Enjoy this author interview with New York Times bestselling author Kathleen Kent. Kathleen shares how she discovered her descent from Salem Witch Trials victim Martha Carrier and transformed that family history into her acclaimed debut novel, The Heretic's Daughter.

Martha Carrier was executed on August 19, 1692, after refusing to confess to witchcraft. Accused of causing a deadly smallpox epidemic in Andover, Massachusetts, she stood her ground even when her own children were tortured into testifying against her. Today she's remembered as a woman who wouldn't confess to something she didn't do.

In this conversation, Kathleen discusses her writing process, the challenges of bringing historical figures to life, and offers invaluable insights for aspiring historical fiction writers.

Kathleen Kent is a New York Times bestselling author whose books include The Heretic's Daughter (winner of the David J. Langum Sr. Award for American Historical Fiction), The Traitor's Wife, The Outcasts, and her Edgar Award-nominated crime trilogy. She is a member of the Texas Institute of Letters and teaches writing workshops for aspiring novelists.

• How Kathleen discovered her connection to Martha Carrier

• The research process behind The Heretic's Daughter

• Martha Carrier's story

• Advice for aspiring historical fiction writers

• Balancing historical accuracy with compelling storytelling

Salem Witch Trials, Martha Carrier, Kathleen Kent, The Heretic's Daughter, historical fiction writing, Andover witch trials, Salem history, writing advice, Colonial America

#SalemWitchTrials #HistoricalFiction #WritingPodcast #MarthaCarrier #KathleenKent

Kathleen Kent Website

Purchase the novel: The Heretics Daughter by Kathleen Kent

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The Thing About Salem YouTube

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The Thing About Salem website

More than 150 people were accused of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. Had the Court of Oyer and Terminer tried them all, they may all have been hanged.

They sat chained in dungeons to prevent their specters from roaming. They watched as friends and neighbors were dragged to the gallows. As the body count rose, the terror must have reached unimaginable levels. And yet the accusations kept coming.

How did an entire community participate in its own destruction?

In this essential introduction to The Thing About Salem, hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack explore what made Salem different from every other witch hunt in American history. The mystery isn’t what ailed the afflicted girls. Why were people at the highest levels of society accused right alongside the usual suspects?

This episode reveals the forces that turned Salem Village into America’s deadliest witch hunt: warfare closing in on Massachusetts settlements, economic devastation, the collapse of political and religious certainty, and the kind of existential terror that makes the unthinkable seem reasonable.

**Length:** 15 minutes

## What You’ll Learn

• Why 150+ people faced execution when typical New England witch hunts involved 2 to 3 accusations

• What conditions make rational people accept supernatural explanations for their suffering

• How fear and crisis override legal safeguards and community bonds

• Why focusing on the accusers matters more than diagnosing the afflicted

## Key Stats

• 150+ people accused in Salem

• 30 convictions (vs. 4 in Hartford’s 1662 witch panic)

• Only 1 witch hanged in Massachusetts in the 36 years before Salem

• People at the highest levels of society were named as witches

## Topics Covered

• The terror of Salem’s dungeons and the rising panic

• What made Salem different from other colonial witch hunts

• The perfect storm: war, disease, political collapse, and religious crisis

• Why popular theories like ergotism miss the point

• What Salem reveals about fear, judgment, and human nature

The Thing About Salem on YouTube

The Thing About Witch Hunts Website

Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project

Massachusetts Court of Oyer and Terminer Documents, ⁠The Salem Witch Trials Collection, Peabody Essex Museum

Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

Sign the Petition: MA Witch Hunt Justice Project

Massachusetts Witch-Hunt Justice Project

When a seventh grader reached out with questions for their National History Day documentary, podcast hosts Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack knew they'd been asked something special. The student's thoughtful inquiries became the foundation for this episode of The Thing About Salem.

This wasn't just another school assignment. The questions this student asked revealed a depth of engagement that many adults never reach when studying 1692. They saw past the surface story to the human complexity underneath, the kind of questions that don't have easy answers but force you to truly reckon with what happened in Salem.

We knew immediately these questions needed to be shared. They're the kind that make history stop being about memorizing events and start being about understanding people, choices, and consequences that still echo today.

Sometimes the best teachers are the ones still in school.

Keywords: Salem Witch Trials, National History Day, student history project, Rebecca Nurse, Joseph Hutchinson, Bridget Bishop, family history research, witch trial education, historical questions, Salem descendants, Tituba, Abigail Williams

National History Day Website

Salem Witch Trials Documentary Archive and Transcription Project

Massachusetts Court of Oyer and Terminer Documents, ⁠The Salem Witch Trials Collection, Peabody Essex Museum

Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt

The Thing About Salem Website

⁠The Thing About Salem YouTube

⁠The Thing About Salem Patreon

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts YouTube⁠

⁠The Thing About Witch Hunts Website

Sign the Petition: MA Witch Hunt Justice Project

www.massachusettswitchtrials.org
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