Alex and Matt return, this time to discuss the social, political and material origins of the Salem Witch Trials. Indian and imperial war trauma in the late 1600s. The Glorious Revolution and the coup of Andros by puritan leaders in Massachusetts. The economic divide between mercantile Salem Town and the agricultural offshoot that was ground zero for the outbreak, Salem Village. Increase and Cotton Mather's responsibility in spreading belief in witches. The difference between witch hunts and awakenings being in the interpretation of adults. Gender and witch accusations. George Burrough's perfect recitation of the Lord's prayer. Sleep paralysis, conversion disorder, and fraud as all explanations for the witch accusations. Cotton Mather's damage control for the Puritan theocracy, The Wonders of the Invisible World. European witch history.

@Alecks_Guns, @MattLech

@LitHangover

References:

Baker, Emerson W. 2016. Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience. New York: Oxford Univ Press.

Boyer, Paul S., and Stephen Nissenbaum. 1974. Salem Possessed: The Social Origins of Witchcraft.

Hill, Frances. 2002. A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials. Cambrigde, MA.: Da Capo Press.

Glorious Revolution by Jabzy on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g77WJU3aQEA))