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Reposted by Emerson W. Baker

Fietser @americanfietser.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

A motorist in Amsterdam was pulled over for being a public noise nuisance with his car. Noise measurement tests were done and the car was found to be in violation. The driver had to continue his journey on foot and the car is not allowed on public infrastructure until the exhaust is properly muffled

at5.nl

Automobilist maakt enorme herrie in Nieuw-West en mag niet meer rijden

Auto in beslag genomen op Ookmeerweg Amsterdam-Nieuw-West na geluidsmeting van 90 decibel. Eigenaar mag pas rijden na goedkeuring RDW. Lees het hele verhaal.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

As her biographer Chris Fauske puts it Nancy Sharp "is important not just for her art, but for her contributions to British life and culture in general. It is past time for her story to be told." Definitely worth a follow, and a read when the book comes out.

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Reposted by Emerson W. Baker

Witches of Massachusetts Bay @witchesmassbay.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

March 19: Oxford Handbook of Puritanism. 30 essays on geographies & chronologies, theology & practice, politics, society, culture, & modern representations. #free #online Frank Bremer @annlaurahughes.bsky.social Rachel Adcock & @emersonwbaker.bsky.social congregationallibrary.org/events/oxfor...

March 19, 2026, 1 pm to 2:30 pm
The Oxford Handbook of Puritanism
A virtual talk with Frank Bremer, Ann Hughes, Rachel Adcock, and Emerson Baker

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Today is publication day for Salem's Centuries! It is my department's contribution to the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the English settlement of Naumkeag/Salem. My pieces on the Native dispossession of Naumkeag and the work to confirm the execution site on Gallows Hill are included.

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Reposted by Emerson W. Baker

Witches of Massachusetts Bay @witchesmassbay.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

A couple of weeks ago I was at Salem State Univ. where @emersonwbaker.bsky.social introduced the team behind the Witches of Islandmagee project. They posted original witch trial documents, plus created a graphic novel, a video game, & VR for the 1711 cases. Take a look! w1711.org

w1711.org

Witches of Islandmagee

This site is dedicated to uncovering the importance of the witch trial that took place in 1710–1711 in Islandmagee, Ireland.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

#OTD October 26, 1692 the Massachusetts legislature defeats a bill calling for a fast day and a convocation of minsters to resolve the witchcraft crisis.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 21/10/2025

#OTD October 21, 1687 In a mockery of a fair trial, amid cries of "no taxation without representation," all twelve defendants in the Essex County, Massachusett Tax revolt are found guilty.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 19/10/2025

#OTD October 19, 1692 women in Salem jail tell Increase Mather their witchcraft confessions were false & coerced.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

250 years ago #OTD Oct. 18, 1775, Capt. Henry Mowatt attacked & burned Falmouth (present-day Portland) Maine to the ground. Admiral Graves ordered the attack in response to Patriots seizing British supply ships. It was cited as a grievance against the British Crown in the Declaration of Independence

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

Looking forward to speaking at this symposium on the history and legacies of New England’s once-massive codfish trade with the peoples of the Iberian Peninsula on Saturday Nov. 8 at Salem State University. Free, but registration is required. In person: bit.ly/3L2v6H and online: bit.ly/47gkNIu

“To Drive a Great Trade for Bilbao”
Rediscovering New England’s Iberian Ties, 1640s-c.1830

A Symposium hosted by the
Salem State University History Department
in partnership with the Marblehead Museum

Saturday 8 November 8, 1:30-5:30pm

Petrowski Conference Room, Marsh Hall,
Salem State University, Harrington Campus

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 14/10/2025

Coming this evening at 7pm Eastern Time.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 13/10/2025

#OTD October 13, 1692 Massachusetts passed a law prohibiting the property forfeitures that had occurred in the Salem witch trials.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

I hope everyone is enjoying the long holiday weekend. It is beautiful here in Maine, where the peak fall foliage makes for a rather festive atmosphere.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

#OTD October 11, 1696, Samuel Parris made his last entry in the Salem Village church book. salem.lib.virginia.edu/danvers/Chur...

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

#OTD October 11, 1691, in Salem Village, continuing on the theme of the suffering Jesus, resurrection and ascension into Heaven, Rev. Samuel Parris noted that “Christ ascended with the sound of a trumpet….Christ ascended in triumph.”

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

#OTD October 9, 1692 some Massachusetts ministers read parts of Increase Mather's new Cases of Conscience from their pulpits.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Thrilled to have Salem State University hosting this talk! Particularly looking forward to @drandrewsneddon.bsky.social and his colleagues taking us through a ‘making of’ and curated walkthrough of the cutting-edge PC video game they created as a part of this amazing project.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

#OTD Oct 8 1692 Thomas Brattle writes his letter to "Reverend Sir" severely criticizing the #Salem #witch trials. tinyurl.com/4kwryhkp

tinyurl.com

"Letter of Thomas Brattle, F. R. S., 1692" :: :: University of Virginia Library

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

I'll be giving a rare talk on my book, The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England, Tuesday, Oct. 14, at 7:00 PM (eastern) in New Castle, New Hampshire (the setting of the book). Also available online at: tinyurl.com/mtd7jh3v

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

#OCT October 7, 1691 a new charter was issued for Massachusetts Bay. The charter gave unprecedented privileges for a royal colony, confirmed ownership of Maine, and incorporated Plymouth Colony into an expanded Massachusetts Bay Colony. The new charter would finally arrive in Boston in May 1692.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

#OTD October 6, 1690 adverse weather continued, but Sir William Phips's invasion fleet finally reached Quebec. But they had lost the element of surprise, and Governor Frontenac and his forces held a strong position inside the walls of Quebec.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

#OTD October 6, 1688, Sir William Phips's patron, Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, died in Jamaica, after a serious illness precipitated by over-enthusiastic celebration of the birth of the Prince of Wales. Anonymous portrait of Albemarle courtesy of Trinity College, Cambridge University.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 05/10/2025

#OTD Oct. 4, 1692, Iin Lynn the Wellmans cannot milk their cow who is "taken with such fits." She will return to her gentle nature when Sarah Cole is taken to jail.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

#OTD September 30, 1692 John Cole won't spend the night in his haunted Lynn home. He fears his children are "afflicted with witchcraft."

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

#OTD September 27, 1692 the Ipswich court fines John Shepard £5 for helping his sister-in-law, accused witch Mary Green escape from prison.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 27/09/2025

#OTD September 26, 1692 with Samuel Wardwell executed & his wife in jail, Andover selectmen ask the court what to do with their 4 children.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

#OTD September 25, 1690, in Boston, Publick Occurrences Both Forreign and Domestick, the first newspaper in British North America published its first & last edition as the Massachusetts government immediately shuts it down. It would be 14 years before the next newspaper appeared in the colonies.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

#otd September 22 1692, eight people hang at Proctor's Ledge on Gallows Hill in what will be the last of the Salem witch trial executions. In memory of: Martha Corey Mary Easty Mary Parker Alice Parker Ann Pudeator Wilmot Redd Margaret Scott Samuel Wardwell

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

I will be in a discussion on "Resistance: Stopping Witch Hunts" for the Partnership for Historic Bostons tomorrow, Monday, Sept. 22, at 7pm Eastern time. Sign up here for this free Zoom program: tinyurl.com/4vxwn6ht (photo of the Proctor's Ledge Memorial in Salem).

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

#OTD September 21, 1692, in Salem Dorcas Hoar receives a month's stay of execution for witchcraft "to prepare for death & eternity."

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

#OTD September 20, 1692, Cotton Mather writes to Salem witch trials court clerk Stephen Sewall for transcripts so he can write his account of the witch trials, Wonders of the Invisible World.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

#OTD September 19, 1692, in Salem, Giles Cory is pressed to death. Corey had pled not guilty, but had then refused to answer when asked if he was willing to accept a trial by jury. The court makes an example of him for challenging its authority by trying to press and answer out of him.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

#OTD September 18, 1692, though not convicted of #witchcraft or of any crime, the Salem Church excommunicates Giles Cory. The church will rescind his excommunication in 1712. Who was Giles Corey? See my OUP blog post: tinyurl.com/329pjfak

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

#OTD September 18, 1675 amid King Philip's War, the Bloody Brook ambush in Deerfield, Massachusetts, kills Captain Thomas Lathrop & about sixty others, the "Flower of Essex" on "the saddest day that ever befell New England."

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

Happy Constitution Day to all! I celebrated it by giving a public talk on "How the Salem Witch Trials Shaped the Bill of Rights."

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

#OTD September 17, 1692 the Court of Oyer & Terminer held its last witchcraft trials in Salem & adjourned. With over a hundred people still in jails awaiting trial, the judges must have assumed another session would take place in October, but the Court of Oyer and Terminer would never meet again.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

#OTD September 16, 1692, in Salem prison Giles Cory still remains mute, refusing to say he is willing to"be tried by the country" (that is a trial by jury) for #witchcraft despite urging of friends. This has brought a temporary halt to the proceedings.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 15/09/2025

#OTD September 15, 1692, Stephen Johnson confirmed his pact with Satan, as well as his love for French fashion: "he was to have of the Devil for his Service...a pair of French fall Shoes"

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

#OTD September 14, 1692, grand jury in Connecticut files witchcraft charges against 2 women. The charges were likely influenced by the Salem witch hunt.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

#OTD September 13, 1692 in Salem Samuel Wardwell recants his witchcraft confession for “he should die for it whether he owned it or no.” He will be tried, convicted, sentenced to death and then executed on September 22.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

#OTD September 12, 1692, led by Giles Corey, more than 50 specters of witches allegedly gather in Salem & partake of the devil's sacrament.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

#OTD September 11, 1692, in Salem Village Reverend Samuel Parris preaches on Revelation 17:14 "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them."

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

#OTF September 10, 1692 Ann Pudeator is condemed for witchcraft. She complains the testimony against her is "altogether false & untrue" She notes that notes that one accuser "John Best hath been formerly whipt and likewise is recorded for a Lyar."

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

#OTD September 8, 1692, Deliverance Dane & Mary Osgood confess but say Satan "put a sham on all things" to convince people that Reverend Dane's specter afflicted them, when he was in fact innocent.

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

I'll be discussing "The Other: Understanding Witch Hunts" with Sarah Jack & Josh Hutchinson of End Witch Hunts, tomorrow, Sept. 8, at 7pm, Eastern Time. What made the victims the 'other', how did they become the enemy? Free talk, sponsored by the Partnership for Historic Bostons tinyurl.com/mw6mtjb4

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

A fun 17th century weekend at the Col. Paul Wentworth house!

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Emerson W. Baker @emersonwbaker.bsky.social · 07/09/2025

#OTD September 7, 1692 Major Pike & others sign a petition on behalf of Mary Bradbury as she "hath lived according to the rules of the Gospell."

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