Newspaper syndication spread a term paper's ergot theory of Salem across the US and Canada in weeks
Historian Margo Burns says newspaper syndication carried Linnda Caporael's 1976 ergot paper across the US and Canada within weeks. Joe Rogan discussed the theory enthusiastically on his show as recently as 2023, though it was debunked within a year.
The Scientist · Science desk
Caporael called her findings suggestive, not conclusive. Spanos and Gottlieb rebutted it in Science the same year. Rogan's 2023 discussion came 47 years after the April 1976 paper. Burns rarely gets through a talk without someone raising moldy bread.
- What it limits constraint Linnda Caporael Called her own findings "suggestive," not conclusive, claim 12
- What doesn't add up contradiction Spanos and Gottlieb Published a rebuttal in Science within the same year, finding the girls' symptoms did not add up, claim 13
- Who's exposed exposure Joe Rogan His 2023 discussion came 47 years after the April 1976 Science publication, claim 17
- Who's exposed exposure Margo Burns, Salem scholar Rarely gets through a talk on the trials without someone bringing up moldy bread, claim 7
| Who | How | Kind | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linnda Caporael | Called her own findings "suggestive," not conclusive | constraint | 12 |
| Spanos and Gottlieb | Published a rebuttal in Science within the same year, finding the girls' symptoms did not add up | contradiction | 13 |
| Joe Rogan | His 2023 discussion came 47 years after the April 1976 Science publication | exposure | 17 |
| Margo Burns, Salem scholar | Rarely gets through a talk on the trials without someone bringing up moldy bread | exposure | 7 |
What happened
- Linnda Caporael, then a UC Santa Barbara science major who needed a humanities credit, took Ann Putnam, one of the 1692 accusers, as her term-paper subject after her first choice was taken.
- Her paper proposed that the visions, convulsions and distress of the afflicted girls could be explained by ergot, a rye fungus that produces a hallucinogenic toxin.
- Once in graduate school, Caporael sent the paper to Science. The journal published it in April 1976, to her surprise.
- Researcher Nicholas Spanos and graduate student Jack Gottlieb published a point-by-point rebuttal in Science the same year, finding that various aspects of the girls' symptoms did not add up.
Why it matters
- What doesn't add up contradiction Caporael called her own findings suggestive and not conclusive, so the version of the ergot story in circulation claims more than the paper did.
- What it limits constraint A rebuttal in the same journal in the same year did not retire the claim: 47 years after the Science paper, it was still being aired on a major podcast.
- What it costs cost Historians who present the Salem record to lay audiences still have to field the ergot theory. Burns says she rarely gets through a talk without someone raising moldy bread.
Burns, who has spoken with Caporael directly, says Caporael was only testing whether ergot could be ruled out, and that with the limited sources available to her she could not rule it out [11].
A harder test is available, and Burns describes it. One form of ergot poisoning is gangrenous, so fingers would rot, and another brings gastrointestinal problems [15]. Burns said "we don't have any instances in the records that either of those things happened" [14]. In our view that check carries more force than the original one, because it sets predicted features against the record.
Popular Science reports that publication in Science alone might have kept the theory inside academic circles. Instead, newspaper editors saw a story with mass appeal [16]. "Editors and newspapers just grabbed it, saying, 'Oh, here's a human interest thing,'" Burns said [9]. The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Boston Globe ran it, and the articles were then syndicated [10]. The public in 1976 was already fixated on LSD, according to the article, and the coverage recast the Salem girls as teenagers on a bad trip [18].
Burns offered her own account of why the story keeps its appeal. "It's sexy," she said. "It's about drugs. It's about witches. It's about killing people. Also, we like to think that when there's an unjust sentence or execution, there's someone or something to blame." [6]
No one has measured how many people believe the ergot theory. A podcast episode and a question from the floor at a talk are anecdotes.
What to watch
- A measured count of how often the ergot claim appears in classrooms, media or public surveys would replace the anecdotes with a denominator.
- The full Spanos and Gottlieb rebuttal in Science would show which objections rest on the Salem records and which on the pharmacology of ergot.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence60
- Adoption
- Insufficient
- Hype gap
- Insufficient
- Incentives
- Insufficient
- Confidence50
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
In the mid-1970s Linnda Caporael was a science major at U.C. Santa Barbara who needed a humanities course to graduate; the course she chose, on women in American history, required a term paper.
- [2]
After her first choice of topic, Lydia Wardell, was already taken, Caporael settled on Ann Putnam, one of the accusers in the 1692 Salem witch trials.
- [3]
Caporael's paper proposed that the visions, convulsions and distress reported by the afflicted girls could be explained by ergot, a fungus that grows on rye grain and produces a hallucinogenic toxin.
- [4]
The ergot theory was debunked within a year of being published but has continued to spread.
- [5]
As recently as 2023, Joe Rogan discussed the ergot theory enthusiastically on his show.
- [6]
"It's sexy," said historian Margo Burns about the enduring appeal of the ergot theory. "It's about drugs. It's about witches. It's about killing people. Also, we like to think that when there's an unjust sentence or execution, there's someone or something to blame."
- [7]
Burns, a Salem scholar who has spent years tracing how the ergot theory took hold and persisted, says she rarely gets through a talk on the trials without someone in the audience bringing up moldy bread.
- [8]
After starting graduate school, Caporael submitted the paper to Science, which, to her surprise, published it in April 1976.
- [9]
"Editors and newspapers just grabbed it, saying, 'Oh, here's a human interest thing,'" Burns said.
- [10]
Burns says that after The Washington Post, The New York Times and The Boston Globe put the story in their papers, it was syndicated through the whole country and Canada within a matter of weeks.
- [11]
According to Burns, who has spoken with Caporael directly, Caporael was only testing whether ergot could be ruled out; working from the limited sources available to her, she determined she could not rule it out.
- [12]
Caporael called her own findings "suggestive," not conclusive.
- [13]
Within the same year, researcher Nicholas Spanos and graduate student Jack Gottlieb published a rebuttal in Science that dismantled Caporael's argument point by point, finding that various aspects of the Salem girls' symptoms did not add up.
- [14]
Burns said "we don't have any instances in the records that either of those things happened."
- [15]
According to Burns, there are a couple of kinds of ergot poisoning, one of which is gangrenous so that fingers would start rotting, and sufferers would also have gastrointestinal problems.
- [16]
Popular Science says publication in Science alone might have kept the theory confined within academic circles; instead, newspaper editors saw a story with mass appeal.
- [17]
Rogan's 2023 discussion came 47 years after the April 1976 Science publication.
- [18]
Popular Science writes that the nuance did not survive exposure to the public, which in 1976 was already fixated on LSD, and that press coverage recast the Salem girls as teenagers on a bad trip.
Get this ledger inside ChatGPT. Ask about any of our stories and the answer brings its figure, each claim’s verdict and the sources. Free, no account.
Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- popsci.comIn 1976, a college paper blamed the Salem witch trials on moldy bread. It wasn’t true.
1 article · October 15, 2026
Topics and entities
Follow any of these and your For You feed starts watching them — no settings page required.