We have all heard the stories of the 1692 Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts. That infamous history has spawned countless books, articles, and movies. Indeed, the city of Salem itself has turned its role in that history into an entire cottage industry of museums, shops, and witchcraft-themed attractions. Tens of thousands of visitors each year make the trip to Salem to participate in the pageantry of the annual Halloween parade, commemorating that history.

But did you know that nearly fifty years before that, America had already experienced a similar lethal occurrence in the neighboring state of Connecticut? Dozens of men and women were accused of the crime of witchcraft and sorcery, of consorting with the Devil and eleven of those victims were put to death for their alleged involvement. Yet little record of those trials remains, save the names of those who perished at the end of a rope.

Draw Down the Moon is their story, a story of how for reasons of religion, for personal gain, and at times often little more than a desire to settle disputes with neighbors for perceived injuries,  led communities to commit murder. We look back upon those times and tell ourselves such things could never happen today, not in our modern age of greater wisdom and understanding of the fallacy of such beliefs. But you would be wrong.

The 2023 Annual Report of the United Nations Human Rights Council suggests that each year, hundreds of thousands of people are harmed in locations such as sub-Saharan Africa, India, and Papua New Guinea because of a persistent belief in witchcraft. A similar UN report in 2020 purports that at least 20,000 “witches” were killed across 60 countries between 2009 and 2019 alone. The actual number is likely much higher as incidents are severely under-reported. And although governments in these countries have begun to address this problem, accusations, imprisonment, and even deaths still occur.