The Thing About Salem

In this episode of Salem Witch Trials Daily, we cover the developments of March 2, 1692 in Essex County, including constable Samuel Braybrook’s report that Sarah Good escaped custody three times on the way to the Ipswich jail. Back at the Salem jail, magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin interrogated Sarah Osborne and Tituba, with Osborne maintaining her innocence while Tituba expanded on her confession, describing the devil’s appearance, coercion to harm Betty Parris and Abigail, and signing the devil’s book alongside nine others, including Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, leaving several witches unidentified. We also share how testimony continued to mount, with reports of Sarah Good’s specter and strange animal apparitions, as five community members formally deposed against the three accused women.

00:00 March 2nd Shock

00:35 Show Introduction

00:40 Osborne and Tituba

01:37 Devil’s Book

01:59 Witch Hunt Begins

02:18 More Testimonies

02:38 Formal Depositions

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The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCliis4vjMIUgg3wcA0pXeYQ/

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/⁠

Salem Witch Trials Daily Course Week 7: Families, Geography, and the Machinery of Accusation, February 9-15, 2026: https://aboutsalem.com/week-7-blog-families-geography-and-the-machinery-of-accusation-february-9-15-2026/

⁠The Thing About Salem: https://aboutsalem.com⁠

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com⁠

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780375706905⁠

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619⁠

⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience:

https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780190627805⁠

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781589791329⁠

Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection (the court documents): https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection

Links

We cover the busy day of March 1, 1692 in Salem Village as Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba were arrested and brought to the meetinghouse for crowded examinations led by magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, with multiple people recording the proceedings. We discuss how Good and Osborne denied any pact with the devil while pressure and accusations mounted, including debate over whether the devil could appear in an innocent person’s shape. We recount how Tituba’s testimony escalated fears by describing the devil, other alleged witches, and strange creatures, and by implicating Good and Osborne while claiming coercion. We also touch on the suspects’ jailing arrangements, a village meeting pushing separation from Salem Town, and reports of spectral affliction, a “beast” sighting, and Good’s brief escape attempt.

00:00 A Tense Day Begins

00:23 Arrests and Witch Marks

00:54 Hearing Setup and Recorders

01:27 Sarah Good Examined

02:46 Sarah Osborne Questioned

03:35 Tituba Breaks and Confesses

07:00 Specters and Strange Creatures

08:57 Jail and Village Politics

09:41 More Reports and Closing Tease

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims

Find My Massachusetts Legislators

The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub

Salem Witch Trials Daily Course Week 7: Families, Geography, and the Machinery of Accusation, February 9-15, 2026

⁠The Thing About Salem

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege

Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection

How did the Salem Witch Trials Start?

It's early March 1692, and Salem Village is about to change forever. In this episode of The Thing About Salem, we cover the explosive first week of the Salem Witch Trials, from the very first arrests to the courtroom confessions that transformed a local crisis into a full-blown witch hunt.

The episode opens with a recap of the pivotal final days of February 1692, when a physician's diagnosis, a desperate folk magic ritual, and a gathering of ministers set the stage for what was coming. By February 29, the waiting was over. Complaints were filed, warrants were issued, and three women were headed to examination.

March 1, 1692 marks a critical moment in the Salem Witch Trials. Magistrates John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin questioned the accused in the packed Salem Village meeting house, and what happened inside those walls would send shockwaves through Massachusetts Bay Colony and fuel months of accusations to come.

The episode traces events day by day through March 7, showing exactly how a handful of afflicted girls, a contested diagnosis, and one dramatic confession set an entire province on edge.

In this episode:

• The witch cake and what it was meant to do

• The first complaints and arrest warrants of the Salem Witch Trials

• The examinations of Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn, and Tituba before magistrates Hathorne and Corwin

• Tituba's confession and the Devil's book with nine signatures

• Why the debate over spectral evidence mattered

• Day-by-day events from March 1 through March 7, 1692

Links

Salem Witch Trials Daily Videos & Course

The Thing About Salem Website

⁠The Thing on YouTube⁠!

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts Website

Sign the Petition: MA Witch Hunt Justice Project

www.massachusettswitchtrials.org

Support the nonprofit End Witch Hunts Podcasts and Projects

⁠Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692

Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection