The Ocean County Library’s Toms River branch will host archivist-historian Mickey DiCamillo’s presentation “When There Were Witches: An Exploration of the Salem Witch Trials,” on Tuesday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m.

In January 1692, a strange illness that seized five young girls in Salem Village caused townsfolk to believe they had come “under an evil hand.” Events soon spiraled out of control, with local divisions and a splintered colonial government feeding the frenzy.