Story & Photos by Marianne Salza
Growing up in New Hampshire, Greg Houle remembered the retold family lore regarding his ancestors’ involvement in the Salem witch trials. Although he has had a life-long passion for history, Houle had dismissed that connection until three years ago, when he had an epiphany while visiting relatives in New England. “I felt that the Salem witch trials were a bunch of fanatical Puritans that were randomly accusing people of witchcraft. It felt like an anomaly – a strange blip in history,” admitted Houle. “I was a little embarrassed by it. I had turned away from it.”
He and his wife decided that traveling to Salem would be an interesting and educational adventure; especially for his then 12-year-old daughter, who had recently read “The Crucible.” Houle’s research in preparation for the trip revealed that he is the seventh great grandson of Thomas Putnam, Junior, who, along with his 12-year-old daughter, Ann, had been two of the most prolific accusers during the 1692 Salem witch trials. “Ann, along with her father, claimed to be afflicted amid dozens of accusations,” reported Houle. “They were the most infamous of the accusers.”
While exploring Salem, Houle wondered what the two were thinking during that turbulent time in the late 17th century when Thomas was encouraging Ann’s claims of being harmed by spirits. “I realized that in their minds, there was a lot going on,” Houle concluded. “I felt compelled to write a story about this, and intertwine first person narratives for both Ann and Thomas, as they are going through this process. What I tried more than anything was to have empathy for the two main characters.”
Houle presented his book, “The Putnams of Salem: A Novel of Power and Betrayal During the Salem Witch Trials,” at the first dinner meeting of the Winthrop Improvement & Historical Association’s (WIHA) 2024-2025 season, on October 1, in the Deane Winthrop House barn. “The Putnams of Salem,” published on September 1st, by Blydyn Square Books, is an historic fiction based on his family’s legacy. Houle delves into the fears and uncertainties during the period in hopes of better understanding what prompted Thomas and Ann’s allegations. “The Puritan religion believed in pre-destination, which meant you were going to heaven or hell, and there was nothing you could do about it,” explained Houle.
“Imagine a 12-year-old girl thinking about that. In ‘The Putnams of Salem’ you see them get further into the situation, and how it can get out of control.” In “The Putnams of Salem,” Houle considers the components leading to the witch trials, which began in January 1692, and lasted a year.
The hysteria started when young girls began experiencing mental fits, accusing certain, outcast women, of practicing witchcraft that caused their afflictions. “I think we have to recognize a lot of them experienced mass hysteria. They had episodes where they felt like what they were experiencing was real,” emphasized Houle. “It’s important to understand the world in which they lived.” Houle illustrates that the crisis was not a series of senseless peculiarities, but multi-faceted events driven by fear, danger, and other forces. Puritanism was fading, and there was trouble with the Massachusetts charter with England. There was tension regarding the economy, which was shifting from an agrarian society, to one more driven by mercantilism.
There were also conflicting relationships with native communities. During this pre-Enlightenment period, anytime someone endured mental trauma, suffered from a seizure, or experienced anything that could not be explained through medical science, it would often be attributed to the work of the devil. Those deemed witches were believed to have sold themselves to the devil in order to acquire powers. A Little Ice Age was also occurring throughout New England at the time. The extreme, cold conditions were not only psychologically challenging, but caused crop failure.
“When you look into transcripts of the trials, and read what people said, they aren’t necessarily just making it up,” Houle realized. “That makes it more interesting to me. The revelation that I had is that it wasn’t so simple. Now I can look at what drove my ancestors.” Over the course of a year, some 200 people were accused of witchcraft, and 20 were executed: 19 were hung, one was tortured to death, and five died in prison while awaiting trial. Houle expanded the concept of his book into the audio series, “The Salem Witch Trials Podcast,” launched exactly one year ago. Audiences can listen to it wherever podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Podbean.
“It was an opportunity for me to explore the different stories and sense of doom that had been existing in an episodic podcast,” explained the California resident. “We’ve done 25 episodes. Each one is short. We often have experts. It’s a way to take bite-sized steps into the complex topic.”