Salem: Season 1 (2014)

The world of the Salem witch trials is explored in this supernatural drama set in 17th-century Massachusetts. Season 1 opens in 1685 with Capt. John Alden (Shane West) returning from war to discover that his Puritan community has become gripped with mass hysteria and that his former lover Mary (Janet Montgomery) is now married to the wealthy village elder George Sibley (Michael Mulheren). What he doesn't know is that when he left seven years ago, Mary, pregnant with his child, turned to Tituba (Ashley Madekwe), a skilled practitioner of the magical arts, to rid her of the unborn baby. In the time that followed, Mary has become the most powerful witch in Salem and is using panic and paranoia to her advantage, while fending off threats of being deposed by Magistrate Hale (Xander Berkeley). But her lingering feelings for John put them both at risk as he enters into an alliance with Rev. Cotton Mather (Seth Gabel), who, when he isn't engaging in activities of ill repute, has been defending the people of town against witchcraft. Also starring Tamzin Merchant, Elise Eberle and Stephen Lang.