George Burroughs and the Mysterious Lights in Elizer Keyser's Chimney: Salem Witch Trials May 5 1692

Blobs in the Chimney: Burroughs Held at Beadle’s TavernIt’s Thursday, May 5, 1692, and Salem’s tensions escalate and George Burroughs is held at Thomas Beadle’s Tavern, while officials delay his examination until May 9 so William Stoughton and Samuel Sewell can attend—signaling the shift toward the coming Court of Oyer and Terminer under newly arrived Governor William Phips. We follow Elizer Keyser from a wary conversation prompted by Captain Daniel King—who insists Burroughs is a “choice child of God”—to Keyser’s own suspicion that Burroughs is the ringleader. Then the story turns uncanny: Keyser reports a dozen jelly-like “blobs” and a quivering hand-sized light in his chimney, seen by his maid but not his wife, events later sworn to and tied to Burroughs by Mercy Lewis.00:00 Welcome and Date00:16 Burroughs Held at Beadle's00:43 Court of Oyer and Terminer Setup01:56 Concerns About Afflicted Testimony03:01 Keyser Confronts Burroughs04:26 Mysterious Chimney Apparitions05:16 Grand Jury Claims and Wrap Up Links:Statement of Elizer Keyser v. George BurroughsSalem Witch Trials History YouTube⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub⁠The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials: https://aboutsalem.com⁠⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under SiegeHigh Quality Scans of Original Court Documents - Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection