The Bewitched Mare: June 27, 1692
from Salem Witch Trials Daily Hosted by Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack
Blue Fire in the Barn: Ministers, Spectral Afflictions, and the Elizabeth How Depositions (June 27, 1692)Blue flame erupts in a Boxford barn as a desperate “countermagic” remedy is tried on a ruined mare—one of the strangest depositions tied to accusations against Elizabeth How. We follow June 27, 1692 from Harvard College’s library, where Boston-area ministers revisit whether Satan can impersonate the innocent, to Salem Village, where spectral torment is reported against Rebecca Nurse and Elizabeth Procter. Our timeline tracks the tangled identity of two Elizabeth Booths, the escalating neighborhood dispute behind Mary Cummings’s statements, and the court machinery moving fast as Stephen Sewall issues witness summonses for Sarah Good and Susannah Martin ahead of the June 28 Court of Oyer and Terminer session. A rare counterpoint appears with Joseph and Mary Knowlton’s supportive testimony for Elizabeth How. Chapters: Harvard ministers debate spectral evidence (00:00); Nurse and Procter apparitions (01:05); Two Elizabeth Booths explained (02:10); Isaac Cummings’s mare and blue-burning tobacco countermagic (03:05); Mary Cummings depositions and neighborhood tension (06:10); Sewall’s summonses for June 28 trials (08:15); Knowltons testify for Elizabeth How (10:05).00:00 Ministers Meet at Harvard00:34 Afflictions in Salem Village01:12 Which Elizabeth Booth01:55 Cummings Depose Against How02:49 Countermagic and the Mare04:37 Mary Cummings Three Depositions06:41 Summonses for Upcoming Trials08:14 Testimony Supporting Elizabeth How
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