Before Salem, there was Connecticut.
In this episode of Lunatics Radio Hour, Abby Brenker sits down with historian Josh Hutchinson to explore the Connecticut Witch Trials, which spanned 1647 to 1697 and led to 11 executions decades before the events in Salem.
They discuss the Puritan beliefs and English laws that shaped colonial prosecutions, the role of coerced confessions and spectral evidence, and the social instability that fueled accusations. The episode examines cases including Alse (Alice) Young, Mary Johnson, Goody Bassett, Goodwife Knapp, Katherine Harrison, and the 1662 Hartford executions.
Josh also shares insights from his work with the Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project and discusses ongoing efforts to formally clear the names of those convicted.
A factual look at one of early America’s lesser known chapters of legal and religious history.
Sources discussed include:
– Amanda Pitts, NBC CT https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/four-decades-before-salem-there-were-witch-trials-in-connecticut/3407226/
– Research by Josh Hutchinson https://www.legendsofamerica.com/mary-johnson-witch/
– William K. Holdsworth, The New England Quarterly
– Godbeer, Escaping Salem
– Brian Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe
– Carol Karlsen, The Devil in the Shape of a Woman
– Connecticut Colony Code of 1642
Other links mentioned in the episode:
https://connecticutwitchtrials.org/trail/
change.org/witchtrials
https://endwitchhunts.org/
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