The Olden Time Series, Vol. 5: Some Strange and Curious Punishments Gleanings Chiefly from Old Newspapers of Boston and Salem, Massachusetts

Step into the world of colonial New England, where the clang of the pillory and the crack of the whip were as familiar as town meetings. This collection pulls together vivid newspaper reports from Boston, Salem, and nearby towns, letting listeners hear the same headlines that announced punishments both brutal and bizarre. Brief, lively commentary weaves the facts together, giving a sense of how law, custom, and spectacle intersected in the streets of the 1700s.

The book catalogues a startling range of penalties—public whippings, branding with hot irons, ear‑cropping, being tied to trees or carts, and even the odd sentence of “eating one’s own words.” Each entry reads like a snapshot of a community’s attempt to deter crime while entertaining onlookers, revealing attitudes toward theft, forgery, and disease that feel surprisingly modern in their logic. Listeners will come away with a clearer picture of how early American justice was administered, and why those old punishments still capture the imagination today.