In his seminal new work, A Storm of Witchcraft, author Emerson W. Baker describes Salem as “a perfect storm”: a unique convergence of conditions and events that produced something extraordinary throughout New England in 1692 and the following years, and which has haunted us ever since. Click here to listen to Baker on this one-hour HistoryCamp session recorded on March 11, 2021.

Beginning in January 1692, Salem Village in colonial Massachusetts witnessed the largest and most lethal outbreak of witchcraft in early America. Villagers–mainly young women–suffered from unseen torments that caused them to writhe, shriek, and contort their bodies, complaining of pins stuck into their flesh and of being haunted by specters.

Believing that they suffered from assaults by an invisible spirit, the community began a hunt to track down those responsible for the demonic work. The resulting Salem Witch Trials, culminating in the execution of 19 villagers, persists as one of the most mysterious and fascinating events in American history.

Emerson W. Baker investigates the key players in the Salem witchcraft crisis and illuminates why the tragedy unfolded as it did. He shows how the Puritan government’s attempts to suppress what had taken place only fueled the popular imagination and established the trials as a turning point from Puritan communalism to Yankee independence and how their legacy remains with us.