S1 – 10: Pen and Paper
Unobscured
iHeartPodcasts and Grim & Mild
4.7 • 8K Ratings
🗓️ 5 December 2018
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Between the examinations and the hangings, it was easy to see the witch trials as a battle fought inside the courtroom. But outside, word was spreading about the injustice of it all, and so the fight was taken to a brand new arena—one that would do far more to change minds than any hanging or spectral testimony.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | When Governor William Fipps arrived in Boston Harbor on September 29th, he discovered |
| 0:15.5 | a fire, not a real fire, mind you, but a metaphorical one that threatened to burn his colony to |
| 0:22.1 | the ground nonetheless. |
| 0:23.8 | Yes, he knew that there had been sparks, and yes, he knew that there was plenty of kindling, |
| 0:29.6 | but somehow I doubt he expected it to burn as hot and deadly as it had. |
| 0:35.4 | He'd left Massachusetts in early August for a trip up the coast to visit the main frontier. |
| 0:41.0 | He was gone until September 2nd when he returned to take a few meetings in Boston before heading up again on September 28th for another 11 days. |
| 0:50.2 | And I know what you're thinking. With Salem and the surrounding area consumed with accusations of |
| 0:56.1 | witchcraft, accusations that were maturing into convictions and executions, what in the world could have |
| 1:03.3 | been more important. Land. Specifically, his land. Remember before being knighted by the King of England for |
| 1:12.2 | his treasure hunting expedition, and before moving to Boston to rub shoulders with the wealthy merchants, |
| 1:18.6 | Vips had been a shipbuilder from Maine. So while every single person in the colony had a bit of |
| 1:24.4 | skin in the game when it came to the conflict with the Native Americans and their French allies to |
| 1:28.7 | the North, all of those battles were personal for Vips. During part of his trip, he was up in Pemiquad, |
| 1:36.8 | near modern day Bristol, Maine, to oversee a huge shipment of masts to be set back to England for |
| 1:43.0 | the Royal Navy's shipwrites. But he used his time there to set his militia forces loose on the local |
| 1:48.9 | Native Americans in retaliation for their recent raids on colonial lands. He also oversaw the construction |
| 1:56.2 | of Fort William Henry, a military base with stone walls measuring 29 feet high and 6 feet thick, |
| 2:03.1 | with 28 gun ports facing the Atlantic Ocean. It was something that could have easily been built |
| 2:08.5 | without his supervision, but it just happened to be located near his old home village where friends |
| 2:14.3 | and relatives still struggled to keep a foothold in hostile territory. Vips, always one to chase after |
| 2:22.3 | self-interest, was using his position as leader of the colony to secure his own property and increase |
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