May Day, Walpurgis, and The Jacobs Family Gets Caught up in the Witch Panic: Salem Witch Trials Daily May 1, 1692

Walpurgis Night, May Day, and a Spectral Attack: Salem’s May 1, 1692We open on May 1, 1692, as Elizabeth Hubbard claims an attack by the specter of Rebecca Jacobs, wife of George Jacobs Jr., with warrants soon to follow for George Jacobs Sr. and Margaret Jacobs and later complaints and arrests that send George Jacobs Jr. fleeing. From there, we trace how Walpurgis Night—rooted in Saint Walpurga’s May 1 canonization and older Northern European May Eve traditions—became linked with fears of witch power and sabbaths, including lore of gatherings on the Brocken. We connect those layered beliefs to New England’s own culture wars over May Day through Thomas Morton’s defiant Merry Mount maypole and William Bradford’s theological condemnation of revelers as “fairies or furies,” then follow the thread to John Endicott, his Salem Village land, and the still-fruiting Endicott pear tree near where Rebecca Nurse was arrested.00:00 May 1 1692 Update00:46 Walpurgis Night Today01:16 Origins and Traditions02:02 Witches and the Brocken02:57 Salem Echoes and May Day03:08 Merry Mount Maypole Clash05:09 Endicott and Salem Landmarks05:45 Podcast Teaser and Wrap