February 27, 1692: The Devil's Book in the Salem Witch Trials

In today’s Salem Witch Trials Daily episode, we discuss February 27, 1692, when Ann Putnam Jr. reported that Sarah Good’s specter tortured her and tried to force her to sign the Devil’s book, marking the first such accusation in the Salem crisis. We place this idea in its long theological context and explain how Puritans viewed the book as a set of diabolical contracts, even as descriptions of it varied during the trials. We also touch on Elizabeth Hubbard’s claims that Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne tormented her, including a frightening wolf incident later referenced during Tituba’s questioning. Finally, we preview how the Devil’s book concept escalated rapidly after Tituba’s March 1 confession, including her testimony that nine names were already in the book.

00:00 Welcome and Date

00:16 Devil’s Book Origins

00:59 First Salem Accusation

01:49 What the Book Meant

02:22 Hubbard and the Wolf

03:22 Tituba’s Confession

03:38 Conspiracy Expands

Sign the petition to exonerate Massachusetts witch trial victims: https://change.org/witchtrials

Find My Massachusetts Legislators: https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator

The Thing About Witch Hunts / About Salem YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCliis4vjMIUgg3wcA0pXeYQ/

⁠Salem Witch Trials Daily Hub: https://aboutsalem.com/salem-witch-trials-daily/⁠

Salem Witch Trials Daily Course Week 7: Families, Geography, and the Machinery of Accusation, February 9-15, 2026: https://aboutsalem.com/week-7-blog-families-geography-and-the-machinery-of-accusation-february-9-15-2026/

⁠The Thing About Salem: https://aboutsalem.com⁠

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts: https://aboutwitchhunts.com⁠

⁠Mary Beth Norton, In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780375706905⁠

Bernard Rosenthal, ed., Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781107689619⁠

⁠Emerson W. Baker, A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780190627805⁠

⁠Marilynne K. Roach, The Salem Witch Trials: A Day-by-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege: https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9781589791329⁠

Peabody Essex Museum Salem Witch Trials Collection: https://pem.quartexcollections.com/collections/salem-witch-trials-collection

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