March 7, 2025

The Minister Who Became a Witch

A look at a shocking event that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials

Show Notes
Transcript

A look at a shocking event that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone.

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It is Friday, March the seventh, twenty twenty five. It

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is currently ten fifteen am Central Time, and I'm coming

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to you live from the Theology Central studio located right

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here in Abilene, Texas. Now, the Salem Witch Trials. I mean,

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what do you think when you hear the Salem Witch Trials.

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I personally believe you should be bothered by them. I'm

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bothered by them, and I also believe you should be

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fascinated by the Salem Witch Trials and want to learn

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everything you can. But it is a fact that the

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Salem Witch Trials were one of the most infamous episodes

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of mass hysteria and religious extremism and early American history.

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The Salem which Charles took place between sixteen ninety two

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and sixteen ninety three, and all of these years later,

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we're still talking about them, We're still learning about them,

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and I'm doing everything in my power to try to

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convince you of their significance and of their importance from

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a philological perspective, from a perspective of how you see

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the church and understand the Church, and I think from

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the perspective of being a Christian, I think there's some

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lessons here that should really slap us in the face.

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So we're going to continue to explore and discuss once again.

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I'm going to present what I have for you today

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in the form of a narrative. Right, There'll still be

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it'll be a mixture, right. Some of it will be

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done as a narrative, some of it will I'll kind

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of slide over into kind of repeating things and of

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getting you to write things down. But I'm really trying

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to present a lot of this in narrative form because

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I think it's more interesting that way, and hopefully you're

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finding it to be beneficial. All right now, to set

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this up, I asked in my last broadcast about a

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certain individual, and I asked you is this was this

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person a hero of the faith or was this person

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a villain and a horrible story. For many Christians, this

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individual in question, they perceive him as a hero of

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the faith. If you look on the Sermonadio app if

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you look on the Sermonadio website and you look up

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the name Cotton Mather, you're going to see that many

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defend him, excuse him, and I believe Cotton Mather is

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not the hero of the story. I believe Cotton Mather

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is very much the architect of fear. I believe Cotton

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Mather is he wrote the blueprint for what happened in Salem.

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And even after all of the trials, and even after

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the people were executed and all these people were in prison,

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Cotton Mather never came back and apologized or said he

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was wrong. And we talked in our last episode. I

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gave you a very I think, very interesting overview of

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Cotton Mather, from his birth, his background, his theology, his teaching,

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how he laid down. Basically, he wrote the script, and

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Salem followed the script of Cotton Mather almost to the letter.

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I don't even thinks I don't even think that's being exaggerating.

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Cotton Mather wrote the script and Salem followed it to

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the very letter, to the very punctuation marks. And my estimation.

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But some may say, well, you're making a lot of implications.

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And Cotton Mather, he was never a judge in Salem,

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and Cotton Mather never did this and never did that. Well,

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today we're going to talk about the minister who became

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a witch, and Cotton Mather was right there right And

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I hope, I hope by the time this is over,

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you may have a slightly different perspective on Cotton Mather

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and his involvement. You see, ladies and gentlemen, there was

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a minister, a man of God, a Harvard graduate, a

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preacher who once stood in the pulpit calling sinners to repentance.

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And yet on August the nineteenth, sixteen ninety two, August

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the nineteenth sixteen ninety two, he stood on the gallows,

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accused of witchcraft, about to be hanged, along alongside those

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he once might have called his flock. August the nineteenth,

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sixteen ninety two. This minister, this man of God, who

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had called sinners to repentance, he now stands on the gallows.

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He's accused of witchcraft, and he's about to be hanged.

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And he's right there, standing on the gallows, in front

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of many of the people who might have been a

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part of his church, his flock, but they have turned

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against him. Now. This man's name was George Burrows, George Burrows,

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and his execution becomes one of the most shocking moments

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in the Salem Witch Trials. Now in my last visit

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to Salem, been there multiple times. Hopefully we'll be going

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back multiple times throughout the rest of my life. When

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they told the story of George Burroughs and his execution

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and what happened, the crowd that we were standing in

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as kind of the tour I told the story that,

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I mean, there was like an audible like what a right,

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no way, Like there was like are you sure of this?

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And it's like everybody was like what this I mean,

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this is one of the most shocking to me, one

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of the most shocking stories of what happened in Salem.

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So his name was George Burrows. His execution because one

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of the most shocking moments in the Salem Witch Trials,

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not just because of who he was, but because of

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what happens in his final moment of living, his final

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moments of being alive. That's what makes this story so shocking,

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because what happens in his final moments a moment that

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shook the crowd, that very crowd that almost stopped the execution.

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In fact, the execution was almost and like no, no, no,

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We're not going to do this, until one man intervened

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here's this pastor about to be executed. They're like, okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, stop,

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stop stop, We're gonna stop this. And then one man intervenes,

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a man who had zero legal authority, but he had

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all the power. And that man's name was Cotton Mather,

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and his words ensured that the noose around George Burrow's

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neck was tightened and was going to end George Burrow's life.

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This is the story of the minister who became a witch.

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Now before he was accused of witchcraft, George Burrows was

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a respected Puritan minister. He was a Harvard a Harvard

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educated preacher, a man who once led the very congregation

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that would later turn against him. Burrows was born around

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sixteen fifty in Massachusetts. The exact location, there's lots of

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conflicting reports, so we just know sixteen fifty he's born

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in Massachusetts. That's kind of what we know, all right,

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if we're going to try to be accurate. He graduated

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from Harvard College, we believe, in sixteen seventy, and he

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becomes a minister. Does anybody know where he becomes a

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minister in Salem Village in sixteen eighty. He becomes a

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minister in Salem Village. Now, remember there's Salem Village and

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then there's Salem, and well, Salem Village no longer bears

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the name of Salem Village anymore. If you go to Massachusetts,

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and if you go visit Salem, you're not actually in

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Salem Village when you visit Salem. So just so that

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you know that, we talked about that before. Sometimes it

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can confuses people. But yes, so he's a minister in

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Salem Village. But Salem Village is where everything takes place.

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Salem Village is where the first accusations are going to

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be made. Salem Village is really at the very center

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point of the Salem witch trials, even though a lot

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of people don't realize that. So he becomes a minister

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in Salem Village, a role that placed him in the

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center of community that would soon be consumed by paranoia.

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Because he's the minister in Salem Village, He's at the

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center of the very community where this hysteria, this paranoia,

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this insanity is going to take place. He's at the

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very center of the community. So how does he end

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up with a rope around his neck on the gallows

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being basically getting ready to be executed for being a witch.

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How does this Puritan minister basically become a witch and

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is going to be execut And what happened when he's

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about to be executed? What was all the chaos that happened? Well,

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we need to go back and just remind ourselves of this,

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or maybe be taught this. If you do not know

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Burrow's time in Salem as a pastor, as a minister,

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it was not a peaceful time. He clashed with the congregation. No,

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you telling me people in church are supposed to be

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new creatures in Christ and no things have passed away

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and everything is new and basically can be perfect. Are

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you telling me that things in churches aren't perfect? Are

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you telling me that there is sin and division and

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backstabbing and gossip? Don't ah? Wait, Okay, well it's always

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been that way because the people in the church are sinners. Okay,

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they still are sinners. We are different in our position,

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but not in our practice. All right, we're still sinners.

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But he had clashes with the congregation. Some of these

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clashes were over financial matters. Oh oh, that's really going

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to take off people, right, And the village was very divided.

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Some wanted him as their minister, others despised him. And

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when his wife died suddenly, can you guess what begins

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to happen. Rumors begin to spread, that's something sinister had happened. Hey,

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did you hear Minister Burrows his wife died? Oh, I

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think something's going on. I mean, she died suddenly. I mean,

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do you think he had anything to do with it?

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Do you think he may have murdered his wife? Oh? Shit,

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I don't know. I don't know. What do you think?

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I mean? Because I mean, good Christians never gossip, right,

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good Christians never slander, Good Christians never bear false witness. Well,

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the rumors started spreading. The community was divided. Some hated

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this man, some wanted him to be the minister. It

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was not a good situation. His time in Salem Village

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is not going very well. By sixteen eighty three, after

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just three years in Salem, he leaves, and not does

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he He doesn't just leave and say well, I'm just

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gonna go to Boston. No, no, no, no, no, He

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leaves the state. He goes to Maine, all right, He

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goes to Maine. There's and he moves around to numerous

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places in Maine. I think he ends up. His final

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destination I think is in Wells, Maine is where he

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finally ends up. And he's moving around. Basically, he's trying

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to escape the tensions of Salem. But Salem was not

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done with him. He was done with Salem. He wanted

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to move on, but Salem wasn't done with Minister Burroughs.

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Oh no, no, no, no, they are not done with him.

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Nine years, nine years later, in sixteen ninety two, now,

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sixteen ninety two is when all of the hysteria and

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everything begins to In January of sixteen ninety two is

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when everything starts going great crazy in Salem Village. The

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Salem Witch Trials explodes. In sixteen ninety two. Accusations begin

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to spread like wildfire. But this wasn't just about old women.

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This wasn't just about outcast anymore. Remember that's how it started.

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Oh we're going to accuse women. We're going to accuse

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a slave, We're gonna we're going to accuse the outcast.

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We're going to accuse the powerless. Oh no, no, no, no.

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Things are going to begin to change now. It was

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going to be about power and for some in Salem,

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there was an unsettled score with a minister who had

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abandoned them. Because some see he abandon us, he may

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feel like you pushed me out. Whatever, Actually when happened

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went down, he moved on. He's he's like he's long gone.

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Now this is nine years later. For crying out loud,

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he's in Maine. He's nowhere near Salem village. On April thirtieth,

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sixteen ninety two. On April thirtieth, sixteen ninety two, George Burrows,

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living in Maine, is accused of witchcraft. What was what happened?

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Did George Burrows go to Maine and start becoming a witch? Well?

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What are the charges? That George Burrows was the leader

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of a satanic conspiracy and that he possessed in human

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strength and that he had murdered his wives? Yes? Wives.

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Plural witnesses claimed that the spirits of Burrow's deceased wives

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had appeared to them, revealing that he had killed them

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through witchcraft. So the claim is, hey, hey, minister Burrows wives,

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they appeared to me and they told me that he

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killed them by witchcraft. Okay, how is he going to

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defend himself? Others swore that he had unholy strength, lifting

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massive barrels and guns with one hand, far beyond what

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a normal person could do. To the Puritans, this wasn't

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a sign of fitness, This was the devil working through him.

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So those rumors that he killed his wives were now,

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now we have a way to prove it. How do

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we prove it? Well, his deceased wives appeared to them

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and said, hey, he killed me through witchcraft. Oh wait,

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look look I saw him lift this one time. Oh no, no, no,

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you didn't see what he really lifted. He lifted one

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hundred pounds. Well I think you lifted two hundred pounds. Oh,

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he picked up all of this. Oh, that's the devil

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working in him. And then, on top of all of

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those accusations, some may say, comes the most damning accusation

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of all. Her name was Mercy Lewis. She's a young

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servant girl. She stands before the court and she makes

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a shocking claim. She testifies that Satan himself appeared to her,

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but he didn't come up. In fact, he came in

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the form of Minister George Burrows. She described how the

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devil through Burroughs, had tempted her with gold riches, and power.

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He had shown her the kingdoms of the earth and

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promised they could be hers if she would do one

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simple thing. What do you think it is? You can

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have everything. You can have gold, you can have riches,

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you can have it all. You just have to do

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one thing. What do you think? What do you think

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it is? She had to sign his book. Now, the

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signing of the book. You may not understand its significance,

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but if you go all the way back to Europe

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and the European witch trials, the signing of this book,

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the signing of the Devil's book, the signing of Satan's book,

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it becomes a common narrative in these witch trials, and

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it plays a significant role in Salem. Maybe we'll do

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an entire episode about the Devil's Book. Now, this is

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not an ordinary See this is not an ordinary accusation

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because this accusation has a lot going on. Here. Satan

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shows up in the form of Burrows signing the book.

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There's a lot of extra stuff added into this accusation.

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You see, signing the Devil's Book was the ultimate proof

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of allegiance to Satan. To Puritans, it meant eternal damnation

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and certain conviction. In a court of law. Mercy Lewis

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swore that Burrows had led a vast Satanic conspiracy, that

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witches across New England had signed this book, and that

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he had commended them as their dark minister. See George Burrows,

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a Puritan minister, has now become a dark minister, a

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dark minister for Satan. See. This wasn't just an accusation

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of witchcraft anymore. This was treason against God himself. George

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Burrows was doomed. There's no way he's getting out of this.

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No way. So he gets accused of all of these things.

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And I think there's even more accusations we could probably

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go into. And again you could say, but he's in Maine.

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Remember this is very important. It's Cotton Mather who calls

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for this, accepting and using what's known as spectral evidence. Right,

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So George Burrows could be in Maine. But you could

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say his spirit did this to me, or he's doing

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this to me, or he's doing this to me, and well,

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then George Burrows is still going to be blamed in

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this case. Is why his dead wives show up. There's

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all of these accusations. He shows up in the form

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of the devil Now on August the nineteenth, sixteen ninety two.

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August the nineteenth, sixteen ninety two what is sometimes referred

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to as Gallows Hill there in Salem. Now, there seems

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to be some I think I cannot be dogmatic on

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this because I the last time I was in Salem,

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I wanted to go to the area where, Okay, where

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did the executions occur? Where were's Gallows Hill? Where were

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the people hung? And I think they know the location.

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But I thought there was at least some like, well,

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we think it's here, but it could be in this location,

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but there's really nothing there anymore. I think there was

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a little back and forth. I have to do a

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little research to know is this the actual location and

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if there is. If it is the actual location where

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the executions occur and where many of the people were hung,

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then the next time I go to Salem, I definitely

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am going to get go there. So but he's on

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Gallows Hill, I think there's I think some it's also

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referred to Proctor's Ledge. I think is also a possible

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name used for it. I cannot be dogmatic about that.

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I want to be. I try to be as accurate

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as I can when discussing things that happened in Salem,

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but Gallows Hill, wherever it's slow kid, whatever it's called.

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A crowd gathers to watch the execution. Five people are

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going to hang today, five people in Augusta, nineteen sixteen

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ninety two. They're gonna get rid of five people, and

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one of them is George Burrows. They place the noose

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around his neck. The crowd watches. I mean, this is

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a former minister a Puritan village. This is a pastor

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who's become a witch. Everyone watches. Kind of a hush

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comes over the crowd. What is he going to do?

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How is he going to react? And he does something

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that no one expects. George Burrows begins to recite the

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Lord's Prayer. Not only does he recite the Lord's Prayer,

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he does so perfectly. No stumble, no stutter, no missing

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any of the words, no skipping any words. He recites

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it perfectly. Now, if you know something about the Puritans

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at the time, they believe that a witch could never

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say the Lord's Prayer without stumbling. Burrows delivered it flawlessly.

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The crowd, oh, they begin to whisper, could it be?

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Could it be? Could he be innocent. Are we about

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to kill a man of God? Are we about to

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kill a minister? What I mean? He said the Lord's

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prayer perfectly? Didn't you hear it? I heard it? What? Okay? Okay,

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wait wait wait wait wait, all right? Maybe maybe maybe

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we should stop hey, hey, maybe we should stop this.

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Maybe this man shouldn't be killed. For a moment, it

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seems like the execution might be stopped until one man,

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no legal authority, sitting on his horse watching these executions

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is none other than Cotton Mather, and he speaks from

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his horse. Mather addresses the uneasy crowd. He reminds them,

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do not be deceived. The devil can disguise himself as

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an angel of light. And this man was convicted by

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the courts. He was convicted by the law. Do not

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be deceived, everyone. This is Satan appearing as an angel

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of light. He's trying to deceive you. His words break

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the moment of doubt. The execution proceeds. The noose titans

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and George Burrows dies. And you want to tell me

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Cotton Mather is innocent. You want to tell me Cotton

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Mather is the hero of the faith. Cotton Mather has

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a minister killed, a minister who is in Maine, a

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minister who's been gone from Salem for nine years, And

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what's the evidence against him? Oh, Satan appeared to me

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in the form of George Burrows and made me sign

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his book. Oh, his dead wives appeared to me and

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said that he killed them by witchcraft. No physical proof,

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no tangible proof, spectral evidence. He's going to be killed.

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He does what they say he can't do recite the

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Lord's prayer. And it is Cotton Mather, the you know,

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the witch expert who's like, hey, guys, guys, guys, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,

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no no, we need to proceed. This is Satan. Satan

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is appearing at the Angel of Light. Burrows is dead.

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All this being done in the name of God, all

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of this being done in the name of Jesus. Now,

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even for those in Salem, this execution was different. This

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is where things start really turning. When you get to

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August of this point things people are starting like what

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is happening here? Because this isn't just an old woman,

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This isn't a beggar, this isn't a servant, this isn't

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someone weak, this is a Harvard educated minister, a man

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who recited the Lord's prayer to his final breath, And

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in the months that followed, public doubt about the trials

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now begins to grow. Now there's some questioning now, but

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just remember, while there are some questioning, there's going to

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be the others who like, oh, no, Satanist out to

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get us. We're in a war, what are we doing?

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And the Satanic panic, the which panic of Salem. Now,

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years later, George Burrow's family receives compensation for his wrongful death. Well,

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in that great years later, it's admitted that it was

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a wrongful death. The judges who convicted him repented for

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their roles in the trial. Well, that's good, at least

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the judges did. But what about the man on the horse.

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What about the man who allow did what he could

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to keep the execution moving forward. That man, Cotton Mather,

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He never repents, He never admitted he was wrong, He

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never retracted his defense of the trials. He never questioned

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his intervention that day at the gallows. Now, let me

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make it very clear, because I want to be fair

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to Cotton Mather. There was a case with two women

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who were supposedly being torn or mined or something was

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happening to them, and he allowed them into his house.

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He provided for them, he took care of them, He

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did everything he could to try to heal their spiritual affliction.

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He did not have them turned over to the authorities,

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he did not have him killed. So there are these

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things where he did a very positive thing. And the

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cases of those two women, they lived, they never were

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executed or anything, and so that was a good thing,

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all right. Later on he does seem to change a lot, right,

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He's the one who begins to call for people accepting

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certain vaccinations where others were skeptical. He kind of starts

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becoming much more almost pro science. I guess you would

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kind of refer to it. I know that's an oversimplification,

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so you can kind of see that maybe there's a change,

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but there's never a change where he comes back and says, hey, guys,

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you remember that book I wrote, okay about witchcraft. Maybe

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we should just get rid of that. Maybe I'm gonna

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recant of so much of what. He never comes back

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in Recance. And remember he's right there in the in

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Boston when a woman is executed, and then he shows

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up in Salem for crying out loud When a minister

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is about to be executed and then he does not

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come to the minister's of his he doesn't say, wait,

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this man just recited the Lord's prayer. We need more investigating,

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we need more examination. Let's let's let's be I mean,

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wasn't the wasn't at the very least wouldn't the Christian

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thing to do? Go Wait, guys, we if we need

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