The hysterical and violent fits of the young girls in Salem Village spreads from the family of Minister Samuel Parris to that of Thomas Putnam, the head household of one of the most powerful families in the village. When Elizabeth Hubbard, niece of the local doctor, begins to have fits the door is opened for legal action, as the other girls were too young to be witnesses in court. It is widely assumed that malefic witchcraft is taking place. Putnam goes with some supporters to Salem Town to make official accusations against local suspects. The accused are: Tituba, a native-American household slave of minister Parris; Sarah Good, a local beggar woman who is an embarrassment and a nuisance to the village, and Sarah Osborne, a scandalous figure who had gone against the Putnam family in court. The three women, all likely suspects for witchcraft are rounded up and brought into custody. All the while the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay colony live in constant terror of encroaching warfare in Maine and New Hampshire. 

All music written by Brian O'Connell except:

“Long Cold Nights” from the collection of traditional fiddle tunes called “Apollo’s Banquet” compiled by Henry Playford, 1690.   

“Second Meter – Psalm 119” adapted from the Bay Psalm Book, 1698.

Recorded at Studio Vinniechops, 2021-2022

Episode IV Parts: 

Part I - “Long Cold Nights”

Part II - Sarah Good, Mary Sibley’s witch cake (music – “Long Cold Nights” & “Second Meter”)

Part III - “A Perfect Storm” 

Part IV – “The Accused”

Brian O’Connell – nylon and steel string acoustic guitars, electric 12-string guitar, bass guitar, piccolo bass guitar, acoustic and electric upright basses, piano, moog synthesizer, acoustic guitar w/ glass slide & ebow, cymbal, percussion, voice

Rachel Koppelman – accordion

A Perfect Storm

Long cold dark nights
Growing shorter with each day
The rains of March
Winter washed away

Tempest driving on the fields
Roads turn into mud
To the west the river has overflowed
And drowned the cows

From London comes a new charter
New government and laws
Blasphemers are welcome now 
In the land of puritans
New masters come to rule us all
The city on the hill will fall

War is coming from the East
Bringing refugees
Telling tales of burning homes
And mutilations

How many have already turned
Signed their names into his book
If we need someone to blame
We can provide a list of names

Our complaint we swore before the court
We gave the names of the accused
Much mischief done on our poor girls
The constables have been sent out 
To bring them before the Magistrates

Sources
 
“The Salem Witch Trials – A Day-By-Day Chronicle of a Community Under Siege” by Marilynne K. Roach, Taylor Trade Publishing, 2002
 
"A Storm of Witchcraft - The Salem Witch Trials and the American Experience“ by Emerson W. Baker, Oxford University Press, 2015
 
"In the Devil's Snare - The Salem Witchcraft Crisis" by Mary Beth Norton, Vintage Books, 2002

https://www.brianvoconnell.com/

During the extremely cold winter of 1692 an intense frustration has been building in Salem Village, a small farming community up the road from the more prosperous and worldly port city of Salem Town.  Many factors are coalescing into a perfect storm: the repressive nature of the Calvinistic Puritan church, the limited prospects for girls and young women, the village resistance to the conservative and overbearing minister Samuel Parris, and a terrifying new war that is breaking out with the French in Canada and their Native allies. During the months of January and February several young girls in the households of Minister Parris and his close ally Thomas Putnam begin to exhibit extremely wild and disturbing behavior. They contort their bodies, go mute and stiff, run about the house wildly, and scream obscenities. The girls are not the first to act in this way, just a few years before in nearby Boston the  children of the Goodwin household acted in the same manner, resulting in a neighboring Irish servant woman being put to death as an accused witch. The fits of the girls in Salem Village are determined to be the results of witchcraft and three women are accused, including Minister Parris's slave Tituba.

All music written by Brian O'Connell except "Cambridge Short Tune - Psalm 70" adapted from the Bay Psalm Book, 1698.

Episode 3 Parts:

Part I - Village and Town

Part II -  Fear of God (Cambridge Short Tune - Psalm 70)

Part III - King William's War

Part IV - The Fits

Part V - (Cambridge Short Tune reprise)

Brian O'Connell - voice, piano, upright bass, acoustic 12-string guitar, electric guitar, bri-lo, drum, percussion

Rachel Koppelman - accordion

Milo - screaming

Recorded at Studio Vinniechops

Sources

"Diares of Samuel Sewall" by Samuel Sewall, 1672-1729

"More Wonders of the Invisible World: or the Wonders of the Invisible World Displayed in Five Parts" by Robert Calef, 1700

 "A brief and true narrative of some remarkable passages relating to sundry persons afflicted by witchcraft, in Salem Village: which happened from the nineteenth of March, to the fifth of April, 1692"  by Deodat Lawson, 1692

"A Modest Inquiry Into The Nature Of Witchcraft" by John Hale, 1702

"Memorable Providences, Relating To Witchcrafts And Possessions" by Cotton Mather, 1689

"A Storm of Witchcraft - The Salem Witch Trials and the American Experience“ by Emerson W. Baker, Oxford University Press, 2015

"In the Devil's Snare - The Salem Witchcraft Crisis" by Mary Beth Norton, Vintage Books, 2002