Take This Class! Spies, Assassins, Martyrs and Witches

A single candle flickers in the dim room, wind howling in the background, as a man solemnly recounts gruesome teeth marks that appeared on a girl’s wrist.

This could be the start of the Salem witch trials—or a University of Maryland lecture on this sordid period in colonial American history.

“I want you to imagine this moment in 1692,” said history Professor Michael Ross over the flame. “You’re a Puritan living in Salem, Massachusetts. The woods are filled with creatures—a land where the devil rules when you cross the fence line out of town. On the frontier, the Native Americans, who you think are agents of the devil, are killing Puritans on the settlements. It’s the back end of a ‘little ice age’ winter where many people have died.”

Young girls start foaming at the mouth, contorting their bodies, screaming that they’re being tormented. It all leads to one thing: hundreds of accusations of witchcraft and the death of dozens of innocents.

It’s easy to forget that sobering past amid the pointy hats, jack-o-lanterns and inflatable skeleton unicorns adorning yards and Target aisles this Halloween. Ross’ popular class, “Spies, Assassins, Martyrs, and Witches: Famous Trials in American History,” gives students new insight—and takes them through a whirlwind of other famous cases.

“None of these are precedent-setting cases. None of them are cited by lawyers in court. But somehow we all know them. Why is that?” said Ross, an expert in constitutional law. “They often reflected moments of great change, of flashpoints in society, so that the trial becomes a window to a historical moment.”

Offered each fall, HIST134 often covers the 1865 military trial of the Lincoln assassination conspirators; the 1925 Scopes trial about teaching evolution in schools; the 1948 Algier Hiss espionage trial, accusing him of being a Soviet spy; and the 1969 case of the Chicago Seven protesting at the Democratic National Convention. Ross pans out from the courthouse, giving students context about the Roaring Twenties and the impending Wall Street crash that surround the Scopes case, or the Vietnam War and counterculture that fed into the Chicago Seven.

“My favorite part is hearing from students who didn’t think they liked history,” said Ross, whose class is usually majority STEM majors. “It’s fun to show them that it can be fun, interesting, thought-provoking.”

For public policy major Emily DeVore ’24, who took the class her first semester freshman year, Ross was such a “captivating speaker and fabulous storyteller” that she ended up declaring a history minor and taking three more of his classes—and even convinced her roommate to take the class as an elective this fall.

“When you’re getting so many of these intricate details, it’s hard not to empathize with these people,” she said. As an aspiring lawyer, she was appalled to learn about the hanging (and in one case pressing) of the accused. “How was that all legally OK? ‘Trial by ordeal’ sounds so crazy and barbaric, but these were real events.”

Ross urges students not to view the trials with judgment, but with “historical empathy,” he said, understanding that the past is different, like a foreign country.

Nicolas Blom ’27, who revealed in class that he was descended from the brother of Samuel Parris, a minister whose daughter and niece were the first two girls to have “fits,” said he gained a lot from reading primary documents.

“I’ve always heard bits and pieces of what happened but never got a full picture of it,” he said. “The Christian theology side is very interesting.”

To encourage students to delve more deeply in to the letters and accounts from the time, Ross sometimes assigns a little extra credit, asking the students to read one aloud by candlelight and send a video to their teaching assistant. (A cheeky student asked: “How many points do we get if we do it chanting in a circle?”)

As a Halloween buff who enjoys all the spooky decorations and costumes, Ross doesn’t want to be a “killjoy,” but instead to encourage students to enjoy all the holiday fun—just with a little more understanding.

“If you have a knowledge of history and where you fit in the American story, you think about the world in a much richer and thoughtful way,” he said.

Take This Class! Is an occasional series that profiles unique and engaging courses available to any undergraduate student at the University of Maryland. Got a class you’d recommend? Email today@umd.edu.