Witches of Salem - First Season

In January 1692,

A crisis breaks out in salem village, massachusetts.

It begins when the minister's daughter,

Betty parris, and her cousin, abigail williams,

Start suffering bizarre, unexplained seizures.

It hurts!

Soon, others in the community also experience

The disturbing convulsions.

Eventually, the cause of their suffering is diagnosed --

They are under demonic attack from witchcraft.

As their condition worsens,

They begin to see ghost-like visions,

Or specters, of their tormentors,

And they identify three local women as witches.

One of them is an enslaved servant named tituba,

Who attempts to save herself by confessing.

He appeared.

But by admitting to being in league with the devil,

She confirms salem's worst fear,

And the town is now on the hunt for other witches.

It's a terrifying pursuit,

Which will lead to unimaginable horrors.

Three women from salem village have been accused of witchcraft,

And sent to boston jail, where they await a formal trial.

Among them is to tituba, the enslaved servant

Of arguably the most godly man in salem --

The village's minister, samuel parris

Under intense pressure from puritan leaders

At her examination, tituba confessed to meeting the devil.

But she also claimed that she was not the only one.

She elaborates upon her confession,

Confirming salem village's worst fears.

There is a witch-hunting manual that suggests that

The surest way to identify a witch

Is on the word of another confessed witch.

Tituba said there were nine,

And spoke about this man in black --

The dark man.

If you believed all this,

There are six more out there, and there is the ringleader,

The devil's agent, the most evil central actor --

The man in black.

The disturbing convulsions that began with the girls

Of the salem parsonage

Now start to spread to others in the community.

These sorts of behaviors, they're highly contagious,

Because of being adolescents and teenagers.

Peer influence is everything.

The affliction spread

Out of the parris household, to subsequent households,

And out of the young age group, and into the adolescent,

And then, adult age group.

This moves from the hand of satan upon the parris household

To the hand of satan upon all of salem village.

Fearing the spread of demonic forces,

Samuel parris has sent his afflicted daughter,

Betty, away, to stay with a colleague.

But his niece and maid, abigail williams,

Remains in the parsonage.

Parris calls for days of fasting and prayers.

Unsurprisingly, the days of fasting and prayer

Don't do anything to free the girls from there bewitchment.

Samuel parris, perhaps, should have looked to his own soul,

And said, "why would god have brought this onto my household?

What have I done?"

He may not have seen it as an embarrassment.

He may have seen it as validation of his godliness,

That he would be visited by this demonic torment.

The daughter of local landowner

Thomas putnam, ann putnam jr.,

Has also been suffering mysterious seizures.

She, too, has had visions of spectral witches attacking her.

But the next person she names shocks everyone.

On March 11th, ann putnam jr.

Names one of the specters that has been afflicting her,

And causing her fits.

Who do you see?

And she names a new sort of suspect.

Who's hurting you?

The fourth person who is accused is martha corey.

This is surprising to thomas putnam,

Given the nature of the first three women who are accused.

The first three women

Fit the stereotypical image of a witch.

This is someone who has the respect of her community,

And is deemed by her neighbors to be a pious woman.

Thomas putnam finds it hard to believe martha corey

Could really be a witch.

We need to know what she's wearing.

The putnams ask her what her specter was wearing.

Can you see?

He believes if the close of the specter

Seen by ann match those of the real martha corey,

It will confirm her vision.

I think we should visit her.

We need to know what she's wearing.

She has blinded me.

When ann realizes they intend to visit martha,

She suddenly claims to have been struck blind.

She says she will return tonight,

To make me pay for identifying her.

So, they go off to see.

Almost as soon as they get there,

She says "oh, I know what you've come for."

You've come to talk to me about my being a witch.

The putnams tell her that ann has named her as a witch --

An accusation she immediately dismisses.

You'll come because one of the afflicted has named you.

I cannot help it if people are talking about me.

She was very good at sticking up for herself.

She sounds very confident.

We must remain vigilant.

After that, she says,

"did ann putnam say what I was wearing?"

She was blinded until this evening

To prevent exactly such a comparison.

When martha hears that ann

Claims to have been struck blind,

She can't help but smile to herself.

But to the putnams, martha's reaction appears sinister.

A few days later, martha curry

Is invited to thomas putnam's house.

- Ann, you have a visitor. - Hello, ann. How are you?

I think she was hoping to be able to have

A heart-to-heart with ann.

But moments after she arrives, ann suffers a seizure.

Let me be.

Please, let me be.

Seconds later, thomas putnam's servant,

Mercy lewis, also collapses.

Look. A yellow bird is sucking between her fingers.

I see it right there.

Ann's hands are suddenly stuck fast to her eyes.

Sit. Sit down. Sit, sit, sit.

When her hands finally come free,

Ann sees a man roasting on a spit,

Being turned by martha corey's specter.

Mercy strikes where end points.

The vision disappears, then blinks back.

Please, let us be.

She and ann putnam respond so strongly

To martha corey's presence that she has to leave.

You must leave right now. Leave.

Thomas putnam makes no distinction

Between the real martha corey and her spectral vision

Seen by his daughter ann.

Five days after her visit,

He lodges a complaint accusing her of witchcraft.

- I heard the rumor. Is it true? - I am afraid so.

With a respected member of his parish named as a witch,

Samuel parris grows increasingly anxious.

Unsure what to do, he invites salem's former minister,

Reverend deodat lawson, to the village.

Now, the numbers of the afflicted

Are growing by the day.

Parris hopes that lawson might be able

To offer guidance and advice.

Deodat lawson had some standing in the village

Because he'd been the pastor there before parris.

There are already three accused which is in prison --

But worse, one church member has been put under arrest.

What was in it for him

Was that he was a bit of an aspiring writer,

And he hoped there might be a book in it.

Lawson takes a room above the village tavern,

Where he is to stay for the next few days.

I understand the reverend lawson is here.

I was hoping to speak with him.

Shortly after his arrival, he's visited

By one of the afflicted girls, a teenager named mary walcott.

Come.

Hello, reverend lawson.

Hello, mary.

They would have known each other

From when he was working in the village.

She may well be bringing greetings from parris.

I understand your fears. You must always remember --

However the devil may try to hurt us,

We have nothing to fear.

After they finished their conversation,

Mary turns to leave.

Whatever is the matter?

In the candlelight, lawson sees teeth marks.

What caused this?

Just now, I...

I saw the dark specter approach, and then...

...Well, I felt it bite me.

He didn't doubt that that was his introduction

To what was going on in salem village.

Unless mary really was bitten by a demonic presence,

The only other explanation is she made the marks herself.

I would imagine that she would have done it

Just before she actually went in to see him.

It seems likely this is one of the first examples of fraud,

And a sign of a very different kind of evil in salem.

The number of afflicted girls in salem is growing,

And several women are in jail, suspected of witchcraft.

At first, it was only outcasts who were accused,

But now, a respected member of the parish

Has been named as a witch.