Part 1 Witch Hunts- The origin story

Wife of Crime

Jess & Russ

True Crime, Comedy

4.8 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2025

⏱️ 74 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I've been wanting to cover Witch Hunts for years! But I knew I didn't want to just tell another rendition of the Salem Witch Trials. I will get to Salem in Part 2 but I wanted to know where all of this stemmed from. When was the moment in time that "a witch" became associated with the Devil. In Part 1, I tell Russ about the men that created this hysteria, the way they used their faith to justify murder and how whole towns would come out and watch a woman burn as if it were a spectacle. Moral of this story ... witches aren't the scary ones, ordinary people are. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Okay, everybody, it's October. It is my absolute favorite time of year.
0:09.0	But it's also the time of year when the days get shorter and the nights get longer. The darkness is here to stay for a little while.
0:19.4	I was just talking to my therapist last week about setting up good
0:22.3	habits before daylight savings hits in November. Because if I get the good habits set up now,
0:30.0	by the time the winter is in full effect, I can try to combat the winter blues with my routines.
0:37.3	That's what my therapist is good for.
0:39.1	You know, she's always helping me figure out the tools I need to get through the tough times.
0:44.9	So if you're interested in starting therapy, definitely give BetterHelp a try.
0:49.4	It is all online. It's super convenient. They match you with a therapist. You can change therapists at any
0:56.0	time. Head over to betterhelp.com slash wife of crime number one to get 10% off your first month.
1:03.9	That's betterhelp.com slash wife of crime number one for 10% off your first month.
1:09.9	This podcast is an unscripted, unedited, unedited conversation about true crime.
1:15.0	We take the cases very seriously, but I don't take myself seriously at all, and neither should
1:20.0	you.
1:20.8	Welcome to Wife of Crime.
1:22.7	So, Russ, I've always been fascinated by witch hunts and witch trials. And when I researched the Salem witch trials, I wanted to know where did this all start? Where did these ideas come from? So in part one, we're going way back to medieval Europe where this all began, where people believed the devil's
1:46.7	soldiers lived among them. These are folks, your boy Russ, true crime stories and he reacts to them.
2:18.2	So, folks, your boy Russ, aka I got my savesa, aka El Profiler.
2:27.6	Sorry, you're Spanish this week?
2:29.5	I don't know why I did that.
2:30.6	Oh, okay.
2:31.5	I've been on duolingo, but I've been playing chess.
	...

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