The Conjuring franchise named a real Salem witch trial victim as the origin of a Satanic lineage. Mary Towne Easty was executed in 1692. She did not curse anyone. She did not sacrifice a baby. And she has millions of living descendants, including your hosts.

Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack are direct descendants of Mary Towne Easty. In this episode they break down exactly what The Conjuring, Annabelle, and the Conjuring Universe get wrong about real history, real people, and real court records, and what those people actually did and said.

The Warrens built a career on these stories. James Wan built a franchise. But behind Bathsheba Sherman, behind the hanging scene, behind the demonic lineage that launched nine films and over two billion dollars in box office, are three real women whose names deserve to be known for who they actually were.

Who was Bathsheba Sherman? Her grave has been vandalized because of this film.

Who was Susan Richardson Arnold? The real documented death behind the hanging scene.

Who was Mary Towne Easty? A grandmother and the author of one of the most powerful legal petitions in American history. Written from prison. Written for others. Not for herself.

Also in this episode: the Annabelle doll is headed to Salem. A comedian now manages the Warren artifacts. The Conjuring is a great horror film. These are the real people underneath it.

Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack host The Thing About Witch Hunts, a podcast from End Witch Hunts nonprofit. New episodes every week.

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What can a five-foot-long magic scroll tell us about early modern fears, beliefs, and the people who sought protection through cunning folk? Sara Lent Frier, Assistant Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, joins Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack to explore her exhibition "Cunning Folk: Witchcraft, Magic, and Occult Knowledge."

Sara walks us through this collection show, which draws from both the Cantor Arts Center and Stanford's Green Library to present rare artifacts from the early modern period, roughly 1500 to 1750. The exhibit also features contemporary California artists whose work responds directly to that history, creating a conversation across centuries.

In this episode:

What cunning folk were and the roles they played in early modern communities

How the Cantor Arts Center brought together artifacts and contemporary art in a single exhibition

The stories behind objects including magic scrolls and a miniature bureau connected to the Salem witch trials

What Stanford's collections reveal about the intersection of magic, medicine, and knowledge in early modern Europe

How contemporary artists are engaging with this history today

Whether you are a historian, an art lover, or someone drawn to the deeper history of witchcraft accusations and occult belief, this conversation offers a rare look at objects that survived centuries and the scholars keeping their stories alive.

The Thing About Witch Hunts is hosted by Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack.

Learn more at endwitchhunts.org and aboutwitchhunts.com.

Links

View Cunning Folk Exhibit Cantor Arts Center

🎥 Watch more on YouTube: youtube.com/@aboutwitchhunts

🌐 Learn more about our work on historical and contemporary witchcraft accusations at endwitchhunts.org

Oxford historian Professor John Blair explores vampire beliefs, predatory corpses, and the deep connections between witchcraft and folklore in medieval and early modern Europe — and colonial New England.

What do vampires, witch trials, and shroud-chewing corpses have in common? More than you might think.

In this episode of The Thing About Witch Hunts, hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack sit down with Professor John Blair, Emeritus Professor of Medieval History and Archaeology at the University of Oxford and Fellow of The Queen's College, Oxford. Professor Blair is the author of the book Killing the Dead: Corpses, Vampires, and the Unquiet Dead in Medieval and Early Modern Europe — a landmark study of how premodern communities understood the body, fear, and the threat of the dangerous dead.

This conversation goes deep into the history of vampire beliefs and folklore, including:

• The origins of the word "vampire" and the many names given to predatory corpses across cultures

• Corpse execution practices in medieval and early modern Europe

• Sleep paralysis and its role in shaping beliefs about the unquiet dead

• The Malleus Maleficarum and its connections to vampire and witchcraft lore

• Shroud-chewing, witch cakes, and vampire cakes — and what these practices reveal about community fear

• Striking parallels between vampire beliefs and witchcraft accusations in colonial New England, including the Salem Witch Trials

Whether you're interested in medieval folklore, the history of witchcraft, vampire mythology, early modern European history, or the Salem trials, this episode offers essential historical context for understanding how fear, the body, and the supernatural intersected in the premodern world.

📖 Pick up Killing the Dead at bookshop.org/shop/endwitchhunts https://bookshop.org/a/90227/9780691224794

🎥 Watch more on YouTube: youtube.com/@aboutwitchhunts

🌐 Learn more about our work on historical and contemporary witchcraft accusations at endwitchhunts.org

If this episode was valuable to you, please leave a review and share it with someone who loves history, folklore, or the early modern world. It helps others find the show and keeps this important work going.

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