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Governor Roup, Jin Soak Jim, Ward, Workman, Rum Runner, Skipper, Eric The Red, The Pirate

No Pales, Heife, Matthew The Navigator, Bull, Vertagon, Rum Gut, and Boots Trap Spaley.

Hello, welcome to the Pirate History Podcast. My name is Matt, thank you for listening.

I have officially at this point bitten off more than I can chew. The problem here is that

I love the story of the Salem Witch Trials. I could spend ages telling it, but we don't

have that luxury around here. Today, as I release this episode is Halloween, and I'd like

to finish the tale of the Salem Witch Trials on Halloween. So we're going to jump right

in and finish this story one way or another. This is episode 187, that dark, mysterious

season. Last time we brushed right by April 1692, but there are a couple of important events

I'd like to mention. Rebecca Nurse, that old infirm woman that I talked about last time,

after her trial, she was defended by her family and some of the most prominent figures in

the Salem Village community. 39 upstanding church members signed a petition in her defense.

Her husband and her sons and her grandsons all went door-to-door to organize support

for her. It was a significant outpouring. Nonetheless, she was sent to jail, condemned

of witchcraft if not yet convicted. The greatest insult Nurse suffered came from the inspectors

that detailed her physical state. Nurse had given birth a mind-boggling eight times

in rural New England in the 1600s. That's not unheard of, but it's not common either.

It may have contributed the fact that she had so many successful pregnancies may have

contributed to that sense of bitterness against her in the village.

The magistrates ordered her searched for a witch's mark. They didn't find one, but the inspectors

noted her breasts. They were saggy. Which, I mean, she's an old woman. She had eight children

...