A young man from Haverhill, Massachusetts is mysteriously gunned down in a small town in West Chester County, New York. What appears to be an act of self-defense however, quickly devolves into a cavalcade of witnesses, false evidence, corruption, and surprise (no it isn’t) a rich family covering up their shame, in order to scapegoat the victim’s family.
Join Kristin Harris with special guest Justin Peavey of the Wonderful Recap of Oz Podcast, as we explore the murder of his ancestor Clarence Peters.
This crime was so outlandish we could not even get through it in 1 hour and 40 minutes! Make sure to listen to the end to hear about Justin’s future plans for telling this incredible story.
Follow the Wonderful recap of Oz on Instagram @ozrecap!
All photos courtesy of the research of Justin Peavey
Crime scene, showing Peters’ remains, 1922.
Queenie Jones Elliot
Clarence Peters’ mugshot, 1921.
Walter S. Ward, 1923.
Drawing in the newspaper, showing Ward’s account of the killing,
Beryl Ward, 1922.
Parents of Clarence Peters, Inez and Elbridge Peters.
Map of the crime scene.
Inez Peters.
Beryl and Walter Ward, awaiting a verdict in the court room.
Hello everyone! It’s been a while. I have been very busy, and haven’t been able to edit and post the back log of episodes from earlier in quarantine, but rest assured, they will get there. I have been very fortunate to have been busy, as I know many others are hurting right now, in multitudes of ways. That being said, one of the most exciting things happening lately, is that I have gotten the opportunity to speak at some wonderful events, including the Peabody Essex Museum’s panel titled, “Witch Trials and Salem: Then and Now,” which was a panel with some other community members here in Salem, where we opened up dialogue about the trials history, and Salem’s identity as a haven for modern practitioners, and how the two are a symbiotic relationship. I’ll include a link to watch the panel below. It was an incredibly productive and important discussion, and I was thrilled to be asked on as a moderator, and to help plan content for the opening remarks! The other panelists involved absolutely humbled me, and we all discussed not only the history of the Witch Trials themselves, but how they continue to impact the community, and can continue to inform the legacy of Salem both as a place, but as a cultural and spiritual marker and gathering spot for people from all walks of life. This all being said, one of the things we did was to come up with a primer for people where they could explore primary resources, and a list of suggested secondary sources so that people who wished to learn more could read from the experts on the topic. So, since I just got done speaking at another event about Salem history, I figured I would put my primer on here for you all to use! Please note that this is a BRIEF primer, and that the resources out there for the study of the Salem Witch Trials are endless, and more work continues to be done as I write this very blog post. But, hopefully we can spread this around, dispel some misconceptions about there “not being documents,” (true story, I read that in an article once) and make this history a bit more accessible!
Link to PEM panel (primer below video):
What
The Salem Witch Trials were a series of court proceedings in which over 200 people across Salem, and at least two dozen other towns in Massachusetts Bay Colony were accused of the crime of witchcraft. Beginning in the home of Samuel Parris with his daughter Elizabeth Parris and his niece, Abigail Williams, a group of people who came to be known as the afflicted accused people from their community of spectral attacks, threats, physical harm, and practicing sundry acts of witchcraft.
By 17th century standards, witchcraft was viewed as the act of signing oneself into service of the Devil in a direct act of opposition to the church (different from the folk and counter-magical practice that was widely used and normalized in 17th century Anglo cultural practice).
Over the course of the trials, the Court of Oyer and Terminer, specially appointed to handle the magnitude of witchcraft accusations, the size and scope of which in a short period of time that exceeded the likes that New England had ever seen, relied on the use of spectral evidence. The use of this type of evidence, although cautioned against both in law and practice during witchcraft trials, became the main form of evidence used in Salem. The court consisted of a combination of 9 judges and magistrates, 5 of whom were required at each formal trial. As a result, of the 200+ people accused, 20 people would be executed; 19 by hanging, and one by being pressed to death, in the only illegal execution to take place over the course of events.
Witchcraft was seen by English law as a capital crime, and not a crime against the church (although the context was religious in nature) the punishment was execution by hanging upon a guilty verdict. 5 others would perish in jail due to harsh conditions. Over 55 people confessed to the crime of witchcraft, believing they would be spared, although law dictated that you would only receive a stay of execution while you were able to give sufficient evidence against other accused witches (after which, anyone who openly confessed would eventually be executed).
Of those executed, 14 were women, 6 were men, and when looking at the accusations, the split was even between men and women. After the Salem trials, no one was convicted of witchcraft in New England. During the Salem trials, more people were accused and executed than in all the previous witchcraft trials in New England. None of the people accused, who confessed, or who were executed were guilty of witchcraft, nor were any of them practicing witches, as we understand it in the modern era. All those involved were Puritans, (and a few Quaker accusers) who followed the Christian faith.
When
The period that has now come to be widely known as the Salem Witch Trials took place roughly between January/February of 1692 and May of 1693, with the first “afflictions” and accusations beginning in January/February of 1692. The court proceedings themselves began on March 1 with the preliminary examinations of Sarah Good, Sarah Osburn, and Tituba, an enslaved woman of indigenous descent living in the home of Rev. Samuel Parris. Tituba confessed to the crime of witchcraft, and accused others, believing that she could spare herself (in reality, Tituba would have eventually been executed once her testimony against others was no longer useful).
The greater trials began in June of 1692 after the new Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, William Phips, issued a commission for a Court of Oyer and Terminer (latin for “to hear and to determine”) and appointed as judges John Hathorne, Nathaniel Saltonstall, Bartholomew Gedney, Peter Sergeant, Samuel Sewall, Wait Still Winthrop, and Lieutenant Governor William Stoughton. This was a special case court enacted simply to examine the accusations of witchcraft in Salem.
Due to mismanagement and unlawful and excessive use of spectral evidence, the court of Oyer and Terminer was dissolved by Gov. Phips on October 29. Some of the accused were released, and a new court – the Superior Court of Judicature – was established on November 25 to try the remaining people in jail. By May of 1693, grand juries rejected charges against all those remaining in jail, including those who had confessed, and the Witch Trials period effectively came to a close.
Where
Accusations began in Salem Village, the rural area outside of the main town, also known as Salem Farms. The trials themselves and several examinations took place in Salem Town proper. Although accusations certainly did start in the rural village, and a majority of those initially accused were from the village, because Salem Town was the high judiciary seat of Essex County, the trials themselves were held there. The court house would have stood on what today is Washington St., while the Salem Town meeting house would have stood roughly on the corner of Essex and Washington Streets in downtown Salem. Today, the site is occupied by a restaurant called Rockafella’s.
The only remaining site in Salem Town with a direct connection to the Witch Trials is the Witch House, former home of Jonathan Corwin, one of the magistrates on the Court of Oyer and Terminer. As the trials progressed, accusations would spread to over two dozen towns in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. For a detailed map of accusations visit here: http://salem.lib.virginia.edu/maps/accusationMaps/index.html
For more on sites associated with the Witch Trials, visit here:
The stressors that caused the Salem trials were a complicated mix of socioeconomic changes in Salem Town proper, changes in church dogma, traumatic conflicts with Indigenous groups in New England, extreme weather, a changeover of government policy after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, conflicts in the rural Salem Village over various disagreements between Samuel Parris and other groups in the village, and a plethora of other community changes, and cannot be defined by any single cause. Ergot theory, which was a popular theory in the 1970s that claimed the accusers were hallucinating from moldy grain, and coming on the cusp of research into psychotropic drug use and mental health, has been debunked by modern science and historians. The Witch Trials were a result of a perfect storm of events, and a spark at just the right moment, that inflamed communities across Massachusetts.
More resources and reading list
Online Resources
Burns, Margo (editor, Records of the Salem Witch Hunt by Bernard Rosenthal). 17th Century Colonial New England: with emphasis on the Essex County Witch Hunt of 1692.
Baker, Emerson and John G. Reid. The New England Knight
Breslaw, Elaine. Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem
Demos, John. Entertaining Satan
Hall, David D. Witch-Hunting in Seventeenth Century New England
LaPlante, Eve. Salem Witch Judge
Norton, Mary Beth. In The Devil’s Snare
Ray, Benjamin C. Satan & Salem
Roach, Marilynne. The Salem Witch Trials, A Day-by-Day Chronicle
Roach, Marilynne. Six Women of Salem
Rosenthal, Bernard. Salem Story
Rosenthal, Bernard, ed. The Records of the Salem Witch Hunt
Trask, Richard, ed. The Devil Hath Been Raised
Upham, Charles. Salem Witchcraft
Weisman, Richard. Witchcraft, Magic, and Religion in 17th Century New England
In Memory
We recognize and remember the 25 victims of the Salem witch trials. This memorial list begins with the first person who died and includes each victim’s name, hometown, life dates, and cause of death.
Join us in paying tribute to the innocent people lost as a result of the witch trials and reflecting on injustices—perpetrated then and now—as a result of ignorance, intolerance, and fear.
**Notice: This episode was recorded live on Zoom, and may have long pauses, diminished sound, and be less polished than normal episodes. Thank you in advance for bearing with me as I figure out this new platform and audio! All accompanying pictures can be found on lifeaftermidnightsalem.com**
Join Kristin and hear the story of a little known medium, Charles Henry Foster, the Salem Seer. Listen to a tale about the rise and fall of a man caught up in the whirl of Mesmerism, Mediumship, and the Spiritualist Movement. In this episode, we talk about Foster’s history, his connections to Salem, a brief history of the Spiritualist movement, and the beliefs that mediums like Foster used to justify their gifts. This episode is packed with seances, scandals, asylums, and the tragic end to one of the most prolific Salem figures of his day.
This is a special episode, that was done for Creative North Shore, as a part of their live artist stream series on their Facebook page during the COVID-19 Quarantine, to help support local artists and makers, and promote the artist economy. A huge thank you to John Andrews, Michelle Garcia, Carly Dwyer, Sam Stair, and the team at Creative North Shore for including Life After Midnight, and for all of their hard work and dedication to helping artists on the North Shore!
This episode is NSFW; some mature content discussed that may not be appropriate at work, limited profanity.
**Notice: This episode was recorded live on Zoom, and may have long pauses, diminished sound, and be less polished than normal episodes. Thank you in advance for bearing with me as I figure out this new platform and audio! All accompanying pictures can be found on lifeaftermidnightsalem.com**
Join Kristin as we discuss Phantasmagoria, its connection to Deism, and early forays into man’s endless quest to commune with the dead, and the beyond. Learn how Charles Brockden Brown was influenced by murders committed by self-proclaimed Deists, in the Age of Enlightenment, and how those murders aided in the writing of America’s first true gothic novel. It’s not Poe, it’s certainly not Hawthorne, and it involves a whole lot of murder and nationalistic debate! Since when are politics not spooky…
This is a special episode, that was done for Creative North Shore, as a part of their live artist stream series on their Facebook page during the COVID-19 Quarantine, to help support local artists and makers, and promote the artist economy. A huge thank you to John Andrews, Michelle Garcia, Carly Dwyer, Sam Stair, and the team at Creative North Shore for including Life After Midnight, and for all of their hard work and dedication to helping artists on the North Shore!
This episode is NSFW; some mature content discussed that may not be appropriate at work, limited profanity.
**Notice: This episode was recorded live on Zoom, and may have long pauses, diminished sound, and be less polished than normal episodes. Thank you in advance for bearing with me as I figure out this new platform and audio!**
This is a special episode, that was done for Creative North Shore, as a part of their live artist stream series on their Facebook page during the COVID-19 Quarantine, to help support local artists and makers, and promote the artist economy. A huge thank you to John Andrews, Michelle Garcia, Carly Dwyer, Sam Stair, and the team at Creative North Shore for including Life After Midnight, and for all of their hard work and dedication to helping artists of the North Shore!
This episode is NSFW; some mature content discussed that may not be appropriate at work, limited profanity.
Episode written and recorded by Kristin Harris
Join Kristin as we discuss the 1802 murder of William Pitt Allen by his brother-in-law Ebenezer Mason. The first murder in Medfield, it ended in a sensational trial, a hanging, and a body snatching! Hear the tale of the stealing of Ebenezer Mason’s body, and listen to how body snatching became a common practice in 18th and 19th century Massachusetts. This episode has it all, body snatchers, Harvard Elite, a Guide to Grave Robbing, and 19th century trial transcripts! This lesser known murder even resulted in a song. Come hear about elitist nonsense, Brahmin B.S., and murder ballads you can sing at New Year’s.
In this episode, travel with me on a Halloween Adventure to the legendary village of Sleepy Hollow, New York, where I explore the meaning and symbolism behind Washington Irving’s famous tale. Learn all about my experience in the town, where Irving got his inspiration for the story, some other famous sites in Tarrytown, and perhaps a bit about some spiritual visitors, on this night where the veil grows thin, and the dead walk among the living. Just remember to hold on to your head…
NSFW A slight bit of strong language
Episode written and recorded by Kristin Harris 2019.
M.A. in American Studies (2015). Alumni of University of Massachusetts Boston. Salem, Ma Historian and Tour Guide for Salem Black Cat Tours, Paranormal Investigator with Mass Ghost Hunters Paranormal Society, Writer/Researcher/Host for Life After Midnight: Strange History, Salem Style.
That’s a whole lot of fancy titling, but my friends have dubbed me, “Death Girl.”
I first earned the loving nickname “Death Girl” from a few colleagues while still a graduate student in the American Studies M.A. Program at University of Massachusetts Boston.
My primary area of scholarship is the study of death in American culture, and the use of paranormal entertainment and tourism as a mode for public history education. I first discussed this idea in my Master’s thesis entitled “Relevant Apparitions: Bridging Public Memory, the Post-Industrial and the Paranormal in Ghost Adventures, (2015)” where I explore how the television show is both exploring marginalized post-industrial communities, and promoting interest in the history of place, past and present by portraying them to a wide community through the lens of a paranormal reality television show.
Since supernatural tourism has been given root and seen a resurgence in popularity through paranormal reality television, it has been my life’s work to find and illustrate in my writing the origins of social thought on matters of the supernatural and how they have played a role in public interest across many centuries of human existence. Where is the line between entertainment and reality, legend and fact, folklore and human thought about death and dying?
Recently, (since January 2017) I have been exploring these questions with my podcast entitled Life After Midnight: Strange History, Salem Style. I will continue to explore those very questions here, and hope you find it as useful and interesting as I do.
I look forward to sharing my findings, old and new, as I continue my quest to make sense of the attraction to, and sometimes obsession with death, not only in the literal sense, but as a cultural mode of learning. I often times have felt over the course of my research that without belief in the paranormal, certain histories might fall to the wayside, to be forgotten and frowned upon as a marginal part in the larger study of our past. But, with the popularity of tourist activities such as “legend tripping,” ghost tours, paranormal investigation events, Para-Cons, hotels that are advertised for their haunts, and a plethora of others, it is clear that this form of entertainment is not easily dismissed as a gimmicky form of entertainment, but rather a cultural moment in which we see fringe interests being used to garner support for public history.
In my 4 years experience as a public historian, tour guide, and paranormal investigator, and 8+ years as an academic, I have literally studied these topics from every angle possible, and it’s only made me want to learn more. Hopefully this blog will serve not only to enlighten those who are interested in the realm of the dead, but aren’t sure of its role in our collective history, but to affirm the cultural importance of the paranormal to public history for those who (like myself) have already begun to scratch the surface of this relationship.
In the words of one of my favorite High School (and still favorite) bands H.I.M.,
