I am writing a paper on the Salem Witch Trials and I am trying to figure out if newspapers outside of the Salem/Andover areas covered the trials while they were occurring. I've found plenty of references to Cotton and Increase Mather's works, but I'm having trouble finding anything about any of the journalists at the time writing about what was going on.

Short of actually going to Salem or the Newseum in DC I don't really know where I should be looking. Thoughts?

I'd like to know about Hitler's drug use and the affects it might have had on him. Googling reveals mostly unreliable sources--tabloids and the like. A few questions have been asked and answered here but they're also generally unsourced (at least as far as I've read).

So, what drugs did Hitler take? Why did he take them? And how did they affect him before and during his reign?

By that I mean were they essentially not cost effective.

Could they escape easier? Were they relegated to certain positions? Punished for their unique appearance?

In London it's generally understood that you stand on the right of an escalator and walk on the left. It allows people in a hurry to move faster and those who want a more relaxed ride to avoid getting in the way of more urgent travellers.

The thing is, you don't really find this in other areas of the UK. So how did this behaviour/understanding become established?

Most media i have found about WW2 shows how the elite troops of the allies i.e. the commandos, the Rangers etc were involved in top secret super missions (blowing up bridges, rescuing PoWs etc).

However when Axis elite troops i.e. the fallschirmjaegers its how they fought alongside the Wehrmacht with very few outliers (rescuing Mussolini, Invasion of Crete etc).

Did the Axis have troops on par with the commando's in terms of specialty (sabotage, infiltration) or did their elite troops just focus in an entirely different area? Also did the Italians and Japanese have elite troops (i havent read of any).

TL;DR Modern Media has failed utterly in teaching me about elite Axis troops and i ask /r/AskHistorians to educate me.

Thorvald Eiriksson, 1004-1006, explored the coasts of lands visited by Leif, especially Baffin Island and the Labrador coast. Thorvald wintered at Leif’s former settlement on Vinland.In the summer of 1005, Thorvald clashed with Skraelinger, probably Algonquin Indians; Thorvald was mortally wounded. The survivors returned to Leif’s settlement at L’Anse aux Meadows for a second winter in 1005-1006, and then returned to Greenland in the summer 1006.

Forgive my ignorance but weren't they essentially a socialist state with certain degree of dictatorship factored in? (same applies to China and North Korea)

To what degree did it influence the following religions, Hinduism, Christisnity, Judiaism and Islam?

In response to a student's question, I'm trying to construct as complete an answer as possible... One that takes into account not only technological issues but also socio-cultural factors. Any ideas?

I'm trying to determine how the Greek managed to free their country from Ottoman rule as early as they did? According to Wikipedia they had an army that fought the Ottomans. That did not apply to other countries such as Bulgaria (they did not have an army).

As a preface, I have to confess only a layman's understanding of mediaeval history. I apologise if this question has an obvious answer, or if I've polluted the framing of it with any factual errors.

As I understand it, as part of her marriage to Louis, it was stipulated that her lands would not pass over to her husband until she gave him a male heir (which she never did) or passed away. But why did Louis' family agree to such an arrangement? Was it common? I'm having difficulty consolidating it with the popular (and perhaps wildly inaccurate) notion that the period was one in which it was difficult for a woman to come into power, and even more difficult to hold onto it.

On that note, how was Eleanor able to ascend to the position of Duchess of Aquitaine suo jure to begin with? I'm admittedly not a big mediaeval history buff, but generally speaking couldn't women only inherit if there were no eligible male heirs ahead of them (agnatic-cognatic primogeniture)? Did Eleanor's father William X have no eligible male relatives to pass his lands onto? I know that his only son died young, but I'm assuming there would be a brother or cousin somewhere in the line who would possess some kind of claim. Or did Aquitaine have different succession laws from its neighbours at the time? How did Eleanor's contemporaries view her unique position?

I only have a very basic knowledge of the Second Boer War (if any at all) and I would like to study it in greater detail, but as the question states, would it be fair to say that the main reason for the British invasion of the Transvaal was because they wanted to get their hands on the gold mines?

Sorry if it is a stupid question but I suppose asking questions is the best way to learn