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hey weirdos I'm Ash and I'm Elena and this is [Music] morbid it's more it's like kind of morbid in the morning
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but not like the morning morning like late morning yeah I would say yeah you know it's like 10:30 yeah you know we're
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in the middle of um we're in the middle of a heat wave but it's but it's Fallen my heart oh it's fall everywhere except
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outside yep um we started decorating for Halloween yesterday I started and finished the other day I had Hocus Pocus
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the Corpse Bride and what was the other movie that I had on in the background Halloween Town no I didn't do Halloween
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town yet Practical Magic okay oh no I'll do Halloween Town I just haven't yet we
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did Hocus Pocus in Halloween toown while we were decorating yesterday and we are
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still not done decorating cuz let me tell you decorating with three kids and two
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dogs means that you don't decorate in one day yeah no Dre was out of the house so I got to do it like all by myself and
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it was I haven't done that in like a long time like yeah yeah it was great yeah you know it was lovely I hope
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you're all decorated for Halloween everybody because it's Halloween it's spooky season let's go weirdos we're
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here I'm ready for haunted houses I have been waiting for this all summer [ __ ]
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summer if you love summer that's fine for you I [ __ ] hate it every and the fact that we're in a heat wave right now
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when it is September and we're supposed to be in Fall yeah I'm not enjoying that
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at all in fact like does that are we just done after that like does anybody know nobody knows we can't see that far
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out I feel like we can okay next Wednesday according to my weather is going to be 69 see that's what I'm
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looking bring me to the 60s as soon as I as soon as we're cuz even 70 I'm like even 70 can kind of go [ __ ] itself 70
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can definitely go [ __ ] itself because the sun is still hot when it's 70 and then you get like that nice like fall
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Breeze that starts to come in but if you find yourself in the wrong place outside
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and the Sun is on you you're just like [ __ ] that's not fallish yeah why am I wearing this junky sweater exactly
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exactly but let's hope you know everybody put their Collective brain Powers together to make fall appear for
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us please wiggle your spirit fingers I'm requesting this of you my God tomorrow's
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going to be or Thursday is going to be 93 [ __ ] degrees no I don't I don't want to do that I don't want to go to
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there I don't want to go to there next week looks Chiller like 74 72 69 okay all right so that's the weather with Ash
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and that's the weather oh before we start today's pretty just like bummer episode because it's about a witch trial
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okay but it's like when you go into Witch Trials you always go in there being like Witch is fun and then you go
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through and you're like oh this sucks like so hard persecuted as [ __ ] yeah but
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um I wanted to quickly shout out someone pretty awesome um a listener Corey who sent
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us this first of all Corey has a Etsy Shop amazing crocheter so good sent me a papa doll I wish that you Corey could
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have seen Elena's eyeballs Yeet out of her face when she opened this and then I immediately said are you going to sleep
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with that and I and I brought it maybe I brought it down to John and I was like can I'm going to put this on our bed and
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he was like please don't he was like that's amazing but please do not put that on our bed it's incredible it's
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sitting right next to me like as we speak with all her other ghost par my other ghost paraphernalia and I'm
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telling you like Corey this doll is [ __ ] phenomenal cute I'll definitely post a picture of it because it's just
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too good not to and the what the care you put into it is you're really talented the details too so I just
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wanted to shout out um Corey's like all her shop places they are all alternative hippie I love
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that and it's it's hi ppy ah nice just so you know so she has an Etsy shop and it's etsy.com shop alternative hippie
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instagram.com she's alternative hippie all that good stuff so go blow up her [ __ ] go blow up her [ __ ] because I'm
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telling you I'll again I will post a picture of this doll and you will be like what the [ __ ] you made that it's so
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cute and it was so thoughtful and it was like you you were saying how like you know you hadn't listened to ghosts
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before that and now like you were and I think she said the same thing that she was like I was like you I hadn't really
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gotten into any like newer Rock stuff and I missed that feeling and then I felt it with ghost so like I love that
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we all feel that together so I love that a lot I just wanted to shout you out because that was really thoughtful and
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really awesome and you literally made my year with it so I again I wish you could
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have seen Elena's face when she opened that package she goes true somebody made me a papa doll I'm like it's Papa so
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thank you so much for that Corey and I hope that your [ __ ] gets just like rocked in the best way right now and I
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hope you can't crochet enough to you know I hope it just blows up so you're awesome and go check out alternative
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hippie or else or else okay we don't know we don't know what else what else but I don't know but that's it either
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way we're going to get into the story now of half-hanged Mary oh of Hadley Massachusetts oh [ __ ] Hadley
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Massachusetts yeah Massachusetts Massachusetts really out of time yeah we [ __ ] up a lot we
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[ __ ] up we [ __ ] up yeah I'm going to say they cuz like they [ __ ] up our people yeah you know like the the people
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doing the [ __ ] up things I that's not a we thing no I mean I was not there yeah no like I I may be the Elder on
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this podcast but I was not present during these so I will say that that was a really that was a missed opportunity
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for a good joke on my part so thank you for walking yourself right no problem I was waiting for it I was waiting for you
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to be like you were there right I try not to do like too much elder abuse to you it's okay it's all right I feel I
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feel I feel okay about it um but I think we can all agree that there are very few
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examples of mass hysteria that Loom larger than the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 100% I mean over 200 people were
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persecuted during that 19 were executed so crazy and so sad and it was all for crimes that nobody had actually
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committed in but you know we just everybody ran with it and for centuries it has served as a very important but
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often ignored warning against group think against intolerance you know you know all that
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fun stuff once again often ignored we'd love to believe we're past that but yeah
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you know we're really not I thought of a great idea we should make sweatshirts that say [ __ ] andne putam oh 100%
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because [ __ ] andne putam okay noted for sure uh but it was definitely not the only example of witch hunting in
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Massachusetts for sure and in fact 10 years before the Salem Witch Trials there were very similar accusations of
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Witchcraft that were aimed at Mary Webster of Hadley which was another small village in Massachusetts um it's
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in like Western Massachusetts yeah I don't think I realized Hadley was like that old of a place yeah I mean every
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place in massachus is pretty [ __ ] old it's old but but by the time that Massachusetts Bay Colony was established
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in 1630 the existence of witches and you know Witchcraft and dark magic and all that had been a very prominent source of
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anxiety and hysteria over in Europe right and that was for nearly like two centuries that that was going on so that
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was nothing new you covered some of the ones in Europe didn't you we did we cover maybe one or two I think we'll
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definitely cover some more because it really is fascinating um but although fears of Witchcraft had existed in
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cultures around the world long before beginning in the late 15th century public fears and public accusations of
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Witchcraft largely spurred by the Catholic church at the time led to a centuries long period of witch hunts
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across Europe Europe that led to the executions of not 19 which is bad enough tens of thousands of innocent people
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that's crazy so because there was such a prevalence of fear and black magic and Witchcraft at that time it makes sense
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that the earliest Colonial settlers in Massachusetts Bay Colony would bring all those fears anxieties superstitions all
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that stuff to their new home too like let's bring all this [ __ ] [ __ ] right on
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over start with a clean slate like just bring it all over never that so when the
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first laws were enacted in the colony in 1641 the general court included a common
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law statute that quoted directly from scripture and it established quote If any man or woman be a witch that is hath
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or consultees with a familiar Spirit they shall be put to death when you truly think about that like if you're a
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witch we going to kill you that's why it's crazy when people say I'm not really interested in Witch Trials it's
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like you're not like that thought of that being those those were laws like that was put into law if you
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consult with a familiar Spirit they basically said if you have a cat yeah if you have an animal that sometime is seen
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around you you're going to kill you think you're Consulting with the devil wild law wild law like it's just so this
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was unfortunately it was a lot back then now with laws in place that were literally criminalizing Witchcraft and
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consorting with the devil it didn't take long for Colonial settlers to make good
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use of them we're not going to let those those laws just sit on those books they're like no let's let's do this no
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they can't get Dusty we got to use them so in 1648 35-year-old Margaret Jones who was a Charlestown Midwife and
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practitioner of medicine was like herbal medicine and stuff um was very much accused of Witchcraft and put on trial
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uh little documentation from her trial has really survived today but the Diary of Governor John winthrip who sat on the
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general court at the time of the trial does show some of the evidence that was used to convict Margaret I remember that
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name John winr yeah the evidence included the fact that quote she was found to have such a ignant touch as
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many persons men women and children whom she stroked or touched with any affection or displeasure and some things
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which she foretold come to pass accordingly other things she would tell of as secret speeches which she had no
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ordinary means to come to the knowledge of so when basically she's saying like they're saying like people got sick
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after she was around them sometimes and you know she knew things maybe she was a
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little I did and it's like I don't know John winth it's like I think you're just
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a his journal also says that Jones's disposition during the trial was also used as additional evidence against her
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it says Jones was very intemperate lying notoriously and railing against the jury
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and Witnesses gee I wonder why and he wrote in simple terms Margaret Jones's unwillingness to be deferential and
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demure during what basically was most certainly a fight to keep herself from being hanged uhhuh for nothing literally
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nothing was considered by this puritanical Society to be proof that she was consorting with the devil so because
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she wasn't demure on the stand and sitting there and going well I guess if you say I did it I I suppose I have to
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admit it sure Mister why yep I absolutely did that because she didn't do that they were like the devil it's
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also like she's she's on trial for doing her job it sounds like which you all took advantage of for a little while
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until you decided that you wanted to Rally against her you were Bor cuz you couldn't do anything in those times so
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you're just going to make her a witch that's the thing now Margaret Jones was the first person in Massachusetts in
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just the second in the colonies to be tried and executed for w Witchcraft and the fact that she was a woman was
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definitely not coincidental no never um she was a midwife a practitioner of medicine like we said before and she
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likely because of those things like we just kind of touched upon she definitely held a little bit of P power in the
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community you know uh that those kind of resources that kind of expertise that was pretty specific it was not in Big
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Supply in the colonies at that point so she was going to be looked at as someone
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to turn to it was kind of in the case of Bridget clear we talked about how you know the guy who was looked at as the
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powerful Elder who had all this knowledge of folklore and [ __ ] he held power at one point and then when he
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didn't everything changed he made it come back now and also she used local herbs and other non-traditional
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medicines you know people started looking at that as suspect of course um especially they only looked at it really
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when it that it was suspect when their treatments didn't work when their treatments worked suddenly you're a
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great doctor and midwife and all that good stuff but when it didn't work you're a witch and also sometimes like
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medicine medicine doesn't work yeah sometimes you're just going to die I don't know what to say sometimes that's
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just the way it is okay now 8 years later that same Community tried and executed a woman named Anne hibbon for
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similar things nonsensical we don't like her she's not this Demir little wilting flower that we
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would like her to be exact because remember in Salem that seemed to be a lot of the [ __ ] these women would speak
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out and speak up again against things they would speak up for themselves they would speak up for their families for
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all that stuff and they were like shut the [ __ ] up witch and it's like okay yeah well like we all see it we all see
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it y but um apparently uh in one of the sources that I'm going to link in the show notes uh Bridget
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Marshall author points out witchcraft accusations were actually fairly common during this period in the colonies every
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town seems to have had at least one official accusation and no doubt many more had local Legends and suspicions so
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it was definitely one of those things where there was official accusations which would go to the higher authorities
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go on trial all that stuff but you know it was one of those things where they were like that lady's a witch over there
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the street who lives by herself because everyone she loved has died she's a witch exactly and again they like the
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accusations were common but at this point convictions and executions I don't know why that was so hard to say uh they
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were less common at the time you could bring it to a point but getting a conviction and executing that person was
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going to take a little more um but this was also due to the fact that you know they were recently established
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communities remove removing someone who was like a medicine woman as much as you're claiming that's Witchcraft and
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[ __ ] removing anyone from these communities is kind of disadvantaging you know that it's really becoming a
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disadvantage for that community at this time because they really only have a handful of people to begin with they
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need to establish themselves first and then they can [ __ ] you over later yeah so it's it's going to [ __ ] the this
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accused witch over but it's definitely going to [ __ ] everyone else over too so
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they were they were very aware of that I think this a lot of times these things were more of a shame you into compliance
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and submission kind of thing so we don't have to take it to the conviction and execution stage we're just going to make
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sure you know that you will become ostracized and we can bring you in if you speak out against us so like just
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listen to what we say become submissive and we'll leave you alone well and going
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back to them like not being fully established yet I'm I'm sure some of these women were like the first midwives
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in their Village and then when they like got more and more of them they were like
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oh now we can [ __ ] with that one that we don't like cuz we like this one better
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cuz she listens to what we say exactly it's like but when you they're the only ones they were just dealing with it
00:16:35
right now like we know now the reasons why a person would have been accused of Witchcraft were very varied and almost
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always completely irrational um you know Petty arguments overactive imaginations just puritanical [ __ ] mhm I
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don't I don't like your face so I would like you to be gone from my view kind of
00:16:58
[ __ ] like it was all just very like halfhazard if I don't like this person I can accuse them of it so scary like for
00:17:04
example this is a very interesting one the case of Mary Parsons who was a Northampton woman accused of Witchcraft
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by her neighbor in 1656 Mary and her husband Joseph Parsons had moved uh to Northampton from
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Springfield okay so they were already very much Outsiders in this newly formed Community cuz remember it's all brand
00:17:25
new MH um so immediately the community was a talken as soon as two people come in from anywhere else
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you're going to be the target um Mary also had a son who was actually the first English child born in town so that
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was another thing that was already going to stir up some crazy gossip and then the Parsons were also of a higher social
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class and they had a lot more wealth than their neighbors so there was a lot of jealousy already off the bat they are
00:17:53
Batten zero now one day not long after they came to Northampton a neighbor named Sarah
00:18:01
Bridgeman received a knock at her door she was holding her infant son when she came to answer the door and she said no
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one was there but then she saw two cloaked figures pass by and she became convinced that her child would
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die Sarah brid's an [ __ ] just so you know um I answered the door and no one was there so I thought my baby was going
00:18:20
to die that's a leap seems legit that's that's a leap and a half girlfriend the child did die a short time later which
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is very unfortunate of course and Sarah became convinced that the death was caused by Mary Parsons and not just like
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the olding of it all apparently since she had arrived in the village Bridgeman and Parsons did not get along they had
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feuded right off the bat which it's like all right Sarah sometimes [ __ ] aren't
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going to like you and that's just the way it is like move on F that doesn't mean they're witch and that they killed
00:18:51
your kid and you have to involve yourself in their life just move the [ __ ] on if you don't like someone walk
00:18:55
away toxic person walk the other way like just leave okay but no we've got to make this a bigger problem we've got to
00:19:02
make it everybody's problem and honestly it's going to become your problem [ __ ]
00:19:05
uh oh so she yeah so they've been feuding ever since the Parsons had arrived and Bridgeman spent months
00:19:12
telling anyone who would listen that Parsons was a witch and that it was her fault and finally Joseph Parsons Mary's
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husband was like [ __ ] you and decided to file a complaint of slander on his wife's behalf because that's a bad [ __ ]
00:19:29
move especially for a husband back then that's a husband he's like don't talk [ __ ] about my wife like [ __ ] you Sarah
00:19:35
but that is probably not good that he brought this to court cuz I feel like that's where it's all going to get crazy
00:19:39
thing it was very proactive of him of course and it was pretty badass of him tot for sure I support Joseph I am here
00:19:46
supporting him team Joseph but like you said not great because of how shitty the
00:19:54
system was it it was great in all other ways not great because of how shly shitty everybody else was because by
00:20:00
bringing those accusations to the attention of the authorities before it was like we were saying before [ __ ]
00:20:06
talking it was [ __ ] talking among the community it wasn't taken to the official level but now it's happened
00:20:12
it's gotten brought to the authorities they know that people are talking oh this poor man was only trying to help
00:20:17
his wife his wife he probably regretted that every day and so it was brought to court and Sarah when she explained it
00:20:24
she said there was a great blow at the door and I was like what sorry what and she immediately said she
00:20:31
sensed a difference in her newborn as soon as that great blow at the door happened okay and she was she said
00:20:36
immediately I was sure my child would die and I was like I don't know I feel like that's someone you should talk
00:20:41
about with someone else because I don't think that was Mary and she said it was because there was wickedness in place
00:20:47
wow this is real I just need like this is why these kinds of Trials it's insane and this time period are so [ __ ]
00:20:54
fascinating to me because this was a legitimate Criminal trial and this woman just said someone knocked on my door and
00:21:02
I my newborn got fussy and so I knew he was going to die because wickedness was in place she said that in a legal trial
00:21:11
and they went hm they said that's wild we they Str their chins and they said maybe we should hang this [ __ ] like
00:21:18
that's it's scary that was real how that that's fascinating to me like terrifying
00:21:25
they didn't have enough to do back then they sure didn't now and that's the thing they had enough to do but it was
00:21:33
and that's the thing it's like they weren't bored they were just miserable because it was miserable back then and
00:21:40
we'll get into it but it's like that's what it was it's like like mind-numbing [ __ ] yeah and kids were bored they're
00:21:45
bored and miserable now at the trial a lot of people testified that um Sarah Bridgeman's child child had actually
00:21:53
been frail and sickly since birth so there's the that on that so they're like when the child died unfortunately it was
00:22:00
very tragic but not a surprise to a lot of people because he was born very sick that's sad but Bridgeman stuck to her
00:22:08
story that Parsons was a witch and had killed her child through her consort with the devil and the wickedness of it
00:22:14
all then we had other people come into the trial saying you know there was a yarn spinner that said the yarn she spun
00:22:19
for Mary Parsons just ended up in knots no matter what she did and she said it that was obviously because she was a
00:22:25
witch maybe you just suck at spinning yard yeah maybe maybe you're spinning the yarn right now I think you are see what
00:22:31
I did there I do lies lies liar and it's also like it's just so does the devil like
00:22:38
knots like I don't know about is that what that's supposed to be he just likes tying knots yeah I'm not I've never
00:22:43
heard of I'm not up on his his likes and dislikes but I didn't know that was one
00:22:47
of them I haven't heard that in a ghost song so I'm not sure did you see the protesters everybody like you got to go
00:22:54
on Tik Tok the protesters at the ghost concert I think it was in Texas that checks yeah um funny they brought out a
00:23:01
Mary statue and everything it's like just let people there were signs that said I'm so sorry Mary and I was like
00:23:07
what what now I don't pretty funny yeah I'm not going to say too much well that's I'm like like what you like but
00:23:13
like that's the thing don't listen to the music if you don't like it go home you don't have to partake in it it's
00:23:17
fine well people like people I feel like everyone now is just like they're indoctrinating our children for like
00:23:24
everything and I'm like just don't let your kid go to a ghost show then like your kid isn't going to go to a ghost
00:23:29
show unless you bring them to one so unless they're likeing out to it but like that's your fault so it's just
00:23:35
ridiculous it's a little silly and honestly ghost shows are [ __ ] amazing and the people at ghost shows are some
00:23:42
of the nicest people I've ever been around so there at the ghost at the ritual that we went to is that what they
00:23:49
call it a ritual it's always called a ritual I don't think I even knew that yeah they call their shows rituals
00:23:52
that's fun I love it uh that probably scares the people even more it does and my ritual ual uh that we went to uh we
00:24:00
were loving the people in front of us it was this couple and don't worry I'll get
00:24:06
back to the story I promise I know tangents piss some people off but here I am uh but I just got to tell you because
00:24:12
it was lovely yeah it was a couple in front of us a man and a woman and they were having the [ __ ] time of their
00:24:20
lives love that and they were like so in love and just like dancing with each other and so happy and I literally was
00:24:28
like just their Vibe that's precious was so happy we all said it like we were all
00:24:33
like these people are lovely to just be around I love that it delightful that so
00:24:39
like shout out to those two people in front of us because they were and they were like turning to each other and like
00:24:44
screaming the words to each other and just like dancing oh it was just so good the guy was so theatrical to every song
00:24:51
I was like you're killing me it always like adds to the experience when you have people around like that and I met a
00:24:56
lot of listeners at that show and they were really kind and awesome and it was really cool and you guys were um but go
00:25:02
to a go show um but either way you know the devil loves nuts Who Knew weird but things escalated as well when a a woman
00:25:10
named Mrs Hanam who was another yarn spinner um and she apparently worked with the Parsons before she testified on
00:25:18
Sarah Bridgeman's behalf saying that uh Parsons had quote attempted to lure her daughter away from her home what and
00:25:28
it's like what and then another woman came and said her daughter got ill after she refused to let her daughter work for
00:25:34
the Parsons so she must have Bewitched her out of SP yes of course and then a man came forward and testified and said
00:25:42
well my cow got sick as [ __ ] after I had some words with the with Mary Parsons
00:25:47
and then it died and it's her fault I truly can't the fact that they thought people just died because they
00:25:54
had words with each other well and what's great about this one I will say say is that the court was able to be
00:25:59
like debunked debunk debunk because upon further questioning it was very clear that Mrs hannam the Y yarn spinner had
00:26:06
been feuding with Mary Parsons ever since Mary Parsons complained of the quality of her yarn ah so she was just
00:26:13
pissed because her little ego got bruised she had shitty yarn [ __ ] your yarn and she saw this trial as an
00:26:19
opportunity to get back at Parson's which I'm like people were [ __ ] Cutthroat back then they were like she
00:26:25
didn't like my yarn hang yeah she didn't like my yarn so my way of getting back to to her is having her hang by her neck
00:26:33
until she's dead yeah like damn that's normal imagine living your life pett but I'm not that petty like imagine standing
00:26:40
in that crowd you you spun some yarn that suck did and you just sit you're sitting there and you're like you're
00:26:46
like well she got hers should have said [ __ ] about my yarn my yarn quality is top-notch it's like what the [ __ ] like
00:26:54
That's cold blooded like people were cold blooded so yeah she was just pissed about the quality of the art and she was
00:27:01
like cool I'm offended so I'm going to send you to be executed I'm offended so and people also testified that Sarah
00:27:07
Bridgeman's baby like they had said before had definitely been sick since birth so that was just not right under
00:27:13
these circumstances the court and I think they found that the the cow had died of a very normal cow thing that
00:27:19
happen he was just old and I think it was actually the owner's fault like it was like something he had done
00:27:24
accidentally that had caused it wow so the Court ruled in favor of Mary Parsons and we actually told Sarah Bridgeman you
00:27:33
are actually in trouble for lodging these false accusations now so she so they said you can either pay Parson's
00:27:39
court fees or you can issue a public apology I would say you have to do both and that petty little [ __ ] was like
00:27:45
I'll pay the fees she wouldn't even she wouldn't even publicly apologize wow like what a [ __ ] people really were
00:27:52
Petty like such a [ __ ] but what's sad though is that although the slander trial may have come to an end Bridgeman
00:28:00
kept spreading rumors about Parson being a witch and they just kept going for like generations and basically it
00:28:07
undermined the par it undermined the Parson's family's social status and any political influence they had in the
00:28:13
village for Generations they that's really sad she ruined their legacy essentially just by because she didn't
00:28:19
like her like that's a petty [ __ ] she I hope she got hers I hope she's living a
00:28:24
bad life in the next one and this kind of shows that although there was a genuine belief in witches and Witchcraft
00:28:30
that's the thing this wasn't only I don't like this person so I'm going to fake it people genuinely believe that
00:28:36
witches and Witchcraft were like evil and that like they were these like you know the hook noosed like you know with
00:28:42
the ward on the end of the nose kind of thing we see in all the the media you see of a that they're green and that
00:28:48
they have the you know the hat and that they're flying on a broom in the middle of the night you know like that kind of
00:28:53
stuff they definitely believed that and especially in the Massachusetts Bay Colony
00:28:58
but it was also just as common for this to be the case where it was you know consorting with the devil was basically
00:29:04
I'm being petty and I'm going to you know settle my Petty grievance with you by pretending that you're consorting
00:29:10
with the devil right um now getting on to Mary Webster it kind of seemed like this was
00:29:18
partially the case is that they people just didn't like her and she was an outsider so they decided to make her
00:29:24
consult with the devil fictionally as a case fun um so Mary Webster was born Mary reev she was born in England Circa
00:29:33
1624 and she was brought by her parents Thomas and Hannah reev to the Massachusetts Bay Colony and within and
00:29:39
she was brought there within a decade or two after her birth So within her first
00:29:43
20 years she was brought there all right a lot again a lot of these records are halfhazard so you just kind of have to
00:29:50
piece everything together uh but they settled in Springfield now little is known about her early life but she does
00:29:57
and she doesn't appear on record until 1670 and that's when she married 53-year-old William Webster of Hadley so
00:30:04
she relocated from Springfield to Hadley and when that happened often moving was
00:30:09
a big deal of course it set you back back then it sets anybody back anyways but it really set you back back then
00:30:15
well people like died on the way to move to a new place and they were the Websters were described as having become
00:30:21
poor and having living many years in a small house in the Middle Highway and were sometimes aided by the town okay so
00:30:29
nobody's really sure like what the definition of poor was back then because things were so willy-nilly like how bad
00:30:35
it really was yeah but I think the fact that they were receiving aid from the town makes them uh down at the bottom of
00:30:43
the ladder you know what I mean so according to Sylvester Jud who is an author and who wrote The Town history of
00:30:50
of Hadley oh cool he said Mary's temper quote which was not the most Placid was not improved by poverty and neglect and
00:30:57
she used harsh words when offended despised and sometimes ill treated she was soured with the world and rendered
00:31:04
spiteful towards some of her neighbors so here's the thing the thing with Mary is that we see she's in poverty she's
00:31:13
having to get aid from the town she's being treated as such because people are now treating her like [ __ ] and it's like
00:31:20
so her neighbors are dicks to her and treat her like piece like a piece of [ __ ] and she's supposed to be like a ray
00:31:25
of sunshine she was brought here from where she was born and it's like and she's supposed to be this [ __ ] ray of
00:31:30
sunshine for you and might like make you happy when you treat her like [ __ ] because of something completely out of
00:31:35
her control that she's dealing with Poverty of course yeah absolutely and they they even said
00:31:42
because of her quote unpleasant demeanor her neighbors started referring to her as a witch and she quickly became a
00:31:49
target for a lot of harassment now soon rumors were spreading about Mary and that you know she did this she did that
00:31:57
she Bewitched some cattle and horses that so that they stopped and ran back and could not be driven by her house um
00:32:03
in some cases the rumors had a little bit of Truth to them because Mary would try to keep farmers and travelers away
00:32:10
from her house and so she would overturn their loads sometimes what a that's hilar she would chase them away she was
00:32:18
just like get off my [ __ ] lawn well she was like you're all [ __ ] to me stay away from my house I don't blame
00:32:24
her [ __ ] you well you have to wonder if something happened that she wanted them
00:32:28
away from her house because that seems like a kind of like a j because when when you find out what they actually do
00:32:33
to her and what is very normal you're like yeah you were probably hurting her physically you pieces of [ __ ] yeah
00:32:38
that's what it sounds like now in one instance they claimed and take what you will from this they claim that quote she
00:32:45
entered a house and had such influence upon an infant on the bed or in the cradle that the infant was raised to the
00:32:52
chamber floor and fell back again three times and no visible hand touched where were the owners of the home yeah
00:33:00
when she uh just I don't know this looks like neglect of an infant or possibly abuse of an INF infant and then they
00:33:08
just blamed it on Mary webster like what now the rumors were getting were growing
00:33:12
and growing and apparently and so the community was now kind of biting back at Mary oh so either way the r rumors are
00:33:23
growing and growing and in response to these rumors the community starting to get more and more you know proactive in
00:33:31
their response to her so she became the target for what is called witch disturbances oh no I don't like that
00:33:39
already so apparently so the author I mentioned before Smith says that when Farmers claimed they were unable to
00:33:45
drive their cattle by Mary's house they quote would enter the house beat her or threaten to do so and then she generally
00:33:53
let them pass uh yeah cuz they had beat her so she was probably unable to stop them at that point so that was called a
00:34:01
witch disturbance they would just enter the suspected suspected witch's home and
00:34:06
beat the [ __ ] out of her to make her whatever was happening stop what the f and then they're always like and these
00:34:12
women were so unpleasant and it's like I would [ __ ] I would be the epitome of foul and rotten if I were this woman I
00:34:24
would ruin everyone's lives around me do you ever just think like what are humans
00:34:30
like what are we I think it all the time like how did it how did we get like this
00:34:34
I think it all the time it's a lot I really do so they would do that that's why when they're like oh she would like
00:34:40
knock over their loads and stuff I'm like yeah I would [ __ ] up their livelihood too I'd be like you literally
00:34:44
came in my home and beat me so [ __ ] off [ __ ] off don't pass my house now Jud the
00:34:51
the author I mentioned before who it did the history of Hadley described an incident in 1680 where a 16-year-old
00:34:58
girl named and Belding was charged with quote purposes and practices against the
00:35:03
body and life of Mary wife of William Webster so apparently an entered the Webster's home and likely assaulted or
00:35:12
attempted to Sal Mary and so she was she was required to publicly apologize and pay a fine she had to pay one pound to
00:35:20
Webster and 4 pounds to the county for doing that why didn't she spend time in jail y'all cuz they're just like you
00:35:27
know just say you're sorry the [ __ ] so over time the rumors about Mary Webster
00:35:33
just grew they grew they became more they became way more outlandish way more detailed they were coming from way more
00:35:41
people but there was one that proved a lot more consequential for Mary's safety than the other ones oh no so in the and
00:35:49
you knew this was coming you knew one of those was going to hit different and it
00:35:52
was going to be the breaking point I was worried so in the early 1680s it was said said that Mary entered the house of
00:35:58
a neighbor again and before she left the house um or excuse me not long after she
00:36:04
had left the house a hen came flying down the chimney and fell into a Boiling Pot of
00:36:10
water okay to me that just feels real real colon esque I'm sure hands fell down chimneys all the time like I don't
00:36:19
if I was back then if you transported me hi I'm Elena from 2023 if you plopped me
00:36:26
into 16 you know 80 or wherever this was in one of these houses in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and suddenly a
00:36:34
hen fell down the chimney into a scalding hot thing of water I don't think I would really I'd be like
00:36:40
probably like I think I would just look over and be like yep you just be like well we're having chicken for dinner
00:36:45
yeah i' just be like oh is that how you guys would get your food like I don't how does this that from Santa that
00:36:50
doesn't seem wild to me I'm like hens were probably all over the [ __ ] place yeah and they're probably just falling
00:36:56
down chimneys and [ __ ] it's not like our chimneys where it's like this very intricate system yeah no it doesn't
00:37:01
sound that czy in your roof that it's just going to fall down so to me I'm like yeah okay like dinner but no
00:37:09
because apparently that was a little strange that a hen just fell down the chimney which I think is wild I do too I
00:37:15
feel like it I agree I don't think it'd be that weird I don't think it was I think they're just using that but the
00:37:20
real strange thing was that Mary was discovered to have a scald mark on her body in the same place that the hen had
00:37:28
I guarantee someone probably broke into her house beat her and burned her probably or it's like I don't know they
00:37:35
were cooking over straight up bonfires back then like yeah I'm sure everyone got burned all the [ __ ] time by just
00:37:43
doing the simplest of tasks probably like I'm sure there was all kinds of burns but did they make this like a
00:37:49
witch Mark well that what they assumed was you know that because it's in the same place as the hen that Mary had been
00:37:58
acting in the form of a familiar to spy on her neighbors so they are claiming she was the hen they're claiming Mary
00:38:06
transformed herself into a hen and said let me Yeet myself down the chimney into
00:38:10
a Boiling Pot of water some hot water and then she lived and then she lived okay cuz that's the other thing here's
00:38:18
my other question here but we don't have it on record so I would like to ask this
00:38:21
Neighbor From Beyond what the [ __ ] up Kyle because this fell down your [ __ ] chimney into a scalding thing of water I
00:38:29
think it died and you didn't eat that hen oh they ate thaten you're telling me you just let that hen go they we're in
00:38:35
the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1680 and you're letting free [ __ ] dinner waddle out of your house I don't think
00:38:43
so I don't think so you sure about that you sure about that I don't think you are I think you ate that for dinner and
00:38:49
then you're sitting here claiming that it was Mary Webster I don't think so so you ate Mary
00:38:56
webst but how's she walking around if you ate her doesn't make sense this whole thing is truly the most that's
00:39:03
when it and that's I'm like no one was logical back then or you know what here's the thing I bet here's the thing
00:39:11
I bet there were some logical people in there but they were zipping their [ __ ] lips because they didn't want to
00:39:16
be the next one accused or be thought to be consorting with the devil that was the thing they so it's one of those
00:39:20
things they just stay quiet and let it happen and it's like so we look back and we're like are you all like just cuckoo
00:39:27
like what is going on no one stepped in and was like well did you eat the hen like no one asked that yeah did you eat
00:39:33
said hen that fell and burned that booty in the water did you eat the booty burned hen you didn't let that thing
00:39:39
leave no of course not why waste a good hen exactly in 1680 hell yeah now in March 1683 Mary was brought before the
00:39:48
county court in Northampton because of this and she was accused of quote being under strong suspicion of having
00:39:55
familiarity with the devil or using witchcraft what color me guilty uh but after
00:40:02
hearing testimony from some of her neighbors the county court looked at it and was like you know what these look
00:40:09
these look like pretty strong accusations it seems like everybody thinks you're kind of a [ __ ] so I think
00:40:15
maybe we should uh we should look into this further so they referred it to the C the court of assistance in Boston for
00:40:22
consideration oh no yeah they looked at this like I don't know it seems like you
00:40:27
might have been that hen and then they were like and these people say that that you suck so I think we should you just
00:40:33
the fact that they're like we think you were that hen yeah wrap your mind around
00:40:37
that real quick you have a burn mark on you so I'm pretty sure you were that hen
00:40:40
that flew down the chimney I that they definitely ate for dinner that night I must go like I just don't know and in
00:40:48
April by the way Mary Webster is 60 years old oh now in April Mary Webster 60 years old is shipped to Boston
00:40:58
shipping up to Boston but not in the fun way Drop Kick Murphy's sty though where
00:41:02
she was held in a local jail cell waiting her trial for witchcraft she was held there for a month oh my God and you
00:41:09
can only imagine the conditions think of the worst conditions you can ever imagine that's what jail was back then
00:41:14
10 yeah and that's what they would have you wait in for your witchcraft trial that you were placed on trial for
00:41:20
because [ __ ] didn't like you I truly can't and couldn't mine their own [ __ ] business and just stay to their
00:41:28
own [ __ ] they had to get in your [ __ ] this is so sad like now I I didn't realize she was 60 and that adds so much
00:41:34
more s happily just you know she should have been happily just being being kind of craggly you know like just let her
00:41:44
let her live she's a victim of circumstance so just leave her the [ __ ] alone don't interact with her don't pass
00:41:49
her house she's not trying to hang out with you I mean according to them she really was she really wanted to go into
00:41:55
people's houses she's like maybe that's the thing maybe she just wanted a [ __ ] she did and
00:42:00
everyone was just being a dick barged in like let's hang you know maybe she just
00:42:03
needed some social accuse that's all yeah now again sat for a month in jail and then her trial began on MAR on May
00:42:11
22nd 1683 and Was Heard by Governor Simon Brad street and nine of his uh fellow you know powerful men uh now
00:42:21
after hearing the charges they said seems pretty real reasonable I think we should take this to trial seems
00:42:29
pretty reasonable that you became a hen yeah and then they said we should take this to trial and there was an
00:42:36
indictment written up and the indictment read the grand jury being impanel they on perusal of the evidences returned
00:42:43
that they did indict Mary Webster for that she not having the fear of God before her eyes that's always my
00:42:49
favorite part of it she you are not you don't have the fear of God in you so you
00:42:54
must be an evil piece of [ __ ] that we need to kill and it's like huh why that people still feel that way uh so not
00:43:01
having the fear of God before her eyes and being instigated by the devil hath entered into Covenant and had
00:43:07
familiarity with him in the shape of a warni which is a Fisher or wild black cat of the woods and had his imps
00:43:14
sucking her and teet or marks found on her as they love a they love a te and they love an imp sucking oh they love it
00:43:22
um that's the thing I'm like look inside of yourselves yeah look inside not going
00:43:26
to King Shame here but like look inside of yourselves and just like come to grips with what you're really focused on
00:43:31
you guys should just start writing fan fiction about Mary weer listen to some like you know what if we had had like
00:43:37
book talks like fairy smut books rolling around that R Dann if we had had that back then I think everybody would have
00:43:45
been okay they would have sat in their houses read some fairy smut gotten their [ __ ] together and come out into the
00:43:51
world and been a little less wound up I think so that's all I'm saying to be clear alen is the one reading the fairy
00:43:56
SM she just showed me the song I don't know anything about run other than that he's the Crown Prince I'm going to read
00:44:01
the Crescent City book because Crown Prince I don't know I haven't even gotten to him yet no but it's the song
00:44:06
um run R Crown Prince of the is it the balarin orar and F I haven't gotten to them yet so I am reading Crescent City
00:44:16
though I've been sucked into it but they need some fairy smut um so yeah so you know teats marks on her all that good
00:44:23
stuff and by several testimonies May here contrary to the Peace of our Sovereign Lord the king his crown and
00:44:29
dignity the laws of God and his jurisdiction the court on their serious consideration of the testimonies did
00:44:35
leave her to further trial I got to go nonsense I must go she would spent another week sitting in a Boston jail
00:44:44
and then was brought back before the court of assistance on June 1st where she was formally tried um and there is
00:44:51
one piece of documentation from that trial that we can look at that says Mary Webster was now called and brought to
00:44:56
the bar and was indicted to which indictments she pleaded not guilty making no exception against any of the
00:45:02
jury leaving herself to be Tried by God in the country the indictment I'm like he doesn't try though like you guys have
00:45:09
to try her yeah like where is he at the indictment and evidences in the case were read and committed to the jury and
00:45:14
the jury brought in their verdict that they found her not guilty okay I didn't see that coming she was acquitted she
00:45:22
was acquitted of the charge of Witchcraft Mary Webster turned to Hadley and all was supposed to be great but you
00:45:29
know what it was her neighbors that were pissed the court quitted her they weren't going to bring her back in but
00:45:35
they weren't they weren't done yet but the neighbors were pissed now when Mary Webster was first accused of Witchcraft
00:45:41
and bought before the county court um Among The Men Who examined her and considered the evidence against her was
00:45:47
Philip Smith who was a local judge and a deacon for the town of Hadley okay in his later accounts of the story cotton
00:45:54
ma oh who everybody remembers cotton ma that should have like some kind of Reverb on it like scary Reverb in your
00:46:04
brain he um it's like mother mother yeah just it's it's there's some evil in there um he describes Smith as follows
00:46:11
Mr Philip Smith a man of about 50 years a son of eminently virtuous parents a deacon of a church at Hadley a member of
00:46:18
our general court a man of their County Court a selectman for the Affairs of the
00:46:22
Town a lieutenant in the troop and which Crowns All a man for for devotion and gravity and all that was honest
00:46:29
exceedingly exemplary um you can stop sucking his dick now like you because you know what cotton ma likely never met
00:46:38
this man just want to put that out there really loved him he likely never met Philip Smith but because Philip Smith
00:46:45
was down to get some witches he Lov hanging by some ropes cotton ma was like what a [ __ ]
00:46:53
virtuous gift to our entire planet this man is and it's like settle the [ __ ] down cotton take all of the SE sett the
00:47:02
[ __ ] down and by the way speaking of cotton Ma I think I might take another look at those Salem Witch Trials and
00:47:09
kind of like revamp our series on it cuz I would love that I've read more into it
00:47:14
and I have more to say so there's always more to say with Alena rart you know it's happening I love it so he [ __ ] his
00:47:21
dick about Philip Smith even though he never met this man ever did not know what kind of man he was strange but you
00:47:27
know despite Mary Webster being acquitted of the charge of Witchcraft was which was no easy feat no uh but and
00:47:34
this was a court in Boston so this is a big court she probably knew that this wasn't even the end of it oh yeah Smith
00:47:40
Philip Smith maintained that she was a witch she was in League with the devil he would not be
00:47:47
convinced she wasn't and that's why cotton ma loved him he wasn't going to give up right beginning in January 1864
00:47:54
apparently Philip Smith's Health began ailing a little bit and it was very obvious it wasn't like you know and they
00:48:01
said he showed such weakness from the weariness of the world that he knew not he said whether he might not he might
00:48:08
pray for his continuance here so he wasn't even going to pray to live okay because he was so weary of the world I
00:48:14
mean and and that's what cotton ma had written by the way but he didn't know him he didn't know got it um but
00:48:21
basically what he was saying was that you know his righteous spiritual battles were with evil were just taking its toll
00:48:27
on him and he was such a we should you know wow like this man we should wow this man is on his deathbed because he's
00:48:36
just been fighting this this righteous war with the devil so hard and he doesn't even know if he wants to stay
00:48:42
here anymore because it's just been too hard this this is making my head hurt and I'm like I don't know I think it's
00:48:46
just the 1600s and he's dying of things you die of in the 1600s probably and also when
00:48:54
you're that [ __ ] wound up about everybody all the time yeah you're probably going to die sooner because
00:48:58
your [ __ ] is all rocked inside so like you should calm down Cal down you know moai quit murdering people quit hanging
00:49:07
truly now like the court records that have since you know really been lost to time at this point of course there's not
00:49:14
a lot of Doc documentation about Smith's Illness but according to Bridget Marshall in the time leading up to his
00:49:20
death the decline of his physical health and body was accompanied by a lot of like emotional and mental issues as well
00:49:28
um he had fits of delirium and they would definitely frighten everybody around him like his nurses anybody that
00:49:35
was watching over his bedside I'm sure it was terrifying I mean that would be scary now even with all we know but back
00:49:42
then yeah that was I mean that's what the witch trial is basically where it started from well and that kind of like
00:49:48
happens at the end of your life I mean any number of things can happen at the end of your life nobody nobody goes out
00:49:54
the same way you know it's like that's and back then you looked at Fitz and delirium as being magical like they were
00:50:01
spurned by something evil meanwhile it was like probably just his body shutting down just biological processes uh but to
00:50:08
a puritanical society that was very deeply entrenched in Legends and superstitions in religious Doctrine God
00:50:16
the very and Marshall points out the author the very visible strug struggle he endured with his illness no doubt
00:50:22
appeared to the Puritan audience as a fight with the Devil and with cotton ma writing that this is
00:50:28
his righteous battle with the devil that is killing him it's just compounding that's so wild that they were like he's
00:50:35
heing it out with the devil yeah this isn't just illness this is him literally in a cage match with the devil wow now
00:50:43
in his delirium he would rant like Philip Smith would rant a lot he would ramble he would he was very incoherent
00:50:50
this there and everywhere we've all if you've Loved Someone that's been at the end of their your life they're life you
00:50:55
know there can be some moments where you're like I have no idea where you are right now but you're telling me about it
00:51:01
right um and again a lot of local people and found and his neighbors found that they were thinking this was him being
00:51:08
possessed and this was the effects of black magic not anything biological no never now because Smith had been one of
00:51:16
the most like loud and aggressive proponents of Mary Webster's guilt even after her acquit many of the men in town
00:51:25
concluded that Webster must be to blame for this illness I knew that was coming yeah they said this is definitely
00:51:34
revenge for his having tried to bring her to Justice and you know this is all her this is like he's being the Target
00:51:40
and after him you better believe the next person on the list is going to be someone else involved in the trial
00:51:45
that's ridiculous and the longer his illness went on the stranger and more wild the stories of his symptoms became
00:51:51
um one of the most absurd things that was stated like officially about it was that in his sick room they claimed that
00:51:58
medicines had been emptied by unseen hands and that a fire mysteriously appeared under his bed and then stopped
00:52:05
was he burned I was like I feel like you should be looking in at him if fires are
00:52:09
starting under his bed what a i starts burn like what's going on there what the [ __ ] now according to our pal cotton
00:52:15
Ma's account of it is not my pal who again believed that very much believed that Webster was to blame um they and
00:52:23
apparently they decided to test this theory that uh Mary was to blame uh people in the town came to Philip or uh
00:52:33
excuse me came to Mary's home and decided to do witch disturbance on her because remember if they think you're
00:52:38
[ __ ] around they can just come and beat the [ __ ] out of you God so cotton ma wrote an account of this even though
00:52:45
he was not there by all account again um some of the young men in the town being
00:52:49
out of their wits at the strange calamities thus upon one of their most beloved Neighbors when three or four
00:52:55
times to give disturbance unto the woman this thus complained of and all the while they were disturbing of her which
00:53:01
by the way writing disturbing of her remember what we're saying here he's saying all the while while these men
00:53:06
came in and beat the [ __ ] out of a 60-year-old woman in her home all the while while they were
00:53:12
beating the [ __ ] out of a 60-year-old woman at her home he was at ease Philip Smith and slept as a weary man these
00:53:21
were the only times they had perceived him to take any sleep in all his illness while everyone was beating the [ __ ] out
00:53:26
of an elderly woman that's good yeah I'm glad he rested easy during that period but it's her who's consorting with the
00:53:32
devil like y'all you're telling me the only time this man got sleep was when a elderly 60-year-old woman cuz that's
00:53:39
elderly back then yeah it's not elderly now so don't come for me but back in the
00:53:44
1600s that was you were you were past your point of like damn look at you you were wi one exactly but they're beating
00:53:53
a 60-year-old woman this is so upsetting and he's sleeping soundly like a [ __ ]
00:53:58
baby but she's the one consorting with the devil my God everybody he's just living on his death bed God like let's
00:54:05
just look at what's happening here but nobody's going to speak up but again it was very very long believed that to stop
00:54:14
a witch from you know furthering any harm she was doing through magic or her spells was to physically restrain or
00:54:21
stop her in some way my God and when Philip Smith finally died from his illness on January 10th 1685 a group of
00:54:29
young men set upon Mary Webster at her home they dragged her from her house and they hung her from a tree by her neck oh
00:54:37
my god um yeah now at this time the uh Gallows and trapo had not been invented yet so it is very likely
00:54:50
and really the only way that they just hanged her from a tree and allowed her to
00:54:56
strangle oh my God I told you this is a rough one holy [ __ ] she lost Consciousness and when they when she was
00:55:04
no longer moving they cut her down they rolled her body in the snow for some time and then they finally buried her in
00:55:12
the snow and left her for dead I am without words yeah so what we've seen here is
00:55:21
that obviously the men of Hadley it was only men who did this by the way that Che of Hadley very were obviously
00:55:27
disappointed by the Boston's Court decision and certain that Mary was guilty so they decided to enact mob
00:55:33
Justice and they figured they could just get rid of Mary Webster and that this gave them reason once Philip Smith died
00:55:39
it was her fault they they felt validated picturing that in your head they broke I'm sorry I'm not over this
00:55:45
yet they broke into her home dragged her out probably hanged her from a tree on her own [ __ ] property probably and
00:55:53
then rolled her and buried her in the snow so she probably likely died of hypothermia among other things well you
00:56:02
know it's it came to a big surprise to the men that uh when they came back she didn't
00:56:11
die what she was still alive what a bad [ __ ] yep and what's even better is that
00:56:20
Mary Webster lived another 11 years before dying of natural causes in 1969 at around the age of 70 or so that's my
00:56:29
girly right there Mary Webster said [ __ ] you she said Dave's Ys lit leg she she
00:56:36
said [ __ ] Y'all [ __ ] y'all she said [ __ ] Y'all Dave's Ys she said Philip Smith
00:56:44
won't be seeing you for a while bye holy canoli I did not see that one coming cotton ma must have [ __ ] his dick oh and
00:56:54
on that day those men what I wouldn't give to be now and travel back there with just like a an iPhone so you could
00:57:03
just like record all their reactions and then pop back here and be like check out
00:57:06
these [ __ ] [ __ ] you know they all like some of them cried oh my God but that's it's like amazing that she was
00:57:14
able to live that long and I'm so happy but one to go through that and who knows
00:57:19
where it ended I'm sure people were still breaking into house after that but I'm like [ __ ] yeah good for you living
00:57:25
out the rest of your [ __ ] days and being like [ __ ] all you y'll be damned like damn wow Mary Webster I didn't see
00:57:32
that yeah so you know the colonial Witch Trials up to and including those in Salem were definitely about power a lot
00:57:40
of it um obviously there were some cases like Sarah Bridgeman and Mary Parsons that were just jealousy petty [ __ ]
00:57:46
grievances um but they were fueled by a religious body as well that sought to use Superstition misogyny at the time
00:57:55
and great fear of the unknown to maintain their stronghold on the colonies that's so again it goes right
00:58:03
back to Power and the end of everything and keeping everybody keeping everyone in line yeah nobody they don't want
00:58:09
anyone speaking out against they believe this so you're going to believe it and you're going to shut the [ __ ] up if you
00:58:13
don't ype um this was particularly true for our guy cotton ma who was one of the
00:58:18
loudest and most aggressive proponents of the witch hunts in all of the colonial era now in 1689 he actually
00:58:25
published the account of Philip Smith's illness and death and he named Smith specifically but he did not name Mary
00:58:31
Webster he wouldn't name her wonder why uh he used the account to among other things promote the righteousness and
00:58:37
virtu virtuousness of Smith and his efforts his you know his righteous efforts to rid Hadley of Witchcraft and
00:58:45
he also kept promoting the belief that the colony as a whole was just lousy with witches and practitioner
00:58:52
practitioners of black magic and again it's important to remember like I said earlier cotton ma was not a resident of
00:59:00
Hadley and it's unlik sh about it that he had ever been there before and he definitely didn't know Philip Smith or
00:59:08
Mary Webster so what the [ __ ] is your get out of everybody's business [ __ ] he's a busy body he's the definition of
00:59:15
a bus he know Mary he didn't know Philip Smith he'd never been to Hadley what what are you doing right and of course
00:59:21
he did include some documented facts about the case in his account but a lot of what he wrote was just biased
00:59:27
fictionalized [ __ ] just [ __ ] and very much just like preaching what he wanted to preach of course he wasn't
00:59:35
trying to give a historical account of something that happened he wanted something that would boost his uh his
00:59:42
argument in favor of witch hunting and unfortunately it worked because as we know just a few years later in 1692 and
00:59:50
1693 stories like that of Smith and Webster were used as supporting Arguments for the
00:59:58
outrageously barbaric witch trials in the Village of Salem um and it actually again it it ended up being that it was a
01:00:06
govern s a government sanctioned murder of 19 people which like when you really think of that it's just like your brain
01:00:15
can't even and most of them were young women who are guilty of literally nothing but couldn't defend themselves
01:00:23
because it was just this hysteric fed mob of people that were brought to that point by men like Cotton Mather who were
01:00:32
just like insane there's no other way to say group of [ __ ] just create hysteria and then it's like then these
01:00:41
little girls who were [ __ ] bored and everybody just decid that's what it was these little girls who are [ __ ] bored
01:00:47
and nasty cruel little [ __ ] and then these men who were trying to you know boost this argument anyway saw that and
01:00:55
said perfect we can use this it's like it all worked together just a bunch of [ __ ] working together what a
01:01:02
horrible time to be alive truly and when the witch trials came to an end in the spring of 1693 public hysteria had died
01:01:09
down and Order had started to be you know restored because that was looked at even by them as like what the [ __ ] just
01:01:18
happened yeah and the truth came to light that you know like these young women were all this all people young
01:01:25
women who had made the [ __ ] up about like the fits and being attacked and specters and all that [ __ ] that they
01:01:30
lied they came forward and said I made the whole thing up I was bored and the public reaction was [ __ ] horror and
01:01:36
revulsion they couldn't believe what they had done they were like I can't believe we have been taken so easily by
01:01:41
all this [ __ ] how gullible have we been and how cruel have we been like damn we suck to the point of murder
01:01:48
we've murdered young women because we were just easily LED but even after the order and Sanity had been restored to
01:01:56
Salem briefly cotton Ma and other of those guys like that were part of this whole thing some of the judges some of
01:02:03
the people that were into it like the higher up people they were still advocating for further witch hunts and
01:02:08
trials just to try to get that control back over the community and luckily their like you know it was kind of at
01:02:15
that point they were kind of like ignored and everybody was like now you're an [ __ ] you have to chill the
01:02:20
[ __ ] out guys but you know it's when you look back on it you're like wow that's
01:02:25
wild and it blows your mind but it's also when you look at 17th century colonies hysteria is not that wild to
01:02:33
think about CU When you think about it Colonial Life was miserable yeah it was incredibly difficult colonists often
01:02:41
relied on that dichotomy of Good and Evil just to explain the hundreds of hardships and tragedies and oppression
01:02:52
and awful [ __ ] that just fell into their Laps on a normal daily basis like their
01:02:56
cows dying and hens coming through the roof and falling into boiling pots of water but and that is truth that is
01:03:03
truth that it was a shitty time it was a shitty life and they were just looking for something to believe in and they
01:03:09
were using it something else but we cannot take away that misinformation and the spread of it and misogyny also
01:03:18
played an incredible role in that incredible at the Forefront I would say and even in the Boston Globe in
01:03:28
1977 Halal Clancy wrote that he talked about the story of Smith and Webster and he described Mary as quote in
01:03:37
1977 he described her as quote an aging spinster who wore Rags lived in a shack and got by Brewing love potions and
01:03:45
pedaling hexes she claimed to possess an evil eye that could dry up a cow at the
01:03:49
at a blink now he made the this article has like some of a like somewhat of like a
01:03:55
sa humorous tone to it but it's got tons of factual inaccuracies in it lies and it also just completely perpetuates what
01:04:05
started the witchcrafts in the first place The Witch Trials learned nothing this I was like that article just shows
01:04:13
you whoa you just literally looked at that whole thing you saw the lesson there and you just perpetuated it man
01:04:20
like he literally says basically his view of the history of that whole thing was the only plausible explanation for
01:04:26
why Mary Webster's neighbors believed her to be a witch and literally hanged her after she was acquitted for it was
01:04:32
because she portrayed herself as such she did it by being an old spinster by working with herbs and non-traditional
01:04:41
[ __ ] by not being a pleasant Flower by not you know preaching whatever it is they wanted her to preach she did it
01:04:50
literally in 1977 this man is just learning zero I was like holy [ __ ] Massachusetts
01:04:58
yeah that's embarrassing like this Massachusetts is my girl like I I ride for her Massachusetts is my be she's my
01:05:05
[ __ ] I love her I ride for her I love Massachusetts but it's proof that some people did not learn from their own [ __ ]
01:05:12
in 197 to be like she was a [ __ ] witch I'm like this is elderly abuse to like the highest level and you're like she
01:05:22
was a [ __ ] witch she made love potions I'm like I don't think they worked and also it's like she was a
01:05:27
witch they're basically just being like I don't know she portrayed herself as one so she could dry up some cows okay
01:05:33
so should they have hung her from a tree and buried her in the snow like you're are you is that what you're saying you
01:05:40
sure about that like you you're not sitting here saying like wow this six-year-old woman that was just like
01:05:45
trying to live her life by herself that people kept coming into her home and beating the [ __ ] out of her on a regular
01:05:51
basis don't act like a witch don't act act like a witch a damn how wow damn you would like that sounds like satire but
01:05:59
it's that's the Boston Globe like that's that's not damn W damg but yeah so that's the story of
01:06:07
Mary Webster and a couple of other witches but quote unquote yeah like that was uh I don't know that was that was
01:06:14
something that was wild and really upsetting but the fact that she was like [ __ ] y'all I mean it was like a Triumph
01:06:22
but then it's like couple years later we were like and now for the Salem wi trials where it's going to be really bad
01:06:28
my God but eventually you know eventually pour in out for all the witches out there okay yeah truly you
01:06:35
know damn holy [ __ ] but yeah I'm just like shook that that all of that happened and then however many years
01:06:42
later he was like yeah [ __ ] her right it's true [ __ ] her right yeah so that's
01:06:46
the story of half-hanged Mary that's what she's referred to woof yeah well with that we hope that you keep
01:06:52
listening and we hope you it weird but that's so weird that this because what question mark uh don't be stupid think
01:07:01
critically please get a life think critically [Music] please