New Jersey channel witch trials program

[loopy]

I just checked TVGuide, and right now the NJN channel is in the middle of a Salem Witch Trials program as part of their "Secrets of the Dead" series. Here's the summary:

Secrets of the Dead
Witches' Curse
60 min.
Science probes past mysteries in this intriguing (if overheated) series, which begins its second season with a new look at the notorious Salem witch hunts of 1692.
The “witches” (19 of whom were hanged) were accused of causing hallucinations and convulsions in eight Salem girls, who testified against them. In later years, it was assumed the witnesses were lying. But Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute behaviorist Linnda Caporael suggests here that they were “tripping” on the bread they must have eaten. It was, according to her research, contaminated by ergot---the fungus from which LSD was derived some 250 years later. Liev Schreiber narrates.

It repeats: Sunday, 15 10:00 PM 23 NJN
Monday, 16 1:00 AM 23 NJN

[Artemis84]

I heard something similar to that in a book I read for a report on the SWT. It said that cases of hysteria were very common then. Hmmm....

[loopy]

It was a pretty interesting program. I' heard something about it beforehand as well, but it was still informative. They mentioned the animals having the same symptoms as the "cursed" girls from the poisoning in the wheat, and a case in France where they fed a dog a piece of bread soaked in the urine of one of the girls to see if the dog would start displaying signs of bewitchment too. Sure enough, the dog went into a fit, and the docs decided witchcraft had struck.

[Lucidia]

i saw it too... it was.. interesting... but most of those people didn't seem to know what they were talking about...