What Josh Clark has said about Salem witch trials

Clark argues that the Salem trials were an anomaly even among Puritans who believed in and executed witches, and that historians still do not fully understand them.

“Even among like Puritans, even among people who believe there was such a thing as witchcraft and even executed witches, this was a genuine anomaly”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Salem Witchcraft Trials: More Bonkers Than You Know (Oct 31, 2026) · Listen from 5:01

Clark says the trials remain poorly understood because surviving records are mostly official public documents rather than private journals and letters.

“we only have like official primary documents that were written by people who were aware that these were public documents rather than, say, a trove of private journals and letters”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Salem Witchcraft Trials: More Bonkers Than You Know (Oct 31, 2026) · Listen from 6:34

Clark summarizes John Demos's theory that witchcraft accusations arise once small colonial towns settle in and residents develop grudges while living in close quarters.

“after they settle in a little while and maybe there's like some boredom and everybody gets to know each other and you have grudges, but you're still living in a really small area”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Salem Witchcraft Trials: More Bonkers Than You Know (Oct 31, 2026) · Listen from 8:23

Clark argues the true breakdown was that authorities in a position to stop the panic allowed or even inflamed it.

“That was the true breakdown at the Salem witchcraft trials. The grown-ups did not step in and halt it before it got out of hand”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Salem Witchcraft Trials: More Bonkers Than You Know (Oct 31, 2026) · Listen from 34:41

Clark describes Sheriff George Corwin as a villain who had an incentive to arrest many people because he and his deputies divided up their seized property.

“he had every incentive to arrest as many people as possible and throw them in jail. And he did that”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Salem Witchcraft Trials: More Bonkers Than You Know (Oct 31, 2026) · Listen from 50:53