5 Disturbing Harvard Secrets That They Desperately Tried To Bury

The Witch Trial Connection

The university has uncomfortable ties to one of America’s darkest chapters, as Harvard President Increase Mather was a prominent figure during the hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials. While he famously wrote that it was better for ten witches to escape than for one innocent person to suffer, he faced heavy criticism for refusing to denounce the trials entirely. His involvement links the prestigious school directly to a time of deadly paranoia and wrongful execution.