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Witch Trials

Witches and Warlocks of New York

October 31, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Witches and Warlocks of New YorkThe new book Witches and Warlocks of New York: Legends, Victims, and Sinister Spellcasters (Globe Pequot, 2022) by Lisa LaMonica is a collection of legends and historical accounts about witches and warlocks from the Empire State. [Read more…] about Witches and Warlocks of New York

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Folklore, Halloween, Witch Trials

Hulda of Bohemia: The Accused Witch of Sleepy Hollow

October 10, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Hulda GravestoneEach fall, tens of thousands of people from around the world flock to Sleepy Hollow in Westchester County, New York to visit the burial ground made famous in Washington Irving’s 1819 tale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. In Irving’s tale of “the Headless Horseman,” a German soldier is said to return to the grave-site, in search of his head that was lost during America’s Revolutionary War. [Read more…] about Hulda of Bohemia: The Accused Witch of Sleepy Hollow

Filed Under: Events, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: American Revolution, Cemeteries, German-American History, Halloween, Literature, Mount Pleasant, Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving, Westchester County, Witch Trials

Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project Seeks Justice For Wrongfully Accused

July 13, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration ProjectIn what is now New England, the first witch trial is believed to have occurred in Springfield, Mass., in 1645 and the first hanging, that of Alse Young of Windsor, Conn., in 1647. Young’s daughter Alice Beamon was also condemned some 30 years later, but survived.

A fervor for hunting witches in the mid-1600s led to an increase in prosecutions in New England and New York.  Men and women would be accused of witchcraft within New York’s colonial borders into the mid-1700s and these trials would have a lasting impact on the families of the accused, the colonies and the country.

The Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project is a growing team of people, including descendants, authors, historians and others working with Connecticut State Representative Jane Garibay to overturn the convictions of 46 men and women unjustly accused, and in some cases tried and hanged, for the crime of witchcraft in Colonial Connecticut in the years 1647 through 1697. [Read more…] about Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project Seeks Justice For Wrongfully Accused

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Connecticut, Crime and Justice, 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, Crime and Justice, Halloween, Legal History, Religious History, Salem Witch Trials, Washington County, Witch Trials

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: Crime and Justice, Halloween, Legal History, Long Island, Salem Witch Trials, Witch Trials, womens history

Witch, Be Gone! A Witch Trial Set In Long Island

November 15, 2018 by Michael DeBonis 8 Comments

Mediaeval European Witches with DevilIn the year 1658, at the south fork of Long Island, there was a small fishing and farming settlement called Easthampton.

Recently settled by English Puritans (by way of New England), it was governed by a small group of village aldermen, which was headed by Lord Lion Gardiner, a former British military engineer who faithfully served English King Charles 1st during the Pequot War (1636-1638). [Read more…] about Witch, Be Gone! A Witch Trial Set In Long Island

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Long Island, Religion, Religious History, Witch Trials, womens history

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692

November 4, 2015 by Liz Covart Leave a Comment

ben_franklins_worldIn this episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast, we explore the specters and witches that haunted 17th-century Massachusetts. Our guide for this exploration is Emerson W. Baker, author of A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience (Oxford University Press, 2014). You can listen to the podcast here: www.benfranklinsworld.com/053

[Read more…] about The Salem Witch Trials of 1692

Filed Under: Books, History Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Podcasts, Witch Trials

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