Niki Sepsas Presents - Horror & Hysteria: The Salem Witch Trials

What prompted the hysteria among many of the “pious and God-fearing” ministers and their congregations in 17th century Massachusetts that led to more than 200 people being accused of witchcraft? Trials that led to the execution of 25 of those unfortunate individuals, many of whom confessed under brutal torture? This dark chapter in our history is one of colonial America's most notorious cases of mass hysteria. A chapter so dark that a park was dedicated in Salem and a memorial in Danvers at the 300th anniversary events held in 1992 to commemorate the victims of the trials. It was deemed important enough that the Massachusetts legislature passed an act in 1957 that absolved six people, while another bill, passed in 2001, absolved five other victims. In 2022, the last convicted Salem witch, Elizabeth Johnson Jr., was officially exonerated, 329 years after she had been found guilty.