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Salem Witch Trials

1777 Claims of Witchcraft In Salem, Washington County

October 28, 2019 by Marie Williams 6 Comments

statue at Salem Witch Museum by Marie WilliamsThere have been quite a number of witchcraft trials in what is now New York State, including in Westchester County, and on Long Island. In the midst of the American Revolution, in the town of Salem (now near the New York-Vermont border in Washington County, NY), there was another witch trial, of a sort.

Salem, NY, much like Salem, MA, has a very religious past. The community is said to be founded by Presbyterian Rev. Dr. Thomas Clark, who had emigrated from Ireland in the mid-1760s with his congregation, part of a Presbyterian schism.  Clark’s congregation first settled in nearby Stillwater, on the Hudson River but eventually landed in what is now Salem, NY, where they purchased a 25,000 acres among the mostly New England settlers already established there. [Read more…] about 1777 Claims of Witchcraft In Salem, Washington County

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: American Revolution, AmRev, Battle of Saratoga, Halloween, Legal History, Religious History, Salem Witch Trials, Washington County

Witchcraft Claims In East Hampton, Long Island

October 27, 2019 by Marie Williams 1 Comment

statue at Salem Witch Museum by Marie Williams

In the United States, the first witch trial is believed to have occurred in Springfield, Mass., in 1645.  A fervor for hunting witches led to an increase in prosecutions in New England, and New York, in the 1650s and 1666s.  Women would be accused of witchcraft within New York’s colonial borders into the mid-1700s. Some of these trials would have a lasting impact on the colony and the country.

The 1650s was not an easy time to be a woman, especially if a neighbor held a personal grudge. In East Hampton, Long Island in 1657 Elizabeth “Goody” Garlick was accused of witchcraft, after 16-year-old Elizabeth Gardiner Howell became ill and suffered fevered dreams and delusions.  [Read more…] about Witchcraft Claims In East Hampton, Long Island

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Halloween, Legal History, Long Island, Salem Witch Trials, womens history

Westchester County’s Katharine Harrison, Accused Witch

October 23, 2019 by Marie Williams 4 Comments

statue at Salem Witch Museum by Marie WilliamsHalloween is a time when representations of witches make their frequent appearance. The United States has a complicated history with witchcraft and the occult, due in part to its puritanical past and influx of diverse cultures.

Most Americans are familiar with the Salem Witch Trials (1692-1693) in Massachusetts, but trials for witchcraft have probably occurred as long as trials have existed, and still do in places where belief in magic is strong. In Europe people were tried for witchcraft throughout the 1700s. [Read more…] about Westchester County’s Katharine Harrison, Accused Witch

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Halloween, Legal History, Salem Witch Trials, Westchester County

Witches in America: A Tale of Three New Yorkers

May 20, 2018 by Peter Feinman Leave a Comment

witches being hangedWitches are in the news and three New Yorkers have tales to tell.

From Queens to Ithaca to Chittenango, New Yorkers figure prominently in the witch stories in American history. And there is Broadway too.

This week I examined the status of witches through the lens of the New York experience here.

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Cultural History, Frank Baum, Oz, Public History, Salem Witch Trials

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