March 10, 2025

Salem Witch Trials: The Girl Who Apologized

Salem Witch Trials: The Girl Who Apologized

We consider the accuser who apologized

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We consider the accuser who apologized

WEBVTT

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Well, who would

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like to take another late night trip to Salem? Are

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you up for that? I'm ready to take another late

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night trip to Salem, and that's what we're going to do.

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But first let me say welcome everyone. It is Monday,

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March the tenth, twenty twenty five. It is currently nine

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to fifty pm Central time, and I'm coming to you

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live from the Theology Central studio located well right here

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in Abilene, Texas. That's why we have to take a

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trip to Salem. We have to take a trip to

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Salem because well, I'm here in Abilene, Texas. Now. It

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would be great if I was broadcasting to you live

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from Salem, but no, I'm broadcasting to you live from Ablene, Texas.

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I mean, I love Texas. I mean, I'm not gonna

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I'm not gonna say I don't. I mean, I grew

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up here, lived here basically most of my adult life.

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But but I love Salem, maybe even more. I think

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I'm mad. There's something I love about Salem. I've talked

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about it so many times. I have this like weird

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connection with Salem. And well, for this broadcast, we've been

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talking about Salem a lot. For this podcast, we've been

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talking about Salem a lot. In this podcast, we're going

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to be talking about Salem. And uh, why are we

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talking about Salem? Is am I just giving you a

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tour of the city, telling you all of the interesting

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facts about Salem. No, we are talking about the Salem

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witch Trials, which a lot of it actually didn't happen where, well,

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where Salem is today. It happened in Salem Village. We

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won't get into all of that. We've discussed all of that,

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but we are going to talk about the Salem witch Trials. Now.

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I don't have the same kind of connection with the

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Salem witch Trials as I have with Salem. Now, this

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is kind of interesting. There's just something about the city,

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and I think the one thing maybe it is the

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Salem Witch Trials in one way, right, the Salem Witch Trials.

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Knowing it happened there obviously gives me some kind of connection,

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But it's just the city itself. There's just a vibe

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I get when I'm in Salem, and I absolutely love it.

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When it comes to the witch trials, I have a

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connection to it. But it's not like, oh, this is

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cool or this is interesting. No, I have an emotional connection.

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That's one of I get very depressed, I get very discouraged.

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I get emotional thinking about it. I get really bothered

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reading about it. I get bothered studying it. But at

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the same time there's almost an obsession with it. I

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keep reading it and I keep studying about it, and

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anytime I'm in Boston, I'm going back to Salem. And

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I think anyone who knows me is like, how many

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times are you going to go to Salem? How much

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can you read about the Salem witch Trials? And I

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think the answer is I can never go to Salem enough,

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and I can never read enough about the Salem Witch Trials.

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There's just something that draws me to it. And I

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think the reason why is because it has everything to

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do with issues that are very relevant today. Well. It

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deals with Christianity, it deals with church history, deals with

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the Puritans, who are basically held up as heroes by many,

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It deals with theology. It deals with, in a sense,

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a form of Christian nationalism, because you once again kind

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of had church and state merged together, and all of

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those issues that I typically am very bothered by, very

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upset about. It just shows how superstition and paranoia and

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fear can be the driving force and not rational thought

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out theology. And so I see so many of I've

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seen so much of that within Christianity in my lifetime.

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Maybe not to the extent of the Salem Witch Trials well,

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where you know, where twenty people end up dying, but

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in so many ways, I'm like, look, I wasn't there

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in Salem, obviously, but everything I read it's not the same,

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But there's a similarity in what I see sometimes in Christianity,

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in certain parts of Christianity. I say it every single

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time I went through the Great Satanic Scare of the eighties.

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To me, I mean, people weren't dying in the sense

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that we were holding witch trials, but it was the

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same fear, the same paranoia, the same panic, the same

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irrational craziness, and so it bothers me over and over

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and over every time I think about it. But I believe,

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you know, it needs to be discussed because I believe

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the lessons from the Salem Witch Trials are valuable, and

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I hope I've been able to get that point across

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and some may be saying, well, how long are you

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going to talk about it? I don't know as long.

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I mean I will have to stop because I was

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going to say as long as I want to. But

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that's not really a good answer, because I could talk

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about it for the rest of my life, so that

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probably is not the right answer. But I'm going to

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continue to discuss it and we'll see if there's enough

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people interested in it, because I just think the lessons.

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Are so powerful. Now, let's set this up.

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The original two girls who made the first accusation, well,

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first who demonstrated or had to say, or let me

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state it this way, when we go back to Salem

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and to the Salem Witch Trials sixteen ninety two January

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sixteen ninety two, the first two girls who are going

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to make the first accusations, but they are also the

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first two girls who also have the original symptoms of

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being supposedly afflicted by a witch or by something, and

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they they have all of these different symptoms that bring

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in the doctor. The doctor doesn't know what's going on,

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so says, hey, I think it's it's witchcraft. It's a witch.

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And then the girls get pressured and they make their accusations,

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and remember they accused three women. Now, those two young

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girls who made those first accusations, who were the first

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two afflicted. Their names was Betty and Abigail. Betty Paris

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and Abigail Williams. Remember Betty Paris, she's the pastor's daughter,

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She's the reverence's daughter, right, Betty Paris, she is, you know,

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one of the first and then Abigail is the niece

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of the pastor, of the reverend. They make the first accusations,

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they are the first girls afflicted. Well, tonight we're gonna

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move past them because we've told their story. We've told

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a lot about them. I think you kind of understand

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possibly their motives in making well and having some supposed symptoms,

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maybe where they even learned about what symptoms they should do.

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Since they carry out they kind of copy the same

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identical symptoms and afflictions as what happened in Boston about

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four years before. Betty Paris's father has the book written

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by Cotton Mather that describes those symptoms in detail. So

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it's like, I think Betty would have a pretty good

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idea of what to do here. There are possible reasons

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for doing so. So we talked about Betty, we talked

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about Abigail. Well, tonight we're going to look at the

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next young girl, and right now we're going to refer

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to her as the girl who admitted she was wrong.

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She's the girl that's going to end up admitting that

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she was wrong. Now, it's a it's gonna take a

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while before we get to where she admits that she

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was wrong, but I think her story is very, very important.

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So are you ready to take a trip to Salem.

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Here we go, a late night trip to Salem. I

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will once again do this basically as a narrative, because

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I think trying to present some of this as a

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narrative is better than doing it more in like a

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I could do it more like an academic lecture and

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just try to walk through the bullet points. But I

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think doing these as narratives has I think has been

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more interesting, hopefully for.

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You as well.

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So the Salem witch Trials are often remembered for their victims,

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the twenty people executed, the hundreds and prisoned, and the

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fear that swept through the entire community, But just as

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unforgettable are those who accused, the ones whose words sent

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their neighbors, their friends, and even their own family members

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to the gallows. Sometimes when we tell the story of

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the Salem witch trials and Salem in sixteen ninety two

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to sixteen ninety three, sometimes we will focus on the women,

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on the people who were accused and who were murdered,

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who were killed, who were executed. Sometimes we may focus

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on the ones making the accusations. I think it just

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depends sometimes on how you're telling the story. But for

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this we're gonna look at one of the girls who

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makes well more than just one accusation. And in fact,

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when you think of all of the accusers, really one

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name stands out among all of the accusers. I know,

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Betty and Abigail maybe get a lot of the attention

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because they were the first, but the name that really

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stands out the accuser of the accusers is none other

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than Anne Putnam Junior. Now, sometimes you'll see me, sometimes

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we're afraid basically kind of say her name, like Ann Putnam.

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Sometimes I'll say Putnam, but it's really Putnam. But I

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sometimes I don't know why I will fall into that,

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but I'll say Putnam, but it's Putnam and Putnam Junior.

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Now I know you say, junior typically refers to a boy. Well,

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not in Salem. In sixteen ninety two, referring to her

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as junior was perfectly acceptable. So just if that sounds weird,

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that's making I'm not making a mistake when I say

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An Putnam Junior, I'm not making a mistake all right now.

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Her name stands out among all of the accusers because

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Ann Putnam Junior. She was only twelve years old when

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the trials began, but her voice easily was the loudest.

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She accused more than sixty people of witchcraft. She testified

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at trial after trial after trial, and unlike many of

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the other girls, her words carried weight. Other people could

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make an accusation, but when Anne Putnam Junior spoke, everyone listened,

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and she I mean, you didn't even want to You

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didn't even probably want to even have contact with Ann

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Putnham Junior. You'd be like, oh no, no, no, no, she's

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walking down the street, go the run. Because she was

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accusing I mean, over sixty people for crying out loud.

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She was accusing everyone. Now here's what makes Ann Putnam's

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story so very different. Years later, when the hysteria was

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long over and the town of Salem was left in

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the shadow of its past. She did something almost unheard

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of of everyone involved, everyone associated with the Salem Witch trials.

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She does something that was completely unheard of. She admitted

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that she was wrong. So let's tell the story of.

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Ann Putnam Junior. Does that sound I'm hoping that sounds okay.

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Here we go.

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Before we can understand An Putnam Junior, we need to

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understand where she came from. Because in Salem in sixteen

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ninety two, who you were, your family name, your status,

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and your beliefs determined almost everything. So if you live

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in Salem in sixteen ninety two, it's all about who

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you were. It's all about your family name, it's about

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your status, it's about your beliefs. This determines everything. Now,

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Anne was born in sixteen seventy nine and one of

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the most influential families in Salem Village. Just remember Salem village, Salem.

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Remember there there's a difference there. Right, if you go

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visit Salem, you're not in Salem Village. Right. If you

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go drive, if you fly into Boston, go from drive

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from Boston to Salem. When you get to Salem, you're

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not in Salem Village. You have to go back. You

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have to go back towards Boston to a town called Danvers, right,

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that's Salem Village. They just they didn't want the name Salem,

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all right, And we can you know, if you're ever there,

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and you know I can, I can, I can help

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you not be confused, all right, because a lot of

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times you'll you'll hear people talking like you don't think

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you understand how that'll work, all right. But she was

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born in sixteen seventy nine and one of the most

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influential families in Salem Village. The Putnams were powerful, deeply religious,

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and most importantly, Oh please, I mean, if you're taking notes,

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write this down. They were embroiled in bitter feuds with

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other families in the community. They were having conflict with

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all kinds of people. An't it kind of interesting? They're

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having conflict with all kinds of people, And yes, happens

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to be that their daughter and Putnam Junior happens to

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be the loudest voice and accusing all kinds of people.

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I mean, I don't know, call me skeptical, call me

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cynecal but this family is in conflict with everyone in

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Salem village, and their daughter just happens to be the

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one accusing everyone of witchcraft, which leads many of those

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people to their death. I don't know, call me skeptical,

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but you can kind of see where I'm headed with this. Now,

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her father, Thomas Putnam, was an important figure in the town.

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He was a man, but he was a man with grievances.

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He was a man with enemies, and he was a

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man with a long memory. Now, her mother and Putnam Senior,

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was devout, deeply suspicious of the world around her, prone

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to illness and vision okay, so, prone to illness, prone

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to villain visions, deeply religious okay.

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Now, Anne Putnam.

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Junior, she's raised in this her father has enemies, seems

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to have a long memory to remember all of his enemies.

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I'm seeing a recipe for disaster. That's my own feelings now.

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From the time that she was a child, Anne Junior

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was raised in a home filled with stories of the Devil.

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She was raised in a home filled with stories of

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the threat of witches, and she was warned that Satan's

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agents were everywhere. The devil witches. The witches are Satan's agents,

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and they're literally everywhere. She's kind of raised with this fear.

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Dare I say, raised.

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With this paranoia?

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Now, just see how that could possibly work. Now I'm

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speculating here. If they're the devoutly religious one. I mean,

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come on, I know people are not gonna like this,

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but that's okay. I'm gonna say it. When in Christianity,

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I mean coming you can listen to sermons, you can

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listen to podcasts. I mean, you just listen to Christians talk.

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Don't We always present it as all of those people

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out there. They're the bad people. They're the sinners. They're

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the liberals, they're woke, they're heathen, they're pagan, they're LGBTQ,

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they're this. We label them. We almost dehumanize them. They're

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the enemy. They are all part of Satan's kingdoms. They're

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the devil. But we, but we, we're the children of God.

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We're the righteous ones. We're good, and it's always us

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versus them, and we always present ourselves as the hero

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and the narrative, and everyone else is doing bad and

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they're somehow in league with Satan. They're a pagan. Now,

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it doesn't take if you're already with that, that mindset's

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always been in Christianity. It's always been there to some level.

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Now you mix that with those people could literally be witches,

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they could be Satan's agents, and look at they're doing

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bad things, and they're doing bad things to us, they're

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hurting our family. Well then you see how quickly they

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could become accused of being a witch. Oh, Christians love,

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we have. Everyone's out to get We're always we have persecution.

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We're all we're over. We're being persecuted. If we go

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to target and they don't say Merry Christmas, it's persecution.

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They hate Christianity. If Netflix has a movie that says

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something bad about Christianity, we're being persecuted. If someone releases

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a song that says something negative about Christianty, we're being persecuted.

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The enemies of God are out to get us. And

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it's like we cry wolf a lot. Okay, we do

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that a lot. Now, I'm not saying there aren't times

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of legitimate issues that have to be legitimately, but there

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is this persecution complex. Everyone's out to get us. We

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have our long list of enemies. We tend to dehumanize

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them and then we start sometimes we make fault. I

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mean Christianity is known for making majorly false accusations, and

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we start calling them names and all the different things

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that Christians do. You see it, You've seen it in

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the past, You'll see it in the present, and I

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believe it will always continue in the future. She's raised

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in a home like this, the stories of the devil,

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the witches are everywhere. They're Satan's agents, and they're out

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to get us. She would have heard her parents whispering

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about their enemies, the porters, the nurses, the bishops, and

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she would have known that the lines in Salem were

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already drawn long before the battle lines, I should say,

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and around about way they almost become battle lines. Maybe

293
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I don't want to use let's just say the lines

294
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are drawn. Let's just say the line were drawn along

295
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before the first witch was accused, and then when Anne

296
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was just twelve years old, the first accusations began. Now

297
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she doesn't make the first accusations, but that's the pastor's

298
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daughter making accusations.

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Okay. Well, if the.

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Pastor's daughter can make accusations and people believe her, right, okay,

301
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then that means that I'm not just because and you know,

302
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the Betty and Abigail were young. Well, if they can

303
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be believed that, that's at least setting up the environment

304
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that hmm, okay, now let's see what happens. It started

305
00:19:48.640 --> 00:19:52.000
with Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, the daughter and niece

306
00:19:52.000 --> 00:19:57.400
of Reverend Samuel Parris. Their strange afflictions, their fits, their contortions,

307
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their mysterious pains shocked the community. But soon other girls

308
00:20:04.160 --> 00:20:11.000
began showing the same symptoms. And I remember the same symptoms.

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I cannot stress this enough. Betty and Abigail they show

310
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the exact same symptoms basically or almost identical to what

311
00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:24.440
happened in Boston four years ago. Then they have their symptoms,

312
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and then all the other girls end up basically demonstrating

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the exact same symptoms. Oh there may be a little

314
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a little this may be a little different, or this

315
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a little different. Base It's almost as if all all

316
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the girls got the same memo and they're all following

317
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the same script. That But again, I am very cynical

318
00:20:39.720 --> 00:20:43.799
about a lot of this. All right, But other girls

319
00:20:43.799 --> 00:20:46.119
being showing the same symptoms. But one of the loudest

320
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voices among them was Anne Putnam Junior. She was different

321
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from the others. She wasn't just one of the afflicted girls,

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she was also one of the most active accused. She

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accused Tisshaba, she accused Sarah Good, and she accused Sarah

324
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Osborne just days after Betty and Abigail pointed their fingers

325
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at those same three women, Tisiabus, Sarah and Sarah Good,

326
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and Sarah Osborne. Tishabus, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. Now

327
00:21:26.279 --> 00:21:30.000
remember they go after these women. Tisiaba is a servant.

328
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She's a slave. She's been brought from Barbados. Okay, she

329
00:21:34.559 --> 00:21:37.359
she's gonna be I mean, she's gonna be enemy number

330
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one in that society and Puritan society. She's a foreigner,

331
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she's a stranger. Oh, so that's that's an easy one

332
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to go after. They go after a servant, just like

333
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happened in Boston. Then they go after Sarah Good and

334
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Sarah Osborne. I don't remember. One of them is a beggar.

335
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The other one is, oh I think, a widow. But

336
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she's not known for following the Puritan rules. She doesn't

337
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play the Puritan reindeer games. So these women are clearly suspect.

338
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They're already eyed as possibly dangerous or ungodly or whatever

339
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the case may be. So it's interesting that Betty and

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Abigail accused them and then just days later and accuses

341
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the exact same women, right, I mean, we could have

342
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our own speculation, all right. But Anne wasn't Anne wasn't done.

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She accused more, and then she accused more, and then

344
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she accused Moore. She named Rebecca Nurse, she named Martha Corey,

345
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and she even named Reverend George Burrows, the former minister

346
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of Salem. Oh, we told his story, right, we talked

347
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about his execution. Right. Remember he's not in Salem, he's

348
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in Maine. He left a long time ago. But remember

349
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there were people there who did not like him. I wonder,

350
00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:12.599
I wonder if her father had issues with the former minister. Now,

351
00:23:12.599 --> 00:23:14.960
maybe that's something we need to explore. I don't know

352
00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:17.480
the historical evidence we have. I'm gonna have to do

353
00:23:17.559 --> 00:23:22.279
a little searching. But it is interesting that she names him.

354
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Why a young girl's just gonna name him like it

355
00:23:26.200 --> 00:23:28.480
just seems weird that that's the name to Oh, remember

356
00:23:28.519 --> 00:23:30.200
the pastor who used to be here. I don't even

357
00:23:30.200 --> 00:23:33.039
remember how many years it had been. Hey, and they,

358
00:23:33.319 --> 00:23:37.000
of course remember they use spectral evidence. He doesn't even

359
00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:39.359
have to be there. His spirit shows up and is

360
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tormenting me. Well go getting so they go back, They

361
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go to Maine and bringing back right and then he's executed. Crazy.

362
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His whole story is crazy. And here's the chilling part.

363
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If that's not already chilling enough, now it really I

364
00:23:55.160 --> 00:23:57.880
think takes a turn. Unlike some of the younger girls,

365
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and Anne's accusations carried weight. She was from the right family,

366
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the daughter of a man whose voice mattered, and when

367
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she testified in court, people believed her. If she made

368
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a testimony, if she gave testified against someone, she was

369
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going to be believed. So immediately she gets elevated like

370
00:24:21.039 --> 00:24:25.640
the accuser. She's the she's the one. If she accuses

371
00:24:25.880 --> 00:24:29.200
you're pretty much Dad, you're at least going to prison.

372
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You don't want Anne to accuse you. Now, trying to

373
00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:42.279
understand why Anne Putnam Junior made these accusations requires delving

374
00:24:42.319 --> 00:24:47.279
into the complex web of personal vendettas, family rivalries, and

375
00:24:47.400 --> 00:24:52.039
societal pressures that characterize Salem Village in sixteen ninety two.

376
00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:53.720
So we need to kind of we need to go

377
00:24:53.759 --> 00:24:56.039
back to sixteen ninety two and kind of understand what's

378
00:24:56.079 --> 00:24:58.680
going on in Salem Village and that part of the

379
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world at this time. Right so because we I mean,

380
00:25:04.000 --> 00:25:08.119
you can already hear me, I'm already kind of insinuating

381
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that I think there's something going on here right there.

382
00:25:11.440 --> 00:25:15.279
Just again, all this entire story, just all of it.

383
00:25:15.319 --> 00:25:18.000
There's just so much here. I'm like, come on now,

384
00:25:18.279 --> 00:25:22.440
how could anyone believe this nonsense? Right? The witches are

385
00:25:22.440 --> 00:25:25.160
doing this to me? Come on, this just seems like,

386
00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:28.640
you know what, you know, what's more dangerous than a witch.

387
00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:32.359
You know what, it's more dangerous than a Satanic rock band.

388
00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:38.599
You know what's more dangerous than you know, any Satanist.

389
00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:43.640
It's Christians who forget that we have a depraved nature.

390
00:25:43.920 --> 00:25:47.680
That that sometimes is the most frightening thing, because when

391
00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:51.720
our paranoia gets involved, then our sinful nature can motivate us,

392
00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:54.640
and then we think that we're so good that but

393
00:25:54.759 --> 00:25:57.359
and everyone, and then we dehumanize and that we can

394
00:25:57.400 --> 00:26:02.559
attack other people, all in the name of Jesus. But

395
00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:04.680
we've got to go understand what was happening. So let's

396
00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:06.799
try to understand. The first thing you need to understand

397
00:26:06.880 --> 00:26:11.480
is family influence and feuds the Putnam family had long

398
00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:15.319
standing disputes over land and power with other prominent families,

399
00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:20.279
notably the Porters. Accusing members of rival families could have

400
00:26:20.279 --> 00:26:22.640
been a way to settle the score. It's hard not

401
00:26:22.759 --> 00:26:25.640
to think that they had problems with lots of people,

402
00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:29.200
and lots of people they had problems with just kind

403
00:26:29.200 --> 00:26:35.000
of magically get accused of being a witch. Now did

404
00:26:35.039 --> 00:26:41.279
they have a problem with Reverend Burroughs social and religious

405
00:26:41.359 --> 00:26:45.920
zell and a deeply Puritan society demonstrating one's piety was paramount.

406
00:26:46.119 --> 00:26:49.680
By identifying and accusing supposed witches, Anne might have sought

407
00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:53.160
to affirm her religious devotion and align with community leaders.

408
00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:56.559
So there was family influence and feuds. Right, Hey, the

409
00:26:56.599 --> 00:26:59.480
family had a problem, And interesting, those are some of

410
00:26:59.519 --> 00:27:02.000
the people she accused. Maybe there was kind of this

411
00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:07.880
social religious zeal. Hey, the pastor's daughter made the first accusation.

412
00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:11.640
Maybe I want to show that I'm religious. Maybe there

413
00:27:11.680 --> 00:27:14.880
was kind of an unspoken psychological pressure. I can't say

414
00:27:14.920 --> 00:27:16.880
for sure. I can't say for sure about any of

415
00:27:16.920 --> 00:27:20.319
this a right at this point in time, Maybe there

416
00:27:20.359 --> 00:27:23.559
was psychological and social pressure. So we have family influence

417
00:27:23.599 --> 00:27:26.440
and feuds, social and religious zeal. How about psychological and

418
00:27:26.480 --> 00:27:30.000
social pressure. She's a twelve year old girl. She was

419
00:27:30.039 --> 00:27:34.359
probably pretty susceptible to suggestion and influence. The hysteria of

420
00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:37.799
the time, combined with parental and communal expectations, could have

421
00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:42.720
propelled her into the role of accuser. So there's some

422
00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:46.799
possible reasons she becomes the accuser of the accuser. I

423
00:27:46.839 --> 00:27:49.839
think the most important reason she can is because of

424
00:27:49.880 --> 00:27:54.759
her family, name, her status. She's she's going to be.

425
00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:58.440
Other people are like, well that family, but Anne, she's

426
00:27:58.480 --> 00:28:04.799
from that good family, that family. You know that she

427
00:28:04.960 --> 00:28:08.279
may get more attention. You would think the pastor's daughter

428
00:28:08.599 --> 00:28:12.640
would have gotten more, But sounds like what really got

429
00:28:12.680 --> 00:28:17.559
attention was people from a well to do family. Possibly,

430
00:28:18.119 --> 00:28:22.279
all right, let's kind of consider just some of the

431
00:28:22.279 --> 00:28:25.160
things she gets involved with. And in fact, one of

432
00:28:25.160 --> 00:28:28.559
the most heart wrenching cases was that of Rebecca Nurse.

433
00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:32.880
She was a seventy year old grandmother known for her

434
00:28:32.960 --> 00:28:41.000
piety and kindness despite her impecable reputation, and Putnam Junior

435
00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:46.480
accused Nurse of witchcraft, claiming Nurses specter tormented her. There's

436
00:28:46.519 --> 00:28:49.440
the spectral evidence again and again. You can thank Cotton

437
00:28:49.480 --> 00:28:51.720
Mather for that. Even though people try to say, well

438
00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:55.799
he didn't he He may have cautioned at times, but

439
00:28:55.880 --> 00:28:58.160
he still supported it. No one should have even allowed

440
00:28:58.200 --> 00:29:01.839
spectral Remember, spectral evidence says you can be at home

441
00:29:01.839 --> 00:29:05.519
in bed, but your spirit shows up and attacks someone,

442
00:29:05.640 --> 00:29:07.839
so you get accused. Even like I was in bed,

443
00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:11.920
doesn't matter. Your spirit showed up now during Nurse's trial

444
00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:17.599
and testified that she witnessed nurses Nurse's spirit, her apparition,

445
00:29:17.680 --> 00:29:22.799
her apparition harming others, which significantly influenced the jury's decision.

446
00:29:23.240 --> 00:29:26.000
Nurse's initial acquittal was overturned due to the pressure from

447
00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:32.359
accusers like Anne, leading to her execution. At first, they

448
00:29:32.359 --> 00:29:34.720
were like, well no no, no, no, no no no,

449
00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:37.319
they're gonna she's acquitted, and they over they kind of overturn,

450
00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:44.880
and then ultimately, like people like Anne, she ultimately gets executed. Now.

451
00:29:44.960 --> 00:29:46.319
I believe.

452
00:29:48.119 --> 00:29:49.559
I've been to Salem multiple times.

453
00:29:49.680 --> 00:29:51.759
I think it was the last trip to Salem.

454
00:29:52.160 --> 00:29:54.599
I don't remember which museum it was.

455
00:29:55.119 --> 00:29:57.400
But you walk in and it's set up like a

456
00:29:57.400 --> 00:30:01.240
almost like there's it's all rows of pews right, almost

457
00:30:01.319 --> 00:30:04.799
like you're sitting in an old Puritan church kind of

458
00:30:05.160 --> 00:30:08.119
and then they come out and they basically kind of

459
00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:14.880
react out a trial. And Anne is the star accuser

460
00:30:15.119 --> 00:30:17.880
in the in the performance making the accusation.

461
00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:19.799
And yeah, it's.

462
00:30:19.599 --> 00:30:21.880
Pretty crazy to hear and see and they're and they're

463
00:30:21.920 --> 00:30:24.720
borrowing from you know, going as word for word as

464
00:30:24.759 --> 00:30:29.240
they can. And it was pretty powerful to see and hear. Also,

465
00:30:29.319 --> 00:30:31.640
it just kind of makes you sick to your stomach

466
00:30:31.799 --> 00:30:33.960
how it all went down. But right there, a seventy

467
00:30:34.000 --> 00:30:37.000
year old woman gets killed because she's a witch.

468
00:30:37.680 --> 00:30:39.680
Yeah, because of Anne.

469
00:30:40.359 --> 00:30:46.839
It played a major role, a major role in the killing,

470
00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:51.599
the execution, however you would like to describe it of

471
00:30:53.880 --> 00:30:55.720
Rebecca Nurse, I when I was looking for the name

472
00:30:55.759 --> 00:30:58.039
to make sure I had it right now. In the

473
00:30:58.200 --> 00:31:02.839
trial of Sarah Wilds and Putnam Junior's testimony was pivotal.

474
00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:07.440
Anne claimed that wild Specter once again appeared to her,

475
00:31:07.559 --> 00:31:10.799
causing physical torment. I mean, Anne was Anne caught onto

476
00:31:10.839 --> 00:31:13.799
this spectral evidence thing and was just accusing everyone using

477
00:31:13.799 --> 00:31:18.119
that She described being pinched, pricked, and almost choked by

478
00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:23.559
Wilde's apparition. Anne's detailed emotional account swayed the court, contributing

479
00:31:23.559 --> 00:31:27.720
to Wilde's conviction and subsequent execution. See Anne is making

480
00:31:27.720 --> 00:31:31.279
the accusing, she's doing the testifying, and she's leading the

481
00:31:31.319 --> 00:31:33.920
Jewers to find the people guilty, and then they're put

482
00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:44.960
to death because of a young girl. By early sixteen

483
00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:49.400
ninety three, the trials end, the execution stopped, the people

484
00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:54.240
of Salem begin to question what just happened. And Anne

485
00:31:54.319 --> 00:31:58.960
Putnam Junior, she's still just a girl. The years passed

486
00:31:59.599 --> 00:32:03.200
to say, trials become a stand on Massachusetts history. The

487
00:32:03.319 --> 00:32:06.240
names of the executed were remembered, and the name of

488
00:32:06.279 --> 00:32:14.559
the accusers were not easily forgotten either. That's sixteen ninety three,

489
00:32:16.200 --> 00:32:22.960
and Putnam Putnam is still a young girl. But then

490
00:32:23.000 --> 00:32:27.960
it was a warm August day, August the twenty fifth,

491
00:32:30.000 --> 00:32:36.640
seventeen o six. August the twenty fifth, seventeen o six,

492
00:32:38.359 --> 00:32:51.079
something happened that no one expected. On August the twenty fifth,

493
00:32:51.119 --> 00:33:00.440
seventeen o six, fourteen years after she had held send

494
00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:05.640
so many to their deaths, and Putnam Junior stood before

495
00:33:05.640 --> 00:33:14.000
the Salem Village Church congregation and she made a confession.

496
00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:17.759
She admitted.

497
00:33:18.839 --> 00:33:19.759
That she had been wrong.

498
00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:25.920
In a written statement, she said, I desire to be

499
00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:31.599
humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence that

500
00:33:31.640 --> 00:33:35.960
befell this town in the year sixteen ninety two. I

501
00:33:36.119 --> 00:33:39.200
was a chief instrument of the accusing of several people

502
00:33:39.200 --> 00:33:47.240
who were justly and innocently condemned to death. Now, the

503
00:33:47.319 --> 00:33:52.480
next part is where there's a little controversy. For some reason,

504
00:33:53.319 --> 00:33:58.599
some people tell the story as this, this is the

505
00:33:58.599 --> 00:34:03.599
way they'll tell the story. And then the most shocking thing.

506
00:34:05.279 --> 00:34:09.880
She said that she had been deceived not by the devil,

507
00:34:10.000 --> 00:34:16.079
but by the devil's instruments among us. That's how some

508
00:34:16.119 --> 00:34:19.480
people report what she said. Hey, I wasn't deceived by

509
00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:24.000
the devil, I was deceived by the devil's instruments among us. Well,

510
00:34:24.039 --> 00:34:27.039
if you hear it reported that way, you immediately started thinking, well,

511
00:34:27.039 --> 00:34:28.360
wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait

512
00:34:28.360 --> 00:34:30.800
a minue, wit a minute, who who are the devil's

513
00:34:30.800 --> 00:34:33.400
instruments that deceived you? If you weren't deceived by the

514
00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:36.519
devil but by the devil's instruments, who was deceiving you?

515
00:34:37.480 --> 00:34:40.880
So it's almost like she's saying, someone deceived me into

516
00:34:40.960 --> 00:34:44.000
doing this, and which then raises speculation, right, because in

517
00:34:44.039 --> 00:34:46.079
my mind, well I know who deceived you to do it.

518
00:34:46.199 --> 00:34:48.440
I don't know, maybe it's your father who had a

519
00:34:48.480 --> 00:34:51.440
problem with everyone and just lo and behold his enemies

520
00:34:51.440 --> 00:34:53.960
were being killed. He basically gave you the hit list,

521
00:34:54.000 --> 00:34:56.880
and you were the You were the executioner. Like, I mean,

522
00:34:56.880 --> 00:34:59.239
that's where I want to go. Some people are like, ugh,

523
00:34:59.800 --> 00:35:03.400
I now, I don't think that that is an accurate

524
00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:06.199
way of telling the story. I don't think that that's fair.

525
00:35:07.199 --> 00:35:11.000
I think her her statement is a little bit more nuanced.

526
00:35:11.239 --> 00:35:14.679
And I've heard the statement. I've read the statement, So

527
00:35:14.719 --> 00:35:17.840
when I hear it reported that way, I kind of

528
00:35:17.880 --> 00:35:21.480
always raise my hand and go, I don't think that's

529
00:35:21.519 --> 00:35:26.440
completely accurate. I think it's more accurate that she seemed

530
00:35:26.440 --> 00:35:29.000
to have said something like this, that she was made

531
00:35:29.119 --> 00:35:32.880
an instrument for the accusing of several persons, She was

532
00:35:33.119 --> 00:35:36.360
made an instrument for the accusing of several persons, that

533
00:35:36.519 --> 00:35:40.280
she became this she was turned into an instrument. Okay, Well,

534
00:35:40.280 --> 00:35:42.679
who turned her into this instrument for the accusing of

535
00:35:42.719 --> 00:35:47.440
the people. Was that the devil? Was it God or

536
00:35:47.639 --> 00:35:50.880
was it someone else? Well? If it's God, well, then

537
00:35:50.920 --> 00:35:54.880
why would she be apologizing If God turned her into

538
00:35:55.280 --> 00:35:59.119
the accuser? And now she's apologizing for her accusing that

539
00:35:59.159 --> 00:36:02.039
doesn't make sense. If it's the devil or then that's

540
00:36:02.280 --> 00:36:06.159
still taking some responsibility off herself. But if it was

541
00:36:06.280 --> 00:36:14.559
someone else, Okay, now that raises some questions. Now, so

542
00:36:15.039 --> 00:36:17.119
the more accurate would be something like she was made

543
00:36:17.119 --> 00:36:20.199
an instrument for the accusing of several persons whom now

544
00:36:20.280 --> 00:36:23.039
I have just grounds and good reason to believe they

545
00:36:23.039 --> 00:36:26.679
were innocent persons, and that it was a great delusion

546
00:36:26.719 --> 00:36:30.119
of Satan that deceived me in that sad time. Now,

547
00:36:30.159 --> 00:36:33.000
see that that sounds like she was deluded by Satan.

548
00:36:33.920 --> 00:36:36.679
So there's a little bit of what's going on here.

549
00:36:36.719 --> 00:36:38.480
So a lot of times the questions that come when

550
00:36:38.519 --> 00:36:41.480
we talk about her apology was was she blaming others?

551
00:36:42.639 --> 00:36:44.960
Was she saying she had truly believed she was telling

552
00:36:45.000 --> 00:36:48.119
the truth? Or was this her way of trying to

553
00:36:48.159 --> 00:36:52.760
atone for the deaths trying to atone for the deaths

554
00:36:53.199 --> 00:37:01.400
her words had caused. Now, all the afflicted girls in

555
00:37:01.440 --> 00:37:05.119
Salem and Putnam, Junior was the only one who ever

556
00:37:05.159 --> 00:37:08.760
publicly apologized she's it. Nobody else bothered to come back

557
00:37:08.800 --> 00:37:13.360
and apologize. She never married. She died at the age

558
00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:16.199
of thirty seven, living much of her adult life in

559
00:37:16.360 --> 00:37:17.719
complete silence.

560
00:37:19.480 --> 00:37:20.159
Now, did she.

561
00:37:20.119 --> 00:37:23.599
Ever truly believe what she had done? Did she carry

562
00:37:23.639 --> 00:37:28.360
the guilt of those she accused until the end? What

563
00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:30.679
do you think? Do you think she was a true believer?

564
00:37:30.800 --> 00:37:33.599
Do you think she was a victim of fear? Did

565
00:37:33.639 --> 00:37:39.400
she know exactly what she was doing? We need to

566
00:37:39.480 --> 00:37:41.840
explore this a little more. We need to explore this

567
00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:44.679
a little more. We need to try to put this

568
00:37:44.920 --> 00:37:48.880
together and try to understand this right, because because there's

569
00:37:48.920 --> 00:37:52.360
a lot of speculation about her, her life is kind

570
00:37:52.360 --> 00:37:53.719
of sad. Now I want to make it very clear.

571
00:37:53.880 --> 00:37:57.840
Nobody else comes back and apologizes. None of the accusers.

572
00:37:58.239 --> 00:38:01.360
There were some judges I think who came back and

573
00:38:01.719 --> 00:38:06.159
had some words of regret. Cotton Mather never comes back

574
00:38:06.199 --> 00:38:09.880
and apologize for anything for his influence. In fact, he

575
00:38:10.280 --> 00:38:13.360
writes a book defending them, but everyone still makes him

576
00:38:13.400 --> 00:38:15.360
out to be a hero, which is crazy. One of

577
00:38:15.360 --> 00:38:18.360
the actual accusers comes back and says, hey, I got

578
00:38:18.360 --> 00:38:21.480
this wrong, and everyone else's just like, well, whatever, whatever,

579
00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:26.079
We're gonna no deal with. Stop Hey, Christian, stop putting

580
00:38:26.079 --> 00:38:29.280
sermons on sermon audio defending Cotton Mather. How about you

581
00:38:29.280 --> 00:38:31.559
listen to one of the girls who actually made the accusations.

582
00:38:31.639 --> 00:38:36.039
Who put who she accused more than anybody. Oh but no, no, no, no, no,

583
00:38:36.159 --> 00:38:38.440
We're gonna just forget her because we got we got

584
00:38:38.519 --> 00:38:39.840
to show up and defend Cotton Mather.

585
00:38:42.639 --> 00:38:42.840
Oh.

586
00:38:43.320 --> 00:38:45.840
Sometimes how Christians handle these things drives me crazy. So

587
00:38:45.920 --> 00:38:50.119
let's try to dig into this, all right, Let's try

588
00:38:50.159 --> 00:38:53.159
to dig into this and see if we can look

589
00:38:53.159 --> 00:38:55.119
at this accusation a little bit better.

590
00:38:55.199 --> 00:38:57.199
So let's set the stage again.

591
00:38:57.440 --> 00:39:01.079
August to twenty fifth, seventeen oh six, and Putnam Junior

592
00:39:01.119 --> 00:39:05.119
stood before the congregation of Salem Village Church. Her voice

593
00:39:05.280 --> 00:39:09.519
was steady, according to how it's reported her words were measured.

594
00:39:10.119 --> 00:39:12.480
Fourteen years had passed since the darkest chapter in the

595
00:39:12.480 --> 00:39:15.320
town's history, since the trials, the hangings, and the fear

596
00:39:15.360 --> 00:39:18.360
that swept through the Salem like wildfire. She had been

597
00:39:18.559 --> 00:39:21.360
just twelve years old in sixteen ninety two. She was

598
00:39:21.400 --> 00:39:24.480
a child caught in hysteria that led to the deaths

599
00:39:24.480 --> 00:39:27.559
of nineteen innocent people, in the destruction of countless lives.

600
00:39:28.920 --> 00:39:31.760
And now standing before her community, she did something almost

601
00:39:31.880 --> 00:39:35.960
unheard of. She confessed. Now, would you like to hear

602
00:39:36.360 --> 00:39:41.920
her confession? I have it here. Do you want to

603
00:39:41.960 --> 00:39:45.000
hear it now. The reason I'm reading this because you

604
00:39:45.039 --> 00:39:48.880
get lots of reports about this. Sometimes it's dramatized. Sometimes

605
00:39:49.079 --> 00:39:51.199
I don't know what's going on. But from the best

606
00:39:51.320 --> 00:39:54.159
I can find, this is a pretty accurate account of

607
00:39:54.199 --> 00:39:57.119
what was said, to the best of my ability. Obviously

608
00:39:57.119 --> 00:39:59.559
it was not there, but to the best of my ability,

609
00:40:00.199 --> 00:40:04.519
she states, I desire to be humbled before God for

610
00:40:04.599 --> 00:40:10.119
that sad and humbling providence that befell my father's family

611
00:40:10.559 --> 00:40:14.679
in the year about ninety two, that I, then, being

612
00:40:14.679 --> 00:40:18.440
in my childhood, should be such a providence of God

613
00:40:19.119 --> 00:40:22.320
be made an instrument for the accusing of several persons

614
00:40:22.440 --> 00:40:27.119
of grievous crimes, whereby their lives were taken away from them,

615
00:40:27.519 --> 00:40:30.320
whom now I have just grounds and good reason to

616
00:40:30.360 --> 00:40:34.199
believe they were innocent persons, and that it was a

617
00:40:34.239 --> 00:40:38.400
great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time,

618
00:40:38.880 --> 00:40:43.480
whereby I justly fear I have been instrumental with others,

619
00:40:43.920 --> 00:40:48.559
though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon myself and this

620
00:40:48.719 --> 00:40:52.239
land the guilt of innocent blood. Though that was said

621
00:40:52.400 --> 00:40:55.480
or done by me against any person, I can truly

622
00:40:55.519 --> 00:40:58.679
and uprightly say before God and Man, I did it

623
00:40:58.800 --> 00:41:02.679
not out of any anger, malice, or ill will to

624
00:41:02.840 --> 00:41:06.440
any person, for I had no such thing against one

625
00:41:06.480 --> 00:41:10.320
of them. But what I did was ignorantly being deluded

626
00:41:10.400 --> 00:41:13.880
by Satan, and particularly as I was a chief instrument

627
00:41:13.920 --> 00:41:17.159
of accusing of good wife Nurse and her two sisters.

628
00:41:17.440 --> 00:41:19.679
I desired to lie in the dust and to be

629
00:41:19.760 --> 00:41:22.480
humbled for it, and that I was a cause with

630
00:41:22.639 --> 00:41:27.159
others of so sad a calamity to them and their families,

631
00:41:27.360 --> 00:41:30.840
for which cause I desire to lie in the dust

632
00:41:31.119 --> 00:41:34.519
and earnestly beg forgiveness of God, and from all those

633
00:41:34.840 --> 00:41:37.519
unto whom I have given just cause of sorrow and

634
00:41:37.599 --> 00:41:43.559
offense whose relations were taking away or accused. Now, she

635
00:41:43.599 --> 00:41:47.000
clearly acknowledges guilt. She clearly seems to state the people

636
00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:50.360
who were killed and accused were innocent. Now there's a

637
00:41:50.400 --> 00:41:54.760
little bit of providence of God, there's a little bit

638
00:41:54.800 --> 00:41:58.039
of Satan, there's a little bit of delusion. There's a

639
00:41:58.079 --> 00:42:03.280
lot going on in her confession, and it's been taken

640
00:42:03.400 --> 00:42:07.880
apart so many different ways. So what I did was

641
00:42:07.920 --> 00:42:12.920
like okay, scholars, historians have kind of tried to break

642
00:42:13.000 --> 00:42:17.159
down her confession. Everyone has their own opinion. I'm like, well,

643
00:42:17.280 --> 00:42:19.480
let me see what AI can do. So I'm like, AI,

644
00:42:20.000 --> 00:42:22.840
can you help me with this confession? Here's what AI

645
00:42:22.960 --> 00:42:27.480
said and Putnam Junior's wording in her confession is somewhat

646
00:42:27.519 --> 00:42:31.239
complex and layered, but it appears that she attributes her

647
00:42:31.320 --> 00:42:36.079
role in the accusations to both divine providence and deception

648
00:42:36.280 --> 00:42:40.440
by Satan. Breaking it down number one, that sad and

649
00:42:40.519 --> 00:42:45.639
humbling providence that befell my father's family. This suggests that

650
00:42:45.679 --> 00:42:49.239
she believed God allowed the events to happen, possibly as

651
00:42:49.280 --> 00:42:53.559
a form of divine judgment or test. Now again, that's

652
00:42:53.639 --> 00:42:58.880
kind of messed up. So God allowed innocent people to

653
00:42:58.920 --> 00:43:02.519
be killed because it was a test. Hey, hey, I

654
00:43:02.559 --> 00:43:05.360
know you're innocent, but I'm gonna see if Ann Putnam Junior,

655
00:43:05.400 --> 00:43:09.199
who's twelve, if she can pass the test. I'm gonna

656
00:43:09.239 --> 00:43:12.800
see if Betty and Abigail was like nine and eleven

657
00:43:12.920 --> 00:43:15.880
or eight and eleven. Let's is it a test on

658
00:43:15.920 --> 00:43:18.280
the girls as a test on the on the people.

659
00:43:18.320 --> 00:43:20.719
I just know the people who had no part of

660
00:43:20.760 --> 00:43:23.079
the test were the innocent people who were killed. So

661
00:43:23.159 --> 00:43:25.239
that that whole thing, I mean, you could raise all

662
00:43:25.280 --> 00:43:29.639
kinds of questions about that. But so God, I guess

663
00:43:29.639 --> 00:43:31.400
we could would all have to believe God allowed it,

664
00:43:31.400 --> 00:43:33.360
because he obviously didn't stop it, but to try to

665
00:43:33.400 --> 00:43:37.760
say it was who was being judged, the innocent people

666
00:43:37.880 --> 00:43:41.280
being killed, or like who was being tested? Okay, so

667
00:43:41.440 --> 00:43:45.119
that's always the problem. Obviously God allowed it. Now, in

668
00:43:45.199 --> 00:43:48.760
Puritan theology, everything, even sin and deception, was seen as

669
00:43:48.760 --> 00:43:51.719
falling under God's providence. Well, again, if sin is falling

670
00:43:51.800 --> 00:43:54.079
under God's providence then and if it's do we make

671
00:43:54.119 --> 00:43:56.519
it a part of God's decree? Then God decreed that

672
00:43:56.599 --> 00:43:59.679
these young girls would tell lies that would kill innocent people,

673
00:43:59.719 --> 00:44:02.360
and then God did not intervene to save the innocent people.

674
00:44:02.400 --> 00:44:04.800
I mean, like, I mean, that raises all kinds of

675
00:44:04.800 --> 00:44:05.960
theological questions.

676
00:44:06.840 --> 00:44:10.280
So that's the first part. The second part that I then,

677
00:44:10.360 --> 00:44:13.679
being in my childhood, should by such a providence of God,

678
00:44:13.880 --> 00:44:17.000
be made an instrument for the accusing of several persons.

679
00:44:17.719 --> 00:44:20.800
Here she acknowledges that she was an instrument in the trials,

680
00:44:22.280 --> 00:44:26.480
but it's unclear whether she means one she was used

681
00:44:26.480 --> 00:44:30.559
by God in a disciplinary sense, like was God trying

682
00:44:30.599 --> 00:44:33.599
to discipline these people that she was being accused, but

683
00:44:33.719 --> 00:44:37.440
that's not really that's not much of an apology. See,

684
00:44:37.440 --> 00:44:40.679
God and his providence made me an instrument, and these

685
00:44:40.719 --> 00:44:44.559
people were being accused as some form of discipline. That

686
00:44:44.639 --> 00:44:47.039
makes no sense to me that I would have all

687
00:44:47.119 --> 00:44:49.559
kinds of problems with that. Or number two, she was

688
00:44:49.599 --> 00:44:52.239
allowed by God to be deceived by Satan. So God

689
00:44:52.280 --> 00:44:55.920
allowed her to be deceived by Satan to become this instrument. Well,

690
00:44:55.920 --> 00:44:58.199
then that'd still be God allowing it to have That

691
00:44:58.239 --> 00:45:02.480
gets all theologically twisted. Or perhaps she was manipulated by

692
00:45:02.719 --> 00:45:07.599
others while believing she was serving God's will. See I

693
00:45:07.679 --> 00:45:10.440
thought I was serving God's will, but actually I was

694
00:45:10.559 --> 00:45:14.280
turned into an instrument. I was being manipulated, maybe manipulated

695
00:45:14.320 --> 00:45:18.039
by people telling her she was doing God's will. That's

696
00:45:18.360 --> 00:45:21.800
that's an awesome a very much a possibility in some

697
00:45:21.840 --> 00:45:24.519
people's mind. I tend to go with this third one

698
00:45:24.920 --> 00:45:28.679
that when she said I was made an instrument, yeah,

699
00:45:28.760 --> 00:45:33.000
I think I mean, you know, in that culture, is

700
00:45:33.039 --> 00:45:35.679
not like she could just stand up and say whatever

701
00:45:35.719 --> 00:45:38.360
she wanted in some cases, or just get herself in

702
00:45:38.719 --> 00:45:41.800
more trouble. I mean, she's already apologizing. Does she name

703
00:45:41.920 --> 00:45:46.039
anybody I don't know. I think her father had already

704
00:45:46.079 --> 00:45:49.159
passed by this point, so maybe she didn't want to

705
00:45:49.159 --> 00:45:53.480
see anything negative about her father. I don't know. But

706
00:45:53.519 --> 00:45:56.039
the three possible options she was used by God in

707
00:45:56.079 --> 00:45:59.440
a disciplinary sense, I have issues with that she was

708
00:45:59.480 --> 00:46:01.599
allowed by God to be deceived by Satan. That raises

709
00:46:01.599 --> 00:46:05.159
all kinds of theological questions. Or she was manipulated by

710
00:46:05.199 --> 00:46:08.559
others while believing she was serving God's will. All right,

711
00:46:08.880 --> 00:46:11.559
so let's break down a third part of her confession.

712
00:46:11.840 --> 00:46:15.119
She later clarifies that she was deceived. It was a

713
00:46:15.159 --> 00:46:19.159
great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time.

714
00:46:19.599 --> 00:46:22.639
She acknowledged that her accusations led to the depths of

715
00:46:22.679 --> 00:46:25.639
innocent people and expressed fear that she brought the guilt

716
00:46:25.639 --> 00:46:30.760
of innocent blood upon herself and the land. Ai says

717
00:46:30.920 --> 00:46:35.159
after examining her confession that Anne seemed to struggle with

718
00:46:35.199 --> 00:46:38.599
how to explain her actions. On the one hand, she

719
00:46:38.639 --> 00:46:41.760
acknowledged that she was wrong and deceived by Satan, but

720
00:46:41.920 --> 00:46:44.320
on the other she frames her role as something that

721
00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:47.880
happened under the providence of God. This does not absolve

722
00:46:47.920 --> 00:46:50.519
her of guilt, but rather suggests that she saw her

723
00:46:50.559 --> 00:46:53.840
own deception as a part of a larger divine event,

724
00:46:54.119 --> 00:46:59.599
which is very much in line with Puritan thinking. Now, remember,

725
00:46:59.719 --> 00:47:01.800
at the age of twelve, she accused, if you want

726
00:47:01.800 --> 00:47:05.840
the exact number, I believe it's sixty two people during

727
00:47:05.880 --> 00:47:09.280
the Salem witch Trials, leading to the execution of twenty

728
00:47:09.280 --> 00:47:12.320
individuals and the imprisonment of several others.

729
00:47:13.480 --> 00:47:14.719
Right, she was one of.

730
00:47:14.760 --> 00:47:18.760
The most prolific accusers in the Salem witch trials, and

731
00:47:19.400 --> 00:47:27.960
she admitted that she had been wrong. Right, she admitted

732
00:47:28.000 --> 00:47:29.960
that she had been deceived, saying, it was a great

733
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:32.920
delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time,

734
00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:35.880
whereby justly fear, I've been made an instrument for the

735
00:47:35.920 --> 00:47:38.880
accusing of several persons whom now I have just grounds

736
00:47:38.920 --> 00:47:43.519
and good reason to believe were innocent persons. Ai says,

737
00:47:43.599 --> 00:47:46.719
it's an omission of guilt. But there's also it seems

738
00:47:46.719 --> 00:47:50.679
a contradiction because before she speaks of Satan's deception, she

739
00:47:50.800 --> 00:47:53.559
calls her involvement as a providence of God, as if

740
00:47:53.599 --> 00:47:57.760
what happened had been in some way divinely allowed. Was

741
00:47:57.800 --> 00:48:00.400
this the reasoning of a Puritan woman who could not

742
00:48:00.519 --> 00:48:04.280
reconcile her past. Was she framing her actions as part

743
00:48:04.320 --> 00:48:07.639
of some larger divine plan to ease her own conscience?

744
00:48:08.280 --> 00:48:10.679
Or was she acknowledging that while she believed she was

745
00:48:10.719 --> 00:48:13.880
doing God's work, at the same time, she now saw

746
00:48:13.960 --> 00:48:17.280
that she had been a tool for something much darker.

747
00:48:18.559 --> 00:48:22.400
She said, she had been made an instrument. But by whom,

748
00:48:25.079 --> 00:48:29.480
by Satan alone, by the hysteria that overtook Salem, or

749
00:48:29.519 --> 00:48:36.800
by someone much closer, someone who stood to gain. Now

750
00:48:36.800 --> 00:48:40.000
this is the words of Ai, because when we look back,

751
00:48:40.800 --> 00:48:49.199
one name appears again and again and again in the records.

752
00:48:50.079 --> 00:49:00.000
One person orchestrated the complaints, one person filed the accusations,

753
00:49:00.519 --> 00:49:06.239
and one person stood to gain from the trials just

754
00:49:06.440 --> 00:49:11.840
as much as his daughter did. And that name is

755
00:49:12.199 --> 00:49:21.880
Thomas Putnam. To understand and Putnam's junior's confession, we have

756
00:49:21.960 --> 00:49:25.119
to look at her father, Thomas Putnam, a man whose

757
00:49:25.159 --> 00:49:28.880
handprints are all over the Salem witch trials. Let's look

758
00:49:28.880 --> 00:49:31.559
at some of the ways he was involved. Thomas Putnam's

759
00:49:31.599 --> 00:49:34.920
direct involvement in the trials. Thomas Putnam was one of

760
00:49:34.960 --> 00:49:38.360
the most active legal participants in the witch trials. He

761
00:49:38.440 --> 00:49:42.320
filed more formal complaints than anyone else in Salem Village.

762
00:49:42.639 --> 00:49:45.360
And what's even more telling, many of those he accused

763
00:49:45.360 --> 00:49:51.360
were people he had specific personal grievances against. His legal

764
00:49:51.400 --> 00:49:56.480
complaints often mirrored the accusations made by his daughter, suggesting

765
00:49:56.559 --> 00:50:01.960
they were working in tandem. Next, the targets of Anne's

766
00:50:01.960 --> 00:50:06.800
accusations aligned with Thomas Putnam's known enemies. Many of the

767
00:50:06.840 --> 00:50:10.079
people Anne accused were individuals or families that her father

768
00:50:10.280 --> 00:50:14.480
had grievances against, including Rebecca Nurse, connected to the Porter

769
00:50:14.599 --> 00:50:18.199
family who had long been rivals of the Putnams. Martha

770
00:50:18.320 --> 00:50:21.880
Corey and John Proctor both openly critical of the trials,

771
00:50:22.039 --> 00:50:25.880
something that threatened Thomas Putnam's efforts to push them forward.

772
00:50:26.119 --> 00:50:32.639
Oh and George Burrows, the former Minister of Salem, whom

773
00:50:32.679 --> 00:50:37.000
Thomas Putnam disliked for his opposition to Puritan leadership. Isn't

774
00:50:37.000 --> 00:50:40.880
it interesting? These people are accused, these people are killed,

775
00:50:41.039 --> 00:50:44.159
and just happens to be that Anne is accusing the

776
00:50:44.280 --> 00:50:47.639
very enemies of her father. I don't know, call it

777
00:50:47.719 --> 00:50:54.400
a coincidence. Is it possible that Thomas Putnam saw the

778
00:50:54.400 --> 00:50:57.679
witch trials as an opportunity, a way to remove enemies,

779
00:50:57.920 --> 00:51:03.400
gain influence, and secure power. For his family. And if so,

780
00:51:04.280 --> 00:51:11.039
was Anne Putnam Junior his greatest weapon? You see, there

781
00:51:11.079 --> 00:51:13.920
was more at Stake and Salem than just religious purity.

782
00:51:14.199 --> 00:51:19.519
There was land, there was power, there was control. We

783
00:51:19.639 --> 00:51:23.480
have to consider the Putnam's land disputes. The Putnams were

784
00:51:23.519 --> 00:51:26.760
engaged in bitter feuds over land and power in Salem village.

785
00:51:27.280 --> 00:51:32.880
Accusing wealthy landowners or their relatives of witchcraft could result

786
00:51:32.920 --> 00:51:36.800
and their land being confiscated. In men a coincidence. You

787
00:51:36.840 --> 00:51:42.719
get accused, your land gets taken. Several Putnam family rivals

788
00:51:42.760 --> 00:51:47.320
were among those executed. Did Thomas Putnam see the trials

789
00:51:47.360 --> 00:51:50.519
as a convenient way to weaken his enemies? And was

790
00:51:50.559 --> 00:51:53.800
Anne knowingly or unknowingly the tool he used to make

791
00:51:53.840 --> 00:51:57.400
it happen. So when Anne Putnam Junior stood before her

792
00:51:57.440 --> 00:51:59.639
church in seventeen oh six and says she had been

793
00:51:59.679 --> 00:52:02.719
deceased by the Devil's instruments, now again, I'm not a

794
00:52:02.760 --> 00:52:05.800
fan of that way of She didn't say she was

795
00:52:05.840 --> 00:52:09.639
deceived by Satan's instruments. She says she was deceived by

796
00:52:09.760 --> 00:52:13.840
Satan and made an instrument. I think that's that again,

797
00:52:14.079 --> 00:52:16.760
that's the way it's always reported. I want you to

798
00:52:16.800 --> 00:52:19.239
hear the way it's always reported. But I always like,

799
00:52:19.239 --> 00:52:21.880
like if I'm if I hear someone say it that way,

800
00:52:22.039 --> 00:52:24.400
and like, let's say, if I was on a tour

801
00:52:24.440 --> 00:52:26.719
in Salem, I would raise my hand and go, that's

802
00:52:26.800 --> 00:52:31.000
not exactly the way what was stated. But was she

803
00:52:31.079 --> 00:52:34.920
in some way at least insinuating that she was a tool?

804
00:52:35.079 --> 00:52:38.400
She was an instrument? And if she was, was she

805
00:52:38.480 --> 00:52:43.599
pointing the finger at her own father? Now there's another

806
00:52:43.679 --> 00:52:47.280
possible layer to this story, one that ties Salem to

807
00:52:47.280 --> 00:52:49.760
one of the most influential Puritan thinkers at the time.

808
00:52:50.239 --> 00:52:56.199
Oh no, who, it's Cotton Mather again, Thomas Putnam's political

809
00:52:56.239 --> 00:53:00.920
and religious allegiances. Cotton Mathers ideas strongly influenced Thomas Putnam,

810
00:53:01.119 --> 00:53:03.800
and Mather had suggested that witches were actively working in

811
00:53:03.840 --> 00:53:08.159
New England. Putnam pushed Mather's views with n Salem, helping

812
00:53:08.199 --> 00:53:12.800
create the atmosphere where accusations were taking seriously. His daughter

813
00:53:12.880 --> 00:53:16.039
Anne may have been his most effective tool and making

814
00:53:16.079 --> 00:53:20.880
these accusations stick. Did Putnam see himself as carrying out

815
00:53:20.960 --> 00:53:24.079
a divine mission? Or was this all just a carefully

816
00:53:24.199 --> 00:53:31.840
orchestrated scheme? Now did well by seventeen oh six, instead

817
00:53:31.840 --> 00:53:33.639
of putting it in a question, do I'll do it

818
00:53:33.679 --> 00:53:36.239
this way? By seventeen oh six, her father had been

819
00:53:36.280 --> 00:53:37.280
dead for several years.

820
00:53:37.320 --> 00:53:38.280
Okay, he had been dead.

821
00:53:38.320 --> 00:53:40.000
I thought he had been dead, So he was dead

822
00:53:40.000 --> 00:53:43.440
when she makes her confession. Now it's interesting she waits

823
00:53:43.440 --> 00:53:45.559
so after he's dead to make the confession. All right,

824
00:53:47.280 --> 00:53:49.920
I don't know again, Maybe she just waited to what

825
00:53:50.000 --> 00:53:52.599
she felt was the appropriate time, and was now an

826
00:53:52.639 --> 00:53:55.559
adult looking back on the hysteria of her youth, Her

827
00:53:55.559 --> 00:53:58.679
statement about being deceived by the devil suggests that she

828
00:53:58.840 --> 00:54:02.719
felt manipulated. If she was referring to her father, it

829
00:54:02.719 --> 00:54:04.960
could indicate that she had come to recognize that he

830
00:54:05.000 --> 00:54:07.480
had used her as a pawn in his own personal

831
00:54:07.480 --> 00:54:11.960
and political battles. Was she misled by fear, by religious zeal,

832
00:54:12.360 --> 00:54:15.199
by the hysteria of the moment, or was she trying

833
00:54:15.239 --> 00:54:18.920
to tell us something more, that she, in some way

834
00:54:19.440 --> 00:54:22.320
had been a victim as well, a victim of her father,

835
00:54:22.519 --> 00:54:25.119
a victim of powerful men around her, a victim of

836
00:54:25.119 --> 00:54:30.159
a town that needed someone to blame. In the end,

837
00:54:30.559 --> 00:54:33.199
she may have realized that her greatest sin wasn't lying,

838
00:54:33.519 --> 00:54:36.519
but being used as a tool for someone else's ambition.

839
00:54:39.039 --> 00:54:43.320
So what do you think was Anne Putnam Junior truly deceived?

840
00:54:44.239 --> 00:54:46.079
Did she realize too late that she had been a

841
00:54:46.119 --> 00:54:48.039
part of something much larger than herself?

842
00:54:52.599 --> 00:54:53.559
What do you think.

843
00:54:58.039 --> 00:55:03.840
That's the story van Putnam Junior? I guess she dies

844
00:55:03.880 --> 00:55:08.559
at thirty seven, alone, never married, basically spending most of

845
00:55:08.599 --> 00:55:16.119
her life in silence. Something doesn't seem right. Thomas Putnam

846
00:55:16.559 --> 00:55:19.440
pat is dead, you know? Before she makes her confession

847
00:55:19.840 --> 00:55:26.000
convenient Cotton Mather never apologizes. No one really ever apologizes.

848
00:55:27.199 --> 00:55:29.320
I mean, I guess there are some formal apologies that

849
00:55:29.360 --> 00:55:31.559
come later, maybe, but as far as one of the

850
00:55:31.679 --> 00:55:33.199
let me state at this way, let me be clear,

851
00:55:33.320 --> 00:55:36.000
what are the accusers. She's the only one of the

852
00:55:36.039 --> 00:55:41.519
accusers who apologizes because I think, I think later on

853
00:55:42.719 --> 00:55:46.079
I'll have to clarify that, I'll have to verify a

854
00:55:46.079 --> 00:55:48.599
couple of things. I can't be dogmatic, but I believe

855
00:55:49.199 --> 00:55:52.119
I don't. I think it's maybe the church. Later on

856
00:55:52.239 --> 00:55:54.440
they do call, I think for a day of confession

857
00:55:54.599 --> 00:55:57.559
and fasting and maybe some kind of repentance. But I

858
00:55:57.599 --> 00:56:00.960
can't remember when that occurs. I don't remember the year

859
00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:17.239
that occurs. I'd have to verify now I can't. On

860
00:56:17.239 --> 00:56:20.519
one hand, I admire her for at least admitting she

861
00:56:20.599 --> 00:56:24.280
got it wrong. I do admire that. I do admire

862
00:56:24.320 --> 00:56:30.880
that I have nothing. But I'm so like it blows

863
00:56:31.000 --> 00:56:36.039
my mind that the religious leaders, the pastors, those with

864
00:56:36.119 --> 00:56:42.800
philological education, the town leadership, judges, all of them, they

865
00:56:42.800 --> 00:56:49.559
were taken in by young girls, young girls making claims

866
00:56:49.559 --> 00:57:01.760
with no actual tangible evidence at all. Zero. And people die.

867
00:57:02.000 --> 00:57:07.639
If you can create fear, and if you can give

868
00:57:07.679 --> 00:57:12.000
people an enemy saying they're the ones causing the very

869
00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:16.000
thing you need to be afraid of, people will throw

870
00:57:16.039 --> 00:57:18.480
away all morality, all theology.

871
00:57:18.840 --> 00:57:19.519
They won't care.

872
00:57:20.159 --> 00:57:22.960
They got to have it gone. Oh we're being overrun,

873
00:57:23.079 --> 00:57:26.320
Oh we're being attacked. Oh we're in danger, Oh we're this,

874
00:57:26.559 --> 00:57:28.880
And then whoever you just point, that's the enemy. And

875
00:57:28.920 --> 00:57:31.199
we don't care about God. Don't we say we care

876
00:57:31.239 --> 00:57:33.360
about God. No, what we'll actually do, we'll use God

877
00:57:33.360 --> 00:57:35.960
as a justification to get rid and attack the very

878
00:57:36.000 --> 00:57:38.119
people who now have been named the enemy out of

879
00:57:38.119 --> 00:57:40.760
this supposed fear, whether the fear is real or it's

880
00:57:40.800 --> 00:57:43.920
nothing more than exaggeration, And we'll sell our soul to

881
00:57:43.960 --> 00:57:47.039
any political party who go after the thing we supposedly fear.

882
00:57:50.159 --> 00:57:52.519
This stuff is played out in fact at the Salem

883
00:57:52.679 --> 00:57:55.960
Which museum, the main Salem Which museum.

884
00:57:55.960 --> 00:57:56.800
They're in Salem.

885
00:57:56.920 --> 00:57:59.559
Now this is going back to the first time I

886
00:57:59.639 --> 00:58:02.119
was there. After you kind of go to the presentation

887
00:58:02.320 --> 00:58:05.599
where they kind of act out a lot of the

888
00:58:05.639 --> 00:58:10.320
things that happened here, starting with Betty and Abigail and Tishiba.

889
00:58:11.119 --> 00:58:13.159
They kind of go there, they talk about certain people.

890
00:58:13.199 --> 00:58:14.840
It's really kind of neat the way they do it.

891
00:58:15.159 --> 00:58:17.920
You're kind of sitting in this like round kind of theater,

892
00:58:18.039 --> 00:58:20.880
and then up around you are these things that these

893
00:58:21.199 --> 00:58:22.960
figures that appear like on the wall.

894
00:58:23.000 --> 00:58:23.800
It's really kind of.

895
00:58:23.760 --> 00:58:26.519
Cool and it's dramatic and all of that. Well, when

896
00:58:26.559 --> 00:58:28.400
you're done with that, you go into this next part

897
00:58:28.400 --> 00:58:31.119
of the museum and they have all these displays, things

898
00:58:31.119 --> 00:58:33.320
about the area of the region, and at the very

899
00:58:33.440 --> 00:58:37.599
last wall they show all of these times in history

900
00:58:38.280 --> 00:58:44.519
where something happens, everyone is fearful, an enemy is pointed out,

901
00:58:44.519 --> 00:58:47.119
and then everyone loses their mind. And one of the

902
00:58:47.119 --> 00:58:49.639
ones was obviously nine to eleven. They had nine to

903
00:58:49.639 --> 00:58:54.320
eleven on there, and I remember the fear right. I

904
00:58:54.320 --> 00:58:57.559
think it was in Tennessee some Muslims were going to

905
00:58:57.599 --> 00:59:02.119
build a mosque, and no, we're not going to allow

906
00:59:02.599 --> 00:59:05.440
in a country with freedom of religion, now because we're fearful,

907
00:59:05.760 --> 00:59:08.719
we're going to try to stop someone from building a mosque.

908
00:59:09.599 --> 00:59:12.440
We can let Christians build churches, but now we have

909
00:59:12.480 --> 00:59:14.519
an enemy.

910
00:59:14.679 --> 00:59:14.920
Now.

911
00:59:15.079 --> 00:59:18.039
I'm not saying that there's never a sense of and

912
00:59:18.480 --> 00:59:21.480
I'm not saying in every situation they list there that maybe,

913
00:59:21.639 --> 00:59:24.000
well that did happen, and maybe there would be some concern,

914
00:59:24.280 --> 00:59:26.960
But you can't allow concern to turn to irrational fear,

915
00:59:27.119 --> 00:59:29.840
and then you dehumanize and turn someone into an enemy,

916
00:59:29.920 --> 00:59:32.719
and then you forget everything as a Christian you're supposed

917
00:59:32.719 --> 00:59:35.679
to even remotely care about. And I can give you

918
00:59:35.760 --> 00:59:40.159
example after example where Christians do that. I don't know

919
00:59:40.199 --> 00:59:42.679
what happened to Amputnam Junior. I mean, it's one of

920
00:59:42.679 --> 00:59:47.679
those things I so wish, you know. I mean, in

921
00:59:47.679 --> 00:59:48.960
some ways I wish I could have lived there and

922
00:59:48.960 --> 00:59:50.280
go knock on her door and say, hey, An.

923
00:59:50.360 --> 00:59:52.800
Can we talk. I'd love to know what happened?

924
00:59:52.800 --> 01:00:03.480
Hear was everyone scared of her? Man thirty seven?

925
01:00:05.320 --> 01:00:08.440
That's crazy, sad.

926
01:00:08.840 --> 01:00:13.079
I mean tragic end, and she accused sixty two people.

927
01:00:13.800 --> 01:00:17.960
Multiple people were ultimately put to death because of her testimony.

928
01:00:18.519 --> 01:00:21.960
I don't know how you live with that, and how

929
01:00:22.000 --> 01:00:24.119
did she Why did she come to the conclusion that

930
01:00:24.199 --> 01:00:28.400
she was wrong and other people didn't? What led it's

931
01:00:28.639 --> 01:00:31.920
I mean, you see the speculation, but there's the story

932
01:00:32.840 --> 01:00:36.360
another late night trip to Salem. Thank you for listening.

933
01:00:37.920 --> 01:00:39.960
You can draw your own conclusions about all this. The

934
01:00:40.000 --> 01:00:42.840
main thing is to learn. It's not about speculating so

935
01:00:42.920 --> 01:00:45.000
much about what happened. It's more about trying to learn

936
01:00:45.480 --> 01:00:47.639
from it. And I think there's a lot to learn here.

937
01:00:47.800 --> 01:00:50.199
I think what it calls into question is all of

938
01:00:50.239 --> 01:00:54.320
our look our motives. Our motives are always so impure.

939
01:00:57.360 --> 01:01:01.000
We can do good things for really bad motives, and

940
01:01:01.079 --> 01:01:03.800
sometimes we can convince ourselves our motives are pure when

941
01:01:03.800 --> 01:01:05.719
they're absolutely vile.

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01:01:06.480 --> 01:01:07.840
Thanks for listening. Good night,