All language subtitles for Witches.Of.Salem.S01E04.Pray.for.Mercy.720p.WEBRip.x264-CAFFEiNE_track1_[eng]

♪♪

Narrator: Previously on
"witches of salem"...

In January 1692, two young girls
in salem village

Experience strange
unexplained convulsions.

It hurts!

Salem's minister, samuel parris,

Comes to a terrible
conclusion...

You've brought this
into my home!

...The evils of witchcraft
are the cause.

When parris's enslaved servant,
tituba, confesses she's a witch

And claims there are other salem
women practicing witchcraft...

Sign the book. Be free.

...It ignites a wave of terror.

[ indistinct talking ]

Dozens of other women
are accused,

And no one is beyond suspicion.

You have been found guilty
of the crime

Of witchcraft.
-I'm not a witch.

No, no, please.

Narrator: By late spring,
almost 70 suspects are jailed

As the witch hunt spreads
far beyond salem,

Leading puritan minister
cotton mather

Feels a vast demonic
conspiracy is at work.

♪♪

[ distorted speech ]

After six suspected witches
are executed,

Satan's prime operative
is finally identified.

It's salem's former minister,
george burroughs.

If burroughs is found guilty,
he too will hang.

♪♪

♪♪

The trial of former salem
minister george burroughs

Is causing a sensation.

Puritan leaders journey
from boston to hear the man

They believe is the ringleader
of a vast satanic conspiracy

To overthrow god's church
in new England.

The court is packed
in anticipation.

Among those attending is
one of the witch hunt's

Most passionate advocates,
cotton mather.

For cotton mather,
this trial is the culmination

Of his efforts to rid
new England of witchcraft.

Aronson: It's like the two men
in black are going to face off

With lightning dancing
off their fingers

And I think mather
had some sense of that.

Like that this was the moment
for a man of his stature

To take on the enemy.

George burroughs,
how do you wish to be tried?

By god and country.

[ people shouting
and whimpering ]

Narrator: As burroughs stands
before the court,

The afflicted girls
immediately fall

Into dramatic convulsions.

He sends one of his
many witches

To bite and pinch us.

Brock: There's incredibly
dramatic thrashing about

From the afflicted girls
saying that he is calling

All these of witches
to hurt them.

Why do you hurt
these children?
I know none of it.

He denies everything.
He says, "no, I'm a man of god."

Narrator: One of the key
witnesses is the orphan

Mercy lewis who had once lived
in george burroughs's house

When he was the minister
in salem.

When she testified in court,

She began to weave
fantastical tales

And she said that when
she had lived with burroughs

That he had tried
to convince her

To sign the devil's book,
that he admitted to her

That he had sold his soul
to the devil.

[ mercy screams ]

♪♪

Come with me.
Come with me.

Let me show you
the kingdom of hell.

♪♪

She also said that burroughs
carried her

To the top of a mountain

And showed her all the kingdoms
that he would make hers

If she would just sign
the devil's book.

And threatened her
they would cast her down

From the mountain
if she refused.

Clearly an allusion to the new
testament story about christ.

Narrator: Gradually, a picture
of george burroughs

As a ringleader of witches
begins to emerge.

I call abigail williams
to give testimony.

There was a gathering
of over 100 witches.

Several of the afflicted girls
tell how burroughs had tried

To lure them
to join the witches.

They describe how he led
the witch meetings

And held black masses.

He did lead them in a h--

[ gagging ]

But the testimony
against burroughs

Seems to be prevented
by supernatural forces.

Who do you suppose prevents
this girl from speaking?

I suppose it is the devil.

And why do you suppose
the devil is so loathe

To hear testimony
borne against you?

Narrator: Others tell stories
of his superhuman strength.

Coy: They say that he lifted

A six-foot-long musket
with one finger.

They say that he lifted

A giant barrel of molasses
with two fingers.

What seems to have actually
happened is that

Parris was pretty strong
and rather proud of it

And he'd encouraged tales
of his strength,

Little knowing what
use they'd be put to.

[ screams ]

♪♪

His specter bit me.

Narrator: Mary walcott, one of
the first afflicted girls,

Then screams she's been attacked
by burroughs's specter.

[ murmuring ]

Give the defendant something
to bite so that we may compare.

They actually try to compare it
to george burroughs's

Own bite marks.

♪♪

♪♪

It is clear to me that these
marks are indeed the same.

It appears to be
a similar tooth mark.

[ girls screaming ]

Narrator: Suddenly, the girls
scream they can see four ghosts.

His dead wives are returned

To reveal this man
who murdered them.

Two of them are the ghosts
of burroughs's former wives.

They stand there
to accuse him.

The two other ghosts
were the wife

And the daughter of another
former minister, deodat lawson,

Who happened to be in the
courtroom at the moment,

I see nothing.

Brock: So one can imagine
seeing

These young girls
writhing on the floor,

Claiming that the ghosts
of the dead

Had come back to point out
their murderer,

The ringleader of which is a man
with superhuman strength

Who no one really understood,
george burroughs,

And deodat lawson, not being
able to see the ghosts

Of his wife
and daughter himself,

But hearing the young girls
cry out

That they were present --
an incredibly dramatic scene.

[ girls gasping ]

Perhaps those that accuse me
are not being entirely honest.

I bid you.

I bid you, read this,
if you will.

Narrator: Burroughs hands over a
note for the judges to consider.

Our learned defendant wishes
to claim

That there has never been
any such persons as witches.

George burroughs writes a letter
to his fellow ministers

Hoping that he can convince them

That they have
misinterpreted the text

That they're reading to guide
them in the trial proceedings.

For it is impossible to sign
a contract

With the devil, much less
send devils to do one's bidding.

Peone: Burroughs tries to make
the argument

That they're misreading
these texts,

That they're not understanding

How one should convict
a person for witchcraft

And that they may be
deliberately misinterpreting

The evidence against him.

Narrator: Burroughs's argument
relies on the fact

That how you should try
a witch is well established.

Witches were in the law.
This wasn't a fringe idea.

It was a crime
just like stealing.

[ sighs ]

We have seen much of this
discredited information before,

But this court is here to make
decisions based upon facts.

[ gavel bangs ]

George burroughs,

This court finds you guilty for
the heinous crime of witchcraft,

For which you will be hanged
by the neck until you're dead.

May god have mercy
upon your soul.

I'm innocent.

I am innocent!

I am a man of god!

I have been found guilty

Through false precedents,
do you hear me?

The witness is false!

Narrator: When burroughs is
found guilty of witchcraft,

He protests his innocence
to the end.

Burroughs: I am innocent!

I've known this family
for over 10 years.

The man is clearly guilty.

Clearly guilty.
[ sighs ]

Narrator: After the trial,
the reverend john hale

Seeks out one of the accusers
to verify

Her claims against
george burroughs.

You realize that
you're the one

That brings
this man to death.

John hale actually intervened
for his fellow minister

And said, "are you sure
it was george burroughs?

He will be hanged
if you swear to your testimony

That he is this minister
of the devil."

If you are charging
anything upon him

That is not true,

Recall it before
it be too late.

If I were lying, I should,
but I have nothing to recall.

♪♪

Burroughs:
Heavenly father, through your
infinite grace, forgive those

Who through false witness
and trickery...

Narrator: Meanwhile, the night
before his execution, burroughs

Is visited in prison.

One of the accusers
came to burroughs in prison

And confessed that they had lied
and begged his forgiveness

And he is said to have been
gracious and saintly.

Narrator: Incredibly, burroughs
not only forgives her,

But prays for her
and the other prisoners

Who are to die
in the morning.

...Faithful children.

But the authorities
are desperate

To rid salem
of the man in black.

Only then can they be free

Of the devil's grip.
-[ screams ]

♪♪

Narrator: George burroughs,
the evil man in black,

Is put on trial as the leader

Of satanic forces
in new England.

Like all before him to face the
court, now he is to be executed.

I am innocent!

♪♪

On the morning of August 19th,
the reverend nicholas noyes

Arrives to collect
the condemned from jail.

Some, like the outspoken
landowner john proctor,

Are not ready to face death.

But now proctor and three others
are to be hung alongside

The supposed leader
of the satanic conspiracy --

The man in black,
george burroughs.

♪♪

Like those before him,

Burroughs is carried in a cart
with the other condemned

Along the road to gallows hill.

There is a hierarchy from
high to low of trustworthiness.

Minister is on top, adolescent
girl is on the bottom.

And so you had this reversal
of the normal.

♪♪

There are hints in this
that the accusers had the chance

To say things that
they otherwise would never say.

And so it may have been
that there was a darker side

To burroughs that,
in the accusations of satanism

May have reflected some actual
aspects of his personality.

Narrator: George burroughs
is led to the gallows

Along with the other accused.

Everyone who was anyone
attends burroughs's execution,

Including renowned
witch hunter cotton mather

And reverends john hale
and nicholas noyes.

Aronson: One of the most intense
scenes is the moment at which

Burroughs is hanged.

He's the man in black.

Right there is cotton mather
in black.

So who's the man in black?

Who is the source
of this affliction?

Narrator: It seems that in
trying to rid salem of evil,

The god-fearing authorities

Have themselves
become evil incarnate.

As burroughs waits
for the hangman's noose...

I stand here before you...

Narrator: ...He delivers a
profoundly moving speech

That has a powerful effect
upon the crowd.

Burroughs: ...Facing my death
an innocent man.

But I bear none of you present
any malice

For this tragic miscarriage
of justice.

I hope that god will,
in his infinite grace,

Allow you into his kingdom
where I now too hope to dwell.

He gives a powerful statement
of his innocence

Talking about his life
as a godly man,

Denouncing
the trials as a whole.

Our father, which art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name.

Narrator:
Burroughs then begins to recite

The lord's prayer,
something the puritans

Believed was impossible
for a witch to say.

Give us this day
our daily bread,

And forgive us
our trespasses.

Howe: He recites it perfectly,
no small feat

When you're looking death
in the face

And surrounded by a baying crowd
of people

To whom he used to minister.

And lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.

And people are starting to
think,

"gosh, did we get this wrong?"

For thine is the kingdom,
the power, and the glory.

Forever and ever. Amen.

Coy: It had a very moving effect
upon the crowd.

Some accounts of
that day suggest

The crowd surged forward
in an attempt to aid him

But they were held back
by the guards

That the magistrates had placed
around the scaffold.

Narrator: Alarmed by the crowd's
reaction, cotton mather

Tries to convince them

That burroughs
still must be executed.

Be not deceived.

This man was not
an ordained minister.

"remember, everyone, even the
devil can disguise himself

As an angel of light."

Be in no doubt, this man sat
at satan's right hand.

We must rid ourselves
of this plague.

Brock: That does it.

That's a lot of confidence
that he gives to the crowd.

Narrator:
Burroughs's head is covered

And the noose
is placed around his neck.

[ indistinct talking ]

♪♪

-Kill the witch.
-Kill the witch.

♪♪

Seconds later, he and the other
condemned swing from the rope.

It takes some time until
burroughs's body

Finally hangs dead.

11 people have now
been executed

By the authorities
behind the witch hunt.

♪♪

After the crowd has dispersed,

The condemned are cut down
and the sheriff

And his men hurriedly
dispose of the bodies.

George burroughs
is dragged to a shallow hole

Between some rocks, his shirt
and pants are pulled off,

And he is pushed into the
crevice along with other bodies.

But having disposed of burroughs

With the lack of respect
the demonic deserve,

Salem will be shocked
to find a further threat

Continues to spread.

♪♪

Narrator: The notorious man in
black, george burroughs,

Was believed to have been in
league with the devil,

Recruiting hundreds of
witches in salem and beyond

To destroy
the puritan community.

The day of his hanging marks
11 executions in salem.

But nagging questions
about the trials

And the number of accused
witches continues to grow.

♪♪

In the wake of the execution
of george burroughs,

Cotton mather meets with chief
justice william stoughton.

I am much agitated at what
I've witnessed at the execution.

Seems to me it might lead
to violence against the judges.

The furious reactions
to the latest hangings

Has alarmed them both.

George burroughs, his execution
in the wake of that display

Seems to have shaken
the confidence

Of the salem community
in the activities of the court.

I'm well aware that
the honorable judges

Are men of excellence,
spirit,

That do not take
their task lightly.

Narrator: Mather worries about
violence against the judges,

But he also questions their use
of so-called spectral evidence.

Spectral...

[ gasping and coughing ]

You question our judgment.

No, not at all.

I trust that
you will so sift

Fact from confusion
to find the truth

And that you are able
to recognize a non-witch

If and when you try one.

Brock: There were those in
the puritan community

Who were worried
about increasing skepticism.

There was really this sense

That if you start
to question witchcraft

Then you start to question
the devil, and pretty soon

You're questioning
the very existence of god.

Something diabolical
is happening.

Narrator: Despite his concerns,

Mather trusts the judges
to reach the truth

And he remains convinced
that salem

Is under attack from witchcraft.

I merely urge caution
to find certainty.

♪♪

Guilty.

Despite growing restlessness,

There are more arrests
while the trials continue.

Guilty.

Six more people are tried

And sentenced to death.

[ gavel bangs ]
guilty.

Guilty.

One of the condemned
is martha corey,

One of the very first members
of the salem village church

To have been accused
more than five months earlier.

Meanwhile, back in salem
village, minister samuel parris

Meets with local landowner
thomas putnam.

Like cotton mather
and william stoughton,

They too are worried about
the growing opposition

To the witch hunt.

My niece, abigail,

Claims to have seen
40 witches in a meeting.

Another suspect confessed
to attending a witch meeting

Numbering 200.

Samuel parris is now
equally terrified

Of the witches themselves
and the skeptics who doubt them.

He knows if the witch hunt
is shown to be a sham,

His livelihood is in jeopardy
and his future is at stake.

Parris was obviously
very worried above

Anything else that
he might lose his job.

♪♪

Parris: The devil and his
instruments will be making war

With the lamb and his followers.

Narrator:
With his future as the salem
village minister under threat,

Parris thunders a warning at
his congregation, reminding them

That if there ever were witches
there are multitudes

In new England.

Peone: Samuel parris seems to
have kind of lost it.

As the trials went on,
he really clung to his power

And he clung to the validity
of the trials.

As things became so contentious
and people are dying

And he's partly responsible,

More and more people in the
community did turn against him

And I'm sure it was
rather uncomfortable for him.

Let us remind ourselves
of the text of revelation 17:14.

Narrator: Samuel parris rages
against the devil

And the evil he's wreaked
upon their community.

Witnessing is nothing less
than the last great battle

Between christ
and the devil.

He then questions why some
church members

Haven't been coming
to his services.

He took it hard that they should
be absent from his services.

Narrator: Parris demands that
members of the congregation

Go question those
who are absent.

Perhaps some among you.

One of them was samuel nurse

Who was rebecca nurse's son.

Narrator: Rebecca nurse was one
of the first members

Of parris's congregation
to be accused of witchcraft.

So the reason he didn't come
was probably because

Parris had been instrumental
in causing his mother's death.

Narrator: Parris finishes the
service by proposing a vote

On martha corey's
excommunication,

A mere formality, he assumes,
given her conviction as a witch.

Therefore, I ask,
those of you in favor

Of her severance from god's
church, please, show your hands.

But to his great concern,
the show of hands

Is far from unanimous

And the growing unease about
the witch hunt is clear to all.

♪♪

What comes next will be
worse still for those

Who believe the devil
has infiltrated their village.

Is there any way to stop
the evil

That seems to be plaguing salem?

♪♪

Narrator: Despite the execution
of satan's prime operative

George burroughs, more and more
people cast doubt

On the witch hunt and question
who is truly evil.

Increasingly under siege,

Renowned witch hunter
cotton mather

And the men
driving the witch hunt

Have now become the evildoers
themselves.

Their obsession with
driving satan out of salem

Has blinded them to the horrors
they are inflicting.

♪♪

With 11 people already executed,
nine more are condemned to hang.

Guilty.

However, one accused man
decides to fight back.

Giles corey was the husband
of martha corey

Who herself was accused
for the crime of witchcraft.

How do you wish
to be tried?

♪♪

There was a rule
on the books

That you asked
an accused witch

Will you be judged
by god and country.

I'll ask again.

How do you wish
to be tried?

♪♪

Giles corey
just refused to answer.

Why do you refuse to speak?

No one who has faced
this court

Has ever been given
a fair hearing.

He did not want to play
the deadly game

Of those pursuing the salem
witchcraft trials.

And so he sat silent.

Narrator:
Despite his not-guilty plea,

This is known as standing mute,
and, under old english law,

Is punishable by a rarely
used form of torture.

I would rather choose
to undergo

What death you would put
me through.

So be it.

♪♪

Arms first.

Tie his arms.

♪♪

Brock: The magistrates
and the judges

Decided that the best thing
to do was to use a very old

And very rarely used
english punishment...

You now wish to confess?

...Of essentially pressing
someone to try and get them

To speak, to literally
press the truth out of them.

Giles corey's body was laid
on the ground in a public place.

Boards were laid on top.

And stones were added.

♪♪

[ groans ]

More and more weight
in an attempt

To get him to agree to be tried.

[ gasps ]

Not even to confess but to agree
to stand trial.

And of course, he won't do it.

He's unwilling to say anything.

[ gagging ]

♪♪

Narrator: It takes days
for giles corey to die.

Brock: It would have been
a multi day process

Of slowly adding more
and more weight.

♪♪

So you can imagine someone
walking by the first morning

And seeing this process
begin, and the second morning,

And the third morning.

Narrator: It would have been
an unimaginably gruesome sight.

Brock: The public spectacle
is so critical here.

People would walk by

And see giles corey
literally half dead,

Being pressed to death.

According to popular legend,

His final words were,
"more weight."

At one point, the weight is
so immense on giles corey

That his tongue
lolls out of his mouth

And has to be pushed back in by
the cane of the deputy governor.

Really horrific.

♪♪

The fact that giles corey
is pressed to death signaled

For some a turning point.

By this point the trials
had been going on

For months and months

And it starts to plant the seed
in people's minds

That maybe
we've crossed the line.

Maybe there is an ungodly
cruelty at work here.

Narrator: When giles corey
refuses to give in, he becomes

The authority's 12th execution.

Now they are about to face
the most scandalous development

Of the entire witch hunt.

♪♪

Narrator: When accused
landowner giles corey

Refuses to cooperate
with the witch hunt,

He is the 12th person
put to death

By the authorities behind it.

[ gasping ]

♪♪

It seems the evil the community
has feared has taken over.

♪♪

[ indistinct talking ]

Despite growing unease,

The hangings continue.

On September 22nd, the cart sets
off with eight more condemned.

Seven women and one man.

By day's end,
the death toll will number 20.

Salem's thirst for blood
appears to be unstoppable.

Whatever motivated
the accusers,

Once people started to die,
they couldn't stop.

Because at that point,
what have you done,

You had to continue.

♪♪

♪♪

Coy: Eight suspected witches
were executed

After the fourth session
of the court.

To this point the court had
a 100% conviction rate,

Far and away out of bounds
compared to England

Or other areas that were
afflicted by witch hunting

During this period.

Narrator: As the eight condemned
witches

Swing at the end of a rope,

The reverend nicholas noyes
addresses the crowd.

What a sad thing
it is to see.

Eight firebrands of hell
being hung.

Many in the crowd
must have reflected

On how little like firebrands
of hell the accused seemed.

There is a sense that finally
the people of salem

Have had their fill.

Brock: Salem is eventually
a story of resistance.

It is a story of people
in the community

Seeing the religious
and judicial tyranny

Really of the people
in positions of power

Saying, "this isn't right.

This shouldn't persist.
We've got to stop this."

Narrator: Despite increasing
opposition to the witch hunt,

The number of accused witches
continues to grow.

All the while,
the afflicted girls are called

To cases of suspected witchcraft

In order to utilize
their ability

To sense the presence
of the spectral world.

One day, while on the road
to ipswich,

They see a woman
and go into convulsions.

♪♪

[ girls gasping ]

♪♪

However, instead of turning on
the woman, the passersby

Merely stare or hurry past.

♪♪

The afflicted girls quickly
pull themselves together

And continue on their way.

But it's clear their days
of power are numbered.

♪♪

This is madness.

There's over 150 suspected
witches in jail.

Dozens more in andover.
There's no end in sight to this.

With the jails still
full of accused witches,

In early October
the general court meets

To discuss the salem trials.

Massachusetts
governor william phipps

Is increasingly concerned.

By the late summer,
more and more people

Are starting to speak out

And ultimately the question
of whether or not london

Is going to get involved
comes to william phipps.

Man: This court
is appointed by god.
He had been really studiously

Avoiding telling his superiors
back in England

About how sort of out of hand
this had all gotten

In salem village.

People are languishing in jail.

Some have died in terrible
conditions, all of the squalor,

This dank, this dark,
this death.

Coy: The afflicted had started
to call out people as witches

Who weren't likely suspects

Who didn't fit
the stereotype of the witch.

In fact, they started
to name people

Who were prominent
within society --

Men and women of means,

Men and women with important
political connections in boston.

It is better for witches
to escape than for

Innocent people
to be condemned.

Narrator: Chief justice of the
court william stoughton

Bristles at any suggestion

That errors
could have been made.

This court
is appointed by god.

I, for one, refuse to believe
that god makes mistakes.

Let alone that innocence
be sent to the gallows.

But the next accusation
changes everything.

I'm sorry to inform you
it seems that

The latest names
cried out include

That of your good wife.

My wife?

Reverend john hale has
supported the hanging of witches

Since the beginning,
but now his wife has been named.

Even this pales compared
to the next name uttered.

Also lady phipps.

These men in power believe
they are called by god

To eradicate the evil
in their land.

But now, two of their wives
stand accused.

Who's being played by the
devil's hand this time?

♪♪

Narrator: The witch hunt
consuming salem and new England

Has resulted in 20 executions.

However, the belief
in the spectral claims

Of the afflicted girls
is waning.

♪♪

While the witch hunt's thirst
for blood is being questioned,

Puritan leaders remain on a
god-given mission to stamp out

Satan's destruction
of their faith.

♪♪

But the wives of two of the most
powerful men in new England

Are now accused of witchcraft.

♪♪

Faced with the prospect
of his own wife's execution,

Governor sir william phipps

Suddenly loses enthusiasm
for the witch hunt.

I will write to london
to get their counsel,

Meanwhile, the court
and all further trials

Are indefinitely
suspended.

Callow: Witch hunts end when
there are enough people

To take a stand against them.

This happened very
clearly in salem

When the allegations moved on

To people from the upper end
of society

Who had enough
well-connected friends

To expose the tissue of lies
that had grown up

Around a bunch of adolescent
fantasies around salem village.

There is a social class point
past which the accusations

Cannot go because the culture
cannot withstand

Them going that far.

William stoughton was so
angry at the trials being ended

That he actually stormed
out of the courtroom.

♪♪

We were on our way
to clearing this land.

He really believed he could
have truly purified society.

He thought that had
been interrupted.

And god have mercy
on this country.

♪♪

♪♪

Remorse was slow
to come to salem.

If you had been accused
of witchcraft in salem,

Even if you were one of those
who made it out alive,

Your life was forever changed.

Narrator: Over the coming
months, over 150

Accused witches
are released from jail.

Even so, many have to stay
behind bars

Because they cannot pay
their prison fees.

Brock: Some of these families
had to sell off cattle,

How to sell off property,
sell off goods

Just to get out of debt

After they had spent this
really horrific period of time

Awaiting what they thought
would be their eventual death

By the noose.

Narrator: Of the accused
who were not hanged, many,

Like 4-year-old dorothy good,
never recovered from the trauma.

Her father wrote asking
for compensation

From the general court

Because she was never able
to manage herself.

Brock: The human cost continued
in terms of those

Who lost property,
lost loved ones,

And indeed lost
a sense of security

In their godly community.

Narrator: The unspeakable evil
that descended on salem

Still echoes through history.

It's a story more timely
than ever before.

Coy:
The sort of human frailties

That caused salem
are still around today.

People still seek scapegoats
in troubled times.

People still look for excuses
for things

That are happening
by blaming outsiders.

♪♪

Narrator:
Few of the men responsible
for salem's suffering

Are willing to admit
their wrongdoing.

Ministers such as john hale
never doubt

That satan alone
caused the witch hunt.

As usual, the effects of the
decisions of people in power

Don't affect them
as directly as they do others.

Narrator: Another puritan leader
met a darker end.

Sarah good's last words
to nicholas noyes

That god would give him blood
to drink are prophetic.

Noyes dies of a hemorrhage
and chokes on his own blood.

♪♪

Renowned minister cotton mather
is also keen

To absolve himself of any blame.

Brock:
Cotton mather and the other men

Who are involved in prosecuting
the trials are really keen

To start to spin the history.

Narrator: Mather writes
his personal account

Of the salem witch trials.

Brock: Cotton mather writes
"wonders of the invisible world"

Just after the trials as a piece
of essentially propaganda.

Howe: This is the most typical
american thing of all time.

Tragedy happens
and immediately someone writes

A best-selling book about it.

Brock: It was really important
for mather to prove

That they'd done right
by the salem witch trials.

Although, of course, history
has had a different judgment.

Narrator: Despite cotton
mather's certainty,

No one can say for sure what
caused the scourge of evil

That engulfed salem.

It seems even the young girls
did not understand

What was behind
their afflictions.

♪♪

Once the trials came to a halt,

Their symptoms subsided
and then stopped altogether.

And I think there's this idea
of neuroses,

Of terror, that were enacted
in the form of these seizures.

In the village of salem
in 6092, the young women

Who were subject
to an overbearing church

And any freedoms that
we think of today of expression

In terms of ideas, dress,
even the ability to dance

Or to seek their own husband
were being denied to them.

Narrator: Most of the main
accusers eventually left salem.

Mary walcott married.

As did mercy lewis.

Among those who disappeared
from the record

Are john proctor's maid,
mary warren,

And one of the very first girls
to suffer afflictions,

Abigail williams.

It's likely abigail that
john hale referred to

When he later wrote
that one of the afflicted

Never fully recovered
her sanity.

♪♪

For another of the accusers,

Ann putnam jr.,
it's a different story.

I desire to be humbled
for god.

Several years after the trials,

Unmarried and still
in salem village,

She made an extraordinary
public apology.

She said she wanted to lie down
in the dust and be humbled

For having done
this terrible thing.

Coy:
She said that she was sorry that
god's providence had made her

An instrument of these miseries
and she also said that

The people that she had named
were innocent.

She acknowledged that,

She said that she had made
these accusations

And had these fits because
of delusions of the devil.

...To believe they were
innocent persons.

Satan is still real.

He is still able
to trick people.

Narrator: Of all the men who
helped propel the witch hunt,

Samuel parris is one of the few

Who admits he may
have been wrong.

Five years after coming
to salem village

When his wife elizabeth dies,
it is the final blow

That makes him
quit the ministry.

It must have seemed a long five
and a half years

Since his daughter and niece

First began displaying
their strange symptoms.

♪♪

Left behind by parris
is the accused witch

Who has been imprisoned
longer than anyone,

The woman who was once
his enslaved servant, tituba.

She'd been imprisoned through
all of these long months

In terrible conditions.

Brock: When it's her turn
to get out of jail,

Samuel parris says,
"I'm not going to pay."

And she is actually bought
by another member

Of the new England community
to pay off her jail bonds.

But she is the first
and the last of the whole story.

Narrator: The lessons of salem
will never be forgotten.

Shaw: History time and time
again shows that large groups

Of people act in ways
that are deeply,

Deeply harmful to others.

So I think we need to be
very careful not to assume

That this is time limited,

That this is not
an isolated event by any means.

Brock: Salem is america.

It's not an aberration,
but the story of

What happens when the wrong
people have power

To make decisions
over other people's lives

And when they're motivated
by fear and ideology.

That obscures the truth.

Howe: The people who are
involved in the salem crisis

Were educated and thoughtful
and reflective people,

They were smart as we are.

And we run the same risks

Of being cruel and unjust
to people in our community

Who deserve our help
and attention and support.

♪♪

♪♪