Salem Witch Trials: The Girl Who Apologized

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Well, who would like to take another late night trip to Salem? Are you up for that? I'm ready to take another late night trip to Salem, and that's what we're going to do. But first let me say welcome everyone. It is Monday, March the tenth, twenty twenty five. It is currently nine to fifty pm Central time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located well right here in Abilene, Texas. That's why we have to take a trip to Salem. We have to take a trip to Salem because well, I'm here in Abilene, Texas. Now. It would be great if I was broadcasting to you live from Salem, but no, I'm broadcasting to you live from Ablene, Texas.

0:57 I mean, I love Texas. I mean, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna say I don't. I mean, I grew up here, lived here basically most of my adult life. But but I love Salem, maybe even more. I think I'm mad. There's something I love about Salem. I've talked about it so many times. I have this like weird connection with Salem. And well, for this broadcast, we've been talking about Salem a lot. For this podcast, we've been talking about Salem a lot. In this podcast, we're going to be talking about Salem. And uh, why are we talking about Salem? Is am I just giving you a tour of the city, telling you all of the interesting facts about Salem. No, we are talking about the Salem witch Trials, which a lot of it actually didn't happen where, well, where Salem is today. It happened in Salem Village. We won't get into all of that. We've discussed all of that, but we are going to talk about the Salem witch Trials. Now.

1:51 I don't have the same kind of connection with the Salem witch Trials as I have with Salem. Now, this is kind of interesting. There's just something about the city, and I think the one thing maybe it is the Salem Witch Trials in one way, right, the Salem Witch Trials. Knowing it happened there obviously gives me some kind of connection, But it's just the city itself. There's just a vibe I get when I'm in Salem, and I absolutely love it. When it comes to the witch trials, I have a connection to it. But it's not like, oh, this is cool or this is interesting. No, I have an emotional connection.

2:32 That's one of I get very depressed, I get very discouraged. I get emotional thinking about it. I get really bothered reading about it. I get bothered studying it. But at the same time there's almost an obsession with it. I keep reading it and I keep studying about it, and anytime I'm in Boston, I'm going back to Salem. And I think anyone who knows me is like, how many times are you going to go to Salem? How much can you read about the Salem witch Trials? And I think the answer is I can never go to Salem enough, and I can never read enough about the Salem Witch Trials. There's just something that draws me to it. And I think the reason why is because it has everything to do with issues that are very relevant today. Well. It deals with Christianity, it deals with church history, deals with the Puritans, who are basically held up as heroes by many, It deals with theology. It deals with, in a sense, a form of Christian nationalism, because you once again kind of had church and state merged together, and all of those issues that I typically am very bothered by, very upset about. It just shows how superstition and paranoia and fear can be the driving force and not rational thought out theology. And so I see so many of I've seen so much of that within Christianity in my lifetime.

3:59 Maybe not to the extent of the Salem Witch Trials well, where you know, where twenty people end up dying, but in so many ways, I'm like, look, I wasn't there in Salem, obviously, but everything I read it's not the same, But there's a similarity in what I see sometimes in Christianity, in certain parts of Christianity. I say it every single time I went through the Great Satanic Scare of the eighties. To me, I mean, people weren't dying in the sense that we were holding witch trials, but it was the same fear, the same paranoia, the same panic, the same irrational craziness, and so it bothers me over and over and over every time I think about it. But I believe, you know, it needs to be discussed because I believe the lessons from the Salem Witch Trials are valuable, and I hope I've been able to get that point across and some may be saying, well, how long are you going to talk about it? I don't know as long.

5:01 I mean I will have to stop because I was going to say as long as I want to. But that's not really a good answer, because I could talk about it for the rest of my life, so that probably is not the right answer. But I'm going to continue to discuss it and we'll see if there's enough people interested in it, because I just think the lessons. Are so powerful. Now, let's set this up. The original two girls who made the first accusation, well, first who demonstrated or had to say, or let me state it this way, when we go back to Salem and to the Salem Witch Trials sixteen ninety two January sixteen ninety two, the first two girls who are going to make the first accusations, but they are also the first two girls who also have the original symptoms of being supposedly afflicted by a witch or by something, and they they have all of these different symptoms that bring in the doctor. The doctor doesn't know what's going on, so says, hey, I think it's it's witchcraft. It's a witch.

6:08 And then the girls get pressured and they make their accusations, and remember they accused three women. Now, those two young girls who made those first accusations, who were the first two afflicted. Their names was Betty and Abigail. Betty Paris and Abigail Williams. Remember Betty Paris, she's the pastor's daughter, She's the reverence's daughter, right, Betty Paris, she is, you know, one of the first and then Abigail is the niece of the pastor, of the reverend. They make the first accusations, they are the first girls afflicted. Well, tonight we're gonna move past them because we've told their story. We've told a lot about them. I think you kind of understand possibly their motives in making well and having some supposed symptoms, maybe where they even learned about what symptoms they should do.

7:03 Since they carry out they kind of copy the same identical symptoms and afflictions as what happened in Boston about four years before. Betty Paris's father has the book written by Cotton Mather that describes those symptoms in detail. So it's like, I think Betty would have a pretty good idea of what to do here. There are possible reasons for doing so. So we talked about Betty, we talked about Abigail. Well, tonight we're going to look at the next young girl, and right now we're going to refer to her as the girl who admitted she was wrong.

7:45 She's the girl that's going to end up admitting that she was wrong. Now, it's a it's gonna take a while before we get to where she admits that she was wrong, but I think her story is very, very important. So are you ready to take a trip to Salem. Here we go, a late night trip to Salem. I will once again do this basically as a narrative, because I think trying to present some of this as a narrative is better than doing it more in like a I could do it more like an academic lecture and just try to walk through the bullet points. But I think doing these as narratives has I think has been more interesting, hopefully for.

8:28 You as well. So the Salem witch Trials are often remembered for their victims, the twenty people executed, the hundreds and prisoned, and the fear that swept through the entire community, But just as unforgettable are those who accused, the ones whose words sent their neighbors, their friends, and even their own family members to the gallows. Sometimes when we tell the story of the Salem witch trials and Salem in sixteen ninety two to sixteen ninety three, sometimes we will focus on the women, on the people who were accused and who were murdered, who were killed, who were executed. Sometimes we may focus on the ones making the accusations. I think it just depends sometimes on how you're telling the story. But for this we're gonna look at one of the girls who makes well more than just one accusation. And in fact, when you think of all of the accusers, really one name stands out among all of the accusers. I know, Betty and Abigail maybe get a lot of the attention because they were the first, but the name that really stands out the accuser of the accusers is none other than Anne Putnam Junior. Now, sometimes you'll see me, sometimes

10:00 we're afraid basically kind of say her name, like Ann Putnam. Sometimes I'll say Putnam, but it's really Putnam. But I sometimes I don't know why I will fall into that, but I'll say Putnam, but it's Putnam and Putnam Junior. Now I know you say, junior typically refers to a boy. Well, not in Salem. In sixteen ninety two, referring to her as junior was perfectly acceptable. So just if that sounds weird, that's making I'm not making a mistake when I say An Putnam Junior, I'm not making a mistake all right now. Her name stands out among all of the accusers because Ann Putnam Junior. She was only twelve years old when the trials began, but her voice easily was the loudest.

10:54 She accused more than sixty people of witchcraft. She testified at trial after trial after trial, and unlike many of the other girls, her words carried weight. Other people could make an accusation, but when Anne Putnam Junior spoke, everyone listened, and she I mean, you didn't even want to You didn't even probably want to even have contact with Ann Putnham Junior. You'd be like, oh no, no, no, no, she's walking down the street, go the run. Because she was accusing I mean, over sixty people for crying out loud. She was accusing everyone. Now here's what makes Ann Putnam's story so very different. Years later, when the hysteria was long over and the town of Salem was left in the shadow of its past. She did something almost unheard of of everyone involved, everyone associated with the Salem Witch trials.

11:57 She does something that was completely unheard of. She admitted that she was wrong. So let's tell the story of. Ann Putnam Junior. Does that sound I'm hoping that sounds okay. Here we go. Before we can understand An Putnam Junior, we need to understand where she came from. Because in Salem in sixteen ninety two, who you were, your family name, your status, and your beliefs determined almost everything. So if you live in Salem in sixteen ninety two, it's all about who you were. It's all about your family name, it's about your status, it's about your beliefs. This determines everything. Now, Anne was born in sixteen seventy nine and one of the most influential families in Salem Village. Just remember Salem village, Salem.

12:54 Remember there there's a difference there. Right, if you go visit Salem, you're not in Salem Village. Right. If you go drive, if you fly into Boston, go from drive from Boston to Salem. When you get to Salem, you're not in Salem Village. You have to go back. You have to go back towards Boston to a town called Danvers, right, that's Salem Village. They just they didn't want the name Salem, all right, And we can you know, if you're ever there, and you know I can, I can, I can help you not be confused, all right, because a lot of times you'll you'll hear people talking like you don't think you understand how that'll work, all right. But she was born in sixteen seventy nine and one of the most influential families in Salem Village. The Putnams were powerful, deeply religious, and most importantly, Oh please, I mean, if you're taking notes, write this down. They were embroiled in bitter feuds with other families in the community. They were having conflict with all kinds of people. An't it kind of interesting? They're having conflict with all kinds of people, And yes, happens to be that their daughter and Putnam Junior happens to be the loudest voice and accusing all kinds of people.

14:12 I mean, I don't know, call me skeptical, call me cynecal but this family is in conflict with everyone in Salem village, and their daughter just happens to be the one accusing everyone of witchcraft, which leads many of those people to their death. I don't know, call me skeptical, but you can kind of see where I'm headed with this. Now, her father, Thomas Putnam, was an important figure in the town. He was a man, but he was a man with grievances. He was a man with enemies, and he was a man with a long memory. Now, her mother and Putnam Senior, was devout, deeply suspicious of the world around her, prone to illness and vision okay, so, prone to illness, prone to villain visions, deeply religious okay.

15:10 Now, Anne Putnam. Junior, she's raised in this her father has enemies, seems to have a long memory to remember all of his enemies. I'm seeing a recipe for disaster. That's my own feelings now. From the time that she was a child, Anne Junior was raised in a home filled with stories of the Devil. She was raised in a home filled with stories of the threat of witches, and she was warned that Satan's agents were everywhere. The devil witches. The witches are Satan's agents, and they're literally everywhere. She's kind of raised with this fear.

15:51 Dare I say, raised. With this paranoia? Now, just see how that could possibly work. Now I'm speculating here. If they're the devoutly religious one. I mean, come on, I know people are not gonna like this, but that's okay. I'm gonna say it. When in Christianity, I mean coming you can listen to sermons, you can listen to podcasts. I mean, you just listen to Christians talk. Don't We always present it as all of those people out there. They're the bad people. They're the sinners. They're the liberals, they're woke, they're heathen, they're pagan, they're LGBTQ, they're this. We label them. We almost dehumanize them. They're the enemy. They are all part of Satan's kingdoms. They're the devil. But we, but we, we're the children of God.

16:42 We're the righteous ones. We're good, and it's always us versus them, and we always present ourselves as the hero and the narrative, and everyone else is doing bad and they're somehow in league with Satan. They're a pagan. Now, it doesn't take if you're already with that, that mindset's always been in Christianity. It's always been there to some level. Now you mix that with those people could literally be witches, they could be Satan's agents, and look at they're doing bad things, and they're doing bad things to us, they're hurting our family. Well then you see how quickly they could become accused of being a witch. Oh, Christians love, we have. Everyone's out to get We're always we have persecution.

17:28 We're all we're over. We're being persecuted. If we go to target and they don't say Merry Christmas, it's persecution. They hate Christianity. If Netflix has a movie that says something bad about Christianity, we're being persecuted. If someone releases a song that says something negative about Christianty, we're being persecuted. The enemies of God are out to get us. And it's like we cry wolf a lot. Okay, we do that a lot. Now, I'm not saying there aren't times of legitimate issues that have to be legitimately, but there is this persecution complex. Everyone's out to get us. We have our long list of enemies. We tend to dehumanize them and then we start sometimes we make fault. I mean Christianity is known for making majorly false accusations, and we start calling them names and all the different things that Christians do. You see it, You've seen it in the past, You'll see it in the present, and I believe it will always continue in the future. She's raised in a home like this, the stories of the devil, the witches are everywhere. They're Satan's agents, and they're out to get us. She would have heard her parents whispering about their enemies, the porters, the nurses, the bishops, and she would have known that the lines in Salem were already drawn long before the battle lines, I should say, and around about way they almost become battle lines. Maybe I don't want to use let's just say the lines

18:58 are drawn. Let's just say the line were drawn along before the first witch was accused, and then when Anne was just twelve years old, the first accusations began. Now she doesn't make the first accusations, but that's the pastor's daughter making accusations. Okay. Well, if the. Pastor's daughter can make accusations and people believe her, right, okay, then that means that I'm not just because and you know, the Betty and Abigail were young. Well, if they can be believed that, that's at least setting up the environment that hmm, okay, now let's see what happens. It started with Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, the daughter and niece of Reverend Samuel Parris. Their strange afflictions, their fits, their contortions, their mysterious pains shocked the community. But soon other girls began showing the same symptoms. And I remember the same symptoms.

20:11 I cannot stress this enough. Betty and Abigail they show the exact same symptoms basically or almost identical to what happened in Boston four years ago. Then they have their symptoms, and then all the other girls end up basically demonstrating the exact same symptoms. Oh there may be a little a little this may be a little different, or this a little different. Base It's almost as if all all the girls got the same memo and they're all following the same script. That But again, I am very cynical about a lot of this. All right, But other girls being showing the same symptoms. But one of the loudest voices among them was Anne Putnam Junior. She was different from the others. She wasn't just one of the afflicted girls, she was also one of the most active accused. She accused Tisshaba, she accused Sarah Good, and she accused Sarah Osborne just days after Betty and Abigail pointed their fingers at those same three women, Tisiabus, Sarah and Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. Tishabus, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. Now remember they go after these women. Tisiaba is a servant.

21:30 She's a slave. She's been brought from Barbados. Okay, she she's gonna be I mean, she's gonna be enemy number one in that society and Puritan society. She's a foreigner, she's a stranger. Oh, so that's that's an easy one to go after. They go after a servant, just like happened in Boston. Then they go after Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne. I don't remember. One of them is a beggar. The other one is, oh I think, a widow. But she's not known for following the Puritan rules. She doesn't play the Puritan reindeer games. So these women are clearly suspect. They're already eyed as possibly dangerous or ungodly or whatever the case may be. So it's interesting that Betty and Abigail accused them and then just days later and accuses the exact same women, right, I mean, we could have our own speculation, all right. But Anne wasn't Anne wasn't done.

22:32 She accused more, and then she accused more, and then she accused Moore. She named Rebecca Nurse, she named Martha Corey, and she even named Reverend George Burrows, the former minister of Salem. Oh, we told his story, right, we talked about his execution. Right. Remember he's not in Salem, he's in Maine. He left a long time ago. But remember there were people there who did not like him. I wonder, I wonder if her father had issues with the former minister. Now, maybe that's something we need to explore. I don't know the historical evidence we have. I'm gonna have to do a little searching. But it is interesting that she names him.

23:22 Why a young girl's just gonna name him like it just seems weird that that's the name to Oh, remember the pastor who used to be here. I don't even remember how many years it had been. Hey, and they, of course remember they use spectral evidence. He doesn't even have to be there. His spirit shows up and is tormenting me. Well go getting so they go back, They go to Maine and bringing back right and then he's executed. Crazy. His whole story is crazy. And here's the chilling part. If that's not already chilling enough, now it really I think takes a turn. Unlike some of the younger girls, and Anne's accusations carried weight. She was from the right family, the daughter of a man whose voice mattered, and when she testified in court, people believed her. If she made a testimony, if she gave testified against someone, she was going to be believed. So immediately she gets elevated like the accuser. She's the she's the one. If she accuses you're pretty much Dad, you're at least going to prison.

24:29 You don't want Anne to accuse you. Now, trying to understand why Anne Putnam Junior made these accusations requires delving into the complex web of personal vendettas, family rivalries, and societal pressures that characterize Salem Village in sixteen ninety two. So we need to kind of we need to go back to sixteen ninety two and kind of understand what's going on in Salem Village and that part of the world at this time. Right so because we I mean, you can already hear me, I'm already kind of insinuating that I think there's something going on here right there.

25:11 Just again, all this entire story, just all of it. There's just so much here. I'm like, come on now, how could anyone believe this nonsense? Right? The witches are doing this to me? Come on, this just seems like, you know what, you know, what's more dangerous than a witch. You know what, it's more dangerous than a Satanic rock band. You know what's more dangerous than you know, any Satanist. It's Christians who forget that we have a depraved nature. That that sometimes is the most frightening thing, because when our paranoia gets involved, then our sinful nature can motivate us, and then we think that we're so good that but and everyone, and then we dehumanize and that we can attack other people, all in the name of Jesus. But we've got to go understand what was happening. So let's try to understand. The first thing you need to understand is family influence and feuds the Putnam family had long standing disputes over land and power with other prominent families, notably the Porters. Accusing members of rival families could have been a way to settle the score. It's hard not to think that they had problems with lots of people, and lots of people they had problems with just kind of magically get accused of being a witch. Now did they have a problem with Reverend Burroughs social and religious zell and a deeply Puritan society demonstrating one's piety was paramount.

26:46 By identifying and accusing supposed witches, Anne might have sought to affirm her religious devotion and align with community leaders. So there was family influence and feuds. Right, Hey, the family had a problem, And interesting, those are some of the people she accused. Maybe there was kind of this social religious zeal. Hey, the pastor's daughter made the first accusation. Maybe I want to show that I'm religious. Maybe there was kind of an unspoken psychological pressure. I can't say for sure. I can't say for sure about any of this a right at this point in time, Maybe there was psychological and social pressure. So we have family influence and feuds, social and religious zeal. How about psychological and social pressure. She's a twelve year old girl. She was probably pretty susceptible to suggestion and influence. The hysteria of the time, combined with parental and communal expectations, could have propelled her into the role of accuser. So there's some possible reasons she becomes the accuser of the accuser. I think the most important reason she can is because of her family, name, her status. She's she's going to be.

27:55 Other people are like, well that family, but Anne, she's from that good family, that family. You know that she may get more attention. You would think the pastor's daughter would have gotten more, But sounds like what really got attention was people from a well to do family. Possibly, all right, let's kind of consider just some of the things she gets involved with. And in fact, one of the most heart wrenching cases was that of Rebecca Nurse. She was a seventy year old grandmother known for her piety and kindness despite her impecable reputation, and Putnam Junior accused Nurse of witchcraft, claiming Nurses specter tormented her. There's the spectral evidence again and again. You can thank Cotton Mather for that. Even though people try to say, well he didn't he He may have cautioned at times, but he still supported it. No one should have even allowed spectral Remember, spectral evidence says you can be at home in bed, but your spirit shows up and attacks someone, so you get accused. Even like I was in bed, doesn't matter. Your spirit showed up now during Nurse's trial and testified that she witnessed nurses Nurse's spirit, her apparition, her apparition harming others, which significantly influenced the jury's decision.

29:23 Nurse's initial acquittal was overturned due to the pressure from accusers like Anne, leading to her execution. At first, they were like, well no no, no, no, no no no, they're gonna she's acquitted, and they over they kind of overturn, and then ultimately, like people like Anne, she ultimately gets executed. Now. I believe. I've been to Salem multiple times. I think it was the last trip to Salem. I don't remember which museum it was. But you walk in and it's set up like a almost like there's it's all rows of pews right, almost like you're sitting in an old Puritan church kind of and then they come out and they basically kind of react out a trial. And Anne is the star accuser in the in the performance making the accusation.

30:18 And yeah, it's. Pretty crazy to hear and see and they're and they're borrowing from you know, going as word for word as they can. And it was pretty powerful to see and hear. Also, it just kind of makes you sick to your stomach how it all went down. But right there, a seventy year old woman gets killed because she's a witch. Yeah, because of Anne. It played a major role, a major role in the killing, the execution, however you would like to describe it of Rebecca Nurse, I when I was looking for the name to make sure I had it right now. In the trial of Sarah Wilds and Putnam Junior's testimony was pivotal.

31:03 Anne claimed that wild Specter once again appeared to her, causing physical torment. I mean, Anne was Anne caught onto this spectral evidence thing and was just accusing everyone using that She described being pinched, pricked, and almost choked by Wilde's apparition. Anne's detailed emotional account swayed the court, contributing to Wilde's conviction and subsequent execution. See Anne is making the accusing, she's doing the testifying, and she's leading the Jewers to find the people guilty, and then they're put to death because of a young girl. By early sixteen ninety three, the trials end, the execution stopped, the people of Salem begin to question what just happened. And Anne Putnam Junior, she's still just a girl. The years passed to say, trials become a stand on Massachusetts history. The names of the executed were remembered, and the name of the accusers were not easily forgotten either. That's sixteen ninety three, and Putnam Putnam is still a young girl. But then it was a warm August day, August the twenty fifth, seventeen o six. August the twenty fifth, seventeen o six,

32:38 something happened that no one expected. On August the twenty fifth, seventeen o six, fourteen years after she had held send so many to their deaths, and Putnam Junior stood before the Salem Village Church congregation and she made a confession. She admitted.

33:18 That she had been wrong. In a written statement, she said, I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence that befell this town in the year sixteen ninety two. I was a chief instrument of the accusing of several people who were justly and innocently condemned to death. Now, the next part is where there's a little controversy. For some reason, some people tell the story as this, this is the way they'll tell the story. And then the most shocking thing.

34:05 She said that she had been deceived not by the devil, but by the devil's instruments among us. That's how some people report what she said. Hey, I wasn't deceived by the devil, I was deceived by the devil's instruments among us. Well, if you hear it reported that way, you immediately started thinking, well, wait a minute, Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minue, wit a minute, who who are the devil's instruments that deceived you? If you weren't deceived by the devil but by the devil's instruments, who was deceiving you? So it's almost like she's saying, someone deceived me into doing this, and which then raises speculation, right, because in my mind, well I know who deceived you to do it.

34:46 I don't know, maybe it's your father who had a problem with everyone and just lo and behold his enemies were being killed. He basically gave you the hit list, and you were the You were the executioner. Like, I mean, that's where I want to go. Some people are like, ugh, I now, I don't think that that is an accurate way of telling the story. I don't think that that's fair. I think her her statement is a little bit more nuanced. And I've heard the statement. I've read the statement, So when I hear it reported that way, I kind of always raise my hand and go, I don't think that's completely accurate. I think it's more accurate that she seemed to have said something like this, that she was made an instrument for the accusing of several persons, She was made an instrument for the accusing of several persons, that she became this she was turned into an instrument. Okay, Well, who turned her into this instrument for the accusing of the people. Was that the devil? Was it God or was it someone else? Well? If it's God, well, then why would she be apologizing If God turned her into the accuser? And now she's apologizing for her accusing that doesn't make sense. If it's the devil or then that's still taking some responsibility off herself. But if it was someone else, Okay, now that raises some questions. Now, so the more accurate would be something like she was made

36:17 an instrument for the accusing of several persons whom now I have just grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons, and that it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time. Now, see that that sounds like she was deluded by Satan. So there's a little bit of what's going on here. So a lot of times the questions that come when we talk about her apology was was she blaming others? Was she saying she had truly believed she was telling the truth? Or was this her way of trying to atone for the deaths trying to atone for the deaths her words had caused. Now, all the afflicted girls in Salem and Putnam, Junior was the only one who ever publicly apologized she's it. Nobody else bothered to come back and apologize. She never married. She died at the age of thirty seven, living much of her adult life in complete silence.

37:19 Now, did she. Ever truly believe what she had done? Did she carry the guilt of those she accused until the end? What do you think? Do you think she was a true believer? Do you think she was a victim of fear? Did she know exactly what she was doing? We need to explore this a little more. We need to explore this a little more. We need to try to put this together and try to understand this right, because because there's a lot of speculation about her, her life is kind of sad. Now I want to make it very clear. Nobody else comes back and apologizes. None of the accusers. There were some judges I think who came back and had some words of regret. Cotton Mather never comes back and apologize for anything for his influence. In fact, he writes a book defending them, but everyone still makes him out to be a hero, which is crazy. One of the actual accusers comes back and says, hey, I got this wrong, and everyone else's just like, well, whatever, whatever, We're gonna no deal with. Stop Hey, Christian, stop putting sermons on sermon audio defending Cotton Mather. How about you listen to one of the girls who actually made the accusations.

38:31 Who put who she accused more than anybody. Oh but no, no, no, no, no, We're gonna just forget her because we got we got to show up and defend Cotton Mather. Oh. Sometimes how Christians handle these things drives me crazy. So let's try to dig into this, all right, Let's try to dig into this and see if we can look at this accusation a little bit better. So let's set the stage again. August to twenty fifth, seventeen oh six, and Putnam Junior stood before the congregation of Salem Village Church. Her voice was steady, according to how it's reported her words were measured. Fourteen years had passed since the darkest chapter in the town's history, since the trials, the hangings, and the fear that swept through the Salem like wildfire. She had been just twelve years old in sixteen ninety two. She was a child caught in hysteria that led to the deaths of nineteen innocent people, in the destruction of countless lives.

39:28 And now standing before her community, she did something almost unheard of. She confessed. Now, would you like to hear her confession? I have it here. Do you want to hear it now. The reason I'm reading this because you get lots of reports about this. Sometimes it's dramatized. Sometimes I don't know what's going on. But from the best I can find, this is a pretty accurate account of what was said, to the best of my ability. Obviously it was not there, but to the best of my ability, she states, I desire to be humbled before God for that sad and humbling providence that befell my father's family in the year about ninety two, that I, then, being in my childhood, should be such a providence of God be made an instrument for the accusing of several persons of grievous crimes, whereby their lives were taken away from them, whom now I have just grounds and good reason to believe they were innocent persons, and that it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time, whereby I justly fear I have been instrumental with others, though ignorantly and unwittingly, to bring upon myself and this land the guilt of innocent blood. Though that was said or done by me against any person, I can truly and uprightly say before God and Man, I did it not out of any anger, malice, or ill will to

41:02 any person, for I had no such thing against one of them. But what I did was ignorantly being deluded by Satan, and particularly as I was a chief instrument of accusing of good wife Nurse and her two sisters. I desired to lie in the dust and to be humbled for it, and that I was a cause with others of so sad a calamity to them and their families, for which cause I desire to lie in the dust and earnestly beg forgiveness of God, and from all those unto whom I have given just cause of sorrow and offense whose relations were taking away or accused. Now, she clearly acknowledges guilt. She clearly seems to state the people who were killed and accused were innocent. Now there's a little bit of providence of God, there's a little bit of Satan, there's a little bit of delusion. There's a lot going on in her confession, and it's been taken apart so many different ways. So what I did was like okay, scholars, historians have kind of tried to break down her confession. Everyone has their own opinion. I'm like, well, let me see what AI can do. So I'm like, AI, can you help me with this confession? Here's what AI said and Putnam Junior's wording in her confession is somewhat complex and layered, but it appears that she attributes her role in the accusations to both divine providence and deception

42:36 by Satan. Breaking it down number one, that sad and humbling providence that befell my father's family. This suggests that she believed God allowed the events to happen, possibly as a form of divine judgment or test. Now again, that's kind of messed up. So God allowed innocent people to be killed because it was a test. Hey, hey, I know you're innocent, but I'm gonna see if Ann Putnam Junior, who's twelve, if she can pass the test. I'm gonna see if Betty and Abigail was like nine and eleven or eight and eleven. Let's is it a test on the girls as a test on the on the people.

43:18 I just know the people who had no part of the test were the innocent people who were killed. So that that whole thing, I mean, you could raise all kinds of questions about that. But so God, I guess we could would all have to believe God allowed it, because he obviously didn't stop it, but to try to say it was who was being judged, the innocent people being killed, or like who was being tested? Okay, so that's always the problem. Obviously God allowed it. Now, in Puritan theology, everything, even sin and deception, was seen as falling under God's providence. Well, again, if sin is falling under God's providence then and if it's do we make it a part of God's decree? Then God decreed that these young girls would tell lies that would kill innocent people, and then God did not intervene to save the innocent people.

44:02 I mean, like, I mean, that raises all kinds of theological questions. So that's the first part. The second part that I then, being in my childhood, should by such a providence of God, be made an instrument for the accusing of several persons. Here she acknowledges that she was an instrument in the trials, but it's unclear whether she means one she was used by God in a disciplinary sense, like was God trying to discipline these people that she was being accused, but that's not really that's not much of an apology. See, God and his providence made me an instrument, and these people were being accused as some form of discipline. That makes no sense to me that I would have all kinds of problems with that. Or number two, she was allowed by God to be deceived by Satan. So God allowed her to be deceived by Satan to become this instrument. Well, then that'd still be God allowing it to have That gets all theologically twisted. Or perhaps she was manipulated by others while believing she was serving God's will. See I thought I was serving God's will, but actually I was turned into an instrument. I was being manipulated, maybe manipulated by people telling her she was doing God's will. That's that's an awesome a very much a possibility in some people's mind. I tend to go with this third one that when she said I was made an instrument, yeah, I think I mean, you know, in that culture, is

45:33 not like she could just stand up and say whatever she wanted in some cases, or just get herself in more trouble. I mean, she's already apologizing. Does she name anybody I don't know. I think her father had already passed by this point, so maybe she didn't want to see anything negative about her father. I don't know. But the three possible options she was used by God in a disciplinary sense, I have issues with that she was allowed by God to be deceived by Satan. That raises all kinds of theological questions. Or she was manipulated by others while believing she was serving God's will. All right, so let's break down a third part of her confession. She later clarifies that she was deceived. It was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time.

46:19 She acknowledged that her accusations led to the depths of innocent people and expressed fear that she brought the guilt of innocent blood upon herself and the land. Ai says after examining her confession that Anne seemed to struggle with how to explain her actions. On the one hand, she acknowledged that she was wrong and deceived by Satan, but on the other she frames her role as something that happened under the providence of God. This does not absolve her of guilt, but rather suggests that she saw her own deception as a part of a larger divine event, which is very much in line with Puritan thinking. Now, remember, at the age of twelve, she accused, if you want the exact number, I believe it's sixty two people during the Salem witch Trials, leading to the execution of twenty individuals and the imprisonment of several others.

47:13 Right, she was one of. The most prolific accusers in the Salem witch trials, and she admitted that she had been wrong. Right, she admitted that she had been deceived, saying, it was a great delusion of Satan that deceived me in that sad time, whereby justly fear, I've been made an instrument for the accusing of several persons whom now I have just grounds and good reason to believe were innocent persons. Ai says, it's an omission of guilt. But there's also it seems a contradiction because before she speaks of Satan's deception, she calls her involvement as a providence of God, as if what happened had been in some way divinely allowed. Was this the reasoning of a Puritan woman who could not reconcile her past. Was she framing her actions as part of some larger divine plan to ease her own conscience?

48:08 Or was she acknowledging that while she believed she was doing God's work, at the same time, she now saw that she had been a tool for something much darker. She said, she had been made an instrument. But by whom, by Satan alone, by the hysteria that overtook Salem, or by someone much closer, someone who stood to gain. Now this is the words of Ai, because when we look back, one name appears again and again and again in the records.

48:50 One person orchestrated the complaints, one person filed the accusations, and one person stood to gain from the trials just as much as his daughter did. And that name is Thomas Putnam. To understand and Putnam's junior's confession, we have to look at her father, Thomas Putnam, a man whose handprints are all over the Salem witch trials. Let's look at some of the ways he was involved. Thomas Putnam's direct involvement in the trials. Thomas Putnam was one of the most active legal participants in the witch trials. He filed more formal complaints than anyone else in Salem Village.

49:42 And what's even more telling, many of those he accused were people he had specific personal grievances against. His legal complaints often mirrored the accusations made by his daughter, suggesting they were working in tandem. Next, the targets of Anne's accusations aligned with Thomas Putnam's known enemies. Many of the people Anne accused were individuals or families that her father had grievances against, including Rebecca Nurse, connected to the Porter family who had long been rivals of the Putnams. Martha Corey and John Proctor both openly critical of the trials, something that threatened Thomas Putnam's efforts to push them forward.

50:26 Oh and George Burrows, the former Minister of Salem, whom Thomas Putnam disliked for his opposition to Puritan leadership. Isn't it interesting? These people are accused, these people are killed, and just happens to be that Anne is accusing the very enemies of her father. I don't know, call it a coincidence. Is it possible that Thomas Putnam saw the witch trials as an opportunity, a way to remove enemies, gain influence, and secure power. For his family. And if so, was Anne Putnam Junior his greatest weapon? You see, there was more at Stake and Salem than just religious purity.

51:14 There was land, there was power, there was control. We have to consider the Putnam's land disputes. The Putnams were engaged in bitter feuds over land and power in Salem village. Accusing wealthy landowners or their relatives of witchcraft could result and their land being confiscated. In men a coincidence. You get accused, your land gets taken. Several Putnam family rivals were among those executed. Did Thomas Putnam see the trials as a convenient way to weaken his enemies? And was Anne knowingly or unknowingly the tool he used to make it happen. So when Anne Putnam Junior stood before her church in seventeen oh six and says she had been deceased by the Devil's instruments, now again, I'm not a fan of that way of She didn't say she was deceived by Satan's instruments. She says she was deceived by Satan and made an instrument. I think that's that again, that's the way it's always reported. I want you to hear the way it's always reported. But I always like, like if I'm if I hear someone say it that way, and like, let's say, if I was on a tour in Salem, I would raise my hand and go, that's not exactly the way what was stated. But was she in some way at least insinuating that she was a tool?

52:35 She was an instrument? And if she was, was she pointing the finger at her own father? Now there's another possible layer to this story, one that ties Salem to one of the most influential Puritan thinkers at the time. Oh no, who, it's Cotton Mather again, Thomas Putnam's political and religious allegiances. Cotton Mathers ideas strongly influenced Thomas Putnam, and Mather had suggested that witches were actively working in New England. Putnam pushed Mather's views with n Salem, helping create the atmosphere where accusations were taking seriously. His daughter Anne may have been his most effective tool and making these accusations stick. Did Putnam see himself as carrying out a divine mission? Or was this all just a carefully orchestrated scheme? Now did well by seventeen oh six, instead of putting it in a question, do I'll do it this way? By seventeen oh six, her father had been dead for several years.

53:37 Okay, he had been dead. I thought he had been dead, So he was dead when she makes her confession. Now it's interesting she waits so after he's dead to make the confession. All right, I don't know again, Maybe she just waited to what she felt was the appropriate time, and was now an adult looking back on the hysteria of her youth, Her statement about being deceived by the devil suggests that she felt manipulated. If she was referring to her father, it could indicate that she had come to recognize that he had used her as a pawn in his own personal and political battles. Was she misled by fear, by religious zeal, by the hysteria of the moment, or was she trying to tell us something more, that she, in some way had been a victim as well, a victim of her father, a victim of powerful men around her, a victim of a town that needed someone to blame. In the end, she may have realized that her greatest sin wasn't lying, but being used as a tool for someone else's ambition.

54:39 So what do you think was Anne Putnam Junior truly deceived? Did she realize too late that she had been a part of something much larger than herself? What do you think. That's the story van Putnam Junior? I guess she dies at thirty seven, alone, never married, basically spending most of her life in silence. Something doesn't seem right. Thomas Putnam pat is dead, you know? Before she makes her confession convenient Cotton Mather never apologizes. No one really ever apologizes.

55:27 I mean, I guess there are some formal apologies that come later, maybe, but as far as one of the let me state at this way, let me be clear, what are the accusers. She's the only one of the accusers who apologizes because I think, I think later on I'll have to clarify that, I'll have to verify a couple of things. I can't be dogmatic, but I believe I don't. I think it's maybe the church. Later on they do call, I think for a day of confession and fasting and maybe some kind of repentance. But I can't remember when that occurs. I don't remember the year that occurs. I'd have to verify now I can't. On one hand, I admire her for at least admitting she got it wrong. I do admire that. I do admire that I have nothing. But I'm so like it blows my mind that the religious leaders, the pastors, those with philological education, the town leadership, judges, all of them, they were taken in by young girls, young girls making claims with no actual tangible evidence at all. Zero. And people die.

57:02 If you can create fear, and if you can give people an enemy saying they're the ones causing the very thing you need to be afraid of, people will throw away all morality, all theology. They won't care. They got to have it gone. Oh we're being overrun, Oh we're being attacked. Oh we're in danger, Oh we're this, And then whoever you just point, that's the enemy. And we don't care about God. Don't we say we care about God. No, what we'll actually do, we'll use God as a justification to get rid and attack the very people who now have been named the enemy out of this supposed fear, whether the fear is real or it's nothing more than exaggeration, And we'll sell our soul to any political party who go after the thing we supposedly fear.

57:50 This stuff is played out in fact at the Salem Which museum, the main Salem Which museum. They're in Salem. Now this is going back to the first time I was there. After you kind of go to the presentation where they kind of act out a lot of the things that happened here, starting with Betty and Abigail and Tishiba. They kind of go there, they talk about certain people. It's really kind of neat the way they do it. You're kind of sitting in this like round kind of theater, and then up around you are these things that these figures that appear like on the wall. It's really kind of. Cool and it's dramatic and all of that. Well, when you're done with that, you go into this next part of the museum and they have all these displays, things about the area of the region, and at the very last wall they show all of these times in history where something happens, everyone is fearful, an enemy is pointed out, and then everyone loses their mind. And one of the ones was obviously nine to eleven. They had nine to eleven on there, and I remember the fear right. I think it was in Tennessee some Muslims were going to build a mosque, and no, we're not going to allow in a country with freedom of religion, now because we're fearful, we're going to try to stop someone from building a mosque.

59:09 We can let Christians build churches, but now we have an enemy. Now. I'm not saying that there's never a sense of and I'm not saying in every situation they list there that maybe, well that did happen, and maybe there would be some concern, But you can't allow concern to turn to irrational fear, and then you dehumanize and turn someone into an enemy, and then you forget everything as a Christian you're supposed to even remotely care about. And I can give you example after example where Christians do that. I don't know what happened to Amputnam Junior. I mean, it's one of those things I so wish, you know. I mean, in some ways I wish I could have lived there and go knock on her door and say, hey, An.

59:50 Can we talk. I'd love to know what happened? Hear was everyone scared of her? Man thirty seven? That's crazy, sad. I mean tragic end, and she accused sixty two people. Multiple people were ultimately put to death because of her testimony. I don't know how you live with that, and how did she Why did she come to the conclusion that she was wrong and other people didn't? What led it's I mean, you see the speculation, but there's the story another late night trip to Salem. Thank you for listening.

1:00:37 You can draw your own conclusions about all this. The main thing is to learn. It's not about speculating so much about what happened. It's more about trying to learn from it. And I think there's a lot to learn here. I think what it calls into question is all of our look our motives. Our motives are always so impure. We can do good things for really bad motives, and sometimes we can convince ourselves our motives are pure when they're absolutely vile. Thanks for listening. Good night,