Goodwife, usually abbreviated Goody, was a polite form or address for woman, formerly used where “Mrs”, “Miss”, and “Ms” would be used today. Its male counterpart is Goodman. “Goodwife” and “Goody” were used in England, Scotland and Colonial America, with the earliest known use around 1325. By the mid-18th century, they had become archaic outside of Scotland and are best known today as the forms of address used in period literature like in The Crucible. So, when everyone is calling Bridget Smith “Goody” – they were basically calling her Mrs. the whole time. Also, any woman who was married at that point in time would also be called Goody or Goodwife.

Magistrate Bloodborn says, "Not like herself. Maybe she was forgetting things or sleeping in or dancing naked in the woods?" The last part of this line has been taken directly from the story, “The Crucible."

Jumping Rope was accurate for the time period as it was invented in the 16th Century.

Hope, Faith, and Charity are the names of the three young women who appear together throughout the episode.

It was very hot on the set, so the actors would pull up their dresses to cool off!

From the Quantum Leap Writer's Room:

Did you know? During the Salem witch trials, the majority of the accusers were children and teens— the three young women at the top of the episode become a kind of Greek chorus representing this historic fact.

The black cat or “mouser” on set had to be rewarded with tuna after every take!

Did you know? Accused witches were hanged in Salem— nobody burned at the stake. We used fire for a number of reasons, including the symbolism behind fire and water the Reverend talks about. In the end, the town needs to be cleansed of fear, not witchcraft.

Dr. Ben Song (Portrayed by Raymond Lee) – Ben is a first-generation American, a world-renowned physicist, and a man of faith. He’s also working on Quantum Leap, a time travel project. But when he uses the project on himself, he’s transported back in time, setting things right that once went wrong, and hoping he will return to the place and people he calls home.

Addison Augustine (Portrayed by Caitlin Bassett) – Addison is a smart, witty, fearless ex-military operative who now serves as Project Observer at Quantum Leap HQ. She’s in charge of the technology they use to communicate with the past, and tries to rescue Ben from his time-flung existence.

Ian Wright (Portrayed by Mason Alexander Park) – Quantum Leap’s nonbinary chief architect of the AI program.

Herbert “Magic” Williams (Portrayed by Ernie Hudson) – A Vietnam vet and current lead of the Quantum Leap time travel project. Herbert “Magic” Williams tries to keep the Pentagon at bay while the team tries to rescue Ben. Doctor Sam Beckett leaped into Magic during his Vietnam tour.

Jenn Chu (Portrayed by Nanrisa Lee) – Head of security at Quantum Leap HQ.

Tom Westfall (Portrayed by Peter Gadiot) – a former special forces soldier and a high-ranking US Army Officer in the realm of Army Intelligence. Thoughtful, centered, a spiritual kind of warrior who both men and women admire, but whose humility keeps him from ever being arrogant. Tom takes on a crucial role overseeing the project.

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not was written in 1872 by a Frenchman, Giacomo Di Chirico and therefore would not be available in 1692.

Once Ian finds out that Ben is in 1692, he was talking to Jen and Addison when he says, “Considering it’s the 17th Century, there aren’t substantial records.” There are archives dating back to the 17th Century. The National Archives in the UK has a collection of records from the 16th and 17th Centuries. The Plantagenet Ancestry book by Douglas Richardson documents lines of descent for approximately 190 17th century North American colonists from the Plantagenet dynasty that ruled England from 1154 to 1485. Additionally, several private collections were assembled in Europe and North America during the 17th and 18th centuries, many of which were eventually to become the core of today’s great national and state libraries. Ziggy should have this information.

During the trial, Magistrate Bloodborn said, “Elizabeth Bleeker, Morgan McKenna and Bridget Goody Smith you are sentenced to death for the crime of witchcraft.” He should have said, “Goody Bridget Smith.” They should have just called her Bridget OR Goody Smith.

When Ben, Goody and Morgan are in the cell, Jenn fades in and immediately says, "Someone's coming." How could she know this, having just entered the Imaging Chamber? And why is the cell underground?

Jenn says, "I did some research on the Salem witch trials at the library. Over two dozen people died – all claiming to be innocent. But the ones who pled guilty and confessed to witchcraft were spared. Think of it as a plea deal. You tell them you’re all witches, tell them you’re sorry, everyone lives and you leap. Ziggy says it’s an 80 % chance that it will work." In fact, no, they were not spared. They would then be put to tests to make sure that they were Christians. Some of the tests that they would use to get a true confession were:
· The Water Test- if they sank to the bottom, they were pure - if they floated they were a witch.
· The Devil's Mark - finding a spot where the witch did not hurt when poked with a hot needle.
· Pure Evil Torture
· Waking The Witch - keeping the ladies up for days on end which would get a confession.
Once they confessed - they would hang them and then burn their bodies. Destroying a witches body made sure that they could not be brought back to life by the devil, or be used for evil magic. It also meant that they could not receive a Christian burial.

The likelyhood that Ian could predict rain in 1692 using a star chart and a farmer's almanac is nearly ridiculous.

Why would an apple cart driver travel to Boston in the dark through dangerous colonial territory?

The burning was supposed to take place at sundown but Ben, Morgan, and Goody escape when it's already quite dark. They escape to the crossroads and then decide to return to town. Then it is suddenly daytime again! What happened?

After just a couple of Leaps (which is only two or three days for Ben), Addison becomes the hologram again and Ben is completely fine with it without further conversation?

You can clean water with charcoal and use other ways to filter the water through the charcoal. You can’t just put burnt wood in your water and clean it. Charcoal has been made by various methods. The traditional method in Britain used a clamp. This is essentially a pile of wooden logs (e.g. seasoned oak – a hard wood) leaning in a circle against a chimney. The chimney consists of 4 wooden stakes held up by some rope. The logs are completely covered with soil and straw allowing no air to enter. It must be lit by introducing some burning fuel into the chimney; the logs burn slowly and transform into charcoal over a period of 5 days. If the soil covering gets torn or cracked by the fire, additional soil is placed on the cracks. Once the burn is complete, the chimney is plugged to prevent air from entering. The true art of this production method is in managing the sufficient generation of heat, by combusting part of the wood material, and its transfer to wood parts in the process of being carbonized. A strong disadvantage of this production method is the huge amount of emissions that are harmful to human health and the environment (emissions of unburnt methane). As a result of the partial combustion of wood material, the efficiency of the traditional method is low. But this is how charcoal was made in the 17th century.

Goody picks up some burned wood that the rain had put out. She says, “Will this clean it? Charcoal, right?” Ben nods. Burned wood is not charcoal. It has not been burned (as above) for 5 days in a semi-airtight area. So – this isn’t correct at all.

There is a fire in the middle of the town at sunrise. If they are going to burn a witch, she is usually tied to a stake in the pyre and then the wood is lit and then the person burned in the pyre. The way that they have it here, you would get burned as you threw the person into the fire – or they could get a little burned and could still run off.

The fire was put out by a small shower of rain. Goody's hand would have been burned when she picked it up so quickly after the brief shower.