Minded place. Partly because we read the principle in high school. Half of the people dissented from the families affected in 1692 were when they were in high school. Partly because it has such resonance. Brian when you were here four years ago for cleopatra, you were talking about this book. I want to look at a minute. Stacy something reassuring about a biography, an obvious structure most of the time. A beginning, middle, and end. And a pleasure of killing off your subject. It is gratifying kind of work. Brian what year . A good question, 1994. The next book about vera nabokov , the wife of the writer. And known for lolita, about the marriage. The third book about ben franklin. It was a pleasure, very difficult to research. , cleopatra. Tasks one of the blessings of biography is it you do not have to look at your own life. You examine somebody elses life. I am sure theres a reason about that. Then doesoug and salem witch trials. I am from massachusetts. Brian when will it come out . Stacy many years from now. It takes me about 45 years to write a book. Brian what change in your mind for years ago to now . Back, did you ever hear what George Elliott said, beginning the book as a young woman and ended as old woman . Everything changed in my mind. I do not generally go into a book with an agenda. I really such a research with an openminded that i can maintain so i can listen to every possible voice and current. And i did not have an overriding overriding sense of where it would take me. I does it the materials and found the voices that carried through the story. I began to see patterns and one earlier, superimposed on what would happen in massachusetts and begin to understand the political strains and hear from other girls from the 17th century not less early the was involved in salem. And the pieces began to come together. Say it would take four or five years. Brian in update about the whole story in case there are people like i was who deny know very much about it. What were the years youre talking about . Stacy really nine months. The witchcraft breaks out, first diagnosed in february 1692. The crisis, snowball over the next few months. The tighter incident is over by the fall. Really nine months from start to end. , conceptions of it are very skewed. Not in incident where men are choosing women. An incident all of the victims are women. We had five male victims. We hang to the witches. In addition to the speed, so much encrusted myth and misunderstanding here. I thought it was important to dispel. Barb and where is salem in massachusetts . Stacy northeastern massachusetts. 20 or 30 minutes from boston. Brian how many lived there . Stacy you had 2 salem spurious salem town which was refined port city second only to boston and the province and then Salem Village where the witchcraft breaks out. , a five miles down the road bunch of farmers who moved from cemetery because the farmland is better. Have no authorities of their own in the village. When they say witchcraft is broken out, they have to ride into civil village to appeal to the justices to issue arrest warrants for people they accused. Brian we have a picture from one of the websites of the money meant there monument there. Arey interest owing, there 2 salems. Has treatede today the history with a certain amount of respectful distance per salem town has embraced the history in a somewhat commercialized way. More so since the 1970s when bewitched films of their and it was possible to confronted his history which nobody really wanted to talk about for some time. And a salem town as it was then, salem today, has become the best place to buy a broomstick or vampire fangs. Kind of witchcraft central. Brian pick a which moment. Witch moment. You were there when on the swirling the stuff went around, give us a moment. Diabolicalis event a that stacy 50 people confessed midway through the crisis where confessions were very frequent. And different ways and adding elaborate details. A greater number of accused witches from the neighboring communities, not often salem, will tell about how they attend a diabolical sabbath in the same village minister. A large banquet table. Discover the menu and discuss some of the feast and how they arrived at it by various aerial means. Some people say theyve flown on sticks some carried on the devils shoulders. Most peoples light with our neighbors or children or friends. Ritualended this satanic and complicit in a giant conspiracy to overthrow not only the churches of new england whether the state. Brian how many people were killed in this timeframe . Stacy 19 people were hanged the one crushed to death under one for refusing to enter a plea. Brian what are they guilty of . Stacy witchcraft. This the difficult part, witchcraft is capital offense, a set of capital offense in massachusetts law. Every new england believes in, even those who themselves innocent. It may seem it was an superstitious medieval concept but to an early modern american, it was as real as heat or light. The crimes of witchcraft is a heinous charge and of their with murder in something people feel as a possible existence. Hown i do not realize often i would see the word witch and i want to show you a montage of places on tv where it is used. Witchhuntteam to the against the community group. That statement is dangerous. Because of his vision or two were to come true, it would be a nation of which. Is a political witch hunt. A muslim witchhunt from mccarthyism. Should not be handling the investigation. Gnosis a credibility and a witchhunt. He has no credibility and a witchhunt. A partisan witchhunt does not quite add up. Stacy it was a seminal moment. Astonishing, isnt it . Brian what is a which . Stacy and 17th century as defined was someone who was basically in confederacy with the devil and someone, usually a woman but not always who signed a pact with the devil signed in blood which confirmed him or her unnatural powers and with that she was off to recruit others through this diabolical, to do diabolical. Sometimes she could transform herself into other animals and into all caps or dog weasel. The menagerie to do her bidding. Andtimes she could fly bewitching your hay. You know thisw, of course the New York Times has been a lot of time on your book, good and bad. You had an interview sometime ago. And it only thing i want to ask about is the question, what was the most interesting book you read in researching the witches salem 1692 . Down said can did you read all nine volumes . Stacy every single word. Fairness, this is the catalog of offenses and abominations. It is i reading a tabloid newspaper except 17thcentury style. You have people being prosecuted for drunkenness and trespassing and fornication. It is heaven. Women smashing constables on the head. Men throwing their wives of the snow. Every possible grievance the courts have dealt with prior to say law. And so is the detail of what the life was like and where the stress among these families and individuals are. What irritates of them in a who annoys them . How many times the pigs get in the corn . You get understand what preoccupies of these people. Some of these people will reappear later in witchcraft accusations. Brian where did you read them . Stacy most at the new york public library. Brian how long did it take . Stacy is a long time but i kept going back. It is also addictive reading. I wanted to use in the book so i would go back to make sure i had every possible detail in place. Brian are they online . Stacy yes, i tend that i think they are. I tend to not to read online. Bribing it one point did you read it . Stacy part way through. Large it would be a big amount of material to get through. I usually start with primary sources, the witchcraft papers and i circle back to those sources by way of the larger context. And in these volumes very much reported that larger context. Gauging the temperature and feel and sound of new england. Reviewersof your there been 500 books written about the salem witch while and the . Phd would you call thats what you call them . Dissertations . Stacy it seems that it will be three times that many. No corner of American History so thoroughly researched. Brian why would your publisher thing it would sell again . Stacy this somewhat a fresh take on the trials and that it is not it is a driven book but an idea. My sense is you can understand these people and take for granted the believe in witchcraft and get into their you can see how this actually could happen. It would not seem as distant and improbable and diluted as it otherwise sounds to us when you say bunch of people hang for witchcraft in 1692. Do iwas not something i know had been done before. More of it, new things that kept appearing. Other things i had not seen. All of which came to me in the midst of the research. Brian you found is an identity seven or we found it now from 1997. He is the simpsons. All here found guilty of the crime of witchcraft. I sent is it you hag that sent seou i sent as you ntence you hags to be burned at the states. Haha. See you in hell, seymour. Why dont they use their power to escape . Sli witchcraft to make. Never mind. Should is 75 so that show god who side were on. [laughter] brian your reaction . Stacy it is quite pieces of that that is so very resonant particularly the whole the tribal feel to somehow purging society of an element. May not smile upon. Ministers atung the center of the crisis and it is duty. Purifying society which comes naturally to a puritan, it is a moral obligation. And if this investigation of which is as a sign of gods sprawling on new england. The devil has dissented on new england and a badge of honor to prove new englands piety. Put through the trial because new england hates the devil the most. We are exceptional in some way. Thats why we have been chosen to confront this satanic plague. And somehow that resonated with what you just showed, it is amazing. Brian in the late 1600s, who did the people in salem think the devil was . Devil is a think the real physical presence bring anybody more or less a which is working with him witch more or less working with him. Part of the accusations especially given the way we think of salem is that wealthy merchants were accused of which es an sea captains witch and see captains were accused of witches. Some of those men become before the justices who ever known there for years come the justices it is such a strange reversal here. These teenage girls should be running the show and their words carry more weight than these longestablished friendships to disintegrate. Brian going from baghdad to today, back then to today, could it change going from back then today cut it happen . What the change in the system . It is a bit of a stretch because you go to the way the law is and how it is evolved. Stacy first of all, were with justice system. The charts were not held according to what we will call water law. These charges were not held to what we consider modern law. There were no lawyers by the way i should say at the time. The courtroom is extremely unruly place. One piece of it. Prosecutee do not witchcraft anymore. Piling on that kind of mishap, the confessions which happened in salem, the public shaming which we tended to do with the internet at our fingertips certainly resonates still with what happened in 1692. Casee to think once the guess it to court, it would to percentnted conviction rate of that year for anybody accused. Out, in the pr they send it assess aside from suffrage the salem witch trials represent the only moment when women played a central role in hern history keeping questions about the same settlers resonate deeply, how do women express themselves when they are meant to be silent . Is that really true . Stacy womens voices leading the way here. Women are very disruptive presence in early new england. Have been for years. , ithis case, the view trumps everyone elses account. I would have a hard time naming another moment where you have a group of teenage girls, itself or john of art from 18 asian girl whose word excel for xcept for joan e of arc. They are used as visionaries to diagnose witchcraft. People are bringing relatives to them to say who is afflicting this victim. Brian what is the first instance, witchcraft, a lot of it before then, where did you start . History ofng witchcraft prosecution so the idea comes to new england with the settlers. Many of them from parts of new england where witchcraft files had been popular. This idea with them, what they ,o not have because by 1692 england is no longer prosecuting which is. Witches. There is some skepticism about witchcraft and how it works. Living as something of a time warp. Those fighters have not fully penetrated new england ali of the ministry have seen they do not solve. About 100 cases prior in new england in only six, only hang six people until this time. One of the things that sets them apart is thesalem fury for which this all seems to take place. Toun you have a very long r, book tour scheduled. Stacy i am glad you noticed. Brian what kind of questions are you getting from the audience that shows up at your event . Stacy half of america seems to dissent from someone, some salem family and the other half starting the crucible with it were high school. How much all of us, part of the reason we remain obsessed because we first, contact as adolescence. And we never quite got over what he read as adolescences adolescents. Build onhat seems to the other. The injustice of it, the injustice of it and the fact the mystery cannot completely be solved is why people come back to it. Brian why do Arthur Miller writes the crucible . He saw parallels between mccarthyism and witchcraft. He writes about interestingly. He goes to salem to research. He discover salem, nobody would talk about it. In the 1950s, the subject was very much taboo. Atrocities like many , several generations after all but in this case many generations after it did. No one is willing to engage in a conversation about it. He finds a strange at co. Of his own upbringing, the Old Testament voices he had known as a child in much of the witchcraft testimony which i thought was fascinating. Wright here he is in as brian here he is a 1991 talking about it. What i think salem means or somed mean is that here people refuse to compromise with the gun government and tell lies to save lives. Misled to appeals to a certain kind appear at the of believe. Believe. Of it happens all of the time. Generate among certain people by telling them [indiscernible] brian that was 24 years ago. Our politicians still lying . Stacy i have been living in the 17th century. I think there are people we could ask that question. Thats blue streak he is referring to is still very much with us. I do not think i know that. Salem if youwith confessed in 1692 committee lived. If you assisted on your innocence, you hanged. Brian that came from a documentary called witch city. Wonderful. S how salem commercialized. Brian when did you first read the crucible . Stacy i made it through high School Without reading it. I read it when my kids read it for the first time. I went back to it when i was working on the book. Brian you have a massachusetts history . Stacy i grew up in a small massachusetts town. When you start explore the mothership among families have known each other for many years and many years of Unfinished Business and talk about the generations that go back several generations, i had some vague understanding. I grew up in adams, massachusetts. Brian you went to Williams College . Stacy idea. I went to school in andover for several years. Decimated,ty most hardest hit by the witchcraft. One in 10 people accuse. I never knew any of them. That was a complete surprise to me when i went back for materials for i was in salem and boston repeatedly for about three years print reputedly over those years i was in massachusetts. Brian what are the most valuable archives . The pbx great deal in museum. We have a hearing papers. About 1000 pages of arrest warrants in early depositions and execution orders, constables reports. In the archives. A fabulous archive including the Church Record book which is the minister. The witchcraft breaks out and a lot of other supporting documents. Great 17thcentury take. The American Society have the bulk of the cottonmouth papers. There are terrific ministerial diarys from 17th century to we discover for example, minister who has kept a very meticulous account of every time he had his haircut or fan his horse. He will skip over 1692. You are reading the room is getting every detail of life in you realize, weight, what im looking for is missing. Life, i remember the name i first heard about it and it seems to be the biggest name out of this book, maybe not. He was only 29 at the time. Stacy quite brilliant. The son of the most esteemed minister in massachusetts. A prodigy. He graduated from harvard at 11 and preached his first sermon at 16. Ride what did it mean brian what did it mean to graduate from harvard in the 16 90s . Stacy you would be a minister. Maybe starting early than today. But still he was an exceptional mind. Quite a brilliant man. In the course of his lifetime published more than 300 books. Brilliant and accumulative writer. Brian what were the 300 books about . Doctrine andbout those sermons pouring out of him. Brian you were really tired of reading the puritan sermons . Steady bank stacy is probably not good for ones health. It is very exacting religion. Very bleak religion. You are essentially living within a huge uncertainty as to what might happen to your soul. Difficulta very balancing act. You are living in a state of sin , heading from santa were grace. A it is not a comfortable place to be under any circumstance. Brian what did you find . Willard is one of the other ministers that Samuel Willard is another minister. Andnticipates the crisis writes one book and will write another one afterwards. Brian another video clip, monty python and the holy grail. Lets watch a this and get your reaction to it. What do you do with witches . Good. [indiscernible] can you may bridges out of stone . Wood sink in water . What also floats and water . Apples. Cherries. Mud. Lead. A duck. Exactly. Ghs thely, if she wei same as a duck, she is made of wood and therefore a witch. Witch [laughter] brian you admit from time to time, no one is really figured all of this out . It will never get to the minds of the first afflicted girls, what were they linking and feeling . What is a had a was not in evil spell upon them. Dont you want to discuss at that . It is genius, dont you think . The other joy of being able to accuse someone of witchcraft. Whatever you want to call it. And also the Science Behind it. When you mentioned Cotton Mather , with the fascinations are these men are witchcraft experts and they have read voluminous shelves. They have read a lot a witchcraft. Very ever died man who knows the men who knows in the science. What will happen is people will be subjected to very clinical tests an