A Storm of Decay: The Salem Witch Trials and the Death of Authority

https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Podcasts221/v4/fd/ae/b3/fdaeb33a-538a-a29b-99af-73bc8171f368/mza_17434472871078298706.jpg/600x600bb.jpg

History Impossible

Alexander von Sternberg

92 episodes

3 weeks ago

History Impossible covers some of the less-known, strange, and supposedly impossible events, people, and ideologies throughout history that are all nonetheless true. The settings and time periods range from the Second World War to ancient Japan to medieval Europe, and many more. The show engages with difficult ideas and impossible decisions that were made by human beings like you or me, always to significant effect. It goes out of its way to grant agency to all of its subjects and does its best to present the most nuanced approach one can, all while acknowledging any personal biases that may exist. You will not find a more honest attempt at presenting difficult and controversial historical topics.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-impossible--5634566/support.

All content for History Impossible is the property of Alexander von Sternberg and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

History

Society & Culture,

True Crime

https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/e5463ba80cc9f3cddfe1dc9b79accd71.jpg

A Storm of Decay: The Salem Witch Trials and the Death of Authority

History Impossible

1 hour 33 minutes

3 weeks ago

A Storm of Decay: The Salem Witch Trials and the Death of Authority

It might seem a bit gauche to discuss the Salem witchcraft crisis for Halloween, but here it is: the story of the real damage done by the infamous Salem witch trials beyond the deaths of about two dozen people that did not need to occur. The causes of the witchcraft hysteria are not discussed here, since those would require an entire episode of their own. In this case, we will be looking at how the witch trials harmed, perhaps irreparably, the integrity and authority of Salem’s, and perhaps even New England’s, religious and legal institutions for years to come.

This story is part of a much larger one I’ve discussed in other work published on History Impossible—namely the scholarly research I’ve been conducting for graduate school—and one day I hope to bring it all together for all of you fine people. But in the meantime, I think it’s a good way to get into the spirit of Halloween and take a closer look at the harm against institutional credibility caused by the Salem witch trials of 1692-1693. If anything, this event helped create a standard for how Americans handle social contagion, as well as how we react to the failures—perceived or real—of our own institutions to this very day.

...

History Impossible has been made possible by the following generous supporters on Patreon, Substack, and PayPal. Please consider donating today if you want to show some love for what I do and make and what to help keep the show and all my written content going:

David Adamcik
David Alsbach
Gregg Anderson
Rajan Athul
Robert Babeon
Michael Beach
Benjamin
Greg Bosai
Johannes Breitsameter
Carol ABC
Charles C
Chomo the Clown
Curtis Christiansen
Jason Coleman
Clayton Connell
Cliffydeuce
CR
B.Cyr
daddygorgon
Danny
Lynda Davis
Paul DeCoster
Regina Dick-Endrizzi
Neil Dickens
Nathan Diehl
Bob Downing
Dramicas
J Dub
Martin E.
Eastone
Gavin Edwards
Howie Feltersnatch
Pierre Ghazarian
Josh Goedert
Sam Graham
Jayson Griesmeyer
Nathan Grote
Benjamin Hamilton
Peter Hauck
Jack Henneman
Eric Hodges
Mike Jarulic
Joe6245
Lionel Joseph
Thomas Justesen
Mike Kalnins
Bryn Kaufman
Leah Kodner
Benjamin Lee
Constance Loucks
Maddy
Mounty of Madness
Jose Martinez
Mike Mayleben
Judy McCoid
Kyle Mohney
Kostas Moros
Ryan Mortenson
Cameron Needham
Shiran
Skip Pacheco
David Page
Molly Pan
Sr. Powell
Brian Pritzl
AnaR737
PJ Rader
Gleb Radutsky
Aleksandr Rakitin
Reptilycus
Matthew M. Rice
Phillip Rice
Terry Rosen
Dan S
Jon Andre Saether
Jake Scalia
Emily Schmidt
Julian Schmidt
Andrew Seeber
Joshua Simpson
Cameron Smith
Jerry Spangler
timetosuccedd1995
Thomas Squeo
Athal Krishna Sundarrajan
Jared Cole Temple
Ward Van Roy
Pierre Vorupuni
Robert VS
Jonny Wilkie
Christian Wilson
Janora Winsor
F. You

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-impossible--5634566/support.