Volunteer-Led, Descendant-Driven Nonprofit Reaches 200 Episodes, a One-Year Anniversary This May, a New Daily Feed, and 1,000 YouTube Subscribers
End Witch Hunts is a Colorado-based, volunteer-led, community-driven social justice nonprofit. Through projects including posthumous exoneration, memorialization, podcasts, and public education events, the organization advances awareness of witch trial history and modern witchcraft accusations worldwide. Today the organization is celebrating three landmark moments across its history-centric podcast network: the 200th episode of The Thing About Witch Hunts on June 24th, the one-year anniversary of The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials on May 31st, the debut of Salem Witch Trials Dailyas a standalone daily podcast this March, and crossing 1,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Together, the three shows form the most comprehensive independent podcast network devoted to the history, human cost, and cultural legacy of witchcraft accusations.
Hosted by Salem Witch Trials descendants Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack, The Thing About Witch Hunts has spent nearly four years building a remarkable archive of expert interviews, original research presentations, and co-host storytelling that spans centuries of persecution and connects historical witch trials, the demonologies and religious frameworks that made accusations possible, and popular belief across centuries, to modern-day accusations still devastating communities across the globe. With more than 160 guests since 2022, the show has drawn historians, human rights advocates, descendants, survivors, authors, artists, educators, activists, and more into conversation about why the same narratives of fear, accusation, scapegoating, and violence recur across radically different times and cultures. Across every episode the show confronts the stigma that has always made witchcraft accusations so devastatingly effective.
The Thing About the Salem Witch Trials zooms in on the most recognized witch trial in American history, the 1692 and 1693 Salem proceedings, examining them not as a moment of mass panic, but as deliberate legal machinery that destroyed real lives, drawing directly on the historic record to ground every episode in what the documents actually say. The show’s one-year anniversary this May marks a growing catalog of episodes that range from primary source deep dives to frank conversations about Salem’s ongoing fascination in film, fiction, and culture.
Salem Witch Trials Daily launches as a structured chronological course through the full Salem crisis of 1692 and 1693, offering listeners a day-by-day window into one of American history’s most documented tragedies, anchored in primary sources and the historic record of 1692 and 1693. The feed accompanies a free online course at aboutsalem.com, with a weekly blog and printable worksheets designed for both adult learners and young students.
What makes this network singular is not only its scope, but its origin. End Witch Hunts is entirely volunteer-led. Its co-founders are documented descendants of Salem witch trial victims, including Rebecca Nurse and Mary Easty, who were condemned and executed in 1692. Advocacy for these women is not abstract. It is personal, genealogical, and generational. Co-host Josh Hutchinson brings his own ancestral reckoning to the work — his ancestor signed the first arrest warrant of 1692, the document that initiated charges against Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. That shared lineage has become a gathering point, drawing descendant communities, researchers, and advocates from across the world into a collective effort to remember, exonerate, and protect.
That advocacy has already produced concrete results. End Witch Hunts founders lauded the Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project, which secured the 2023 passage of Connecticut House Joint Resolution 34, absolving 34 colonial witch trial victims. The organization continues to pursue posthumous exonerations, push for memorialization, and testify before state legislatures, including testimony before the Massachusetts General Court in 2025 in support of legislation to exonerate eight additional Boston witch trial victims.
But the work is not only solemn. Witchcraft, magic, Halloween, and horror are woven into the programming with full sincerity, because the love of the witch in imagination and art is inseparable from the fear of the witch in law and history. The podcasts make space for both. Listeners encounter the Salem trials alongside discussions of witches on stage and screen from The Crucible to Wicked, witchcraft in contemporary film, the aesthetics of the Halloween witch, and the explosion of witch-centered storytelling across books, games, and social media. Witchcraft and magic are perennial forces in entertainment and popular conversation. End Witch Hunts positions that cultural appetite as a doorway, not a distraction.
The shows reach listeners in more than 100 countries, ranked in the top 15% of video podcasts on Spotify in 2025, and crossed 1,000 subscribers on YouTube this year.
“We are making space for the world to learn, discover, and talk about witch trial history, and about what it means that these accusations never stopped,” said Sarah Jack, Executive Director of End Witch Hunts. “The witch is everywhere in our imagination. The witch hunt never left the real world. Both of those things matter, and both belong in the same conversation.”
“Descendants of the accused found each other through this work. That keeps happening, across countries and continents. We are proof that these histories still belong to living people and that these experiences still belong to the living.”
Many distinct teaching moments spanning continents, generations, and contexts capture what 2025 has been about for End Witch Hunts.
This year, the public reached out to us for more information and educational support. A middle schooler discovered us through our The Thing About Witch Hunts podcast episode “Salem Aftermath” with screenwriter Tom Phillip and reached out for help with a National History Day project on the Salem witch trials. We interviewed for their project documentary and the questions we were asked about how the Salem witch trials became so devastating were so valuable we featured the same questions for an episode on The Thing About Salem podcast.
Another key inquiry came from a police director in a country where we collaborate with grassroots advocates. He reached out and requested a training seminar for dozens of area police directors on witchcraft accusation intervention and survivor support for their local communities. This year, we also engaged with high school and college students and faculty. Executive Director Sarah Jack connected with a high school English language class in Finland through DKG International for a virtual classroom visit about witch hunting, and End Witch Hunts consulted with a community college librarian who developed a Salem Witch Trials history exhibit for their fall programming.
These connections across continents, generations, and contexts are the heart of our work. We’re connecting past and present witchcraft accusation stories, bridging communities across oceans, and piercing the complexity of witch hunting to make the subject accessible to anyone who wants to understand it.
As a volunteer-driven Colorado nonprofit organization, everything we accomplish depends on the dedication of people who believe this work matters. Our board members, contributors, and partners donate their money, time, and expertise to ensure witch trial victims are remembered and modern advocacy efforts are growing.
End Witch Hunts board member Josh Hutchinson (left) sitting with director Darah Jack (right) and volunteer Tony Griego (middle) on February 1, 2025
Reaching New Audiences Through Video Podcasts
Our one-of-a-kind video podcasts hit more milestones again this year. To date, we have reached over 100 countries with over 270 episodes featuring more than 150 specialized experts from around the world. This year, we launched a second weekly video podcast, The Thing About Salem, on which we dig deep into the infamous and misunderstood 1692-1693 witchcraft trials with focused storytelling and expert insights. These volunteer-led educational podcasts have become the trusted media resource for students, researchers, and everyone learning about or researching witch trial history and alleged witch persecution.
This October and November brought our best statistics in three years of podcasting, and our YouTube channel crossed 900 subscribers. The Thing About Witch Hunts was recognized as a top 15 percent video podcast on Spotify and The Thing About Salem podcast was named a “2025 Instant Hit Show,” more popular than 71 percent of other new shows. We produce the only weekly video podcasts exclusively covering witch hunting and provide an essential global platform for global representation and expert discussion. Every episode represents hours of volunteer research, interviewing, editing, and production work dedicated to education. With over 270 episodes published, we have surpassed the 200-episode threshold that fewer than 3% of podcasts achieve. Our consistency in delivering new episodes weekly reflects our unwavering commitment to advocacy against witch hunting.
Partnerships and Community Connections for The Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project
2025 brought the Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project into conversation with a larger community. On The Thing About Witch Hunts, we explored the Springfield Museums’ exhibit on convicted witch Hugh Parsons, whose story connects to Alice Young’s daughter, Alice Young Beamon, we examined Connecticut’s witch trial history and The Witch of Blackbird Pond with the Wethersfield Historical Society, and we discussed the Glebe House Museum’s community production Ground Zero: Witchcraft in Connecticut, which tells the stories of accused witches Moll Cramer, Katherine Harrison, and Rebecca Greensmith. These collaborations helped us reach people who might never have sought out a podcast or known about Connecticut’s witchcraft accusations. In total, we added five Connecticut humanities-themed podcast episodes this year, including a new author talk with End Witch Hunts executive board member Beth Caruso.
Our Community Day of Remembrance for Connecticut witch trial victims brought together dozens of local and national volunteers in partnership with Hartford’s Old State House, Hartford’s Ancient Burying Ground, and Windsor’s community television network, WIN-TV. The event honored all those accused of witchcraft in colonial Connecticut and celebrated the passage of state legislation championed by House Representative Jane Garibay and Senator Saud Anwar acknowledging this historic injustice. The program included a history presentation by student William Schloat, a performance of The Hanging of Rebecca Greensmith: A Symphony in Spoken Word by Debra Walsh and Virginia Wolf, and an expert panel featuring author Beth Caruso, advocates Tony Griego and Mary Bingham, author Richard Ross III, Representative Garibay, and Senator Anwar. Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack moderated, and Dr. Kathy Hermes provided a recorded introduction about drafting a purposeful witchcraft accusation resolution. A flower remembrance ceremony was led by Alice Young descendants. You can watch the event on WIN-TV’s YouTube channel and hear our reflections on its success on The Thing About Witch Hunts podcast.
Guests gathered for Remembering the Innocent Victims of the Connecticut Witch Trials on February 1, 2025
Building Bridges Across the Globe
World Day Against Witch Hunts, established by Missio (the Catholic mission organization) in 2020, is observed every August 10th to draw attention to the global crisis of Harmful Practices Related to Accusations of Witchcraft and Ritual Attacks. We commemorated the day with a live event and podcast featuring Amnesty International Ghana and the Coalitions Against Witchcraft Accusations (CAWA), bringing global attention to ongoing witchcraft accusations and violence in Northern Ghana and around the world. This marked the first public collaborative conversation between these organizations dedicated to witch hunting advocacy.
Promotional graphic for a panel featuring Amnesty International Ghana and the Coalition Against Witchcraft Accusations held on World Day Against Witch Hunts, August 10, 2025
Honoring the Victims: Research and Remembrance
Board member and witch trial descendant Mary Bingham continues her meticulous volunteer research into the lives of accused witches, and she’s created a comprehensive youtube playlist of Spiritual and Ritual Abuse in the United States with victim stories. All of this content is freely available on the youtube channel SarahWildes1692, reflecting our commitment to accessible education. On SarahWildes1692, you can also view the Tituba memorial brick, which was recently installed on behalf of our organization at the House of The Seven Gables.
Board member and author Beth Caruso expanded her presentations across New England and added extra fall witch walks to her programming in Windsor, Connecticut to accommodate demand and interest. Her podcast episode about Alice Young became one of our highest-performing episodes.
End Witch Hunts board members visit the Alice Young and Lydia Gilbert memorial bricks in Windsor, CT Pictured (from left to right): Mary Louise-Bingham, Beth Caruso, and Josh Hutchinson
Behind the Scenes: Technical Expertise and Innovation
Board member, treasurer, and witch trial descendant Josh Hutchinson’s volunteer work as podcast producer has been essential to our educational mission. He leads every aspect of production for both The Thing About Witch Hunts and The Thing About Salem, from researching guests to final editing. Josh also maintains and updates our websites, ensuring our resources remain accessible and user-friendly. This year, he continued to develop the Connecticut Witch Trial Trail, available at connecticutwitchtrials.org, offering an interactive way to explore Connecticut’s witch trial sites and stories.
Poster for the Building a Global Response to Witch Hunts, which featured the International Network Against Witchcraft Accusations and Ritual Attacks (INAWARA)
Executive Director Sarah Jack: Leading Through Connection
Witch trial descendant Sarah Jack spent 2025 pursuing new connections and collaborations wherever doors opened. From virtual classroom visits with Finnish students through DKG International to consulting with a community college library developing a Salem Witch Trials history exhibit, she continued to serve as a spokeswoman, building global amplification of advocacy, whether speaking to individual students, community groups, or international organizations. She co-hosts both The Thing About Witch Hunts and The Thing About Salem podcasts and will speak as part of the International Network Against Witchcraft Accusations and Ritual Attacks speaker series in January 2026. Her work exemplifies End Witch Hunts’ commitment to connecting with any individual or group ready to engage with this mission.
Growing Our Content and Community
Thank you for sharing our blogs with your community! Our social platforms and email newsletter subscribers have grown. We’ve expanded our End Witch Hunts Bookshop selections, making it easier for supporters to shop quality books on witch trials and related topics. When you purchase through our affiliate link, www.bookshop.org/shop/endwitchhunts you support our nonprofit work, even if you’re buying books not in our collection. Your generous support helps us continue our volunteer-driven projects.
We’re passionate about closely reading books that are grounded in solid research and primary sources and actually show the evidence. For the podcasts, we’re constantly reading across different fields and disciplines, always looking for authors who’ve done the hard work of going back to original documents, conducting rigorous studies, or presenting firsthand accounts with art and creativity. There’s something invaluable about engaging with material that doesn’t just tell you what to think but shows you how we know what we know. We’d encourage you to seek out these kinds of books, too.
Looking Ahead in Massachusetts
Massachusetts legislation that would extend exoneration to witch trial victims beyond Salem is currently being reviewed by the General Court’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary. This bill will clear the eight innocent people who were convicted of witchcraft in Boston. A committee hearing was held in November, and we’re awaiting a decision on whether the bill will be sent on to the House for a vote. The Massachusetts Witch Hunt Justice Project has benefited from impressive community mobilization around this effort, with testimony in support of bill H1927 coming from historians, genealogists, descendants, and international advocates.
In other news from the commonwealth, Salem will celebrate its 400th anniversary in 2026, honoring its history as Massachusetts Bay Colony’s first town and the journey from thriving port city to tourist destination. We’re exploring ways to participate in the heritage events, bringing attention to the witch trial victims and their stories during this milestone year.
A photo opportunity following the November 25, 2025 hearing in the Joint Committee on the Judiciary. Pictured, from left to right: David Allen Lambert, Sarah Jack, Rep. Steven Owens, Marilynne Roach, Dan Gagnon, and Antonio Infante
Gratitude and Philanthropic Support
None of this would be possible without our dedicated volunteer board members, our podcast guests who generously share their expertise, the museums and organizations that partner with us, and our growing community of listeners, readers, and supporters. Every donation, every shared post, every hour volunteered amplifies the voices of the innocent.
One podcast listener recently described our work as covering “witch trials from past to present with depth and breadth in a remarkably short timeframe.” That’s exactly what we’re trying to do. Not just tell stories, but actively build connections, honor victims, and work toward a world where accusations of witchcraft no longer destroy lives.
Our education and advocacy are growing because people like you support us through donations, volunteer time, content sharing, or simply listening and learning. Thank you for making 2025 possible. We’re entering 2026 ready to pursue every new connection and collaboration that comes our way.
To learn more about our work, listen to our podcasts, support our nonprofit mission, or volunteer your expertise, visit our website, endwitchhunts.org, and follow us on social media.
The international community, including the United Nations and the African Union, have recognized the global crisis of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks (that’s a fancy way of saying witch hunts and related attacks). In the past several decades, tens of thousands of individuals have been accused of witchcraft across dozens of nations. These accusations involve charges of using harmful witchcraft (maleficium) to hurt, kill, or damage. In retaliation for this alleged maleficium, accusers abuse and sometimes kill those they have accused of witchcraft. Abuse can be physical, including torture, sexual, including rape, or psychological, including inflicting trauma. In some cases, victims are publicly humiliated by being paraded naked or are forced to consume urine and human feces. Following many attacks, victims are forcefully banished from their towns or else led to move away out of fear of subsequent attacks. People today are dying from witchcraft accusation-related violence at a greater rate than what was seen in the European and American witch trials.
Identification of witchcraft suspects by traditional healers, religious leaders, and others
In many cases around the world, witchcraft has been alleged by religious leaders, healers, diviners, and spiritual entrepreneurs. Often, a person who has experienced loss or misfortune pays for the cause of their misfortune to be identified. In other situations, religious or spiritual leaders publicly denounce people as witches in order to draw crowds to their congregations.
Believing in evil witchcraft is not abnormal. In fact, across the world, 40% of people believe in witchcraft, as defined as belief “in the evil eye, or that certain people can cast curses or spells that cause bad things to happen to someone.” This is the malefic form of witchcraft which was targeted by the witch trials and continues to be targeted in witch hunts and, in some nations, trials, today. In some nations, 90% of people report holding this belief that they can be harmed by curses, spells, or the evil eye. Sweden has the lowest rate of belief, at 8.86%, and the rate is 16.47% in the United States. Witchcraft is a majority belief in 35 of the 95 countries included in the survey by Boris Gershman which established the 40% figure mentioned before. Belief levels this high are present in nations in Europe, the Americas, Asia, and Africa. And in 75 of the 95 surveyed nations, at least one quarter of the population believes in this form of witchcraft.
Work is being done to end the crisis of witchcraft accusations
In 2017, the first conference on witchcraft and human rights was held at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Since then, many significant steps have been taken in the effort to end witch hunts.
In 2021, the UN Human Rights Council passed Resolution 47/8: Elimination of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks.
UN Human Rights Council Resolution 47/8 Elimination of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks
UN Human Rights Council Resolution 47/8 (HRC 47/8) contains a set of guidelines for member states to follow in order to eliminate harmful practices within their borders and internationally. This is a global crisis that will require work by many member states to resolve.
Pan-African Parliament Guidelines on the elimination of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks
Following the adoption of HRC 47/8, the Pan-African Parliament, the African Union’s legislature, approved a set of guidelines for member states to take towards eliminating harmful practices and other human rights violations. These guidelines promote a holistic approach to combatting harmful practices. Topics include allocating funding and staff to ending these practices, establishing oversight, collaborating, and collecting data. The holistic approach also involves creating an enabling legal environment to combat harmful practices, as well as using non-legal and community-based interventions.
Papua New Guinea Sorcery Accusation-Related Violence National Action Plan
In Papua New Guinea, sorcery accusation-related violence has long occurred at crisis levels. Aiming to eliminate this practice, the government adopted a Sorcery accusation-related violence National Action Plan (SNAP). Like the Pan-African Parliament Guidelines, the PNG SNAP calls for a holistic approach to solving the problem. Legal action alone will not stop witch hunts. All of government and society need to be involved in creating and implementing solutions.
End Witch Hunts calls upon everyone to act to eliminate harmful practices
End Witch Hunts condemns witch hunting in all its forms, including literal accusations of witchcraft, which often are accompanied by violence and other forms of abuse. We call upon people everywhere to demand that their governments take all necessary steps to eliminate harmful practices. The effort will take all of us. And find out if there is an organization near you that you can work with to take action.
Stop attacking innocent people based on witchcraft accusations
Instead of violence, use reason to determine the true cause of the harm. When misfortune or disaster strikes, don’t rush to blame your mother, grandmother, child, other relative, neighbor, or anyone else. Think critically about events and what natural processes cause them.
We are Sarah Jack and Josh Hutchinson, officers of End Witch Hunts, a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness of modern witchcraft accusation-related violence and advocating for solutions.
Literal witch hunts still occur throughout the world today, and the International Conference on Witchcraft and Human Rights (September 19 and 20) is bringing together global leaders, academic experts, and grassroots advocates from around the world. This event is critical to moving forward in addressing this ongoing global crisis of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks.
We will also have the opportunity to speak on ending witch hunts at the Magic and Witchcraft Conference in York on September 12.
A Global Crisis
Witchcraft accusations are leveled against innocent people on a daily basis, often accompanied by violence. Historian Wolfgang Behringer says that there are more people dying in witch hunts today than ever before in history and points to the fact that more than 30,000 people have died in witch-hunts in Tanzania alone since 1961. Between 2009 and 2019, 20,000 incidents of witchcraft accusation-related violence were reported in more than 60 nations worldwide. Advocates fear that many, if not most, cases are not reported. And advocates also fear the rate of these events has increased and will continue to rise, given the number of crises unfolding around the world and the association between crisis and witchcraft accusation.
The conferences
Attending the International Conference on Witchcraft and Human Rights: Past, Present, and Future at Lancaster University and the Magic and Witchcraft Conference 2024 at the University of York not only presents End Witch Hunts with opportunities to speak on harmful practices occurring in the United States and elsewhere, but it also presents an opportunity for End Witch Hunts to learn what is being done to address this crisis around the world.
The theme of the International Conference on Witchcraft and Human Rights is Implementing UN Resolution 47/8, which is a resolution on the elimination of harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks. This landmark resolution paved the way forward, but advocates must follow the right path to solutions. Talks will focus on “how states, organizations, communities, and individuals can find ways to respond to Resolution 47/8 in impactful ways.” We need your help to get to this conference. Please consider making a donation to our nonprofit, End Witch Hunts, so that we can speak on what actions End Witch Hunts has taken to raise awareness of modern witch hunts. We will speak about the Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project, the Massachusetts Witch Hunt Justice Project , and the End Spiritual and Ritual Abuse Project.
In addition to speaking, we will learn more about the ways in which advocates are striving to end harmful practices, which result in torture, ostracism, psychological trauma, and even death. At this conference, we will learn from advocates in the field the world over, and we will forge relationships with individuals and organizations instrumental in this effort. The knowledge and relationships we gain will aid us in our mission to raise awareness of the crisis and potential solutions and will lead to additional content for our official podcast, Witch Hunt.
Magic and Witchcraft 2024 focuses on healing magic, and our talk will focus on healing the world through action against witch hunts.
About Us
End Witch Hunts is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization dedicated to confronting the crisis of witchcraft accusations by raising awareness of this critical issue. Our organization does this through a podcast, a newsletter, and organized campaigns to obtain recognition and justice to victims of witch trials and witch hunts. End Witch Hunts was originally formed by members of the Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project, which got justice for the victims of Connecticut’s colonial witch trials. We are now working on a state memorial to the victims and have created a statewide trial to link relevant locations. In addition, our Massachusetts Witch-Hunt Justice Project is seeking justice for that state’s witch trial victims.
Our official podcast, Witch Hunt, is hosted by Josh Hutchinson and Sarah Jack and features a recurring segment by Mary Bingham and contributions by Antonio Stuckey. Topics include witch trials, modern witch hunts (harmful practices related to accusations of witchcraft and ritual attacks), sorcery accusation-related violence, and other harmful practices.
Sarah Jack is co-founder and president of End Witch Hunts and co-host of Witch Hunt.
Josh Hutchinson is co-founder and treasurer of End Witch Hunts and the creator and co-host of Witch Hunt.
