Under an Evil Hand: The Diagnosis that Sparked the Salem Witch Hunt

We introduce the early events that sparked the Salem witch trials, focusing on January and February 1692 in Reverend Samuel Parris’s Salem Village household. Parris’s 9-year-old daughter Betty and 11-year-old niece Abigail began exhibiting alarming, inexplicable behaviors and violent physical afflictions. The family has tried prayer, fasting, and medical treatment without relief, and around February 24 a local physician (widely believed to be Dr. William Griggs) examines the girls and finds no natural cause, concluding they are under an “evil hand.” We focus on later accounts by ministers John Hale and Deodat Lawson describing preternatural fits, invisible biting and pinching, contorted movements, choking, and apparent conversations with unseen “appearances.” With the community quickly concluding the girls are bewitched, the episode turns toward how this diagnosis shifts attention from medicine to the question of who was responsible. We originally shared this episode on our podcast, The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials. Also check out The Thing About Witch Hunts for expert interviews and analysis of witch hunts past and present.00:00 Mysterious Afflictions Begin00:18 Bizarre Symptoms in Parris Home01:01 Prayer and Medicine Fail01:07 Doctor Declares Evil Hand01:34 Hale Describes Torments02:15 Lawson Witnesses the Fits03:10 Meaning of Bewitchment03:39 Who Is ResponsibleSign the petition to exonerateFind My Massachusetts LegislatorsThe Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily HubSalem Witch Trials Daily Course Week 7: Families, Geography, and the Machinery of Accusation, February 9-15, 2026⁠The Thing About Salem⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts