Onely to see you all today this day. My name is donnas the dark, chair of the History Department here at salem state university. Thank you all for coming today. We are all here, obviously, the of Bridget Bishop long hot summer and thaw of 1962. This is the 325th anniversary of those events. As a history professor, i am sometimes reticent to indulge in what i called anniversary history, because i like my students to think every single day is historic. Take adoes feel right to moment, take a day, and really think about what happened during that year. So that is what we are doing today. That is what the city of salem is going to be doing probably all summer long. Before i introduce our distinguished guest, who will open up our symposium, the mayor of salem, kimberly jusco driscoll, i want to say thanks. At the end of the day, i will think all of the presenters, but right now, i want to thank my little committee, because we have been working on this for a year. And that would include the two women downstairs, who are not th to hear my thanks, be also from the sale and, we have shelby hypes, who has a brief announcement to make about our special feature. Descendent ofa someone connected to the trial and would like to dissipate and it brief informal video and have not signed up, i have the sheet. Thanks. We also want to thank Elizabeth Peterson from the witch house. And my colleague pat baker, who will speak to you shortly, my colleague for a few more days and the salem state History Department. Without further do you, i would like to introduce the mayor of salem, kimberly driscoll, for brief opening remarks. [applause] thank you. And thank you to everyone who has attended. For those of us who live in salem, it feels like we have an itra response ability, and think this speaks to both the events that took place at that time and how much people still reflect on them today. In salem, we are always moving forward, but never without reflecting on the road by which we came here. The examples of our past our generations who pushed the boundaries to innovate and build a Thriving Community that values progress and growth, from the founders to the visionaries of the maritime tray that made salem famous. From the entrepreneurs who build our industrial manufacturing rays and to the workers in those boundaries, who pushed back when conditions were unfair or dangerous. From those who steadfastly rebuilt the city after the fire of 1914 to the preservationists who saved it from a different type of devastation during the urban renewal movement. And from the tragic lessons we learned collectively from 1692. It was on that day on this day in that year, 325 years ago that Bridget Bishop would become the first of many innocents to year. Heir lives that earlier this week, we announced we would gather to dedicate our newest memorial to honor the memory of those unjustly accused in 1692. At noon, we will gather at proctors ledge. 320 five years after the first of three mass executions took place at the site, when five individuals were hanged. Sarah good, elizabeth powell, susannah martin, rebecca nurse, and sarah wiles. I hope many of you will be able to join us as we honor their memory and pledge to never forget the lessons of the salem witch trials, namely to never allow prejudice to conquer reason and fear to overcome courage. A salem is a special place, because we value that history. Every person who lives here is an beauty with that history, whether that traces their lineage back generations or whether they are newly arrived. Those of us living in salem feel it is our responsibility, 325 years later, that as he moved forward in a community, we do so reminds that we are so fortunate to have partners, those here at the symposium, looking forward to hearing ted and learning the work he has done, and professor vincent and her team here to make sure this important history is not lost on anyone in our community. Tomorrow, we will join the salem to keepoundation again in mind these lessons. In our community and across the country, these are vital lessons that we need to make sure the next generation understands. It is places like salem that prides ourselves in our history while also having which is as our mascot and on the police car it is a balance. This part of history, it is important for us to pass on and to continue to fight the fear and hatred that can overcome a Small Community like salem or a country like the united states. So thank you for putting this together. [applause] mayor driscoll is an old friend of mine, so she is referring to me by my former name. [laughter] now i have embarrassed her. So without further undo, i want to introduce to you my colleague, emerson tad baker, who i think you all agree with salemthe expert on the witch trials, following the publication of his masterful book a storm of witchcraft. We are so lucky to have him to. Ive us an overview it takes a master of the craft to present an overview. I am really struggling he told me so hard to do an overview of the salem witch trials in an hour. I said, tell me about it. I have to do all of europe. [laughter] so i do not feel that sorry for him, really. [laughter] and i am sure he will do a great job. Tad has been my colleague and friend over 20 years. Probably well over 20 years, but lets call it 20 years. I am kind of sad to introduce him today, because i am hoping this is not his academic swansong. He is not dying not that bad pick he will become the interim dean of undergraduate studies here at salem state. [applause] hope, in that important position, he will have time to continue his studies. Without further a do, tad. Thanks, donna. You are being way too kind, there are soy, many experts on the salem witch trials. I never could have done my work without their work. Honestly, it is wonderful that some of them could be here today. And you will hear from them as well. So how do we do this in an hour . I want to explore a couple of general points but also a couple of themes. I really want to talk about politics and religion, which i think are overlooked aspects of the witch trials, which seems hard to believe, considering witchcraft is a religious crime. But we will keep circling back to that point, because i think it is incredibly relevant, frankly, today. At the same time, i would like to start out by pointing out salem is far from unique. Almost every culture under the sun, past, present, and unfortunately future, has their versions of which has witch hunts, witches. Donna, you are right. You do have a lot more witches to deal with in europe. [laughter] [applause] there were no witches, you are right. But when youre writing a book, you cannot constantly put everything in quotes. But i will refer to people asw, but please assume i am doing this accused of being witches. During the great age of witch one third ofpe, people are accused, and about half of them are executed. So we do not know all of those. In the biggest outbreak in cologne, 2000 people died. So salem is not the biggest and certainly not the last. In fact, yes, some would say we are still having witchhunts. [laughter] they are in the news pretty much every day. You know, all politicians forever refer to salem and witchhunts through the first reference making fun of salem for the witchhunts was published in london in 1697. It has not stopped since. They say, every politician last year, it was the benghazi witchhunts, for example. It is a frame of reference. We all know it is synonymous for salem, in many ways. Here is the thing in salem, we have this thing that is by far the farthest largest outbreak of witchcraft in an mechanistically. At least 172 people are accused of witchcraft. There could be more we do not know. We have almost 1000 surviving documents from the salem trials. One reason we know so much about salem is it is so well documented. There are athat, lot of documents that do not survive. We know 156 people have legal seedings that do survive. We know that 19 were executed, starting on this day in 1692. At least five died in jail. They may have been a sixth. We are not certain. By european standards, this is unfortunately a fly speck. One of the people who died in jail was a distant relative of mine. I the same time, to hang 19 for witchcraft was a far too common and then. That raised the question of why isnt cologne a witch city . You would not even know the fact there are witch trials there. Why is salem in salem alone synonymous with witchhunts, with scapegoating, rushing to judgment, fanaticism, extremism . Why salem . So i want to explore that a little bit and talk about how we try to explain the events of 6092 and how do we explain witchhunts and maybe talk about those factors, particularly the religious and political factors past,ead to witchhunts present, and, unfortunately, future. Unique place in American History. That was cemented long before the witch trials. Salem is one of the first settlement in new england. It is originally the fishing mteague. Of na the settlers here changed the name to jerusalem, or salem, as it is shortened, for city of peace. From the start, it is meant to be this beautiful christian place, this holy city. John winthrop arrives in 1630, first coming into salem. Because salem is older then boston. Salem is the first settlement of the colony. Starts. Where it all sometime in that process of sailing over, or arrival shortly afterwards, winter gives us this gives thisinthrop famous sermon, with in it has the words we shall be as a city upon a hill and the eys of the world are upon us. Ways, salem is that city on a hill. Metaphorically, physically, this is it. This is the start of the puritan experiment in Massachusetts Bay. It is supposed to be a place where people walk hand in hand with each other and live in peace and harmony. I think that is maybe part of the answer as to why we remember the salem witch trials and why we will never forget that. Fall of this tremendous from grace, this idea of 1630, while people were still alive, who heard winthrop give that sermon daughters accusing mothers, neighbors accusing neighbors, of being witches. Witch the surgeon experiment is being torn apart. I think that is a trauma we never recovered from. It is a turning point in American History. In some ways, i see this as the beginning of the end of puritanism in new england and the beginning of something much deeper our distrust of government. If you think last years elections were an indication of something new in america, i would tell you it is a very old impulse, this libertarian antigovernment streak that manifests itself again. It begins with 1692, with a massive failure of the government to protect the lives of the innocent, then to try to cover up the fact. People refuse to let it be forgotten. Descendents of the victims petitioned the messages Massachusetts Legislature the next 50 years, seeking pardons for the victims. People here have never forgotten that and never will. So what caused it . Shameless plug for my book [laughter] i call my book a storm of witchcraft because it really took a perfect storm of forces to create even what was, in america, a large outbreak of witchcraft. To have something horrible happened, many things need to come together. In this case, there are a lot of factors. I want to run through them briefly. Them, colony wide political instability, the perceived decline of puritanism, the worst extreme weather of a little ice age, economic failure, military disaster if it sounds like the four horsemen of the apocalypse, it is close. This went this was a grim time for the people to go through. A large part, the focus of action begins in just one part of that colony, and that is Salem Village. Salem village is now actually the town of danvers, but in 1692 it was part of, shall we say, a supersized salem, which includes a number of presentday towns. Salem, peabody, danvers a huge area where people could be up to 12 miles away from the Meeting House and be expected to attend worship in what is now downtown salem on the sabbath. Ironically, on the lords day of rest, you are expected to spend half a day trying to get into church. Imagine trying to do that in a blizzard in february. So people in outlying areas like Salem Village had been trying to achieve their independence and hire their own minister, to break off from salem. Salem had allowed a number of communities to do this, including beverly, windham, manchester. But they were reluctant to let Salem Village go for a number of reasons. Finally, in 1672, Salem Village is granted parish status. Quasifreedom. They can use their tax money to hire a minister, but they do not have political control over the community. That create all sorts of trouble and factions. Why by 1692, they are on their fourth minister in 20 years. And that is reverence in a paris, very contentious figure who is at the heart of the problems in Salem Village. He certainly does nothing to improve the situation. The story of Salem Village and reverend parris is probably most beautifully told in the pathbreaking book published in 1974, salem possessed. Here is a rare photograph from the dust jacket, when they were young historians going out to conquer the world. They really looked at the minutia in Salem Village and looked at the religious and social conflict in the community. Having said that, with all due respect to these amazing offers in fact, one of the facts that people do not realize is there were more people from neighboring andover accused that either salem or Salem Village. This is a broader issue. It is not just Salem Village. Salem is the epicenter of the witch trials but they spread out widely. Why didnt they do it . Because of all of these factors and instability. This goes back to the early 16 80s when Massachusetts Bay loses its charter, the charter of 1629 that the grace of them Self Government and the right to run as a puritan colony, to make Massachusetts Bay and religious place, a place for the true believers, the puritans and honestly, really for nobody else. This is religious freedom for them. When they lose this charter and it is revoked, the trouble begins. We have the following, several years of turmoil. The dominion of new england under edmund andros, almost military like role where citizens lose freedom and toleration of faith is enforced which we think is great what the puritans were not big fans of. Edmund andros is overthrown and replaced by the interim government of Simon Bradstreet was which is weak and ineffective. Are coming92, people from england with a new charter and almost the day he arrives is the day the afflictions begin to grow and multiply in Salem Village because people are nervous about what it all means. All of these things are seen as signed by puritans as a sign of gods displeasure. Everything in the 17th century is a sign of god dysplasia a displeasure. Part of amed a feeling of spiritual decline in the company and at idea that something is truly wrong. Abouty, lets talk and i will not spend too much time on this, from great. Miller and other historians. Essentially, a thought from the second half that they had strayed and they have left the straight and narrow path. Miller the great perry and other historians. To joinople are willing the church and everybody must attend worship but only those sites are members of the church, the church is a spiritual body of people and not a building in new england in the 17th century. Fewer members of the second and third generations are joined. An increasingly worldliness in Massachusetts Bay, a victim of its own success, an important economic engine where the lumber and fishing is shipped by ships built here and is part of that economy that brings riches to the england and also deeply embedded in the whole slave system as well. The perceived threats from outsiders, particularly quakers and other religious groups and we could spend as a whole day talking about quakers. My grad course will probably talk a week about quakers. To the puritans, it was all too real. And more taverns and less bible reading in the colony and the ministers were preaching the fire and brimstone jeremiah sermons saying god is coming and he is terribly angry and he is going to seek vengeance and now is the time for moral reformation before it is too late. Satan is in our midst and has been unleashed by god and of to us to fight that. Fight back. Inis evidence of the turmoil 1692 recognize there are five ministers who are at least cried out upon for witchcraft and only one has charges and that is charles burroughs. Are criedfar more who out upon, four other ministers. In total, there are 50 ministers and extended members who are cried out upon for witchcraft informally accused. The peoplest 1 3 of accuse. Most of these ministers are ministers who have accepted the covenant which some puritan hardliners see as a watchering down. The point is people were really upsetual in turmoil and and angry and to some degrees with their ministers and the authorities of the politicians ruling and you see that in those patterns of accusation. To make it worse, economic factors and military sectors are adding to the downfall of the colony and science of gods displeasure. Talking about the worst weather of the little ice age, it means the most extreme, rapid changes, hot, dry summers, horrible, legal winters. Early frost, crop destruction, famine, storms of biblical proportions. Frankly, like we know today, Climate Change is not just whether getting colder or hotter it is extreme. Noted,gang barringer has it is when you have these extreme fluctuations in weather and bad weather and famine, that is when you have witch hunt. Remember that as we think about extreme fluctuations in weather we see today. , theres also military disaster at the same time, a horrible war on the frontier where the english puritans are losing to the french and the native americans in a war known as King Williams war. It is not just a military and political strategy but cast in a political terms of because the french are catholic, the hated enemies of the appearance is an native americans who for the most part are pagans. It seems like the agents of satan, excuse me, that is the way the p