Lectures & Libations: The Capital Crime of Witchcraft

On first impression, the witchcraft trials of the Colonial era may seem to have been nothing but a free-for-all, fraught with hysterics. Historian Margo Burns explores an array of prosecutions in seventeenth century New England, using primary source manuscripts –from first formal complaints to arrest warrants, indictments to death warrants, and the reversals of excommunications years after the fact– demonstrating how methodically and logically early court systems worked. This program focuses on the Salem witchcraft trials of 1692 and 1693, when nineteen people were hanged and one crushed to death, but also examines a variety of other cases against women in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut.

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Host or Publisher North Hampton Public Library and Cultural Center