Witches of Salem - First Season

In the spring of 1692, the hand of the devil

Is tightening in salem, new England.

Since two young girls from the parsonage were stricken

By bizarre unexplained fits three months earlier,

The village has been ravaged by demonic afflictions,

Terrifying specters, and rampant paranoia.

Did the man in black give you the snake?

Desperate to save their way of life,

Puritan witch hunters have sent nine villagers

To the boston jail on charges of witchcraft.

It is false.

I am clear.

But salem's terror only worsens.

Are ministers witches, too?

When the devil's agent, the man in black,

Torments one of the first afflicted girls

And then reveals his identity in a demonic vision,

No one is safe.

The devil is closing in,

And he's using a man of god as his henchman.

Strange fits have afflicted young girls

In salem village since January.

After three months of terror, salem's highest authorities

Are desperate to root out the witches

They believe have infiltrated their community.

Local landowner thomas putnam shares

A startling spectral encounter with magistrate john hathorne.

I have a shocking story to tell you.

My daughter ann was grievously tormented again last night.

Putnam claims the identity of the man in black

Was revealed to his afflicted daughter ann

In a terrifying vision.

She saw an apparition of

What she thought was a minister of god.

So she asked him his name, and he told her.

He said, "my name is george burroughs."

Putnam paints george burroughs as the emissary of satan

And the ringleader of the conspiracy.

George burroughs is a name everyone in salem knows well.

Burroughs had previously been the minister of salem.

In the 1680s, he left,

And, at the time of the witch trials,

He was living in maine.

Burroughs is soon apprehended

In the maine frontier

And brought back to salem

To see if he's the force behind the madness.

I think the idea that there was one powerful man responsible

For all of this suffering,

That he was the big leader of the witches,

The leader of this conspiracy,

Would have been very appealing to people.

He is brought back as the accused ringleader

Of all of these witches,

Which would be, of course,

Doubly devastating for salem village

Because he had been their spiritual leader.

There had been rumors about george burroughs

While he was the minister in salem several years before.

There were a few things about his personality

That made him especially susceptible

To accusations of witchcraft.

He was very secretive throughout his time as a minister.

He wasn't really one to go about, you know, shaking hands

And kissing babies in the community.

He kept to himself and because of his secretiveness,

Rumors started to fly about him.

While burroughs awaits examination,

The plague of witchcraft begins to spread

To nearby new England towns.

Soon almost 70 people are named as witches

And sent to boston jail,

And it's just the beginning.

Salem village is 600 people,

And so if you have 50 individuals saying,

"well, I've seen other witches,"

You get the sense of this grand conspiracy,

And once it reaches that scale,

Of course it spills over from salem village.

You have so many people being accused

That they're overwhelming the system.

England has recently approved

A new charter for massachusetts,

Which will give the colony the right to self-govern,

But until it arrives, their courts are in limbo.

That means they don't have the legal wherewithal

To hold a trial.

As accusations spread,

People are put in prison and they are not brought to trial.

The jails of new England

Are now overflowing with accused witches.

It's like having a lid on a pressure cooker

Where the pressure is just building

And building and building.

One of new England's foremost ministers,

Cotton mather, is treating a young girl

Who has been afflicted by specters

Ever since she visited one of salem's accused witches.

...My soul.

I hope the blessed lord jesus christ...

Cotton mather is the elite

Of the elite of the ministers of new England.

He saw himself as a man of reason,

But a man of reason who believed that witchcraft

Was afflicting new England.

My life in your hands.

Cotton mather had first-hand experience

In dealing with witchcraft,

Exposing witchcraft, and healing the victims of witchcraft.

No one doubted the reality of witchcraft.

In the 1690s.

The most learned minds of the age,

Among them cotton mather,

Accepted the active presence of the devil,

The reality of the demonic pact,

And the existence of witchcraft.

They believed that by studying these things

That they could protect the christian community

Against the attacks of witches.

Do it, then, if you can.

I dare you. I challenge you to do it.

Kill me if you can.

Cotton mather publishes his study

Of the young girl as a warning of the devil's handiwork.

This is his pastoral duty to be involved.

If you believe your godly community

And everything you do serves god,

Fighting the devil is proving

Your faith in god.

He was wrestling with something

That was at the center of his faith.

Cotton mather's passionate belief

In the evils of witchcraft

Will soon find him enmeshed in the tragedy

Plaguing salem, where former minister george burroughs

Is now being accused of the highest crimes.

In a room above the tavern,

Burroughs is questioned by witch hunters

John hathorne, william stoughton,

And john hale.

When did you last take the sacrament?

I don't recall exactly.

A long while ago.

Burroughs was asked when the last time he took communion was,

And he couldn't recall.

Aren't you supposedly a minister of god?

Nearest church where I might receive communion

Is over 30 miles away.

It is simply not been possible.

But you were in boston just four weeks ago.

Why did you not take it then?

The magistrates believe

They're uncovering evidence

Of the minister's pact with the devil

In all areas of his life.

It said your house is haunted.

I cannot say.

Have you seen toads upon the grounds?

Toads were associated with the devil.

Yes, I admit I have seen toads.

There is also talk that your children are not baptized.

Not all. No, just my eldest.

As these different accusations come out against him,

The evidence kind of builds up.

So you, a supposed man of god,

Does not baptize his children nor take the sacraments?

If you look under the surface of these questions,

You can see that they have a lot of things

That are worrying them about george burroughs.

We shall hear what the afflicted have to say.

After questioning him in private,

They now take burroughs to the public meeting house,

Where his accusers are waiting.

He hasn't been prepared for this.

He's taken into the room where the girls are,

And he is told not to look at them.

And he does look round at them.

Look.

His dead wives are here.

He hasn't known what's been going on in salem,

And he's never seen anything like it.

Let us hear the testimony.

Burroughs is stunned by the overwhelming reaction.

His specter so appeared to me

And took me to a high place

Where he promised me all the key.

He's absolutely gobsmacked.

One of them says something, and they all go into fits.

He has brought the book and would have me write it.

What do you make of this?

Then hathorne is asking him questions

Which he can't answer.

It is indeed an amazing and humbling providence,

But I confess, I understand none of it.

It's the most powerful scene, really,

Because he represents the power of the devil.

The devil could not just overcome a weak young girl,

But the devil could, in fact, make a minister

Into satan's helper.

But catching the alleged ringleader