Witch Hunt - history told in music, sound, and story
The history of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials told through music and story-telling in a format recalling an old time radio drama with a modern experimental prog-rock twist. Witch Hunt borrows freely from original sources of information from the time of the trials such as letters, books, poems, transcriptions of the trials themselves, as well as melodies from the Puritan hymn books. The music is highly original art-rock ranging from soft ambient soundscapes to heavy power riffs with many other stops along the way. The narrator provides a story teller voice that weaves a historical thread throughout each episode. Witch Hunt...
Episode 6 - A Gospel Woman
https://www.patreon.com/Witch_Hunt
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 c...
Episode 5 - Examinations
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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...
Episode 4 - Accusations
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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...
Episode 3 - Fits
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During the extremely cold winter of 1692 an intense frustration has been building in Salem Village, a small farming community up the road from the more prosperous and worldly port city of Salem Town. Many factors are coalescing into a perfect storm: the repressive nature of the Calvinistic Puritan church, the limited prospects for girls and young women, the village resistance to the conservative and overbearing minister Samuel Parris, and a terrifying new war that is breaking out with the French in Canada and their Native allies. During the months of January a...
Episode 2 - The City on a Hill
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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 do...
Episode 1 - Tituba's Journey
https://www.patreon.com/Witch_Hunt
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...
