Witch Hunt - history told in music, sound, and story

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The hysterical and violent fits of the young girls in Salem Village spreads from the family of Minister Samuel Parris to that of Thomas Putnam, the head household of one of the most powerful families in the village. When Elizabeth Hubbard, niece of the local doctor, begins to have fits the door is opened for legal action, as the other girls were too young to be witnesses in court. It is widely assumed that malefic witchcraft is taking place. Putnam goes with some supporters to Salem Town to make official accusations against local suspects. The accused are: Tituba, a native-American household slave of minister Parris; Sarah Good, a local beggar woman who is an embarrassment and a nuisance to the village, and Sarah Osborne, a scandalous figure who had gone against the Putnam family in court. The three women, all likely suspects for witchcraft are rounded up and brought into custody. All the while the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay colony live in constant terror of encroaching warfare in Maine and New Hampshire.

All music written by Brian O'Connell except:

“Long Cold Nights” from the collection of traditional fiddle tunes called “Apollo’s Banquet” compiled by Henry Playford, 1690.

“Second Meter – Psalm 119” adapted from the Bay Psalm Book, 1698.

Recorded at Studio Vinniechops, 2021-2022

Episode IV Parts:

Part I - “Long Cold Nights”

Part II - Sarah Good, Mary Sibley’s witch cake (music – “Long Cold Nights” & “Second Meter”)

Part III - “A Perfect Storm”

Part IV – “The Accused”

Brian O’Connell – nylon and steel string acoustic guitars, electric 12-string guitar, bass guitar, piccolo bass guitar, acoustic and electric upright basses, piano, moog synthesizer, acoustic guitar w/ glass slide & ebow, cymbal, percussion, voice

Rachel Koppelman – accordion
https://www.patreon.com/Witch_Hunt

A Perfect Storm

Long cold dark nights
Growing shorter with each day
The rains of March
Winter washed away

Tempest driving on the fields
Roads turn into mud
To the west the river has overflowed
And drowned the cows

From London comes a new charter
New government and laws
Blasphemers are welcome now
In the land of puritans
New masters come to rule us all
The city on the hill will fall

War is coming from the East
Bringing refugees
Telling tales of burning homes
And mutilations

How many have already turned
Signed their names into his book
If we need someone to blame
We can provide a list of names

Our complaint we swore before the court
We gave the names of the accused
Much mischief done on our poor girls
By disturbers of the peace
The constables have been sent out
To bring them before the Magistrates

Sources
“The Salem Witch Trials – A Day-By-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege” by Marilynne K. Roach, Taylor Trade Publishing, 2002
"A Storm of Witchcraft - The Salem Witch Trials and the American Experience“ by Emerson W. Baker, Oxford University Press, 2015
"In the Devil's Snare - The Salem Witchcraft Crisis" by Mary Beth Norton, Vintage Books, 2002
https://www.brianvoconnell.com/

Support the show

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This is the story of an Arawak woman called Tituba: how she was kidnapped by the English from South America when she was just a young girl and enslaved. Growing up on a plantation in Barbados, she absorbed multiple cultural influences from her fellow enslaved Africans and her English mistress. Her inner world becomes a confluence of Arawak, West African, and English myths and magic. We follow her as she is taken by a frustrated and angry young Puritan man named Samuel Parris to a new life in Massachusetts. They arrive first in Boston and then move to Salem Village, a small frontier community infested with jealousy and rivalry, and haunted by fear and suspicion.
All music written by Brian O'Connell except "Old Oxford Tune (Psalm 4)" adapted from the Bay Psalm Book, 1698.
Episode 1 Parts:

Part I - Witch Hunt Theme
Part II - Oxford Tune
Part III - Captured and Enslaved
Part IV - The Cunning Tradition
Part V - Parris, Boston, and Salem
Part VI - Witch Hunt Theme (reprise)
Variation on the Oxford Tune
(Music adapted from The Bay Psalm Book, published in Boston in 1698)
Do you know of the coming storm?

The people gone astray

Their sins break free Satan from his chains

Stars fall, moon turns to blood

Fear, greed, and gossip rule the day

Old rivalries reborn

Blame cast upon thy neighbor’s home

The Beast is free to roam
Brian O'Connell - voice, bass guitar, fretless bass, touch guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, keyboards, synthesizers, sintir, percussion
Mike Harmon - drums, cymbals, percussion
Recorded at Studio Vinniechops and Wachusett Recording
https://www.patreon.com/Witch_Hunt

History Book Sources
"Tituba - Reluctant Witch of Salem - Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies"
by Elaine G. Breslaw, New York University Press, 1996
"The Devil's Dominion - Magic and Religion in Early New England"
by Richard Godbeer, Cambridge University Press, 1992

Support the show

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This episode tells the story of Martha Corey, the fourth person accused of witchcraft. She was the wife of Giles Corey who is famously known for being crushed under a door while asking for “more weight”. The accusations against Martha marked the beginning of a dramatic escalation of the hysteria. The first three women accused of witchcraft in the Essex County hysteria of 1692 were on the very bottom of the social hierarchy and essentially “the usual suspects”. Martha Corey however was higher up the ladder, as she was a full member of the church who made it a point to let everyone know of her piousness and faith. However, she also had a well-known past of controversy, having given birth to a mixed race child who she had to raise at a boarding house for ten years. Martha proved to be defiant towards her interrogation and stood her ground, despite knowing that the odds were stacked against her. Her husband Giles turned on her and submitted a statement to the court saying he suspected her of witchcraft.

Many portions of this episode including all of the dialog are taken directly from the original written statements and court transcriptions of the time.

Special thanks to Rachel Koppelman for voices of Martha Corey, Abigail Williams, Bethsaa Pope, and others.

All music written, arranged, and recorded by Brian O'Connell except “Psalm 39, Martyr's Tune" adapted from the Bay Psalm Book, 1698.

Episode 6 Parts:
Part I - Gospel Women
Part II - “Psalm 39, Martyr's Tune"
Part III - The Boston Jail & Martha’s Story
Part IV - A visit to the accused
Part V - Disruptions at service
Part VI - The examination of Martha Corey
Part VII – Statement of Giles Corey
Brian O'Connell - narration, acoustic 12-string guitar, electric upright bass, recorder, glockenspiel
Rachel Koppelman - narration
Recorded at Studio Vinniechops
https://www.patreon.com/Witch_Hunt
Sources

“The Salem Witch Trials – A Day-By-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege” by Marilynne K. Roach, Taylor Trade Publishing, 2002

University of Virginia Salem Witch Trial Documentary Archive and Transcription Project - https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/home.html

Support the show

https://www.patreon.com/Witch_Hunt
Samuel Parris takes on the job as minister to Salem Village, a marginalized farming community split by rivalry and controversy. Salem Village is overshadowed by the larger and much more prosperous Salem Town, one of the two largest towns in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The colony is ruled by the Puritans, who have broken away from the Church of England and colonized New England in hopes of creating a model Christian society, a "City on a Hill”. Crisis evolves as newer generations lack the religious enthusiasm of the founders. Hardship presses down on the colony on many fronts: war with Native tribes, disease epidemics, religious controversy, political and economic crisis. The entry of Parris into the powder keg that is Salem Village sets off a firestorm of persecution and retribution.
All music written by Brian O'Connell, except "Second Meter - Psalm 119", adapted from The Bay Psalm Book, 1698.

Episode 2 Parts:

Part I - The Parsonage - Parris, with his family and Tituba, come to Salem Village

Part II - The City on the Hill - the story of the Puritans and New England (Second Meter - Psalm 119)

Part III - The Great Migration (w/ some lyrics borrowed from Michael Wigglesworth’s poem: “God’s Controversy with New England”, 1662)

Part IV - Village vs. Town

Part V - The Parsonage Reprise (w/ text taken from the sermon book of Samuel Parris, 1690-1691)

https://www.patreon.com/Witch_Hunt

The Great Migration

We have crossed the ocean of rebirth

Planted seeds in this God given earth

Behold the pleasures of the fruitful fields

Flowing full of all good things that they yield

Realize his will

Let the world see the city on the hill

His word shall be fulfilled, his kingdom we shall build

*

Search your soul and pray for holy grace

Confess your sins let the tears baptize your face

Only a very few are chosen to be saved

The Devil takes the rest for his own to be enslaved

By searching deep within

You might find a clue and then begin

To see the holy truth, to realize your sin

We brought ourselves to plant on the western shore

Where none but beasts and warriors did swarm

One wave another follow and one disease begins

Before another cease because we turn not from our sins

Our fruitful seasons cast in doubt

Through great pain and dry and parching drought

Defenders in a route, our hopes are all dashed out

*

The clouds gather as if we finally will see rain

But for our sinfulness are scattered round again

We pray and fast as if to take a turn

But we turn not and our fields and fruits will burn

Oh sinful land don’t think it strange

If judgement comes down on you unless you change
The Devil in a rage, affairs must rearrange

Brian O'Connell - voice, bass guitar, fretless bass, 8-string bass, piccolo bass (solo on The Great Migration), 6 and 12-string acoustic guitars, keyboards, moog synthesizers, bass drum

Mike Harmon - drums, cymbals, percussion

Recorded at Studio Vinniechops and Wachusett Recording

Sources

"A Storm of Witchcraft - The Salem Witch Trials and the American Experience“

by Emerson W. Baker, Oxford University Press, 2015

"Salem Possessed - The Social Origins of Witchcraft“

by Paul Boyer and Stephen Nissenbaum, Harvard University Press, 1974

"The Puritans in America - Narrative Anthology”

edited by Alan Heimert and Andrew Delbanco, Harvard University Press, 1985

Support the show

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The three suspected witches are now in custody in Salem Village and are publicly examined by colonial magistrates at the Meeting House. The first two suspects, local beggar woman Sarah Good and the scandalous but frail Sarah Osborn, deny being witches and blame others. The third suspect, Rev. Parris' Native American slave Tituba, begins like the others by denying the charges. However she soon changes her story and weaves a kaleidoscopic narrative full of fantastic characters that enthralls the village. Everyone is amazed with wonder but also struck with fear at the potential size of the witch conspiracy, which now seems much larger than the usual small handful of suspects that New Englanders are used to.
The actual 1692 written accounts of these three examinations are used as the primary source for the script of this episode.
All music written by Brian O'Connell - www.brianvoconnell.com
Episode 5 Parts:

Part I - Gathering Storm
Part II - Witches Teats, Magistrates Arrive, Meeting House
Part III - Examination of Sarah Good
Part IV - Examination of Sarah Osborn
Part V - Examination of Sarah Tituba
Part VI - The Familiars
Part VII - The storm begins to spread (Gathering Storm Reprise)
Brian O'Connell - voice, guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, bass guitar, upright bass, keyboards, synthesizers
Milo - screams
Recorded at Studio Vinniechops
Mixed, Edited, Mastered by Brian O'Connell
https://www.patreon.com/Witch_Hunt

History Sources
“The Salem Witch Trials – A Day-By-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege” by Marilynne K. Roach, Taylor Trade Publishing, 2002
"A Storm of Witchcraft - The Salem Witch Trials and the American Experience“ by Emerson W. Baker, Oxford University Press, 2015
"In the Devil's Snare - The Salem Witchcraft Crisis" by Mary Beth Norton, Vintage Books, 2002
Salem Witch Trials - Documentary Archive and Transcription Project - University of Virginia - https://salem.lib.virginia.edu/n125.html

Support the show