Who Do You Think You Are, Dorcas Hoar?
Dorcas Hoar made her mark on history and in the court records. Known for telling fortunes and being the center of a crime family, you’d think she would be easy to convict of being a witch. And she was. Yet …
A tribute to the Essex Institute—and Mary English’s chair
There’s a certain charm in old travel books. I read them to learn about houses and objects that have disappeared or have since been hidden from view. Take, for example, The Book of Boston by Robert Shackleton (1860-1923). One hundred …
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Looking at Salem from the outside in with J.W. Ocker
An award-winning macabre travel author, J.W. Ocker wrote A Season with the Witch: The Magic and Mayhem of Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts. WitchesMassBay: In 2015, you spent the month of October in Salem. If you could distill one moment in …
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Why not ergot and the Salem witch trials?
A Q&A with Margo Burns, associate editor and project manager of Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt and expert featured on the Who Do You Think You Are? TV series. WitchesMassBay: What is the premise behind the idea that ergot caused the …
Switching sides: Tony Fels takes on the classic Salem witch hunt books
Only a handful of books published on the Salem witch hunts have become standard textbooks in classrooms and popular among the reading public. These influential books, published between 1974 and 2002, are “exemplary histories that have greatly augmented the world’s …
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Witches and witchcraft with Tom the tour guide
Thomas O’Brien Vallor has been sharing his knowledge of the 1692 witch hunts with countless tourists for the last 15 years. Unlike ghost tours and campy attractions, Tom tells the Salem story in a way that is respectful, inclusive, and educational. And …
Teaching the everyday & the extraordinary: Salem in 1692
For the 300th anniversary of the Salem witch trials, the Peabody Essex Museum created the Days of Judgement: Salem in 1692 exhibit and video. On display were original trial documents along with artifacts belonging to some people involved in the …
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Q&A with Jeanie Roberts on Weave a Web of Witchcraft
Jean M. Roberts recently published Weave a Web of Witchcraft, the story of Hugh and Mary Parsons of Springfield, Massachusetts, who were tried for witchcraft in 1651. Below, we discuss the writer’s craft, the research involved, and how the community …
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The Salem witch trials and the Body of Liberties laws
When the witch hunt started in Salem Village in February 1692, the Massachusetts colonists were waiting for Rev. Increase Mather to return home from England with a new governor, Sir William Phips, and joint monarchs William & Mary’s new charter. …
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Bernard Rosenthal: Lessons to learn from the Salem witch hunt
Professor emeritus of English at State University of New York at Binghamton, Bernard Rosenthal is the author of the classic Salem Story: Reading the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 and general editor of Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt, which includes …
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