The Salem Witch Trials

The words of an American president have often carried the power to shape not only public opinion, but the course of the nation itself. In this episode, we explore three landmark presidential speeches, examining the historical moments that inspired them, the ideas they advanced, a ...  Show more

We're heading west again, this time looking for Billy the Kid. Who was he? What crimes did he really commit? Is there any chance he survived that final ambush?Don is joined by author George R. Matthews, who went back to the sources for his book 'Billy the Kid: The Life Behind the ...  Show more

For more than two centuries, between the late 1400s and early 1700s, a terror of witches gripped Europe. From Scotland to Spain, thousands of people were accused, tortured and executed. But as the hysteria faded in Europe, it crossed the Atlantic. In 1692, in New England, it took ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the outbreak of witch trials in Massachusetts in 1692-3, centred on Salem, which led to the execution of twenty people, with more dying in prison before or after trial. Some were men, including Giles Corey who died after being pressed with heavy ro ...  Show more

In 1692, 19 members of a small New England community were hanged for witchcraft. Over the course of the year, young girls convulsed and barked like dogs, women confessed to flying on poles to satanic sabbaths, and villagers recounted seeing ghostly apparitions and translucent cat ...  Show more

We often think of the witch trials as something in the deep and distant past.But, as we'll hear in today's episode, the attitudes and behaviour that led to witch trials is as present today as it was then.In this third and final episode of our limited series, Inside the Witch Tria ...  Show more