History Series / Salem

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Most of the main cast. Cotton Mather, a very influential Puritan minister who really was involved with the witch trials is shown taking a far more direct role in the show, and Tituba, a slave woman who was among those accused of witchcraft, gets portrayed as a [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade ''real'' witch]]. In reality there's speculation that she may have inadvertently helped instigate the affair by dabbling in occult rituals at the insistence of her master's daughter, who panicked along with her friends when they were caught, accusing people left and right. John Alden and Giles Corey were also real people that have been fictionalized in the show (Alden had in fact died by the time of the witch hunt, and he was ''much'' older, dying in 1687 at the age of ''87 or 88'').

* AgeLift: Massively done with John Alden. The real man was on the Mayflower in 1620, was born in 1599, and ''died'' in 1687-[[ArtisticLicenseHistory five years before the events of the series]], where he's played by Shane West, a man in his 30s.

After seven years at war fighting the French and their Native allies, John Alden returns to Massachusetts in 1692, where he finds his home town of Salem gripped by a witch panic led by his childhood rival, the fanatically devout preacher Cotton Mather. John attempts to rekindle a relationship with his pre-war lover Mary, only to discover that she has married the leader of the town, George Sibley. Unbeknownst to Alden, Mary has exerted a dark hold over her husband, and her control over the Puritans of Salem is growing ever stronger as she delves ever deeper into the forbidden arts of witchcraft.

After seven years at war fighting the French and their Native allies, John Alden returns to Massachusetts in 1692, only to find his home town of Salem gripped by a witch panic led by his childhood rival, the fanatically devout preacher Cotton Mather. John attempts to rekindle a relationship with his pre-war lover Mary, but Mary has changed quite a lot since he last saw her, and seems to be going down a very dark path...

* BodyHorror: Mary has an extra nipple on her leg, which she uses to feed her familiar (this was based on [[TruthInTelevision real beliefs]] that witches did this).
** Also, the fact that she keeps the familiar down her [[{{Squick}} husband's throat]]...

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Cotton Mather, arguably. He's brutal and overzealous toward hunting witches. They do exist though, and everything he says about them appears to be true. However, he's also being tricked by them into condemning innocents.

* BodyHorror: Mary has an extra nipple on her leg, which she uses to feed her familiar (this was based on [[TruthInTelevisions real beliefs]] that witches did this).

* BodyHorror: Mary has an extra nipple on her leg, which she uses to feed her familiar (based on [[TruthInTelevision real beliefs]] that witches did this).
** For that matter, the fact that she keeps the familiar down her husband's throat.
* BurnTheWitch: {{Averted}}, as in the actual witch trials, convicted witches are sentenced to hang, never to burn. Giles Corey is pressed to death (to coerce him into entering a plea), as he was in real life.

* BodyHorror: Mary has an extra nipple on her leg, which she uses to feed her familiar.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Most of the main cast. Cotton Mather, a very influential Puritan minister who really was involved with the witch trials is shown taking a far more direct role in the show, and Tituba, a slave woman who was among those accused of witchcraft, gets portrayed as a [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade ''real'' witch]]. In reality there's speculation that she may have inadvertently helped instigate the affair by dabbling in occult rituals at the insistence of her master's daughter, who panicked along with her friends when they were caught, accusing people left and right. John Alden and Giles Corey were also real people that have been fictionalized in the show.

* BurnTheWitch: {{Averted}}, as in the actual witch trials, convicted witches are mostly sentenced to hang, never to burn. Giles Corey is pressed to death, as he was in real life.

* DealWithTheDevil: This is the source of the witches' powers, in line with the traditional view of things.

''Salem'' is the first original series to be produced by the Chicago-based channel WGN America. It premiered on April 20th, 2014.

* BurnTheWitch: {{Averted}}, as in the actual witch trials-convicted witches are sentenced to hang, not burn.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Cotton Mather, a very influential Puritan minister who really was involved with the witch trials is shown taking a far more direct role in the show, and Tituba, a slave woman who was among those accused of witchcraft, gets portrayed as a [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade ''real'' witch]]. In reality there's speculation that she may have inadvertently helped instigate the affair by dabbling in occult rituals at the insistence of her master's daughter, who panicked along with her friends when they were caught, accusing people left and right.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Cotton Mather, a very influential Puritan minister who really was involved with the witch trials is shown taking a far more direct role in the show, and Tituba, a slave woman who was among those accused of witchcraft, gets portrayed as a [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade ''real'' witch]]. In reality there's speculation that she may have inadvertently helped instigate the affair by dabbling in occult rituals at the insistence of her master's daughter, who panicked along with her friends when they were caught, accusing people left and right.
* SkepticismFailure: John scoffs at the idea of witches, but they turn out to be ''very'' real.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Cotton Mather, a very influential Puritan minister who really was involved with the witch trials (though far less directly than shown here) and Tituba, a slave woman who was among the accused witches (while she's a ''real'' witch in the show). In reality there's speculation that she may have inadvertently helped instigate the affair by dabbling in occult rituals at the insistence of her master's daughter, who panicked along with her friends when they were caught, accusing people left and right.

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Cotton Mather, a Puritan minister who really was involved with the witch trials (though far less directly than shown here) and Tituba, a slave woman who was among the accused witches (while she's a ''real'' witch in the show).

* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Cotton Mather.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Nastily {{averted}} by Mary. Tituba not only uses magic to abort her pregnancy, but apparently it's sacrificed to the Devil as the beginning of Mary's [[StartOfDarkness slide into evil]].

* DealWithTheDevil: Apparently the source of the witches' powers, in line with the traditional view of things.

* DealWithTheDevil: Apparently the source of the witches' powers.