The Devil didn’t confine his shenanigans to Salem Village or even the Massachusetts Bay colony in the 1600s. A penchant for hanging and persecuting those believed to be in league with him swept through the colonies in those days, leading to many tragedies and deaths. But the madness the Puritans introduced in that period drained America of its lust for religions mania and fanaticism for many years to come.

The hardship, brutality, and war that followed over the next century and a half sent the broken and the disillusioned in search of enlightenment. In the 1820s and 1830s religious excitement began to sweep the country, and soon new churches, sects, and cults began to emerge. This new age would be dubbed “The Great Awakening” and while none of these new groups would compare with the strictness of the Puritans, a devout belief in the works of the Devil remained.

As did an unhinged belief in doomsday, the Antichrist, and the end of the world.

The terrible incident at Salem was not the last American witch hunt. It was also not the end of Puritan oppression in the region. They would leave a last impact on both New England and American history.

And no aspect of the Puritan experience remains as vivid in American memory as their fear of monsters, specifically the fear of witches that led to the trials of hundreds of settlers during the 1600s. For most of us today, the witch trials seem to be a brief flirtation with an irrational past.

But there was nothing irrational about Salem to the Puritans. They hunted monsters for a generation before Salem, believing that strange creatures lurked in the “howling wilderness.” They imagined their religious experience as a war with monstrous beings birthed by the Devil. It was a struggle with the forces of darkness that turned the New World into a place teeming with such monsters in the minds of the Puritans.

In the past on this podcast, we have often asked the question of whether a monster is born or are they made? This might be the episode that finally answers that question. The story that follows suggests that monsters are NOT born; they’re made – often by the very people who should protect them.

Have a question or comment? Text us on the Haunt Line @ 217-791-7859

New Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/troytayloroddities

Check out our updated website and sign up for our newsletter at AmericanHauntingsPodcast.com

Want an episode every week, plus other awesome perks and discounts? Check out our Patreon page

Find out merch at AmericanHauntingsClothing.com

Follow us on Twitter @AmerHauntsPod, @TroyTaylor13, @CodyBeckSTL

Follow us on Instagram @AmericanHauntingsPodcast, @TroyTaylorgram, @CodyBeckSTL

This episode was written by Troy Taylor

Produced and edited by Cody Beck