@TheEsotericaChannel the best source of information about the Salem Witch Trials is Richard Trask, the Director of the Peabody Archives in Danvers, as well as a direct descendant of John Procter, one of the victims. He was heavily involved with doing the research on the execution site. Hopefully, you got an opportunity to meet with him.
speaking of what happened to people after, the last person left to be legally pardoned from their accusation, Elizabeth Johnson Jr., got it just last year (329 years late…) because an 8th grade class found out she hadn’t ever been cleared during a school project
But don't pardons mean their being accused and wrongfully executed was legitimate even if they were so not, and they were essentially wrongfully accused and murdered by state?
In the case of a living person in most US jurisdictions, @@genghisgalahad8465 , a pardon does imply guilt. For a posthumous pardon, there may be other implications, such as when exculpating evidence comes to light. In this case, Johnson was pardoned because witchcraft does not exist.
@@genghisgalahad8465 That would be correct, according to common law it would be murder, in this case the burden of appeal would fall to the British monarch who would then need to bring the appeal before God. Make of that what you will.
@@genghisgalahad8465 Yes, under the laws of the time all those arrested and the people executed were all done so legally. Several of the people arrested, whether they survived or not, were never officially pardoned in their lifetime. Just because the court realized they had been caught up in a hysteria and went ‘oh none of this is real’ doesn’t mean the court then went in and officially struck anything when they let everyone still in jail out. And honestly it probably didn’t matter that much back then, it’s not like now where a quick search can turn up a person’s entire legal history in minutes.
@stellabee2026 oh no, they can't now just go "oops, we panicked". Why are they giving the victims "pardon"? "Ya got murdered, but you're pardoned. OK, byye."
tituba's situation was truly barbaric. held as a slave and then savagely beaten by her master to the point of confessing to a crime likely to get her tortured and killed... the evil inflicted on that poor woman and the others was far more diabolical than any so-called devils. the most self-proclaimed pious societies always seem to be the most hideous when you look past the facade..
I think alot of that inhuman barbarity was socially acceptable at the time. I wonder how many of the europeans there had direct knowledge of those far more destructive witchfinder epidemics in europe. We all think we would have stood against those clearly horrible abuses in history,yet regularly buy and consume products made with inhuman cruelty and exploitation. The excuses we make for this are probably similar to the excuses people made who were reluctantly complicit with chattel slavery and witchtrials.
Long ago,, documentary about this,, most interesting theory,, property values,, Something about a new church,, living closest means better social status,, these Women apparently lived near what would be the new,, better Neighborhood,, after getting rid of them.. terrible.. sickening.. always sad
@@drphosferrous i mean it is unfortunately next to impossible to avoid supporting those cruel and exploitative practices in the modern world but i do agree a lot of people who like to think they would have been on the right side of history just wouldnt have been. atrocities are able to get so big because of how many people are just indifferent about them. most of those participating in the holocaust (including the most influential players) were not uniquely evil or sociopathic they were otherwise normal people who were just complacent ("just following orders"). when teaching the holocaust in schools we dont really teach as much as we should about the way we can recognize these tendencies in ourselves and others. i think supporting exploitative practices isnt very comperable bc it often happens without us knowing it, not like the witch trials or chattel slavery
that article headline you showed about how the site of the hangings was a popular spooky halloween destination and how much that tone has changed once they put up a memorial is so striking imo. the way we detach ourselves from certain parts of history when we really have no reason to, kinda similar to how true crime mythologises real suffering, often of people who are still alive now. the memorial kinda jolts you back into reality that these were real people and what was done to them was horrific and tragic, a slave was tortured into confession and later just sold to another guy for half-off, its not a ghost story
It really doesn't matter how many times the Salam Witch Trials have been covered, nor how many times I've read or watched video's on them, I've always found some new nugget of information and knowledge that I had never learned before. Thank you for adding to that here.
Absolutely wonderful analysis of the Salem Witch Trials! I first learned about it as a kid and have been steadily learning more since then, but you’ve really presented some wonderful new perspective and facts that I didn’t know previously. Marvelous work, as always! 🥰
No matter the particular topic of these videos, the rad humor is always there helping me not only make my brain more awesome, but also making me chuckle, then cackle like a witch myself sometimes… Thank you for all the great material, educated knowledge, inside view of this world, and balanced entertainment. Truly appreciate your humor. lol
As I pressed play I thought, I wonder how long it will take for somebody to bring up the ergotism in the comments. I like that you shut it down right away and I hope no one here bugged you about it. This was a great video, thank you!
Apropos of barely something: Recently found out an ancestor of mine, Ebenezer Pease, testified at the trial cuz a daughter in law was accused - evidently she got off. Unfortunately, I don’t know if she truly was a witch and did in fact copulate with the devil, turned cow’s milk sour, or boil over pots with no heat source, or other such cackling shenanigans . Oh well, guess it’ll just have to remain a mystery 🤷♂
I have a friend that lives in Salem. We stay there ever so often. Advice: do NOT go during October. Come to think of it, stay away starting the middle of September. It’s like Times Square in NYC of NYE.
Thank you for covering this, and I'm glad you found some of the real stuff here in Salem. Dr. Baker was my advisor in undergrad, an absolutely fantastic professor and person, AND the archeologist who led the search for Gallows Hill that was just found a few years ago. Oh and fun fact about Danvers State Hospital, the horror film Sense 8 was filmed there when it was still a ruin. If you ever come back the Rebecca Nurse Homestead out in Danvers is a good visit too!
wow, i can't believe i'm only just now learning that dr. justin sledge is a fan of black metal. makes sense, though, it being an occult AND nerdy genre. here for it 💯
If you ever came back here someday ,there is so much more than Salem ,Hoosac Tunnel,old prison camps in the woods,haunted houses,America's Stone Henge just over the line in New Hampshire.Come and enjoy all things Creepy-Chusetts ,and go Bruins and Celtics !!
8:30 Kinda weird how the two simplest explanations always seem to be either psychoactive drugs or occult practice. Reminds me of "Religion for Breakfeast" debunking of the tripping oracle of Deplhes hypothesis.
@@TheEsotericaChannel What is low key hilarious is that the way it was coined in Aldous Huxley's correspondence, psychedelism is all about undergoing volountary consciousness altering processes to document what happens (see the Doors of Perception). So it is, in many ways, very much about a certain form of secularized/immanentized mysticism than just "getting high and see stuff". The way words are stripped of substance makes my Deleuzian self sad and my Wittgensteinian self puzzled.
I live in Central Massachusetts, near Sudbury, and a friend and myself did a bunch of research on Samuel Parris and even Tituba. The nearest I can tell is that Samuel Parris was a grifter scumbag who would get free wood and supplies andsuch from citizens of the town of Sudbury and would whip people into religious fervor and was basically a priest who abused his position. I don't remember everything of our research a few years ago but Tituba seemed like a bit of an accomplice to this all. I was in contact with the Sudbury Historical Society for some of this. Covid hit and our Project, The Coffin Society, was dissolved! I wish we finished the project... we even found the graveyard where Parris was said to be buried... but I believe they moved the body because of defacement. In the end our conclusion was that it was a case of ignorant people being taken advantage of and mob mentality.
Hello Dr. Sledge! I watched and enjoyed this video of yours yesterday and made a mental note of the musical recommendation. Today at work I found the album and gave it a listen, and having not heard a quality black metal album in awhile, oh man, it's really quality. Some people think atmosphere is crucial in black metal, and that album absolutely nails it. Intimidating in that specific hysterical Puritan way, evocative of long past trauma and witchcraft, it's great. IDK what your opinions on Sludge and Doom metal might be, but the guy from Reverend Bizarre had a project back in the 2000s called "The Puritan", it also evokes some intimidating and terrifying images of the time period but in a different metal format, much slower and thicker, maybe you'd find it interesting if you're ever looking for something different.
Interesting note: historians Emerson "Tad" Baker and Marilyn Roche were the ones who discovered the execution site where the 19 suspected witches were hanged. There's a really good episode of America Unearthed on the Smithsonian Channel that talks about it. It's titled "Salem's Secrets". I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in the Salem Witch Trials.
This stuff has always interested me, with a bit of silly stuff when I was younger (silly to me but I know not for others). My great grandma was a tungsten miner during WWI with many of my family (no, there is no wealth in my family from this though I’m certain there was some, just not for my parents or siblings). We do have a legal family tree specifying that the Putnams and Proctors (the same ones from that book we all read) either married or at least had children, who are our relatives. I haven’t looked at the tree in years but I have the original with stamp to the ire of my siblings lol. Just super interesting reading about relatives, especially families seemingly at ends with each other, and how it led to us. Now, I only have the family tree that says they are relatives, but it’s more than most I guess. It got me in a fun place in my late teens that I truly just abandoned as real life after undergrad became more significant than moons and herbs, and signs and all that. So it went by the wayside as life pushed forward. Occasionally someone talks about the trials, and I find myself here again :) Anyhoot, my great grandma had few stories about it other than she was extremely “connected” to spirits in the years I knew her. She passed away around 1990 (May be off a bit) and was born in 1892 (again I’m just best guessing). She always referred to spirits and being a good soul and all that. No real comment here, sorry. Maybe I’m just touting my strange, or at least faux-strange, heritage. Just want to say here that, if my tree is accurate, the fams from the crucible apparently joined together in later generations (one or two after the story takes place). We see them all in the tree but a branch or two down a son from one and a daughter from another came together. I’d love to share the tree but I have notifications turned off. If you’re actually interested maybe message me and I can send a couple pics. Likely not though just since I never really attend to these after a post. Peace and love and may you treat others in a way that makes you and the generations after you proud. Maybe we are all one, maybe some are damned to somewhere else, or maybe it’s all just nonsense.
The higher story of your family is always worthy of mentioning. I often wonder how my forebears survived the experiences they as individuals were to face
I wrote a research paper on the Salem Witch Trials for my 11th Grade English class in high school. I honestly didn't know about them until after I read Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible", and realized that it was based on the Salem Witch Trials records.
There was an excellent dramatization on the American Playhouse in the 1980s called, Three Sovereigns for Sarah, and it starred Vanessa Redgrave. A couple of years later they did a fantastic dramatization of the Roanoke Colony mystery called, Roanoke.
@@TheEsotericaChannel Sadly, I've experienced horrible trauma about 4 months ago, and that really takes a toll on me, and the state of the world just comes on top of that. The election results in the Netherlands are also deeply concerning. But YT videos and exchanges in comment sections really do matter, so thank you so so much for your compassion ❤️
Excellent video! Thanks for delving into this aspect of the witch trials. I must say, you make me wish I could play an instrument and start a band. You come up with some great names.
I am extra fascinated because my 7th-ish great grandfather was Thomas Flint who called out Giles Cory & others. Just found this out a couple of years ago. Once of my first acting roles in High School was Giles Cory in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. Howz that for Karma? Gonna be going to Salem for the first time this year.
Here's a question you might know the answer to. Did a lot of those Salem children come from the Cosco (what we today call Portland Maine) massacre? I've heard people in Salem say that Salem families adopted children that survived that French/ Indian attack and that they were pretty much damaged goods by the time they got to Salem. Which I find interesting IF true....
The crux of Tituba being spared the death penalty is this: she confessed to witchcraft, and gave up the names of several other women who she believed practiced witchcraft along with her.
With modern contexts available for what we consider "conspiratorial thinking", I'm inclined to imagine how many Salemites were working hard to counter the witch panic and save their neighbors from execution.
I know for myself at least the witch trials were my firat experience with finding and reading primary sources that really led to my love of the esoteric
Yknow on the topic of colonial US esotericism, have you done any work about Braucherei (Pennsylvania Dutch Pow-wowing)? I grew up in outer PA dutch country and i find it super interesting
I would love to see an episode comparing and contrasting the objective good / evil resulting from skepticism Vs religion/superstition of any and all sorts. Don't get me wrong, quite interested in the topic academically, just interested in the comparative cost benefit analysis of skeptical Vs less than skeptical thinking.
well I certainly don't know a lot about the Salem witch trials, so it was informative to hear the ergot theory is out. I'm curious though, considering the age of the girls, 9 and 11, is there any evidence regarding period symptoms? It just struck me, as they are just at the aproximate appropriate age for getting their periods so I couldn't help but wonder if that may have played into the tragedy somehow.
I suspect they were imitating or influenced by the 1688 diabolism in Boston. Symptomology is very similar and these cultural specific diseases can spread really quickly as they did in Salem and beyond
There's a really good black metal band called, Bell Witch, and they have an amazing album/song called Mirror Reaper, it's 1:23:15 long, technically one song, but also an album in of itself.
Totally unrelated to the video, but I couldn’t help but notice that you said, “here, in Michigan,” when discussing the fact that Abigail Williams could’ve retired and buried in Mackinaw Island, I kept asking myself, “is he from Michigan, or at least live here?” As a Michigander, it would be awesome to have such a prominent religious and esoteric professor on YT representing the Mitten State. So, basically I’m asking, are u from Michigan. ☺️
I have to fully admit that I have a serious love-hate relationship with this Early Modern Peroid of history; I adore folklore and folk practices and with literacy becoming more and more prevalent in this period it much better documented than previous centuries. That being said there is movement that is very dedicated to the witch-cult theory that the victims of Early Modern Witch Hunts were in fact practicing the old pagan religion of many centuries before. 'We're the granddaughters of the witches you couldnt burn' slogan sort of thing. To me it's such a blatant rejection of the history we know of this period, and rejection of the few personal stories we know that it reduces a frankly horrific time of history into a kitchy slogan and effectively stripping humanity away from people who were very real people and their very real suffering. This was a bit of a rank, please forgive me, but we seem to forget a lot of the time that people from history may have been different from us but we are fundamentally still the same human people we always were and remembering that has always been a big point for me when doing research.
I have always wondered if there was no truth at all within the accusations of witchcraft, then why has Salem Village become a point of focus to remember the martyrdom for those who practice the craft?
I've heard it said that a lot of the property of the accused and executed would be appropriated by the courts and judges in particular. If true than this would have a much more material and cynical motivation while explaining why propertyless Tituba was spared.
Hey Dr. Sledge. I’m not sure if you look at RUclips comments much, but I just finished reading Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou’s “God: An Anatomy” and would love for you to do a video or series on Asherah and the ancient polytheistic origins of Yahweh and Judaism, as for obvious reasons, there isn’t a lot of information out there on it. The Yahwehist cults and ancient Levant mythologies are super cool and there’s a story she brings up in her book about Yahweh getting captured by Dagon and using his footstool to stop Dagon’s head in (which is metal as hell).
Hi I love your videos, im watching this on the full moon and noticed how my menstrual cycle always beings on the full moon and i wander what would this have meant for me back then? Would my husband think im a witch? I would love to see a video about what we believed about the menstrual cycle pre modern religion because as we know the menstrual cycle has been heavily demonised and is still a taboo topic to this day but its the most natural bodily function that brings new life into the world, this has always fascinated me but there's few factual videos out there on the history of the topic
Jerusalem was know as Salem before David conquered it. Wonder what ther " Jeru " that was added over time meant. Or if it was just natural language change over time.. Jeru-salem
I recently read the book killing witches co written by bill reilly (my mom really likes his book series) . I still can’t believe how far the witch trials went on the words of children. Now, o’reilly tied it in to cancel culture and how society get wrapped up very quickly. Justin, you highlight good points that will make for great discussion with my mom 😊
" I still can't believe how far the witch trials went on the word of children". McMartin satanic sex abuse trials and the resulting hysteria and panic surrounding them. Human nature doesn't seem to change very much, does it?
Lol dude you are so awesome, I was wondering why you had metal font on your merch, I wasn't expecting that 🫡 BTW just discovered your channel and subscribed, thanks for doing this content
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@TheEsotericaChannel the best source of information about the Salem Witch Trials is Richard Trask, the Director of the Peabody Archives in Danvers, as well as a direct descendant of John Procter, one of the victims. He was heavily involved with doing the research on the execution site. Hopefully, you got an opportunity to meet with him.
speaking of what happened to people after, the last person left to be legally pardoned from their accusation, Elizabeth Johnson Jr., got it just last year (329 years late…) because an 8th grade class found out she hadn’t ever been cleared during a school project
But don't pardons mean their being accused and wrongfully executed was legitimate even if they were so not, and they were essentially wrongfully accused and murdered by state?
In the case of a living person in most US jurisdictions, @@genghisgalahad8465 , a pardon does imply guilt. For a posthumous pardon, there may be other implications, such as when exculpating evidence comes to light. In this case, Johnson was pardoned because witchcraft does not exist.
@@genghisgalahad8465 That would be correct, according to common law it would be murder, in this case the burden of appeal would fall to the British monarch who would then need to bring the appeal before God. Make of that what you will.
@@genghisgalahad8465 Yes, under the laws of the time all those arrested and the people executed were all done so legally.
Several of the people arrested, whether they survived or not, were never officially pardoned in their lifetime. Just because the court realized they had been caught up in a hysteria and went ‘oh none of this is real’ doesn’t mean the court then went in and officially struck anything when they let everyone still in jail out. And honestly it probably didn’t matter that much back then, it’s not like now where a quick search can turn up a person’s entire legal history in minutes.
@stellabee2026 oh no, they can't now just go "oops, we panicked". Why are they giving the victims "pardon"? "Ya got murdered, but you're pardoned. OK, byye."
tituba's situation was truly barbaric. held as a slave and then savagely beaten by her master to the point of confessing to a crime likely to get her tortured and killed... the evil inflicted on that poor woman and the others was far more diabolical than any so-called devils. the most self-proclaimed pious societies always seem to be the most hideous when you look past the facade..
Agreed
Yup!
I think alot of that inhuman barbarity was socially acceptable at the time. I wonder how many of the europeans there had direct knowledge of those far more destructive witchfinder epidemics in europe. We all think we would have stood against those clearly horrible abuses in history,yet regularly buy and consume products made with inhuman cruelty and exploitation. The excuses we make for this are probably similar to the excuses people made who were reluctantly complicit with chattel slavery and witchtrials.
Long ago,, documentary about this,, most interesting theory,, property values,, Something about a new church,, living closest means better social status,, these Women apparently lived near what would be the new,, better Neighborhood,, after getting rid of them.. terrible.. sickening.. always sad
@@drphosferrous i mean it is unfortunately next to impossible to avoid supporting those cruel and exploitative practices in the modern world but i do agree a lot of people who like to think they would have been on the right side of history just wouldnt have been. atrocities are able to get so big because of how many people are just indifferent about them. most of those participating in the holocaust (including the most influential players) were not uniquely evil or sociopathic they were otherwise normal people who were just complacent ("just following orders"). when teaching the holocaust in schools we dont really teach as much as we should about the way we can recognize these tendencies in ourselves and others. i think supporting exploitative practices isnt very comperable bc it often happens without us knowing it, not like the witch trials or chattel slavery
that article headline you showed about how the site of the hangings was a popular spooky halloween destination and how much that tone has changed once they put up a memorial is so striking imo. the way we detach ourselves from certain parts of history when we really have no reason to, kinda similar to how true crime mythologises real suffering, often of people who are still alive now. the memorial kinda jolts you back into reality that these were real people and what was done to them was horrific and tragic, a slave was tortured into confession and later just sold to another guy for half-off, its not a ghost story
And that's why this channel tries to get away from that hype stuff - if we just try to listen, history has a lot to teach us
@@TheEsotericaChannel 🫡
I always wondered how Tituba escaped death in the witch trials, thanks for exploring this.
The scholarly interest of black metal fans and musicians will always be a point of pride for me. ❤️🤘
Never hesitate to cover common cases! Your delivery is unique and superb. Ill always watch
It really doesn't matter how many times the Salam Witch Trials have been covered, nor how many times I've read or watched video's on them, I've always found some new nugget of information and knowledge that I had never learned before. Thank you for adding to that here.
Check out the trailer for The Sudbury Devil - ruclips.net/video/lbxy91HbtXg/видео.html
Absolutely wonderful analysis of the Salem Witch Trials! I first learned about it as a kid and have been steadily learning more since then, but you’ve really presented some wonderful new perspective and facts that I didn’t know previously. Marvelous work, as always! 🥰
There's a great documentary called the Pendle Witch Child which explores the origin of the legal basis for what happened in Salem.
Many thanks for your relentless work Dr Sledge. Always an education, always a pleasure. Much appreciated ! M.
No matter the particular topic of these videos, the rad humor is always there helping me not only make my brain more awesome, but also making me chuckle, then cackle like a witch myself sometimes… Thank you for all the great material, educated knowledge, inside view of this world, and balanced entertainment. Truly appreciate your humor. lol
As I pressed play I thought, I wonder how long it will take for somebody to bring up the ergotism in the comments. I like that you shut it down right away and I hope no one here bugged you about it.
This was a great video, thank you!
Yeah, there should be a term for long-debunked but still popular theories
I work at two 17th century properties here in Salem and I get asked about ergot once a week. During October, I get it several times a day.
Well put context: judicial mass murder. And thoughtful breakdown. I put down my firebrand to actually listen and learn a moment!
History can suck. I always felt horrible for Tituba, bad enough being enslaved but to also be owned by a madman.
Apropos of barely something: Recently found out an ancestor of mine, Ebenezer Pease, testified at the trial cuz a daughter in law was accused - evidently she got off. Unfortunately, I don’t know if she truly was a witch and did in fact copulate with the devil, turned cow’s milk sour, or boil over pots with no heat source, or other such cackling shenanigans . Oh well, guess it’ll just have to remain a mystery 🤷♂
This is a good one, Dr. Sledge.
I have a friend that lives in Salem. We stay there ever so often. Advice: do NOT go during October. Come to think of it, stay away starting the middle of September. It’s like Times Square in NYC of NYE.
It's my theory that Bruce Wayne is a patient at Lovecraft's Arkham Asylum, all the Batman stuff is his madness.
Thank you for covering this, and I'm glad you found some of the real stuff here in Salem. Dr. Baker was my advisor in undergrad, an absolutely fantastic professor and person, AND the archeologist who led the search for Gallows Hill that was just found a few years ago. Oh and fun fact about Danvers State Hospital, the horror film Sense 8 was filmed there when it was still a ruin. If you ever come back the Rebecca Nurse Homestead out in Danvers is a good visit too!
Session 9 is the best film I've seen filmed there. Just an amazing film in general.
I fell asleep watching this last night so here I am "rewatching" it first thing in the morning.
New esoterica video… LETS GOOOOO
wow, i can't believe i'm only just now learning that dr. justin sledge is a fan of black metal. makes sense, though, it being an occult AND nerdy genre. here for it 💯
you're one of the coolest people on this side of youtube
If you ever came back here someday ,there is so much more than Salem ,Hoosac Tunnel,old prison camps in the woods,haunted houses,America's Stone Henge just over the line in New Hampshire.Come and enjoy all things Creepy-Chusetts ,and go Bruins and Celtics !!
8:30 Kinda weird how the two simplest explanations always seem to be either psychoactive drugs or occult practice. Reminds me of "Religion for Breakfeast" debunking of the tripping oracle of Deplhes hypothesis.
Yeah I call it "psychedelic reductionism" - it's prevalent in online spaces and almost always baseless
@@TheEsotericaChannel What is low key hilarious is that the way it was coined in Aldous Huxley's correspondence, psychedelism is all about undergoing volountary consciousness altering processes to document what happens (see the Doors of Perception). So it is, in many ways, very much about a certain form of secularized/immanentized mysticism than just "getting high and see stuff".
The way words are stripped of substance makes my Deleuzian self sad and my Wittgensteinian self puzzled.
I live in Central Massachusetts, near Sudbury, and a friend and myself did a bunch of research on Samuel Parris and even Tituba. The nearest I can tell is that Samuel Parris was a grifter scumbag who would get free wood and supplies andsuch from citizens of the town of Sudbury and would whip people into religious fervor and was basically a priest who abused his position. I don't remember everything of our research a few years ago but Tituba seemed like a bit of an accomplice to this all. I was in contact with the Sudbury Historical Society for some of this. Covid hit and our Project, The Coffin Society, was dissolved! I wish we finished the project... we even found the graveyard where Parris was said to be buried... but I believe they moved the body because of defacement. In the end our conclusion was that it was a case of ignorant people being taken advantage of and mob mentality.
Im soo happy coming across this channel. Its realy good and informative, thank u and stay awesome.
I was just wondering the other day if you had videos on this topic. Wow. Thank you again Justin.
Excellent. Always happy when i see a new video from ESOTERICA. 👍🏼🏴
Always awesome whenever everyday people can uncover bits of history like this.
I learned quite a bit from this. Thank you!
Every time you mention black metal my heart starts singing (huge fan right here) . Great channel, very interesting episode. Thank you, sir!
Hello Dr. Sledge! I watched and enjoyed this video of yours yesterday and made a mental note of the musical recommendation. Today at work I found the album and gave it a listen, and having not heard a quality black metal album in awhile, oh man, it's really quality. Some people think atmosphere is crucial in black metal, and that album absolutely nails it. Intimidating in that specific hysterical Puritan way, evocative of long past trauma and witchcraft, it's great.
IDK what your opinions on Sludge and Doom metal might be, but the guy from Reverend Bizarre had a project back in the 2000s called "The Puritan", it also evokes some intimidating and terrifying images of the time period but in a different metal format, much slower and thicker, maybe you'd find it interesting if you're ever looking for something different.
Very interesting as usual. I appreciate your scholarship.😊
Justin, Thank you for all of the videos...It's fascinating content.
"There are four lights!" Picard
Thanks!
Another fantastic episode. Your attention to detail is always impressive.
I enjoyed this!!
Interesting note: historians Emerson "Tad" Baker and Marilyn Roche were the ones who discovered the execution site where the 19 suspected witches were hanged. There's a really good episode of America Unearthed on the Smithsonian Channel that talks about it. It's titled "Salem's Secrets". I highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in the Salem Witch Trials.
This stuff has always interested me, with a bit of silly stuff when I was younger (silly to me but I know not for others). My great grandma was a tungsten miner during WWI with many of my family (no, there is no wealth in my family from this though I’m certain there was some, just not for my parents or siblings). We do have a legal family tree specifying that the Putnams and Proctors (the same ones from that book we all read) either married or at least had children, who are our relatives. I haven’t looked at the tree in years but I have the original with stamp to the ire of my siblings lol. Just super interesting reading about relatives, especially families seemingly at ends with each other, and how it led to us. Now, I only have the family tree that says they are relatives, but it’s more than most I guess. It got me in a fun place in my late teens that I truly just abandoned as real life after undergrad became more significant than moons and herbs, and signs and all that. So it went by the wayside as life pushed forward. Occasionally someone talks about the trials, and I find myself here again :)
Anyhoot, my great grandma had few stories about it other than she was extremely “connected” to spirits in the years I knew her. She passed away around 1990 (May be off a bit) and was born in 1892 (again I’m just best guessing). She always referred to spirits and being a good soul and all that.
No real comment here, sorry. Maybe I’m just touting my strange, or at least faux-strange, heritage. Just want to say here that, if my tree is accurate, the fams from the crucible apparently joined together in later generations (one or two after the story takes place). We see them all in the tree but a branch or two down a son from one and a daughter from another came together.
I’d love to share the tree but I have notifications turned off. If you’re actually interested maybe message me and I can send a couple pics. Likely not though just since I never really attend to these after a post.
Peace and love and may you treat others in a way that makes you and the generations after you proud. Maybe we are all one, maybe some are damned to somewhere else, or maybe it’s all just nonsense.
The higher story of your family is always worthy of mentioning.
I often wonder how my forebears survived the experiences they as individuals were to face
I wrote a research paper on the Salem Witch Trials for my 11th Grade English class in high school. I honestly didn't know about them until after I read Arthur Miller's play "The Crucible", and realized that it was based on the Salem Witch Trials records.
There was an excellent dramatization on the American Playhouse in the 1980s called, Three Sovereigns for Sarah, and it starred Vanessa Redgrave. A couple of years later they did a fantastic dramatization of the Roanoke Colony mystery called, Roanoke.
Great work as usual.
You just made me feel some joy in a time where I really needed that, thank you so much
I'm glad - you deserve to feel joy !
@@TheEsotericaChannel Aww that actually makes me emotional, you're such a treasure
It's dark times out there and even just a kind YT comment can matter. Hope you're holding up ok, V.
@@TheEsotericaChannel Sadly, I've experienced horrible trauma about 4 months ago, and that really takes a toll on me, and the state of the world just comes on top of that. The election results in the Netherlands are also deeply concerning.
But YT videos and exchanges in comment sections really do matter, so thank you so so much for your compassion ❤️
I'm so very sorry to hear that. If there's anything I can do let me know. Send my best to your mom too !
Excellent video! Thanks for delving into this aspect of the witch trials. I must say, you make me wish I could play an instrument and start a band. You come up with some great names.
I feel the same way but I don't have the least musical talent.
@@TheEsotericaChannel the only reason I can carry a tune is because I have them in my phone.
Bewitching videos as always Dr. Sledge!
Also the four lost towns of the Quabbin would be fun idea for a podcast at somepoint.
Didn’t watch the whole video last time. Used to live in north Essex near where Mathew Hopkins lived. He is still remembered not too fondly.
Yeah, being a mass murderer has that effect
A little light viewing with my afternoon coffee
Perhaps look into, "The Witch of Pungo".
Grew up in Danvers and now live in Salem, and it really is odd how the two towns cover the witch trials so differently
I really appreciated the danvers memorial, etc
Thank you.
I am extra fascinated because my 7th-ish great grandfather was Thomas Flint who called out Giles Cory & others. Just found this out a couple of years ago. Once of my first acting roles in High School was Giles Cory in “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller. Howz that for Karma? Gonna be going to Salem for the first time this year.
That was great, thank you!
Go to Salem for Halloween night-- it's a blast!
Here's a question you might know the answer to. Did a lot of those Salem children come from the Cosco (what we today call Portland Maine) massacre? I've heard people in Salem say that Salem families adopted children that survived that French/ Indian attack and that they were pretty much damaged goods by the time they got to Salem. Which I find interesting IF true....
Not sure about Abigail - she's a bit of a mystery in lots of ways
The crux of Tituba being spared the death penalty is this: she confessed to witchcraft, and gave up the names of several other women who she believed practiced witchcraft along with her.
With modern contexts available for what we consider "conspiratorial thinking", I'm inclined to imagine how many Salemites were working hard to counter the witch panic and save their neighbors from execution.
Mr. Sledge sure knows cool black metal bands
I know for myself at least the witch trials were my firat experience with finding and reading primary sources that really led to my love of the esoteric
Yknow on the topic of colonial US esotericism, have you done any work about Braucherei (Pennsylvania Dutch Pow-wowing)? I grew up in outer PA dutch country and i find it super interesting
I haven't but I would love to The problem is that there is very little literature on the topic. It's highly understudied unfortunately
Mean Girls c 1692
I would love to see an episode comparing and contrasting the objective good / evil resulting from skepticism Vs religion/superstition of any and all sorts. Don't get me wrong, quite interested in the topic academically, just interested in the comparative cost benefit analysis of skeptical Vs less than skeptical thinking.
well I certainly don't know a lot about the Salem witch trials, so it was informative to hear the ergot theory is out. I'm curious though, considering the age of the girls, 9 and 11, is there any evidence regarding period symptoms? It just struck me, as they are just at the aproximate appropriate age for getting their periods so I couldn't help but wonder if that may have played into the tragedy somehow.
Children got thier periods much later back then for a myriad of reasons. They wouldn't have had them till around 14 or maybe even later.
I suspect they were imitating or influenced by the 1688 diabolism in Boston. Symptomology is very similar and these cultural specific diseases can spread really quickly as they did in Salem and beyond
That's a good point as well, I forgot that that was a relatively recent development@@mellie4174
@@TheEsotericaChannel interesting! Thanks for the reply!
Ann Pudeator (one of the accused and condemned put to death in 1692) was my ancestor on my maternal side. 😢
There's a really good black metal band called, Bell Witch, and they have an amazing album/song called Mirror Reaper, it's 1:23:15 long, technically one song, but also an album in of itself.
Bell witch is more doom metal, imho
@@TheEsotericaChannel Fair enough, glad you know about them as well 🙂
Totally unrelated to the video, but I couldn’t help but notice that you said, “here, in Michigan,” when discussing the fact that Abigail Williams could’ve retired and buried in Mackinaw Island, I kept asking myself, “is he from Michigan, or at least live here?” As a Michigander, it would be awesome to have such a prominent religious and esoteric professor on YT representing the Mitten State. So, basically I’m asking, are u from Michigan. ☺️
Yep, in Detroit but from down South
Please cover The Book of Raziel the Angel.
I have to fully admit that I have a serious love-hate relationship with this Early Modern Peroid of history; I adore folklore and folk practices and with literacy becoming more and more prevalent in this period it much better documented than previous centuries. That being said there is movement that is very dedicated to the witch-cult theory that the victims of Early Modern Witch Hunts were in fact practicing the old pagan religion of many centuries before. 'We're the granddaughters of the witches you couldnt burn' slogan sort of thing. To me it's such a blatant rejection of the history we know of this period, and rejection of the few personal stories we know that it reduces a frankly horrific time of history into a kitchy slogan and effectively stripping humanity away from people who were very real people and their very real suffering.
This was a bit of a rank, please forgive me, but we seem to forget a lot of the time that people from history may have been different from us but we are fundamentally still the same human people we always were and remembering that has always been a big point for me when doing research.
Yeah that witch cult in Europe stuff has done tons of damage - it's evidence-free nonsense
" under Salem's Shadow" horns 🤘 up😈
I have always wondered if there was no truth at all within the accusations of witchcraft, then why has Salem Village become a point of focus to remember the martyrdom for those who practice the craft?
First is tragedy then as farce
band name alert... lol awesomeness
Curious to know if you’ve read Religion and the Decline of Magic by Keith Thomas?
Or Witchcraft in Old and New England by George Lyman Kittredge?
Yep!
I've heard it said that a lot of the property of the accused and executed would be appropriated by the courts and judges in particular. If true than this would have a much more material and cynical motivation while explaining why propertyless Tituba was spared.
That's true in some cases but, by no means, all.
Never been so early!
"Who would live in condos built into an insane asylum?"
I dunno. What's the rent. Because I'll deal with a lot if it saves me money.
Fair enough - #rentstoodamnhigh
Hey Dr. Sledge. I’m not sure if you look at RUclips comments much, but I just finished reading Professor Francesca Stavrakopoulou’s “God: An Anatomy” and would love for you to do a video or series on Asherah and the ancient polytheistic origins of Yahweh and Judaism, as for obvious reasons, there isn’t a lot of information out there on it. The Yahwehist cults and ancient Levant mythologies are super cool and there’s a story she brings up in her book about Yahweh getting captured by Dagon and using his footstool to stop Dagon’s head in (which is metal as hell).
Also, “In The Shadow of 1000 Suns” is also an incredible record among Abigail William’s discography.
Have you seen his video on Yahwism?
@@user-cr2bt3zp1fI have not. Definitely looking into that. Thank you.
I love that band, I got to shake Bjorn Danov's hand once. Woo!
Hi I love your videos, im watching this on the full moon and noticed how my menstrual cycle always beings on the full moon and i wander what would this have meant for me back then? Would my husband think im a witch? I would love to see a video about what we believed about the menstrual cycle pre modern religion because as we know the menstrual cycle has been heavily demonised and is still a taboo topic to this day but its the most natural bodily function that brings new life into the world, this has always fascinated me but there's few factual videos out there on the history of the topic
Can you make a playlist of black metal pls
Do you preside in Michigan sir?
Yep hence the "here in Michigan" line
🌹World Day against Witch-hunts 10 August 2024
Jerusalem was know as Salem before David conquered it. Wonder what ther " Jeru " that was added over time meant. Or if it was just natural language change over time.. Jeru-salem
All I'm saying is, we're baaaaack 😁
Grudges, we don't hold
🌳💚💚💚
They needed to be the very Particularly Independent Intelligent Freethinkings😊
I saw that Monty Python reference 😂
❤
I recently read the book killing witches co written by bill reilly (my mom really likes his book series) . I still can’t believe how far the witch trials went on the words of children. Now, o’reilly tied it in to cancel culture and how society get wrapped up very quickly.
Justin, you highlight good points that will make for great discussion with my mom 😊
" I still can't believe how far the witch trials went on the word of children".
McMartin satanic sex abuse trials and the resulting hysteria and panic surrounding them. Human nature doesn't seem to change very much, does it?
I don't know if you're a rabbi, but if you are I think Weird Al wrote a song about you.
clearly Tituba used witchcraft to survive, but them other people were just muggles 😀
Algormancy!
Is this like The Crucible
The crucible is like this
Yes. See the movie version of Arthur Miller's play with Daniel Day Lewis. Great.
Black Metal.
This is Right On time🫶🏿💜🤍🫶🏿
You are my favourite channel! 💖✨️🫶
I hope you'll do more colonial American focused stuff! I'm not American myself but I find it fascinating!
Lol dude you are so awesome, I was wondering why you had metal font on your merch, I wasn't expecting that 🫡
BTW just discovered your channel and subscribed, thanks for doing this content