All language subtitles for Americas.Hidden.Stories.Series.1.1of8.Salems.Secrets.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org

Narrator: Salem, 1692.

Terrified puritans believe
the devil has risen.

Woman: They're convulsing, and
they're being bitten and choked.

Man: Right here she says
she's first accosted by Satan.

Narrator: 19 suspected witches
are hanged.

Man: Thou shalt not suffer
a witch to live.

Narrator: But the hidden history
of Salem may be very different.

Man: These people
are Christian martyrs.

Man: They share the idea

that truth is more important
than even life itself.

Narrator: To find out why so
many were accused of witchcraft,

modern historians will enter
a lost puritan world.

Man: Oh, my god.

Woman: These girls had the power
of life and death

in their hands.

Narrator: They will use
high technology

to find where the victims
were hanged and secretly buried.

Woman: We might be on the spot.

Narrator: It may change forever
what we thought we knew

about the Salem witch hunt.

Man: The Salem witch trials
are the first

large-scale government cover-up
in American history.

Man: So there's our proof.

Narrator: History may be more
shocking than we ever imagined.

Today, technology forces
the past to give up its secrets.

Newly discovered documents
turn history on its head,

and discoveries
in ancient archives

reveal startling stories
we never knew.

♪

♪

August 19, 1692.

A huge crowd gathers

to watch five witches
being hanged,

somewhere in a small
Massachusetts town called Salem.

Katherine howe:
People traveled from all over.

It was the most exciting thing
that was happening.

So there was
a spectacle element to it.

[Screaming]

Narrator: The puritan colony
of Massachusetts

is in the middle of a panic
over suspected witches.

Neighbor accuses neighbor,

and family members
turn on each other

in an orgy of paranoia
and violence.

The witch scare had begun
earlier that year, in January.

Young women have
mysterious fits,

thrashing in bed
and acting possessed.

Accusations the girls have been
attacked by witchcraft

quickly tear through the colony.

The local ministers believe
that the devil is at work.

Man: The wiles of the devil!
The worst of all evil!

Narrator: The court takes action
to protect the town;

All witches shall be
prosecuted and hanged.

This is the third day
of executions that summer,

but today's are unusual:

For the first time in Salem,
four of the accused are men.

One is a puritan minister.

Another is a prosperous,
church-going husband and father

named John proctor.

Stacy schiff: John proctor is
the first man to be accused.

He's a tavern keeper,

he's on seemingly good terms
with everyone.

Emerson baker: He's a pretty
successful sort of fellow

and very much
a god-fearing Christian.

Narrator: That an upstanding
puritan church-goer like proctor

is about to hang

shows just how fevered
the witch hunt has become.

He is the last to die
that afternoon.

Richard trask: To be
the last one to be executed

on a particular day

meant you have to watch
everybody else be executed.

Baker: Proctor protested
his innocence

and his unwillingness to die
before the gallows,

that he was an innocent man.

[Rope creaking]

Narrator: Eight more
will hang that summer.

Then, almost as quickly
as it had begun, it is over.

Puritan authorities
come to their senses

and halt the trials.

A blanket of silence falls over
the stunned community,

and any writing or publication
about the terror

is officially banned.

The location
of the execution site

vanishes from any records.

Baker: I really feel
the Salem witch trials

are the sort of first
large-scale government cover-up

in American history, you know,

hundreds of years
before Watergate.

Narrator: That cover-up is
launched in the fall of 1692

when the governor of the colony,
sir William phipps,

bans any writing or publication
about the witch hunt.

Books were reported burned
in Harvard square.

Baker: He's essentially
trying to Bury the fact

that innocent lives
were lost here.

[Crowd wailing]

Narrator: Even today, in a town
made famous by the witch trials,

vital information is missing
and questions lie unanswered.

Trask: There's about
900 documents in all,

but there are huge gaps.

Baker: It's amazing
what we don't know.

Trask: Yeah.

Narrator: Now, a group
of historians has uncovered

new information
about the witch hunt.

Marilynne roach: The executions,
the people who had died there.

Narrator: Richard trask,
marilynne roach,

tad baker, and Ben ray

have spent their lives
researching the witch trials.

They hope to finally answer
its most enduring mysteries.

Roach: History of
the Salem witch trials...

Narrator: What caused the girls
to have thrashing fits

and act possessed?

Baker: Fits that
no one can diagnose.

Narrator: Why had the
accusations of witchcraft spread

so quickly, ripping through
the colony like a disease?

Ben ray: It begins to spread
from something small

to something large,
and it's gonna happen to you!

Narrator: And where was
the location

where those witches were
so publicly hanged?

Ray: We had the narrative,
but we didn't know where

the narrative came to
its most vicious conclusion.

Narrator: Finding the long-lost
hanging site

could write a final missing
chapter in salem's history.

Baker: Salem, the witch city,
people don't realize that

this is built on the death
of 19 Christian martyrs.

I think it's really important

that the site be found
and identified.

Roach: The place is worth
preserving as a memorial

to what happened and what
should not have happened.

Trask: And there were
victims from Salem...

Narrator: Richard trask runs
the peabody archival center.

He grew up here and
is a direct descendant

of executed witch John proctor.

Trask: The location
of the execution

of the accused witches,

which should be such
an important place,

was kind of lost to history.

Now, this is...

Narrator: One book
about the trials

did escape the puritan censors.

It was published in London
eight years after the hangings.

Trask: "More wonders
of the invisible world"

by Robert calef.

He was a man who thought
injustice was being done,

and he was going to record it.

Narrator: Calef's book gives
even more importance

to finding the lost
hanging site.

He reported that immediately
after the executions,

the bodies were dumped nearby
in a shallow grave.

Trask: This is calef talking
about the execution.

"And he was cut down."

He was dragged by the halter
to a hole, or grave,

between the rocks.

One of his hands, and his chin,
and a foot of one of them,

"being left uncovered."

Narrator: If the hanging site
can be found,

it's possible that remains
of the accused witches

still lie close by
in unmarked graves.

♪

Inside a secure vault
at the peabody archives

are surviving documents from
the time of the witch hunt.

Although publishing books about
the witch trials was illegal,

clues that explain
why the witch hunt started

are hidden within
300-year-old court records

and fading church documents.

Trask: This is, you know,
where the most important

or valuable things are located.

Narrator: Richard trask's
daughter, Elizabeth Peterson,

is studying the family history

being passed down
from her father.

She wants to know why her
long-ago relative John proctor

was accused and hanged.

Elizabeth Peterson:
He's an older man.

You know, and generally people
think of witches as women.

Trask: Well, John proctor
lived in Salem farms,

a little below Salem village.

But he went to
the Salem village church,

and reverend parris
was the minister of it.

Narrator: Minister Samuel parris
plays a key role

in the start
of the witch crisis.

Trask: This is the minister's
record book,

and it's in the handwriting
of the reverend Samuel parris.

Peterson: Are these
original pages?

Trask: They're original pages.

Peterson: Wow.

Trask: March 27, 1692,

and he says, "the devil hath
been raised amongst us",

and his rage is vehement
and terrible."

♪

Narrator: The reverend parris
left more than just words

in Salem village.

Baker: Very few people
even realize this is here.

Narrator: This is the site
of parris' former home.

Baker: Is where the story
really starts.

This is the beginning
of the Salem witch trials.

Ground zero.

Narrator: The shocking events
that happened here 300 years ago

lit the flame that
began the witch crisis

and led to the death
of elizabeth's relative,

John proctor.

Peterson: A witch.
Baker: Absolutely.

Narrator:
The puritans had arrived

a generation earlier, in 1626,

seeking to build
a pure Christian utopia

in the new world.

The immigrants found themselves

in a frightening
and often hostile land.

Schiff: These are people
who advertise themselves

as a flock in the wilderness,
and they very much are.

They're on the edge
of a frontier.

And the dark is really palpable.

Narrator: When Samuel parris
arrives as the new minister,

Salem village is anything
but a puritan utopia.

It is filled with refugees
from a long-running Indian war,

and property disputes pit
neighbor against neighbor.

Parris preaches that
the devil is responsible

for salem's trouble.

Parris: Stand against
the wiles of the devil!

Narrator: For the women
who share his home...

His wife, 9-year-old daughter,
11-year-old niece,

and Indian slave tituba...

The devil waits in every corner.

Baker:
Imagine these young girls,

they have their father,
Samuel parris,

storming around the parsonage,

up in his study writing these
fire and brimstone sermons,

saying god is terribly angry,

Satan has been let loose
in our country,

repent, for your soul
burns in eternity in hell.

This is scary stuff
for a 9-year-old, right?

Narrator: In January, the young
girls begin to act strangely

and complain of agonizing pains.

Schiff: They say that they're
being bitten and choked.

They're convulsing
in various ways.

Their bodies are pretzeling
into different postures.

One of them runs
into a fireplace.

They will shriek,

and they will not be able
to stop the shrieking.

Narrator: For reverend parris

and the other ministers
in the colony,

there is an obvious diagnosis:

Witchcraft.

Tens of thousands
of suspected witches

had been executed
in medieval Europe.

Baker: The big problem
in the 17th century

is that witches are real.

Everyone believes in witches;

Ministers, university professors
know that they exist.

Narrator: The first ominous
proof of a witch infestation

in Salem now comes
from parris' own slave.

For reasons we'll never know,

tituba admits to being
the devil's agent,

casting a spell on the girls
in parris' home.

[Thunder]

Schiff: It will be
her confession

that will really make
the crisis take off,

because once she says,
"I am practicing witchcraft,"

it's very hard for anyone
to deny the existence of it

in the community.

Peterson: What actually
started all this

was inside this parsonage.

Baker: It's right here
that tituba says

that she's first
accosted by Satan

who forces her
to afflict the girls.

Narrator: The stage has been set
for a plague of witchcraft,

unlike anything the new world
had ever seen.

Witches were traditionally
female and lower class.

But John proctor is
an upstanding businessman

and church-goer, with a wife
and 16 children.

So why is proctor accused
of being a witch?

♪

Andrew poleszak: We put
this waistcoat on him,

basically in keeping with
the English fashion of the time.

Narrator: To help figure it out,

a team of historians
and costume designers

are recreating
his 17th century world.

Frank gentile: I thought
puritans always wore black;

Obviously these
are not black clothes.

Howe: Too many 1950s movies,
I think.

Roach: Oh, yes,
and Thanksgiving pageants.

Black was an expensive color.

Poleszak: I know what
the clothes

were supposed to look like,

but his, John proctor's
financial standing at the time,

what would that really
have been like?

Howe: John was doing really well
for himself,

but he also, he didn't have any

sort of official standing
in the town,

which would be
a class signifier at that time.

But he had a very
successful farm.

But john's first two wives were
lost to dying relatively young.

Roach: In childbirth.

Howe: His second wife definitely
died in childbirth.

And so this Elizabeth
is his third wife.

She's in her forties.

The primary driving factor of
John and elizabeth's marriage

would have been
economic necessity.

Now, that being said,
by all accounts,

they actually had
a very solid partnership.

She was middle class;

She enjoyed some material wealth
because of john's success.

Narrator: But success
won't protect them.

The Salem witch hunt is unique.

Even the wealthy and pious
will find themselves accused.

In late February 1692,

the proctors and much of
Salem village watch with fear

as more girls are stricken
with bizarre fits.

One of them is
13-year-old Ann Putnam,

whose family connections
make her stand out.

She's the daughter
of Thomas Putnam,

an ally of the reverend
Samuel parris.

Parris: The whole armor of god!

Baker: He's a man whose father
had been the most wealthy,

most important member
in Salem village,

but he only inherits
a small portion

of that wealth and position.

He's a fellow with
a chip on his shoulder.

He's got a large family,
lots of mouths to feed.

Narrator: Like parris,
Thomas Putnam

blames his misfortune
on the devil.

Baker: He's ready,
willing and able

to look for Satan and
to help root him out

and to find the culprits
in Salem village.

Narrator: Suspected witches
are investigated

by the Salem magistrates.

On march 1st, Ann Putnam
tells the magistrates

that Samuel parris' slave tituba
has cast a spell on her.

Ann Putnam: I saw the apparition
of tituba,

which did torture me
by pricking and pinching.

Narrator: Ann Putnam also
accuses two other women in town.

Roach: They name tituba
and the two neighbors,

Sarah good and Sarah Osborne.

Narrator: Like tituba, neither
Sarah good nor Sarah Osborne

have money nor many friends
in the village.

Schiff: They're pretty much
the first three people

you would have voted
off the island anyway.

Narrator: If the accusations
had stopped here,

we'd probably never have heard
of the Salem witch hunt.

But that march,

the afflicted girls turn on
a very unexpected target...

A well-regarded church member,
71-year-old Rebecca nurse.

Baker: Rebecca nurse
was a puritan Saint.

She was a very devout woman,
a beloved grandmother,

and a staunch pillar
of the community here.

Narrator: The putnams had long
feuded with the nurse family

over property boundaries.

In march, Thomas Putnam
files a complaint

on behalf of his daughter,
against Rebecca nurse.

Some historians suspect
Putnam is fanning the flames

of the witch crisis
for his own ends,

and may secretly be telling
the other girls who to accuse.

Schiff: Thomas Putnam
seems to play a role

as the man behind
the curtain here.

Does he suggest names to them?

Roach: Someone's been
suggesting,

if not directly,
whispered comments,

as to what, who would be
bewitching the girls.

So they know names.

Narrator: John proctor watches
the accusation of Rebecca nurse

with growing anger.

Trask: He didn't believe
in witchcraft.

Or at least, he didn't believe
in what was happening

in Salem village as witchcraft.

Narrator: Soon after
the possessed girls

accuse Rebecca nurse,

proctor's own servant
Mary Warren begins to have fits.

Whatever the reason
for Mary warren's fits,

proctor wants them to stop.

He takes matters
into his own hands.

Howe: John proctor says that

he's going to beat
the devil out of her.

He thinks it's all nonsense,
he doesn't believe it.

[Whacking]

Narrator: Such a beating
is nothing unusual.

Women were dominated by men
in puritan new england,

with children and servants at
the bottom of the social ladder.

Lizzie polk: What would life
have been like

for a servant girl?

Roach: There was a lot of work
that needed to be done,

so you would be sunup
to sundown, constant,

I would think.

Howe: The puritans didn't have
a sense of "teenagerhood"

the way it's like a special
life stage right now.

Narrator: In "the crucible,"

Arthur miller's play
about the Salem witch trials,

John proctor has an affair with
one of the first young accusers,

Abigail Williams,

and that leads to his undoing.

Howe: That is definitely
not what happened.

The affair between John proctor
and Abigail Williams

is a figment of Arthur miller's
fevered 1950s male imagination.

The real John proctor
was around 60.

He was not in his mid-thirties.

And the real Abigail Williams
was around 11.

She was not
a 17-year-old temptress.

Narrator: But does proctor
have an affair

with his own servant,
Mary Warren?

Baker: John proctor is
a very complex character.

But you do kind of
have to wonder

about his relationship
with Mary Warren.

There is even a question
that there might have been

some sort of sexual relationship
going on,

some kind of sexual abuse.

Narrator: And is that fueling
mary's accusation

and proctor's rage
when he beats her?

Later, 20-year-old Mary
testifies

about pulling proctor's spirit
into her lap.

And proctor in turn
calls Mary his Jade.

Baker: Now that's a really
unsettling term,

and it really kind of implies
a woman of low stature

or ill repute.

Narrator:
Whatever the relationship

between proctor and Mary Warren,
that winter and spring,

salem's power structure
is turned upside down.

Schiff: If you look at the age
of the accusers,

it's somewhere around 16.

So there's definitely a sense
here of youth running the show

and of a sort of celebrity
status granted to the girls.

Howe: What drove these girls
to accuse people

that they had known, in many
cases their entire lives,

as witches, which is a capital
crime during this time period?

That's really the million-dollar
question, isn't it?

Narrator: Several of the female
accusers are refugees

from the Indian wars

and have seen family
and friends butchered.

Schiff: The Indian wars
play a huge role

in that so many of the girls

who seem to be afflicted
by witchcraft

have been touched
in some way by tragedy,

have lost family members,

have themselves been refugees
from settlements.

Narrator: At first,
John proctor's beating works.

Mary Warren apologizes.

She pins a note
on the meetinghouse

and suggests the other girls
are lying.

Howe: And so Mary
ends up recanting,

and then a lot of the other
afflicted girls go after her

for recanting, because it seems
to undermine their authority.

Ray: They begin to turn on her,

and she realizes,
my gosh, I'm going to hang.

Baker: So instead she accuses
Elizabeth proctor,

her husband John,
of being witches.

Narrator: It's a key moment.

Mary Warren clears
her name of suspicion

by accusing her masters.

John and Elizabeth proctor
are charged with witchcraft

and thrown in jail.

Accusations of witchcraft
now spread

like a terrible contagion,

from the parris house,
deep into the puritan colony.

And it's about to get worse.

♪

To figure out why, historians
Ben ray and marilynne roach

are working with
graphic artist Edmund earle.

Ray: This is a copy
of the original manuscript.

Narrator: Ben has spent decades

poring over
300-year-old documents,

attempting to map how
the accusations spread.

Edmund earle: So not only
do these documents tell you,

say, where it would happen,
but it says when,

and from that you can
chart the accusations

as they happen through
the course of the year?

Ray: Exactly.

Narrator: There had been
witchcraft scares

in new england before,

but nothing approaching
the violence

of that terrible summer in 1692.

Ben believes that mapping
the spread of the panic

reveals clues that explain
why Salem spun out of control.

Earle: I'll make a Mark on 16.

Narrator: Edmund builds a
three-dimensional visualization

of the witchcraft outbreak.

Earle: So, Ben,
on February 29th,

you see the first three.

Ray: Yes.

Earle: And if I play,

you'll watch the days progress
up at the top,

and you can watch as
the accusations spread out.

Narrator: One reason
the witchcraft accusations

spread so quickly:

The magistrates permit the use

of something called
"spectral evidence,"

evidence that only
the accusers can see.

Schiff: And it's essentially
the idea

that if the bewitched
can see something,

that something is real.

Even if the rest of us
can't see it,

so that if one of
the bewitched girls says

this particular suspect
is stabbing me

at this particular moment,

and that is not obvious
to anyone else in the court,

it still remains true
and incontrovertible.

Narrator: In April, when
suspected witch Bridget bishop

is examined by
magistrate John hathorne,

accusers Abigail Williams
and Ann Putnam

say the ghost or spectre
of Bridget bishop

is attacking them.

Magistrate: Goody bishop...

Narrator: Bridget tells
the magistrate

she has nothing to do
with the girls' torments.

Bridget bishop: No!

Narrator: Bridget bishop
is found guilty

and hangs on June 10.

She's the first
accused witch to die.

It's a key moment,
visible on the map.

Ray: Do you see a pause?

There's no, nothing new
appearing on your screen, right?

There's an important
transition point here.

There's a pause
for about three weeks.

After Bridget bishop
is executed on June 10th,

there's something significant
going on there.

Roach: They're beginning
to doubt.

Narrator: The map suggests

the authorities are concerned.

The judge in charge of the
special court trying witches,

William stoughton,
is a hardliner.

He's in favor
of spectral evidence.

But the governor of the colony
wants a second opinion

and asks the puritan church
establishment to weigh in,

is spectral evidence acceptable?

Schiff: The court will go
to the Massachusetts ministers

for advice.

They're out of their depth,

they were not entirely certain

how to adjudicate
the witchcraft.

They've never had
an epidemic of this size,

they really need to know

what actually they're
meant to be looking for.

Ray: The ministers
in Boston say,

"well, we don't like the
evidence, because it's spectral,"

but on the other hand,
we know there are witches,

"so go after them."

Earle: Oh!

Narrator: Spectral evidence
now has the church's blessing.

The bureaucracy of death
moves into high gear.

Making matters worse,

judge stoughton permits
huge crowds inside the courts.

Howe: You would have had
a terrified person

standing, about to be examined,

and then you would have
pews and pews and pews,

people lining the walls

waiting to see what
was going to happen.

Hathorne: Why do you seem to act
witchcraft before us,

by the motion of your body,

which seems to have influence
upon the afflicted?

Bishop: I know nothing of it.

Narrator: Hunting witches
has become a spectator sport.

Howe: And it's been argued
that one of the reasons

that the accusations
become so fantastical

with the afflicted girls
fainting, screaming,

is that the people coming
and wanting to see

the performance of this behavior

encouraged the afflicted girls
basically to play it up

because of the attention.

Narrator: Ben says the map
reveals another key factor

gleaned from
the 300-year-old documents.

Ray: So it starts what
you might call phase two.

We're gonna get this
spread out further

across eastern Massachusetts.

And that's because word
has kind of gotten out

that if you confess,

you will not be brought
to trial, at least immediately.

But to authenticate
your confession,

you not only have
to describe the kind

of witchcraft you're doing,
you have to name someone.

Earle: Oh!

Ray: And they name
two or three people.

Narrator: If you confessed,
you were spared the rope,

but you were expected
to turn in someone else.

The outbreak map illustrates
how the court system

creates a feedback loop
of paranoia and violence.

Ray: It's Samuel parris
who's at the center of it all,

he says, "this was
a plague-like experience."

Narrator: It is a summer
of pure terror.

Neighbor accuses neighbor,

family members
turn on each other,

and on July 19th
five are hanged,

including 70-year-old
church member Rebecca nurse.

And the number of men, women
and children in prison

keeps growing.

Schiff: The jails
of Massachusetts

are full to bursting.

There have never been this many
witchcraft accusations

in the entire rest
of Massachusetts history.

Narrator: Blacksmiths are busy
forging shackles

to restrain the accused.

Peterson: Alright,
you're going to help me?

Because I don't know that
I can even do this myself.

Baker: Yeah.

Narrator: One of the accused
witches in prison

is Elizabeth peterson's
long-ago relative John proctor.

Peterson: Was he jailed
like this

and probably shackled as well?

Baker: Absolutely.

This is what it would have
looked like for John proctor

the whole time he was in prison.

Narrator:
For his wife Elizabeth,

things are even worse;

She's pregnant.

Also jailed is Dorothy good,

the 5-year-old daughter
of Sarah good,

one of the first accused.

Eleanor Williamson: Why did they
put witches in these shackles?

Baker: They put them in shackles

because iron has magical
qualities, they thought.

It could stop witchcraft
and evil from happening,

so as long as you're
shackled like this,

you couldn't hurt anybody
if you were a witch.

Narrator: On July 19th,
Dorothy becomes an orphan.

Her mother is also
found guilty and hanged.

In prison, John proctor's
16-year-old son William

is tortured.

Proctor writes a desperate
petition to the church.

The courts are rushing
to judgment,

and torture is being used
to win confessions.

Baker: And so this is
gonna come up here.

Narrator: Volunteer Jack kaplan
demonstrates

how it might have happened.

Baker: Here's what he says,
"my son, William proctor,"

when he was examined,

because he would not confess
that he was guilty"...

Baker: When he was innocent.
Peterson: Right.

Baker: "They tied him
neck and heels"

till the blood gushed
out of his nose."

Peterson: Oh, my gosh.

John proctor: We humbly beg

that you would have
these magistrates changed,

hoping you may be the means

of saving the shedding
our innocent bloods.

Baker: This is his
last-ditch plea

when he writes to the ministers
in late July,

asking them to use
the proper rule of evidence.

He even asks for
a change in venue.

Can we move the proceedings
to Boston?

But his pleas fall on deaf ears.

Narrator: On August 5th,
the special court preserves

its nearly 100% conviction rate,

finding John proctor and
his wife Elizabeth guilty.

Two weeks later
proctor finds himself

riding in a cart to be executed.

It takes him and the four other
accused witches

through the streets of Salem.

Roach: There must have been
a great crowd,

people would have been
all along the route,

and maybe following it
to see what happened

when they get to the gallows.

Narrator: A huge crowd gathered
to watch the accused die

at a site somewhere
in this town.

They were about to witness
the darkest hour

in the history
of puritan new england.

The Salem witch executions
would have been horrific.

Ralph riviello:
So, most hangings back then

were short-distance hangings.

Baker: Ralph, how high off
the ground do you think they...

Narrator: Dr. Ralph riviello
is a specialist

in forensic medicine.

Riviello: Unlike what we know
nowadays about hangings,

where it's done to break
the person's neck

and to have a merciful death,
this is far from it.

Baker: So, it's not
a quick death?

Riviello: No, it's not,
it's actually strangulation.

Baker: Ugh.

Narrator: Before proctor's
own execution,

he'll watch four others hang,

the most shocking of which

is a puritan minister,
George burroughs.

George burroughs: Our father,
which art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Narrator: Burroughs stuns
the crowd with his final words.

Schiff: He manages to say
the lord's prayer

while on the ladder.

The effect of that is hard
for us to understand,

but to a 17th century
new englander,

a witch was unable to utter
the lord's prayer.

Burroughs:
But deliver us from evil.

Narrator: The prayer spoken
from the hangman's ladder

is nearly too much
for the crowd.

Schiff: There will almost be
an attempt to intervene

and to stop the execution.

Narrator: Instead, another
puritan minister, cotton mather,

tells the crowd that reciting
the lord's prayer

is a diabolical trick.

Schiff: Mather will remind them
that this is a meaningless act,

and that this is
a very dangerous man,

and the execution will proceed.

Roach: Cotton mather said,

"even the devil can be disguised
as an angel of light.

Just because he looks innocent,
he's not."

And then the hangman
pushes reverend Burrows

off the ladder to strangle.

Riviello: So that rope blocks
the carotid arteries,

jugular vein, the trachea,
the windpipe.

That period is followed
by convulsions

or shaking, seizure activity.

Narrator: The final spasms
of agony could have been seen

as evidence of witchcraft.

Riviello: I'm sure a lot
of people in the crowd

felt it was the demons or
the witches leaving their body.

Baker: Right.

Schiff: John proctor would have
witnessed all of that

and would soon thereafter
to follow to his death.

Narrator: Finally, John proctor,
as unlikely a witch as could be,

is walked up
the hangman's ladder.

Baker:
Get him up the ladder here.

Here.

You've got to get
the noose over his head.

It's just a simple slip.

Now, Ralph, what is it?

"Turned off the ladder?"
Is that the expression?

Riviello:
Turned off the ladder, yes.

[Echoing shouts]

Baker: Turn him off the ladder.

♪

Narrator: This is the place
where Christian martyrs

had been executed,

where perhaps the best and
the worst of puritan new england

had faced each other.

The historians believe that
if they can find the site

it will write a final chapter
in the Salem story.

For years, legend had it
that the witches were executed

at the highest point in town,
a spot named gallows hill.

A 19th century historian,
Sidney perley, suggested

the location was lower down
and closer to town.

The historians agree.

Gallows hill would have been
too steep for a cart,

and too far to attract
a big enough crowd.

Ray: You need to transport
people from the city jail,

outside to some elevated place

where the executions can be seen
as an example to everyone.

Roach: Visible, but not
in someone's backyard.

Baker: I equate it to
the crucifixion of Jesus,

which took place outside the
walls of Jerusalem at golgotha,

which is this rugged hillside.

Roach: There was one document

which was the questioning
of Rebecca eames.

Narrator: Marilynne roach
has made a discovery

in the 300-year-old documents.

It's a courtroom interrogation
of another accused witch,

Rebecca eames.

She may have seen the hangings.

Roach: She was asked if
she was at the execution.

"She was at the house below
the hill, she saw a few folk"...

Being executed.

The house below the hill.

Baker: The house below the hill.

Roach: So...

Narrator: By studying old maps,
marilynne thinks

she's identified
"the house below the hill"

where Rebecca eames
might have seen the hanging.

Roach: 19, 1.
Ray: I can see a number 15, 17.

Roach: And here's number 19.

Ray: Number 19. Well.

Roach: So the house was here.

Ray: It's laundromat.
Roach: Yeah, well.

Narrator: Rebecca is being taken
to court along the main road

at the same time the crowd
has gathered

to watch John proctor and
the other accused witches hang.

Roach: Her guards, I think,

didn't want to miss
the excitement,

so they put her in one
of the houses in the vicinity,

where she then observed
people being hanged.

Narrator: In the 17th century

there were only a couple
of houses on the street.

Their map suggests that in 1692,

this house would have had
a clear view of high ground.

Roach: Right over there,
straight.

Narrator: But today any view
is obscured by trees.

Is this really
the long-lost hanging site,

behind an auto body repair shop,
off a busy street?

Ben and marilynne show
their calculations

to graphic artist Edmund earle.

Earle: So you're saying
that you have records

that there's one of these houses
where you could actually see

where the hangings
would have been?

Roach: Yes.

Ray: We were most interested,
whether from this house,

what you could see here.

Narrator: Edmund has
taken the old maps

and ben's calculations

and built a three-dimensional
view of a 17th century world.

Roach: There's a testimony
from Rebecca eames,

who was arrested
in boxford that morning.

They asked her, "did you see
what was going on?"

And she said she was
in the house below the hill,

somewhere along here, and she
could see folks being hanged.

Baker: Is it possible to see

what the street view
would be like

if you were looking out
the front door of this house?

Narrator: This is the house
marilynne and Ben

had visited earlier.

Edmund zooms his virtual camera
back through the centuries.

Earle: So if we go way in...

Baker: Sure. What do you see?

Earle: And we look up...

Ray: Oh, that's good.

Roach: And there you see it!

Narrator: The trees are
now stripped away,

and the view of the high ground
is clear.

The team is almost certain

they have located
the long-lost hanging site.

Earle: This is
the vantage point from

right in front of the house.
Baker: Yup.

Roach: There's people up there
being hanged.

Baker: Exactly.

Narrator: A three-dimensional
graphic is one thing;

Now they want to investigate
the site itself.

The location they identified

now sits in the middle
of a suburban development.

Roach: So we must be close.

Baker: Yup.

Ray: We're in someone's
backyard here.

Baker: But it looks like it
might be the place, doesn't it?

Roach: Yeah, it does.

Ray: And look, there's a high
ledge right there at the top.

Narrator: The high ledge
would have been visible

from the street below.

This is the hanging site
of the Salem witches.

Roach: So we might be
on the spot.

For 300-plus years,
it hadn't been marked.

Tom brophy: Hello.

Narrator: Tom brophy, a retired
fireman, grew up in this house,

where stories had been
passed for generations.

Brophy: When we were
little kids,

my parents and some of
the neighbors used to say,

"watch this land over here,

someday it'll be
very important."

Witches, you know.

Baker: So your family
always knew?

Brophy: They had heard the
rumors that the original site

was right in this general area.

Baker: Wow.

Narrator: If this is
the hanging site,

are the remains of the Salem
witches buried here?

One 17th century book reported

that the dead had
been buried nearby.

The witches were
considered unclean,

forbidden Christian burial,
and dumped in a mass grave.

Trask: He was dragged to a hole,
or grave, between the rocks,

about two foot deep.

Peter sablock:
Now stretch the tape out

to that tree down there.

Narrator: Geologist
Peter sablock is helping

the team search
for the rock crevice

where the remains were thrown.

The ground-penetrating radar
he's brought

fires electromagnetic pulses
thousands of times a second.

They bounce back when they hit
different soil and rock layers

to reveal what's hidden
below the surface.

Brophy: As we're doing
some readings,

will this basically show us
if there was some body buried?

Sablock: What it will show us
is disturbed ground.

Brophy: And this is showing
basically very little...

Sablock: Very little soil,
very, very little soil.

Brophy: Yeah, yeah.

Narrator: The bedrock lies
close to the surface,

except in one place.

Sablock: You can see
the whole stream.

This is the crevice.

Brophy: That is the,
that is the crevice.

Sablock:
That is the best candidate.

Narrator: The dead
were buried here.

But the mass grave was shallow,
and never meant to be permanent.

Sablock: But none of those
fractures extend deep enough

to inter a body for 300 years.

There is virtually no chance

that there are
any remains at all.

It's just too close
to the surface here.

Narrator: But that may not be
where the Salem story ends.

Legend has it that
some of the bodies,

including John proctor's,

were stolen in the darkness
after the executions.

Kelly daniell:
It all kind of culminates

with these people being hung,

but we don't really hear
what happened afterwards.

Narrator: Researcher
Kelly daniell and tad baker

are both fascinated by a legend

that John proctor's family
had stolen his body

from the mass grave
at the hanging site.

Is that story true? And if so,
where had they reburied him?

Baker: I've always been
interested

in these family traditions
in families like John proctor

about coming to claim
their loved ones

and give them proper burial.

Daniell: Yeah, it's definitely
a detective story.

I think it's a solvable mystery.

Narrator: When she arrived
at her new job

at the peabody
historical society,

Kelly discovered
the research notes

of a Salem investigator
from the past.

In the 1800s William upham
had interviewed

surviving relatives
of John proctor.

Daniell: He began talking
to proctor descendants,

one of which mentions her aunt
pointing to a spot

on a rocky hill
on this 15-acre plot

and saying that was where

our ancestor of witchcraft
notoriety was buried.

Narrator: Modern tools allow
for the next steps

in a 200-year-old investigation.

Daniell: The best image
is this satellite image

that doesn't have
too many trees,

where you can actually see

the property boundaries
pretty clearly.

Baker:
Even the stone wall's there.

And that x marks the spot,
right there.

Daniell: X marks the spot.

Narrator: The location is on
land that proctor once owned,

off a main road through peabody,
near the local high school.

Daniell: Let's check it out.
Baker: Absolutely.

Baker: This is
the boundary line, right?

Daniell: So really marking
that northeast corner

of John proctor's property.

Baker: Yeah.

Narrator: John proctor had been
found guilty of witchcraft,

a crime worse than murder.

Removing his body for reburial
would have been hazardous.

Daniell: This element of secrecy
is almost purposeful

on the part
of the family members,

at least directly after
the witch trials.

Baker: And John proctor
was buried in the rocks.

Right up in here
is the northeast corner.

Daniell: We don't really hear
what it would have been like

for the families who had to take
the bodies of their loved ones

out of a crevice, and by dark
of night bring them up a brook

into a quiet corner
of their family's land.

So we can imagine his adult sons
coming up proctor's brook,

maybe taking some sort of wagon
to carry their father's body,

up this hill and interring him

in kind of a faraway corner
of their land.

Baker: Right.

Narrator: This is the location
William upham had guessed

was John proctor's
final resting place.

Tad and Kelly agree.

Baker: You know, it makes,
it all makes perfect sense,

it all fits up.

Narrator: Unfortunately...

A school was built nearby
in the 1970s,

and the ground
heavily disturbed.

Baker: You can see
the stone wall

is just completely destroyed
up in here.

So, here's a question.

I mean, what are the chances

of proctor actually
still being here?

Daniell: I think based on the
fact that it's been disturbed

for utilities and
construction up here,

I think they're pretty slim.

Baker: But pretty clearly
this was the spot

where the family said
they brought John proctor.

Narrator: John proctor's body
had been carried here

in secrecy and darkness.

A political cover-up
had further hidden

the true story
of the Salem witches.

But three centuries later,

the historians may
finally have answers

to some of the witch trials'
biggest mysteries.

Why had the young girls acted
so strangely that year,

having violent fits and
accusing so many others?

Howe: There is
a modern phenomenon,

which is called
conversion disorder,

which is when your body
expresses emotional stress

through physical symptoms.

Narrator: Some of the accusers
like Ann Putnam

may have been doing the bidding
of older adults,

such as her father.

But others were refugees
from the Indian wars

and worked as servants

in a life of obedience, fear
and occasional violence.

Baker: They're literally
terrified.

They're not faking when
they're screaming, yelling,

having convulsions, fits.

Roach: I go along
with the theory

that some of it is
conversion disorder,

hysteria it used to be called,

where if someone is afraid
enough, they can convulse

or think that they
have been wounded.

Narrator: Although it may
never be possible

to know with certainty,

for these young accusers

pointing fingers
may have been a reaction

to the stress of daily life.

Howe: My take is that
the afflicted girls at Salem

were living in a moment

of incredibly rigid
class and gender hierarchies,

and the only way
that their culture had

to express that tension,
to let that steam off,

was in the form
of a witch trial.

Narrator: And perhaps
the biggest question of all,

why had the accusations spread
so fast, like a virus?

The Massachusetts judges
allowed spectral evidence

and encouraged citizens to
accuse their fellow villagers.

They are at the very heart

of what makes the Salem
witch scare unique.

Baker: These are
experienced judges,

they've served in cases
of witchcraft before

where they'd let people go.

So what caused things
to change in 1692?

Narrator: The head of the
special court trying the witches

was a hard-line former preacher,
judge William stoughton.

He's buried in an ornate tomb
in Dorchester cemetery.

Elizabeth Peterson is
visiting the tomb

with Stacy schiff and tad baker.

Peterson: There he is
in the middle of Dorchester.

Schiff: Oh, my gosh.

Baker: This is it, this is it.

Narrator: Stoughton signed the
death warrant for 18 witches,

including elizabeth's
relative John proctor.

Peterson: Why do you think
stoughton was like this?

Schiff: He really clearly
believes fervently

that he is doing
a public service.

Narrator: For stoughton,
this is a holy war.

Indians are laying siege
to the frontier,

Satan is assaulting from within,

and the authorities
need to show england

they can take a firm hand.

Baker: He sees
that Massachusetts

needs moral reformation.

We need to become,
get back into church,

we need to get out
of the taverns,

and that's how we're going
to save the colony.

Narrator: On September 22nd,
eight more witches are hanged.

But by late October,
growing criticism of the trials

leads the governor to close
the special court

and begin emptying the jails
of suspected witches.

One of the judges on the court,
Samuel sewall,

will later apologize
for his role in the hangings.

And years later,
chief accuser Ann Putnam

will also say she is sorry.

But until his death in 1701,

William stoughton
remains unrepentant.

Ray: After the trials were over,
he was asked,

"what do you think
about your role?"

And he says, "I never had
any question about it."

I was doing god's work."

Narrator: And finally, where had
the witch trial victims

been so publicly hanged?

Here, on a hillside
in Salem, Massachusetts.

On July 19, 2017,

the site was recognized
with a memorial

built just below the ledge where
the accused witches were hanged.

Kim Driscoll: The shadow
from proctor's ledge

may be long and enduring,

but it does not obscure us
from that Fuller understanding

of our common humanity.

[Applause]

Narrator: The memorial is
gratifying for the historians

who helped find
the hanging site.

Ray: History is about place.

I think the narrative comes to,
in this place,

a kind of ennobling conclusion,

because these are people
who transcend the rest of us.

Roach: If people can be reminded
of the real story,

it should help, I hope,

and do honor to the people
who suffered.

Narrator: Those who escaped
the hangman suffered, too.

Elizabeth proctor survived
because she was pregnant.

But she spent the rest of her
life fighting to clear her name

and win restitution for herself
and a son she called John.

As many as 100 million Americans
may be descended

from those accused
of witchcraft in Salem.

Trask: And when you look
at these 19,

the thing that
makes them unusual

isn't their personalities;

But the one thing they shared
in common was the idea

that truth is more important
than even life itself.

Narrator: The rocky ledge where
the accused witches were hanged

today is a memorial
to those martyrs

and a tribute
to the many historians

who would not let
their story die.