She was accused again, a few days after her release, and arrested. She was examined and indicted on two charges of witchcraft. Easty was brought to trial on September 9 and executed on September 22, He had a reputation for being an angry, violent man and was once charged with murdering his farmhand in He was found guilty but only suffered a fine for his actions.
Many locals, including Thomas Putnam , suspected Corey had paid a bribe for his freedom. In April of , Giles Corey was accused of witchcraft after his wife, Martha Corey , had also been accused and arrested on the same charge.
Giles Corey refused to enter a plea in an attempt to prevent his case from going to trial. He reportedly knew he was going to die, either in jail or on the gallows, and wanted to avoid being convicted before he did.
As a result, Giles Corey was tortured for three days in a field on Howard Street in Salem town in an attempt to force a plea out of him. He died on the third day of his torture on September 19, Elizabeth Proctor Brought to trial on August 5 and found guilty. She was sentenced to death but the execution was delayed due to her pregnancy. She gave birth in January was released from prison in May, Abigail Faulkner, Sr Brought to trial on September 17 and found guilty. She was released from prison in March, Mary Post Brought to trial in January, and found guilty.
She was sentenced to death but pardoned by Governor Phips. Sarah Wardwell Brought to trial on January 10, and found guilty. Elizabeth Johnson Jr Brought to trial in January, and found guilty. Dorcas Hoar Brought to trial on September 9, and found guilty. She was sentenced to death but never executed. Roger Toothaker Died in jail in Boston on June 16, John Alden Jr.
Edward Bishop Jr. Other victims include two dogs who were shot or killed after being suspected of witchcraft. Most of the Salem Witch Trials victims were women but men were accused and executed too. Although some of the early victims were poor social outcasts from Salem Village, the accusations slowly spread to all types of people from all types of backgrounds, according to the book Death in Salem: The Private Lives Behind the Witch Hunt :.
Everyone knew that witchcraft was largely a female perversity, but the reasoning stopped there. The over one hundred and fifty people singled out for social and legal ostracism over the course of included every age, social echelon, and background: rich and poor, young and old, feeble and sharp-witted. The logic seems to have been that physical contact with an actual witch would draw the evil spirits back out of the victim. The ulterior reasons for their persecution sometimes surfaced at the trial.
Often it was little more than a bad reputation or malicious gossip, repackaged and embroidered over decades. A human frailty or eccentricity might be trotted out as evidence.
Due to the large number of accused witches, the prisoners were kept in multiple jails in Salem, Ipswich and Boston. According to the book, A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witch Trials , the accused witches were considered dangerous prisoners and were kept in dungeons underneath the jails away from the regular prisoners:. These were perpetually dark, bitterly cold, and so damp that water ran down the walls. They reeked of unwashed human bodies and excrement. They enclosed as much agony as anywhere human beings could have lived.
The stone dungeons of Salem Town prison were discovered in the s in St. Certainly they were a breeding ground for disease…But accused witches were worse off than the other unfortunates [other prisoners.
The dungeons forever changed people and the ones who were lucky enough to survive the prison or escape the gallows often suffered for the rest of their lives.
Interior of the old dungeon, old witch jail, Salem, Mass, circa Such is the case with Dorcas Good, the four-year-old daughter of Sarah Good who was accused of witchcraft in March of and spent seven to eight months in jail before being released, according to the book The Salem Witch Trials Reader:. While in prison, the accused were repeatedly humiliated by being forced to undergo physical examinations of their bodies. During the examinations the prisoners, who were mostly elderly, were stripped naked in front of a group of people and their bodies were poked and prodded and any suspicious marks or moles found were pricked with needles.
Upham describes his disgust over this treatment of the prisoners:. The results of the examinations were reduced to written reports, going into details, and, among other evidences in the trials, spread before the court and jury. There they were questioned by a judge in front of a jury, which decided whether or not to indict the accused on charges of witchcraft. The trials were then held in the Salem courthouse which was located in the center of Washington Street about feet south of Lynde Street, opposite of where the Masonic Temple now stands.
This courthouse was torn down in but a plaque dedicated to the courthouse can still be seen today on the wall of the Masonic Temple on Washington Street. The victims were hanged by the neck by a rope tied to a tree. Contrary to popular belief, none of the victims were burned at the stake. The reason is because English law only allowed death by burning to be used against men who committed high treason and only after they had been hanged until almost dead, quartered and drawn. The English considered it an unacceptable death for women since it involved nudity.
Burning at the stake was more popular in countries with a strong Catholic church because it did not involve the shedding of blood, which was not allowed in the Roman Catholic doctrine, and it ensured that the victim would not have a body to take with them to the after life. Upham for the Peabody Historical Society in As convicted witches, they were not allowed a Christian burial in consecrated ground. Relatives of several victims: Rebecca Nurse, John Proctor and George Jacobs, reportedly retrieved the bodies of their loved one and gave them a Christian burial on the family property.
It is not known what happened to the unclaimed bodies, or if there were any unclaimed bodies, but if there are they are most likely still buried in shallow graves at the execution site.
Almost immediately after the Salem Witch Trials came to an end, the residents of Salem began to feel ashamed of what happened during the witch hunt. They still believed in witches and the Devil, but they had doubts that so many people could have been guilty of the crime and they feared that many innocent people had been put to death.
The colony also been to suffer from frequent droughts, crop failures, smallpox outbreaks, Native-American attacks and other disasters and the colonists worried that the mistakes made during the Salem Witch Trials had angered God. On December 17, , Governor Stoughton issued a proclamation in hopes of making amends with God.
The proclamation suggested that there should be:. The colony held the day of prayer on January 15, , which was known as the Day of Official Humiliation. On October 17, , at the urging of the surviving convicted witches and their families, the colony passed a bill clearing some of the names of the convicted witches.
Not every victim was named in the bill though because some families of the victims did not want their family member listed. The bill states:. An act to remove the attainders of George Burroughs and others for Witchcraft. For as much in the year of Our Lord, one thousand six hundred and ninety-two several towns within the Province were infested with a horrible witchcraft or possessions of devils.
The influence and energy of the evil spirit so great at that time acting in and upon those who were the principal accusers and witnesses proceeding so far as to cause a prosecution to be had of persons of known and good reputation which caused a great dissatisfaction and a stop to be put thereunto until their majesties pleasure should be known therein; and upon a representation thereof accordingly made, her late Majesty, Queen Mary, the Second of Blessed Memory, by her Royal letter given at her court at Whitehall the fifteenth of April, , was graciously pleased to approve the care and circumspection therein; and to will and require that in all proceedings against persons accused for witchcraft, or being possessed by the Devil, the greatest moderation and all due circumspection be used so far as the same may be without impediment to the ordinary course of justice.
And some of the principal accusers and witnesses in those dark and severe prosecutions have since discovered themselves to be persons of profligate and vicious conversations.
Upon the humble petition and suit of several of said persons and of the children of others of them whose parents were executed. Be it declared and enacted by His Excellency, the Governor, Council and Representatives authority of the same, That the several convictions, in General Court assembled, and by the judgments and attainders against the said George Burroughs, John Proctor, George Jacobs, John Willard, Giles Corey, Martha Corey, Rebecca Nurse, Sarah Good, Elizabeth Howe, Mary Easty, Sarah Wildes, Abigail Hobbs,Samuel Wardwell, Mary Parker, Martha Carrier, Abigail Faulkner, Anne Foster, Rebecca Eames, Mary Post, Mary Lacey, Mary Bradbury, Dorcas Hoar, and any of them be and are hereby reversed made and declared to be null and void to all intents, constitutionalism and purposes whatsoever as if no such convictions, judgments and attainders had ever been had or given, and that no penalties or forfeitures of goods or chattels be by the said judgments and attainders or either of them had or incurred.
Any law, usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. And that no sheriff, constable, goaler or other officer shall be liable to any prosecution in the law for anything they then legally did in the execution of their respective offices.
The nature of the trials was a bit different than those found in Britain, Germany, and Northern Europe, but still tragic nonetheless. If you have Italian or Mediterranean surnames in your family, check this list:. So you found one of your familial names on the witch bloodline names list…now what? I suggest researching everything you can about that particular witch ancestor.
Google it. Often Wikipedia pages with information on the Witch Trials have taken their information from books and other resources. Check the bottom of the Wikipedia pages for the Bibliography section. Read those books. Read and read some more. Record your findings in your journal, BOS, or in your family tree! Cook the food your ancestors might have cooked.
Listen to their music. It is a fun and cool thing to find one, yes, but you can still practice ancestral witchcraft. Incorporate those ways into your daily life and spiritual path. The thing is — if you go back far enough in time, everyone had pagan ancestors, some of whom were priests and priestesses. Some were shamans and druids. Some were witch doctors and midwives. Everyone has at least ONE of these magical people in their heritage, whether we can find proof of it or not.
I barely scratched the surface of the witch bloodline names in America and Europe, so please stay tuned. If this generates enough interest, I will also write an article on witch ancestors from all over the world.
Have you found any witches in your family tree? If so, how do you honor them? My last name is Long. Hello i am also looking for my bloodline im a decendent of the Bell witch you know the real one Patience Eldora Summers and Bertha Bellzora Summers. Eldora is my great grandmother we have been looking for our family for years.
If you have any information about the bell witch will you please email me. Merry meet!!!! I am the descendent of Elizabeth Boothe…. I am a medium, and I feel that she never wanted any part of those trials, and had great sympathy for those who perished. Thank you for sharing!!! I say unfortunately because as cool as it is to find out why I am connected, it is sorrowful as well. I have traced myself back all the way to not only Samuel Wardwell but also to William Griggs.
Making my heritage the accuser and the accused. Along with many other names listed in the events that took place. Leckrone, from grandma on dads side witch married a Darrow, Bangham from my great grandma from my moms side that married a Fultz?
Any help I can get on thoes names would be amazing. I would love to find out if I am related to the Parker mentioned in the Salem list. I found an old tombstone in Texas with Handcock, written on it.
Jonnie Handcock, it was in a Gulley like it was discarded. This is not the sort of platform I would have ever communicate on but when needs must!! My grandmother was a Marklen? She was a Dutch immigrant and my older ancestors where Cherokee I know they go back to the trail of tears and further my maiden name is Wilson I have very strong natural born gifts but struggling to find my way through this awakening. Wow i never new there were sow much ancestors one the list from northern Europa.
Ivm from the Nederlands and i know the name s are frome my moms site of the famly….. Thanks for writing the family name lists! Hi, thank you for listing the family names of those whose lives were altered forever one way or another because of gross intolerance. My story overlaps my ancestors accused in more ways than make sense so maybe the gifts are still passed generationally.
Be sure to peak into Clan Colqhoun. My mother connected our bloodline to the Black Cock of Scotland, reportedly one of the few open practioners of witchcraft and necromancy that evaded execution. We have strong magic in our family, even if it has been abused or neglected by a generation or two. I have Walden, Andrews, Barker, Black, my aunts ex husband has Bradbury, one of my grandmas ex husband has Burroughs , my exs dad was married to a woman with the maiden name of Foster, my grandmas ex husband has Howe, and a Hutchins is married to a cousin, I have Hutchinson, and Jacobs, I have Martin, and a Parker married a cousin, and my fiancee has Jacobs, Rebecca Nurse is in my tree her son Benjamin had a daughter named Elizabeth she married Theophilus Phillips II she was his second wife I am not related to her but I am related to him, and I once dated a guy with the last name of Redd, I have Willard.
My great aunt did a family tree lineage all the way back to Rebecca Nurse. I have a lot of family still in Massachusetts. I think her step mother wanted to get rid of her. Do you know where your Martin family came from? This list seems to me that the real witches may not be named…..
Sarah Bridges later Preston, then Price is not listed. She was accused at Salem along with her sister, Mary Bridges. Sarah confessed, was found not guilty, and later exonerated anyway. She was either 13 or 17 when accused sources disagree and unmarried. My family was from Scotland mainly but I do have German and English as well. Does anyone recognize these as been associated with witches.?
I have always had a a strong curiosity and pull toward witches. Hi JH. I offer a service where I look at your magical ancestors origins including if there are any witches or magical folks in your line. Yes, many family names are changed when immigrating to the US.
Sometimes completely, usually just dropped or added a letter or two to make them more easily pronouncible. I am a Thornton and now all the pieces of the puzzle are coming together like in a BIG way hahahahaha. Whereabouts are thinking your Thornton connection might be?? I associate with United Methodists. I am clairvoyant, clairaudient, sentient, and a psychic medium.
There were dozens of people in both groups, as well. However, only 19 people were actually executed for witchcraft. All but one of these people were hanged, while the remaining one was pressed to death because he would not plead guilty or not guilty.
The pressing was meant to force a pleading, but Giles Cory refused to plead, knowing if he did, his property would be taken by the town and his children could not inherit it.
His wife, Martha, was hanged for witchcraft a few days before he was pressed. The names of all of those who were executed are now on benches on a memorial in the town square in Salem proper. If you find you are descended from someone who was executed for witchcraft, you are in a very unique group, indeed. The vast majority of people who were accused of witchcraft were never executed for it. Many of them plead guilty, knowing they would be spared if they did so only those who insisted they were not guilty were executed.
Others stayed in jail until the witch mania was over and the town realized its mistake; these people were then set free. Rebecca was neighbors with the in-laws of the Stevens family, the Eveleths, and had many problems with them. Petition from the accused witches held in Ipswich. The family had a large amount of land in the Little Good Harbor area. Their names appear on an undated petition asking to be released on bail until their trial.
She was known for being troublesome and having a sharp tongue. Phoebe Day, whose maiden name was Wildes, was related to fellow accused witch Sarah Wildes, of Topsfield, who was hanged for witchcraft on July 19, in Salem. Fortunately for the accused, it appears that these cases never went to trial because the use of spectral evidence was banned in October of , giving prosecutors little evidence to go on, and the special court set up to hear the Salem Witchcraft cases was disbanded.
In November, public officials set up the Superior Court of Judicature to hear the remaining witchcraft cases. According to court records, Margaret Prince and Elizabeth Dicer were released on their own recognizance on December 15th.
It is not clear what happened to the other Gloucester women but between January and May of , most of the remaining accused were either released due to a lack of evidence or tried and found not guilty.
Sources: Karlsen, Carol F. Taylor Trade Publishing, Drolet, Jedediah. The Geography and Genealogy of Gloucester Witchcraf t, www. I looked up their case files it looks like they were released on their own recognizance on December 15th.
0コメント