..tonight ABC re-aired the last of the Salem episodes, #208: “Samantha’s Old Salem Trip” which originally aired November 12, 1970.
Durwood and Samantha pop home earlier than expected from Salem when the Witches’ Council orders Samantha not to be seen in public with her husband. Not wanting to concede to their irrational request, and mentioning that he wanted to leave right then, Samantha flew them home sans airplane, irritating Durwood. Having been away from their kids so long they forget their troubles to go upstairs for a joyful reunion but right after Durwood leaves a witch-o-gram arrives via a flaming bolt and Esmeralda reads the message which has come from the Witches’ Council demanding that Samantha return for the rest of the convention in sixty seconds or suffer the consequences. Worried that something bad will happen, Esmeralda casts a spell and up in Tabitha’s room it apparently works as Samantha disappears after putting Adam back in his playpen. Esmeralda is thrilled when she finds that Samantha is gone but Durwood is furious. But things aren’t as good as they appear as Endora pops in wondering where Samantha is. When she asks Esmeralda to repeat the spell they discover that Samantha was sent back to old Salem, 17th century-witch-hanging Salem. Embarrassed at her misfire Esmeralda fades away and Endora tells Durwood that he’ll have to go back to old Salem to get Samantha back as she has lost her memory and powers. Endora would do it but she must get back to the Witches’ Council to smooth their ruffled feathers. She zaps Durwood into 17th century clothing and tells him that he’ll be able to restore Samantha’s memory and powers by giving her a coin from the ancient tomb of Hammurabi that she must place on her forehead and without holding it bow three times to the east while saying “Ahmed Talu Varsi Lupin” which means “Good Luck” in ancient Babylonian. When Durwood questions how he’ll be able to get the coin to stick to her forehead without holding it, Endora tells him he’ll just have to figure it out. And with that Endora casts a spell and in a burst of smoke sends Durwood back.
In Old Salem, Samantha has been taken in by a kindly woman and given a job as a barmaid at Mr. Farley’s bar. The townspeople are suspicious of this new girl who doesn’t know who she is or where she comes from. Soon, Durwood arrives and is disappointed when she doesn’t recognize him. He decides to write her a note asking her to meet him outside but when she sees it she thinks he’s being fresh and writes him back as much using his ballpoint pen. Not wanting to give up he tells her to take the coin and do with it what he asks. Again, she thinks he’s being quite forward and she smacks him causing a scene and it incites the watching suspicious crowd to throw him out of the bar for lewd behavior which lands him in the stocks.
Later on when Samantha goes to fetch a pail of water near the stockade, Durwood asks her if there isn’t any memory of him at all but she doesn’t know him at all and when he asks for some water, she agrees to give him some and dumps her freshly drawn bucket all over his head.
Back in the bar the judge comes in for a pint and when he sees Samantha writing with the ball point pen he questions where she got it from and what it is. She tells him that the stranger gave it her and that she believes it’s called a ‘ballpoint quill’ and it needs no ink. When he tries it out he throws it down aghast at it as he believes it’s the Devil’s quill for being able to write with no ink and he accuses the stranger and Samantha of being witches and demands they be thrown in the jail where they will await trial.
In jail, Durwood finds that they are only given honey and stale bread to eat but it’s no good as the honey only makes the bread sticky. It occurs to him that if he dips the coin in honey it will stick and so he decides to try one more time with Samantha who is in the cell across the way. He tells her that they can get out of jail using the magic coin and she is shocked to learn that he is involved with the Devil and witchcraft. He tries to throw the coin to her but it bounces off the bars to the floor. Soon after, the Judge requests that the prisoners be taken up to the Witch House for their trial and eventual sentencing. Durwood asks to pick up his coin for which the jailers laugh as they say where he’s going there won’t be need of money.
In the Witch House, the town is gathered and bears testimony to the strangeness of Durwood and Samantha and how they seem to be witch sympathizers. Durwood finally declares that he is ready to confess and the Judge and the crowd are pleased until he announces that it isn’t he that is the witch but Samantha and he can prove it with the coin. The Judge commands that the test be done and feeling that there is something harmless about Durwood, Samantha complies. After standing up from her third bow Samantha’s memory is restored and she is overjoyed to see Durwood. She tells the crowd that in fact she is a witch and that all the others accused were not witches and not guilty, that in fact they are the guilty. She also makes mention of the fact that there wouldn’t be a way to capture a witch who is a creature of the wind, who can transform. The Judge is not amused by her statement and says that if she were a witch she would do all those things, but she doesn’t and that’s because she is a cunning witch who wants to trick them. He demands that she be taken back to the jail and when the jailer grasps for her she shocks him. For her next trick, she twitches her shackles off and then twitches Durwood’s shackles off. And just to make sure that they can see that she really is a witch, she zaps a fire in the waste bin and then turns herself into a floating bucket of water and douses the fire. The crowd is shocked and the Judge is flustered and before they know it they witness Durwood and Samantha disappear with a snap of her fingers. The Judge declares that they all go home and reflect upon the illusions they have seen which have been caused by their own witch hysteria and he declares an end to the witchcraft trials.
Back in the 20th century, Durwood wakes up the next day to find that Samantha isn’t there but she soon pops in saying that she had confronted the Witches’ Council and had related to them how their prejudice towards Durwood was just as bigoted as the accusers in the trials and so they reverse their mind about his appearing with her. However, they are home for good.
I LOVE this episode! It's a great way to end the whole trip and it provides a neat look at what would've happened had their really been witches at the Trials. My favorite scene is Samantha proving her powers to the court and I love it when she says, "And, now, for my next trick..." I thought it was cool that she would zap up a fire, seems like something that would've happened in the real trials. And speaking of that, according to Marilynne K. Roach’s book “The Salem Witch Trials” (2002) it was recorded that in June 1688 (which was before the beginning of the Trials) that Mary Glover of Boston was accused of bewitching the Goodwin children and at her trial she admitted to witchcraft and “demonstrated here magical techniques before the court.” I highly recommend that book as it gives a day by day accounting of the Trials and it’s very interesting.
The only dumb part about this episode is the fact that Samantha would never in 29374293423947 years have zapped herself and Durwood home just because he said he wanted to come home right now! That's something Jeannie would've done.
I also liked when Esmeralda was reciting the spell she used. Esmeralda had a look on her face like she was quite pleased with how witty her spell was.
And that was Gerald “Herbie” York smacking Liz's arse! And notice that it was DICK Michaels which was directing this... FRESH!! Which reminds me of another favorite line when Durwood tells Samantha, "Take this coin and do what I tell you."
I also thought it kind of nervy of the Bewitched people to reference the Devil so much in this episode, especially when they had such an uproar already about the show promoting Satanism. I liked it because it seemed like they were sticking their tongue out at all the haters.
And did you notice that when Liz does put the coin on her head when she bows her shackles are gone but when her memory comes back, so do the shackles?! SLOPPY!!!
I recently came across a lithograph from 1892 depicting the Trials and it shows a blonde girl at the stand zapping her shackles off and I can’t help but wonder if the writers had seen this picture and came up with the idea for this episode. I think it’s awesome!