Ballard’s sudden illness brought Ann Putnam Jr. and Mary Walcott to Andover and triggered the infamous meetinghouse touch test rooted in beliefs about effluvia. As coerced confessions multiplied, family networks collapsed under pressure—from Ann Foster and the Mary Laceys to the torture-driven confessions of Carrier’s sons—and accusations surged through Reverend Francis Dane’s kin, fueling sensational claims of diabolical plots. 00:00 Welcome and Andover Focus 02:01 Martha Carrier Accused 02:37 Defiant Courtroom Exchange 04:41 Ballard Illness and Touch Test 06:33 Confess and Live Rumor 07:22 Lacey Family Interrogations 09:37 Carrier Children Tortured 10:50 Dane Family Targeted 12:35 Sabbaths and Hell Crowns 13:43 Mather Versus Carrier 14:15 Elizabeth Johnson Testimony 15:13 Execution and Closing . The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com Salem Witch Trials History YouTube: https://youtube.com/@aboutwitchhunts The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.com Salem Witch Trials Daily: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/ People Accused of Witchcraft in 1692: http://www.17thc.us/primarysources/accused.php Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619 Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780190627805 Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781589791329 Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780375706905 Richard Hite, In the Shadow of Salem: The Andover Witch Hunt of 1692: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781594164378