I'm Just a Bride of Satan: Mary Osgood

0:16 oh, hey there oh, hey there how are you? I am well. How are you? I'm good, it's a nice overcast day today. I'm Bradley. Oh, yes, you are. You're Kate. Yes, that's right, I am Kate and this is the History of Boons. You know, episode 56,. You'd think we'd get that down, do we, though? Nope, not so much. No, I'm really hoping so. It's supposed to rain in like an hour, so I kind of hope that we can hear some of it. I'm not gonna lie yeah, I'm actually quite excited for that I love a good rainstorm so do I, except we've gotten a lot of rain lately and there's been some flooding, so yeah, my basement's not happy about it I feel bad for the people down in, like milwaukee and muskego and waukesha and all that.

1:04 They're hitting pretty hard getting hit. There's one of my coworkers. One of the drivers had three feet of water in his basement. Okay, my basement's not that bad. One of Sarah's coworkers had a finished basement and they have to take out the drywall up to a certain point because it was just so much water. I had to redo it all and everything. Okay, that's definitely not my basement right now. However, she is really excited she gets a new washer and dryer. She's never actually had a brand new washer and dryer, so she's really excited about that. It's little things. It's still little things she's always inherited. They bought a house that came with a washer, dryer kind of thing or whatever right.

1:51 So she's actually kind of excited that, um, they've all been grandfathered in. There we go I felt like my chair was making me go that way. That was weird. Um so uh, we just saw my parents and took them to a brewer's game and and they fabulous game. By the way, it was a good game. They brought us some beers. Yeah. So this is the Bottle Rocket Brewing Company in Seward Nebraska. Which has come up in a previous story. Seward. Yes, the blizzard of 1888. Yeah, the children's blizzard. Look at me remembering shit. That's not gonna get carried away, though, but this is the Juicy Burst IPA. Super cute little packaging.

2:31 Yeah. So yeah, apparently it's the 4th of July city. I don't understand the 4th of July. It's a town nationally recognized for its 4th of July celebrations. I didn't realize that. Very cool, I didn't know that either. This is a 6.5 ABV. That's interesting. It's a hazy. Let's go ahead and crack that open. Oh, very nice, that's fucking good, I am liking that one. Go nebraska, go nebraska, delish.

3:12 Not only do they make nice co-hosts, they make nice beer. Hey, I don't know. On my last origin of I had a pretty cool little co-host. That was pretty great, that was pretty great. He ended up getting stitches the day after oh my God, I know, the day after. They recorded that. In an unfortunate rock incident. Yeah, they were throwing rocks and a kid just pommeled his head, his little head, my poor little buddy. I know it was an accident. Well, it was an accident, well it was, but I felt so bad okay, so we are going to talk about someone from the salem witch trials nice, yeah, massachusetts, yeah, um this person is mary clements osgood.

4:00 Okay, yeah, and uh, she isn't like super known, um, she obviously is one of the accused um, but, um, she actually had a recanted statement that made, I mean it. It made, uh, newspaper headings and okay and pamphlets. At the time the pamphlets were a big thing anyway. Well, because they didn't have internet or news channels or radio or anything. Maybe they didn't even have newspapers and they just made that up. I'm pretty sure their newspapers were around back then, weren't they 1600s? There were definitely pamphlets. There's definitely pamphlets, but I don't guess, maybe not, I don't know.

4:41 Anyway, so Mary Clemens Osgood was born around 1637. Okay, in England actually. Yeah, she was the youngest child of Robert Clemens, who was an early settler in Massachusetts Bay Colony. All right, and because I'm getting old, I need to increase my screen font, because I can't see it, my screen is font, because I can't see it um so she stayed in england until she was about 15 years old and then she went to massachusetts. So her dad, had already gone over? Yeah, okay, so she what? stayed back with her mom, I guess okay so in november 1653 she was about 16 years old when she married captain john osgood, senior of Andover.

5:26 I say senior because they end up having kids. That's fine. It's just she was 16 and got married. She sure did, wow, she sure did. How old was he Not pertinent to the story? He was born in 1916, not 19, 1635. Oh, so he was only 18, yeah okay, so thank you for the math. Yeah, no problem. Um, so she was 16, he was 18 and he is from andover massachusetts. Okay, okay, now, based on the map that I, when I looked up the andover versus where sal is, it was about like a 45 minute drive give or take, depending on traffic.

6:12 Like in a carriage, or are you talking about a car? A car Okay. How long would it be in horse and buggy? I don't know, that was not pertinent. That wasn't pertinent to your research. It wasn't. Part of your pertinent that wasn't pertinent to your research. It wasn't part of your pertinent okay. So, um yeah, john was a prophet, prosperous farmer, a respected leader in the community, he owned substantial land and he served as andover selectman and as deputy to the general court in the 1660s and 1680s All at 18? . He owned all that Eventually yes, oh, okay, I'm like wow, that's a go-getter. Yes, good fucking kid there.

6:52 So the Osgoods as a whole. Their whole family was influential in their area. Okay, Okay, so Mary's social standing was fairly high. She and John had 13 children. holy fuck some of them did not make it past infancy, sure, but um but between 1654 and 1680 they had 13 children. No wonder they can call her a witch. 13, I mean, that's right. I mean, am I right? am I right um? So they were also very heavily into, like the puritan beliefs okay um. So they emphasize like piety and hard work and really close family ties and close community ties and like they were just very um strict, I guess, in their beliefs and their and what they followed whenever I think ofiety, I just think of different pies, not like righteousness or whatever.

7:49 What's a good pie for you? Well, I mean around Thanksgiving. I like pumpkin pie, but I don't know banana cream pie. Okay, I have no idea. Have you not had pie? I have. I just haven't had one in a long time besides pumpkin. That's literally, I think, the last pie I've had over the last I don't know 10 years. So by the 1690s Massachusetts Bay Colony was kind of in like a political flux. The original Puritan charter was revoked in 1684. Now this charter gave Puritan leaders pretty broad self-governing powers. They could elect their own governor, make local laws and enforce their religious code without much interference from England.

8:37 And after the charter was revoked King James II consolidated several of the northern colonies, including Massachusetts, into like a single royal province called dominion of new england ah, gotcha, so is. Is the king the one who revoked the charter? I don't know oh, okay, carry on. Okay, carry on. After the charter. So the Dominion of New England was run by a royal governor, Sir Edmund Andros. Okay, he had no elected assembly and he greatly reduced local control.

9:21 Hey, it's raining Very briefly Cool. Yeah, all all right, that was a good interlude andros was pretty unpopular in enforcing um different um acts and he challenged land titles and he just wasn't like a popular character well, no, because he's fucking shit up. So the Dominion of New England collapsed in 1689 after a revolution in England, and when colonists arrested Andros, they temporarily restored some of their old local governments. So now their new chapter is under crown authority with Sir William Phipps as governor in 1692.

10:04 Okay, essentially there's a whole lot of back and forth between England. Nothing is like secure. There's no. Well, yeah, because especially at that time, obviously word took a long time to get over there. Mm-hmm. I think we talked about it almost before, like 30-odd days, 40 days or something like that for them to sail from England to the States. So I mean, there's a lot of disconnect with that too, obviously being you know you can't get word right away, kind of thing. So then they come over and like what the fuck are you guys doing over here? And there's just, there's no governance. No.

10:44 So, like everyone is just, we don't know what's happening. It's raining really good. So Massachusetts remained very staunchly Puritan. Okay. Okay, so church attendance was high. Belief in the devil's activity was common. Witchcraft was seen as like an actual pact with Satan and that demanded some harsh punishments. The Puritans like read the Bible as like a literal interpretation. Yeah, so it depicts Satan as a real active being seeking to corrupt humanity.

11:26 There's verses about the devil's power and political instability, which is what they're facing right now. So they think Satan was a part of that. Mm-hmm Community strains and it fueled a lot of scapegoating, Just a whole lot of they're dumb okay, they're just dumb. Okay. In Andover, reverend Francis Dane, he was the minister for years and he was 76. Okay. And he rejected spectral evidence to essentially blame witchcraft on somebody.

12:11 So if somebody was like, I saw this person as a spectral being punishing this other person. They're a witch, Automatically. Spectral evidence. So it's funny, because it's not really evidence at all. No, it's just, I don't like that person hearsay. I saw him doing something he shouldn't have been doing yeah, and then they're like all right, well, you're fucked now so um, spectral evidence was was evidence that someone's specter or spirit was harming someone else essentially, and he was against that. He was like that's not really a thing. Oh, so he was against doing that he was against that. Oh, okay, good.

12:52 Yeah, but then his colleague, reverend Thomas Bernard, who had been hired in 1682 due to Dane's age, his illnesses. I mean old age comes illness apparently but, dane refused to retire, so the two would minister together oh, how cute I know, but there was some subtle tension there well, yeah, because back then, especially in the 1600s, they had some power. Yeah, per se. And you know other guys like no dude. It's my time, man yeah, so by the end of the witch trials, 28 of dane's relatives were accused of witchcraft.

13:33 How convenient. Yes. Interesting. Historians think that Dane, since he openly opposed the trials and rejected the spectral evidence, that it made him a target. A target, yeah. That's kind of shitty. Yeah, I mean, that's really shitty. Yeah. But all right. So a lot of local governance fell to select men like John Osgood and at first officials issued warrants for suspected witches and Justice of the Peace. Dudley Bradstreet admitted to signing 48 arrest warrants before finally realizing this is stupid. This is stupid. There's no evidence.

14:13 I'm going to stop writing these arrest warrants, but here's 48. But after 49, no but immediately after he refused to sign anymore, he and his wife were accused of witchcraft. Weird how that worked. That's bullshit. Under governor Phipps he created the special court of Oyer and Terminer. Oyer. Oyer and Terminer, which I'm sure I'm not pronouncing that right because I'm american, but it means to hear and to determine. Okay, and it was heavily influenced by puritan minister cotton mather I know that name cotton mather and I think it's his father increased mather.

14:55 They were like really deep into the trials. They were, like some, of the front runners of that whole thing, right yeah. But together they accepted the spectral evidence and forced confessions, creating these ideal conditions for the witch. You know, the witch crusades, essentially. The witch hunt. Yeah, so it's. I still find it funny. It's like, um, I'm gonna put this big pile of rocks on you and start crushing you until you tell us, and the only way that we're gonna accept it is if you pretty much confess. So of course they confess because it's fucking killing them, yep, and then you're fucked anyways, because you just confess to something that's not real and that's what what happens to Mary Hosgood.

15:37 Yeah, I kind of figured that's where we were headed. But it's just funny how basically it's a forced confession and you just said they accepted those. It's like really Yep, all right, you just got what you wanted and then you're just running with that. So that's just fucking stupid, that's bad yeah. In May of 1692 in Andover, a woman named Martha Carrier was accused. Okay, salem authorities already disliked her. They actually blamed her for a 1690 smallpox outbreak. How was it her fault? They probably just pointed fingers. She liked to argue with neighbors and she had a strong voice.

16:21 She had an opinion. Yes, she had an opinion. Oh my God. They didn't like her, which she was arrested, taken to Salem for examination oh good Lord and convicted on spectral evidence. And who is the one that said that? Because someone has to blame her. Basically, right, okay so at at some point there is a couple of like teenage girls who kind of started this whole like I'm a witch kind of a thing, and they were playing ouija-style shit. Ouija boards weren't a thing back then. But they were doing tarot cards and, oh my God, what are you doing?

17:03 You're now a witch. So they would bring these girls in to different towns and they would have accused women, touch them and if they stopped convulsing or whatever, they were a witch. That's the problem with all that it was just a bunch of bullshit. It was just a bunch of bullshit, yeah, because they would just then stop convulsing, because it would prove in their eyes and it would probably save them because they're needed to prove of other women. Yeah, so it's possible. This martha carrier was kind of a victim of one of those situations For sure. So she was arrested, taken to Salem convicted and hung on August 19, 1692.

17:50 So in July of that year, Joseph Ballard of Andover sought help for his mysteriously ill wife elizabeth. No, no idea what she was sick of or sick sick from. I'm sick of this witch bullshit yeah so these two affected girls from salem came in and elizabeth touched. They stopped convulsing. She was arrested. That's just so. Wait, she's sick. So they brought douchebags in and they stopped convulsing. So then it's like you're not sick, you're just a witch.

18:30 Yeah, what if she's actually just sick? Where did that go? She's like oh, I'm right now, you're right, I'm a witch. My bad, my bad. My, bad, I'm not really sick. I'm not just vomiting, because I'm yeah, I'm just a bride of Satan. I mean, what the fuck? The bride of Satan. Is that our title? So 45 women, including Mary Osgood, were based on this like touch theory. I feel like the people, those kids or whoever would, who would stop convulsing? They should have been fucking hung. Yeah, I don't actually know what happened to them, as that's not part of my story.

19:11 No, I get that, and I didn't expect it to and that wasn't really my question. I didn't even have a question, I just had a statement that those fuckers should have been hung I know I don't. I honestly don't know what happened. I wonder if we could ever figure that out. That'd be interesting if we could, because what the fuck? yeah, I mean, I could like see if or you could, you know, keep talking. You could keep going on with our current story so the afflicted salem girls fell into violent fits and complained they sensed evil. Mary osgood was blinded and led in and made to touch these girls she was blinded. She was blindfolded my bad, she was blindfolded wow and she touched them, they stopped convulsing.

19:57 It was proof that she was a witch. So this spectacle branded Mary, this high society, well-respected woman, as a witch in front of all of her neighbors and there was also a couple other people that I said 45. One of them was deliverance dane, who was the minister, dane's daughter-in-law her name is deliverance deliverance. I thought that was kind of cool that's a unique name yeah, deliverance dane bring me deliverance so they were sent to the salem village for examination by the magistrates and, thanks to the girls, more people were accused in andover than any other town.

20:41 Wow, really, they were all just kind of taken to salem taken to salem. That's not a good thing back then yeah okay, so did you have a? Did you have a total number of how many were in Andover that were accused? 45 were accused. Oh, that's the number. Yeah, okay. Yeah, 45 were accused. So out of the whole area, the New England area, there were about 200 that were accused Okay, and about 19 or 20 were hung, not sure. Yeah, because I heard something I don't remember exactly what, so I'm probably going to get it wrong, but not that terribly long ago that not as many people died during the Salem Witch Trials as it's led to believe kind of thing.

21:25 Some did die, obviously, but not as many as you would assume. I don't know like 20? Number, but a lot more were accused and just nothing ever really happened with it until they finally came to their sanity and be like you know what? I don't think we're really doing any. We're not doing the Lord's work here, yeah, so I mean right, they were just idiots, yeah, anyways. So Mary's case moves fairly quickly. Well, I always do when they just know you're, you're, you're a witch the formal complaint named her as wife of captain john osgood of andover and accused her of committing diverse acts of witchcraft on neighbors all right.

22:13 So what did she do? she and the others arrested that day appeared before Justice John Hawthorne, one of the Salem magistrates. All right, he was actually fairly notorious for harsh interrogations, but on September 8th 1692, she had a preliminary hearing with him, and Salem's proceedings kind of thrived on drama. That's all this was. This is like, basically, the Real Housewives of Salem Massachusetts. Yeah, pretty much. Because and I don't I've never watched that show. Do we need to, though, to? understand what's happening. I understand the concept of what that is which is all fucking bullshit, because to call them the real is just not true.

22:59 They're acting it up, but in essence, that's what this is 1690s style. basically, there was a camera in front of their face. That's what they would be. Oh, 100% yeah, and they would have fucking even more whooped it up and like, yeah, witches everywhere. Yeah. So when Mary Osgood entered the examination room, affected girls from Salem collapsed into fits. So they just played it up. Yeah, that's so fucking dumb. It saves their own ass, though. Well, obviously. Mm-hmm. Or potentially. Mm-hmm. Well, obviously, or potentially so. Court records note that when mistress osgood was first called, mistress osgood martha sprague and rose foster.

23:48 I think these are the two teenagers. They fell into convulsions at the mere glance of her eyes so wait. These are the two that then stopped convulsing when she touched them, Yep. So when Mary came up and touched them, they stopped. But yet when she sees them, they start. Yeah, because they looked at her in the eye. Just the one. Which one Was it the right eye? Bradley. Was it her mind's eye, bradley? This was taken as proof of guilt. Okay, I know, times are different. Times are very different. We're a little bit more advanced than we were back in 1692.

24:30 I'd like to think so. Well, some of us, anyways, no wait. Okay, I'm sorry, I'm going to use your words. They blinded her to bring her in there blindfolded stop it to touch them, and then they stopped, and it's all because they couldn't look in her eyes. That I mean. I don't know what was there. I'm not saying it's a whole bunch of bullshit that they just made up on the spot. That's my point. A person it's a whole bunch of bullshit that they just made up on the spot. That's my point. A person from the outside looking at this. Unless they had a vested interest in being righteous and doing the Lord's work which, unfortunately, is a lot of the problems with this is they thought they were doing something noble and holy.

25:12 Yeah, that it's like wait a minute, let's put two brain cells together on this one yeah, because clearly no one's even doing that much yeah I don't know. It's just like to me right away, knowing that they just started convulsing when they saw her. Yeah, I'd call them bullshit man, that's all I'm saying so there were witnesses, quote-unquote witnesses there. The thing is, there wasn't. They claimed they saw Mary Spector tormenting the inflicted. The two girls, mm-hmm. But they weren't even from there. That's enough to brand her as a witch. But wait, they brought those kids in to Andover, right Andover, but this is now in the examination room.

25:53 This is in Salem, though this is in Salem. But this is now in the examination room. This is in Salem, though this is in Salem. But that's my point. It's just evidence stacked upon evidence, that's what that means. No, this is bullshit stacked upon bullshit. I was quoting quote. Quote unquote. You were quote unquote. Mary's prominence in her community pretty much gave her no protection, but it probably made her one of the more vulnerable. Because she was, if you will, upper class in her society. Yeah, Because they were. I don't know if they were well off, but they had the land and all that. They were re-respected. At least they were respected and whatever. So she was a prime target because, well, how did she get to such heights?

26:34 Yeah, satan she was also. She was also like kind of friends with Reverend Dane who rejected the spectral evidence, and they think that that additionally raised suspicion. Okay, others think that maybe it was possible jealousy of Osgood's influence and that's what made her like more of a victim, right? I don't know. It's just a crazy story. It's just all fucking nonsense. Yeah, and a crazy story. So in just one day Marion went from housewife to jailed witch, essentially Witch. She was arrested on September 7th, she was interrogated on the 8th and quickly forced into confession.

27:19 Did you come across how they forced her with some of the insane things they did? back then. No, I didn't come across how, but she did say that she was under immense pressure. So basically, it's what you said earlier If they're accusing you of a witch, the only way to get out of the situation is to say I'm a witch. That's how to save your own neck, essentially. Or, just like I always love that, one of the and I'll probably butcher this a little bit One of the ways to prove witches back in the day was to submerge them in water, basically, and then if they drown, they were pure of heart, if they didn't, they're a witch, it's like? Of course they're going to fucking drown. You're underwater you idiots.

27:59 I know, I mean, I know, I mean science. Ooh, boogity, boogity. But it reminds me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. When they're trying to accuse the witch who has a carrot nose, I'm like she's a witch, witch. She turned me into a newt and they're all like what I got better? That's so great oh man anyways so she pretty much caved, certainly like out of fear of her own life. So in her September 8th, 1692 examination she claimed that about 11 years earlier, while depressed and walking in her orchard, she saw an apparition of a cat.

28:43 Okay, so this distracted her from prayer. Oh Lord. After which the devil as a black man. That's what it says. The devil, as a black man appeared with a book. What kind of book. She said she touched it. The book as a black man appeared with a book. What kind of book? She said she touched it. The book, or the black man the book. It left a red mark. Where. And she agreed to serve him. This is all just based off of the pamphlet that is being circulated. So this is her confession. Yeah. I mean, that's pretty specific. I don't know, I'm starting to turn and think this might be real. It left a mark as she agreed to serve him and renounced her baptism and effectively admitted that she entered his service.

29:28 Essentially, yeah, okay. So Mary claimed that two years earlier the devil carried her through the air with other witches Okay, the devil carried her through the air with other witches, okay, where he baptized her in a pond, renouncing her Christian baptism. She did name other companions that were also accused in this story, saying that they rolled a poll together. Four persons quote four persons and no more end quote In a parody of witches, sabbath kind of a thing, okay, but the imagery that she said matched the narrative that the examiners were looking for.

30:10 Okay, the key words that she was saying. They're like that's what we want to hear. That's what we want to hear which kind of further proves that she was confessing under duress. Right, she was being force fed a confession. Basically yeah, yeah. They would be like did this happen to you? Say it is so Exactly, you know, or whatever. Yeah. She added that the devil could not do. Okay, my bad Rewind, rewind, my bad rewind. Mary admitted to harming the two girls that saw her eyes, and they went into fits by quote pinching her bedclothes, end quote. Whose bedclothes.

30:52 Mary's bedclothes. So I had to look up this phrase pinching her bedclothes because I didn't really understand it. But basically it's a symbolic way of granting of the devil being granted permission to torment them in her shape. Wow, they really came up with a lot of stupid shit. I was like I don't know what pinching the bedclothes means. But maybe it was like a. I never heard that before. I haven't either. That's weird. Okay, so she added that before. I haven't either. That's weird. So she added that the devil could not do it without her consent, and even agreed that the afflicted's courtroom fits were caused by the glance of her eyes. So she, like quote unquote, admitted all that. She winked at me. Now's the time.

31:33 Now's the time for fits. Go ahead, Convulse for me. Huh yeah exactly. Get in there nice and deep, like Okay. She also claimed that Deliverance Dane, the daughter-in-law of Reverend Dane, carried the specter of Reverend Francis Dane to make others believe he was the afflictor. Oh cool, hmm, yes. Scandalous, so scandalous. So when asked why the witch's plan failed, Mary replied the Lord would not suffer it to be that the devil should afflict in any. This English is backwards. The Lord would not suffer it to be that the devil should afflict in an innocent person's shape.

32:21 Yeah, so witches, am I right? Witches, am I right? So the effectively cleared Reverend Francis Dane, as even hostiles kind of examined him because he was arrested with his wife. She basically said that the Lord could not do anything without my or, excuse me, the devil could not do anything without my permission. So her coerced confession basically contained a truth that likely saved Francis Dane's life. Oh. Yes.

33:01 Isn't it kind of funny that if Satan is so powerful and corruptible, why does he need permission from Mary? Osgood, exactly. Flaw in the system. Because they're using her shape. I don't know. Why do you say they Is there multiple Satans? No, he was using their shape. Their as in women. The accused. Oh, using the women's shape, see, never mind, I'm not going to say that. So her confession, like I said, kind of followed that formula of what the examiners wanted to hear Yep, yep yep, so a pact baptism flying hexing, coven meetings, whatever Coven meetings.

33:49 The black man suggested that they fed her this narrative. Yeah, so during questioning they asked if the devil could take an innocent shape. Okay, reverend Dane, right Her answer. I believe he cannot, which supported their case. If people saw her shape, if they saw her shape afflicting them, it must have been her. Okay. Okay, it's so backwards. And confusing and stupid. They said who taught you all this? And she said Satan.

34:30 Duh. Satan did. My teacher Satan. So, Larry, later Mary revealed how details were forced from her. So when told she must give a date for her covenant, she actually linked it to an illness that she had 11 or 12 years prior. Like just association. I guess I'm just going to pick this day because I was ill during that time. Give us a date. Give us a date and it's like, well, I was sick 12 years ago or 11 years ago, whatever it was, yeah, so, yeah, here's a date. Give us a date and it's like, well, I was sick 12 years ago or 11 years ago, whatever it was. Yeah, so here's a date. March 13th. And then when they pressed on the devil's form and she finally said to Kat it was because she recalled once seeing one at her door, like it was just something that popped up into her head.

35:19 Again, full-on coercion. Forced bullshit from her mouth. All right, cool. So she admitted that she had been told. We know you are a witch and you know it. Until her answers fit the pattern. Yeah, but good thing they allow forced confessions because they've got to be correct. So John Osgood attended her examination, her husband yeah. But when asked if she was discomposed or agitated, disturbed, I had to look that word up. Yeah, thank you for doing that, because I was lost, discomposed. Never heard of it. When asked if she was discomposed, he affirmed her statements, likely out of fear that he might be accused or she might have a more harsh punishment.

36:11 Oh, okay. So he threw her under the bus, kind of it's hard to say Adjacent. Yeah, because it's like she's going to get hurt no matter what, and if I can save my own skin and hopefully not make it worse for her, like maybe I'll say it. But his agreement did give like additional, like credibility, credibility. That she's a witch. Yes See, that's kind of shitty. It is kind of shitty. What I would do is I would pick up my family and leave. You know what we're going to get out of here. Yes, don't worry, I got this. I'm going to go kill her myself. Let's go, honey, I'm taking you to the gallows that I built.

36:55 Have you seen the show Salem? I think it was Salem. I like that show. Who was? in that. Uh crap, the kid from a walk to remember shane. I don't remember his last name. I always forget his last name. Oh, man, the I. I was a big fan of the main chick in there. She's rather pretty the, the, the witch, yeah, I don't remember her name though I don't either. But yeah, that whole the series was really good and then it just kind of like it kind of got weird and fizzled and it just didn't get any backing. Yeah, but like the first, I think there's maybe three seasons. I don't know if that's right. But I remember the. I really liked the first season. I thought it was great.

37:36 Second one was like it was okay, and then I kind of just like lost. I think it was on something that I might not have had for streaming anymore or something, but I actually really liked that show it was really good it was. I really liked it. There were three seasons starting in 2013, sorry, 2014. Yeah, and Shane West. That's it, shane West yeah. He plays John Alden. Yep. And then Janet Montgomery played Mary Sibley. Janet Montgomery. And then Ashley Madaqui. She played Tichuba. Tichuba. She was like another witch, yeah, but they also have like the character Cotton Mather in here, so I thought it was pretty good.

38:20 No, I enjoyed it. Supposedly it's on Hulu, yeah, and I think was that where I watched it. I don't know. It might have been on Netflix, I don't fucking remember, it doesn't matter. But no, I actually rather enjoyed it and I'm a big fan of Janet Montgomery. Yeah, I've never seen her in anything else, though. I don't recall if I have. I remember looking her up once, not recalling other things she's been in, but I know she's been in a few things. Yeah, she was good. Yeah. Okay so. I'm a dude. Mary signed her confession. Yeah. In January 1693. In blood Sorry, it described flying poles, devil's books and eye-glancing causing fits.

39:05 When the panic subsided, she admitted that was wholly false. Yeah, because it's all bullshit. It was a product of violent urging and unreasonable pressings. That's what she said. I hate unreasonable pressings. That's what she said. I hate unreasonable pressings. Her case is a textbook example of how pressure, spectacle and leading questions can manufacture proof of this witchcraft. Correct. That's 100% what that was I mean, and the sad thing is that. The sad thing is that's I mean not witch witchcraft, but forced confessions still happen today and they fucking they again you're you're gonna say what they want to hear.

39:52 So they stop not because it's true, yeah, and they won't take any other thing for an answer until you or they say we'll get you out of here if you confess or whatever. Blah, blah, blah. You're like oh okay, I confess. Okay, we'll get you out of here If you confess, or whatever. Blah, blah, blah. I'd be like, oh okay, I confess. Okay, we'll get you out of here to jail. Yeah, I did take the candy bar, whatever. Yeah. But it's just, it's horse shit. So Mary Osgood avoided execution, think what? Because the legal climate that I had mentioned earlier was shifting and like it was just kind of they didn't know what was happening with with the governance and um on october 19th of 1692, while still in prison.

40:34 This is when mary publicly recanted, saying that it was wholly false. Yeah, she denied signing the devil's book, being being baptized by the devil or afflicting anyone. She explained how examiners pressed her for dates and details until she invented a timeline tied to past illness and claimed the devil appeared as a cat. Right. So she admitted this was fabricated under pressure. This was fabricated to get them off me basically. Yep. Or to stop, or whatever. Reverend Increase Mather. So Cotton Mather, I think it's father. I think so. Yeah, that sounds right, but I'm not a hundred percent. Yeah, increase Mather, which I kind of.

41:14 I love that name. Increase in Cotton, I love it. He recorded and later published the pamphlet called Cases of Conscious Concerning. Evil Spirits Personating Men I don't know why men, but Well, because that was how it was back then I guess yeah. You weren't even people back then. But this pamphlet well in Canada. Not until. We're not. Yeah, I don't remember what year that was, but in Canada, look up the people's case, wasn't that in like the 1930s? I don't remember. Anyways, good thing we have it recorded. We can go back and listen. The pamphlet argued against the use of spectral evidence and cited Mary's testimony as proof that Coerce's confessions were unreliable.

42:01 Well yeah, that Coerce confessions were unreliable. Well yeah, the account also reprinted in later recollections, such as the Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, which was happened in the 19th century, which is why her words have kind of survived on Sure, Okay. So in October 1692, Governor Phipps reacted to growing chaos and increased Mather's criticism of spectral evidence and dissolved the Court of Oyer and Terminer. Okay. To hear and to determine yes. The new Superior Court of Judicature, judicature, judicature. Judicator.

42:42 Judicator T-U-R-E is how it ends, judicature Judicator. Judicator. T-U-R-E is how it ends. Judicature Tour Judicator, judicator. Ha, ha ha. Ha ha. Anyway, this new superior court convened in January of 1693 and barred spectral evidence and discounted unreliable confessions. Okay, mary remained jail through the late 1692, but was released, likely on bond, before her trial. So she was at home. But Reverend Francis Dane and Reverend Thomas Barnard Barnard I think I called him Bernard earlier Either- way.

43:29 Signed petitions supporting Mary. So those were the two reverends that were kind of tension. But we support Mary yeah. And well, she got Dane out of being a witch essentially yeah, pretty much. John Osgood Sr. Her husband and his sons worked to free her, posting bonds and signing petitions and rallying neighbors. A December 1692 bond of 200 pounds from John Osgood and Deacon John Fry secured Mary's temporary release. Yeah. And a petition from 50 townspeople declared her confession not to be trusted.

44:11 Coerced. So I did like $200. Why didn't you do pounds To? today because it was just an additional step to do pounds to dollars and dollars. God forbid you do an extra step for the podcast approximately seventeen thousand dollars, that's great, okay, wow, that's a lot of money on january 12th 1693 her case came before chief justice will Staughton, with her confession recanted and petitions from Anover attesting to her integrity and no physical evidence. The prosecution collapsed and the jury found her not guilty.

44:56 Weird. Yeah, how strange. How strange Because I don't know wasn't a witch. By May of 1693, governor phipps pardoned the rest of the accused. Oh wow, mary's story accused and pressured into confessing but freed a few months later was typical yeah of many survivors who first suffered under this mass hysteria and then regained freedom once reason prevailed. Don't you feel like the people who coerced those? confessions should be in trouble. I really do think so, Because that's kind of bullshit man, I really do think so. That ain't fucking cool.

45:37 And the fact that they were just like ah well, you know. On to the next one. You're gonna get to your second beer. I was kind of hoping you weren't, because I need a third, it's mine now oh after acquittal, mary returned home, yeah, her family and and relatives and neighbors. they spent heavily on bonds, basically to free her. Yeah, but by March of 1693, all witchcraft prisoners were released. So this was the tail end of the Salem witch trials, basically. It actually didn't last for very long.

46:18 No, it wasn't very, very long. No, but this is obviously the end of it. Yeah, okay, it wasn't very, very long, but this is obviously the end of it. Yeah, okay, mary was welcomed back and her husband, john, was reelected as selectman in March of 1693. So later that year, he wasn't coerced and he still said shit. Yeah, he did. What a dick that was Satan. He died that August. Oh man. Leaving her a widow after 40 years of marriage. Oh wow, that's pretty good. In 1702, her son Samuel married Hannah Dane, no Daughter of Deliverance Dane. Witch, sorry, I mean, I'm not wrong.

46:58 By 1703, a decade had passed between the 1692 trials. Yes, many in Massachusetts had begun to acknowledge that the trials were bullshit. Bullshit, yeah, wow. But there was some stigma that still lingered on some of these women. Unfortunately, which is just people being stupid. Yeah, is all that is. In June 1703, yes, a group of Andover women oh no, who had confessed under pressure. Oh God, Including Mary Osgood oh no, and Deliverance Dane, yes. Submitted a petition to the Massachusetts government. Okay. Their goal was to have an official acknowledgement that their confessions had been coerced and that they were innocent oh sure the petition pointed out the original confessions had been made under duress, manipulation and sheer terror of execution yep, and that as soon as they were safe, they retracted those statements.

47:57 Right, the 1703 petition was important but not fully effective. Okay, it was basically the accused and their family saying, hey, we confess under pressure, but it wasn't true. Please clear our names. Yeah. The government didn't immediately act on every petition, but they did some. Okay. So Mary Osgood died October 27th 1710, at about 73 years old. Yeah, wow. She spent her final 17 years free from accusation. She lived quietly in Andover. Her children honored their parents by passing on their names, and town records remembered her simply as the widow of Captain John, with no additional stain on her legacy as the widow of Captain John, with no additional stain on her legacy Right Now.

48:45 A year after that, 1711, there was a new Massachusetts law. Oh, do tell. So, october 1711, the Massachusetts General Court passed quote an act to reverse the attainders attainders of George Burroughs and others for witchcraft. George Burroughs was a Harvard-educated minister that was accused. So he was. I think he was one of the more famous individuals that have been written about. Harvard was a thing back then. Mm-hmm, harvard, I think, is the oldest school university, university, yeah, states, yeah, oh, wow, I didn't realize it was that old.

49:30 Yeah, okay um. He served as minister in in the salem village before samuel paris, who was the minister that was around during the trials yeah um, he was accused of witchcraft because he was kind of unpopular with some of the salem residents. It doesn't really matter much that he. I just wanted to tell you that he was also one of the accused and that he was part of this law, yeah I get it it was titled with his name in it. So right, yeah, um, he was executed um as well. Oh wow. Yeah, in August of 1692. Okay. But little fun fact, while he was being noosed up, he recited the Lord's Prayer flawlessly, which the Puritans didn't believe that witches could do that.

50:21 So they're like oh, is he actually a witch? Okay, witches could do that. So they're like oh, is he actually a witch? Okay, so anyway the act to reverse the attainders of George Burroughs and others for witchcraft. This law formally annulled the convictions of 22 people who had been condemned in 1692. Wow, so it also extended relief to some of those who had only been accused but still carried that stigma. And that's really all they were just trying to do clear their name. Basically, yeah. Overall, but the focus was on those who were convicted or executed. Okay, okay, so the law included financial restitution. Oh really. The families of the accused were supposed to receive money as reparation for property seized, legal costs and reputational harm.

51:09 Sure. The total compensation allocated was about 578 pounds and 12 shillings Okay, $50,000. I mean, it's pretty good, a decent sum at the time, at the time. Yeah, families had to petition individually to receive their share. Oh gotcha, some families did not receive payments. Others, however, struggled to prove claims and or were left out okay so not everyone who was accused or convicted were included in this act gotcha, some names were omitted entirely due to clerical mistakes. Sure um others, potential grudges, lack of lack of family advocacy or just dumb bullshit and mary osgood.

51:54 Even though she was acquitted, she was not listed as a victim in this law oh see, that's dumb so this meant some victims. Reputations weren't officially cleared until much later, in some cases not until the 20th century that's crazy wow. Massachusetts issued additional acts of exoneration in 1957 and 2001 oh, jesus, okay, so not that long ago and the state cleared the last five names of the accused because they're, yeah, we kind of fucked that up. Mary Osgood was never fully exonerated by the law. That's bullshit, that sucks. That is the story of Mary Osgood.

52:34 Very nice. The accused witch, who recanted her statement. Bride of Satan. But I would like to give you a fun fact. I would like to hear a fun fact. Yes, you know of Mark Twain, the author of Tom Sawyer. I do His name. Is not Mark Twain. No, his real name is Samuel Clemens. Yes. Mary Clemens Osgood. Yes. He is a direct descendant. That's wild so after I think one of mary's I think it was mary's brother's children eventually dropped the t and clements and became just clemens.

53:15 Okay, so he is a great grand nephew. Wow of mary, that's wild yeah, that's kind of cool. Yeah, I thought so too. That's a neat little tidbit. A nice little tidbit, a neat little tidbit. Well, how did you enjoy your juicy? burst IPA. I really liked it and I want some more. We only have four of these. We have six of these. I'm having another. This was really fucking good. Good job. Bottle Rocket Brewing Company of Seward Nebraska. And thanks to your parents for hooking this up, because this was delicious it was. I really enjoyed this one, so I'm glad we have a couple more that. I can partake in.

53:55 My brother, who was also here over that weekend, brought down some beers from Canada. They did not survive. What do you mean? I drank them. Oh, I wasn't the only one that partook. I think I only had one. I think he had maybe four beers, oh, and some of us had some. Sorry, bradley. Welp, I suppose. I suppose All right, buffoons. That's it for today's episode. Buckle up, because we've got another historical adventure waiting for you. Next time Feeling hungry for more buffoonery, or maybe you have a burning question or a wild historical theory for us to explore.

54:39 Hit us up on social media. We're History Buffoons Podcast on YouTube X, instagram and Facebook. You can also email us at historybuffoonspodcast at gmailcom. We are Bradley and Kate. Music by Corey Akers. Follow us wherever you get your podcasts and turn those notifications on to stay in the loop. Until next time, stay curious and don't forget to rate and review us. Remember, the buffoonery never stops.