The first person to be formally accused of witchcraft is difficult to determine definitively, as witchcraft accusations have been documented throughout history and across cultures. However, one of the earliest documented cases of witchcraft accusations occurred in ancient Mesopotamia. The Code of Hammurabi, a legal code dating back to the 18th century BC, includes a provision that addresses witchcraft accusations. In this provision, it is stated that if a man accuses another of casting a spell upon him and fails to prove it, he shall be put to death. This suggests that accusations of witchcraft were taken seriously even in ancient times. Another significant case of witchcraft accusations is the Salem witch trials in colonial Massachusetts, which occurred in the late 17th century.

Connecticut may exonerate accused witches centuries later

In this Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 photo, Beth Caruso, author and co-founder of the CT Witch Trial Exoneration Project, which was created to clear the names of the accused, stands on the Palisado Green in Windsor, Conn., where in 1651, an accident during a local militiamen training exercise led to the accusation of witchcraft and hanging of Lydia Gilbert. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers, from across the U.S., are urging Connecticut officials to officially acknowledge this dark period of the state’s colonial history and posthumously exonerate those wrongfully accused and punished. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 photo, a brick memorializing Alice ‘Alse’ Young is placed in a town Heritage Bricks installation in Windsor, Conn. Young was the first person on record to be executed in the 13 colonies for witchcraft. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers, from across the U.S., are urging Connecticut officials to officially acknowledge this dark period of the state’s colonial history and posthumously exonerate those wrongfully accused and punished. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 photo, Beth Caruso, author and co-founder of the CT Witch Trial Exoneration Project, which was created to clear the names of the accused, stands on the old town green in Windsor, Conn., where in 1651, an accident during a local militiamen training exercise led to the accusation of witchcraft and hanging of Lydia Gilbert. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers, from across the U.S., are urging Connecticut officials to officially acknowledge this dark period of the state’s colonial history and posthumously exonerate those wrongfully accused and punished. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Connecticut Historical Society Collections Associate Julia Morrow displays an original complaint letter dated back to 1669 against Katherine Harrison, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Hartford, Conn. Harrison, of Wethersfield, Conn. was tried multiple times for witchcraft. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers, from across the U.S., are urging Connecticut officials to officially acknowledge this dark period of the state’s colonial history and posthumously exonerate those wrongfully accused and punished. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Connecticut Historical Society Collections Associate Julia Morrow displays an original complaint letter dated back to 1669 against Katherine Harrison, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Hartford, Conn. Harrison, of Wethersfield, Conn. was tried multiple times for witchcraft. The complaint against her detailed her offenses, including among other things that a hat she wanted to purchase now gave the owner a headache. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 photo, a brick memorializing Lydia Gilbert is placed in a town Heritage Bricks installation in Windsor, Conn. In 1651, an accident during a local militiamen training exercise led to the accusation of witchcraft and hanging of Lydia Gilbert. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

FILE - In this July 19, 2017, file photograph, Karla Hailer, a fifth-grade teacher from Scituate, Mass., shoots a video where a memorial stands at the site in Salem, Mass., where five women, including Elizabeth Johnson Jr., were hanged as witches more than 325 years earlier. In 2021, Massachusetts lawmakers formally exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr. 329 years after she was convicted of witchcraft in 1693 and sentenced to death at the height of the Salem Witch Trials. Johnson is believed to be the last accused Salem witch to have her conviction set aside by legislators. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 photo, Beth Caruso, author and co-founder of the CT Witch Trial Exoneration Project, which was created to clear the names of the accused, stands on the Palisado Green in Windsor, Conn., where in 1651, an accident during a local militiamen training exercise led to the accusation of witchcraft and hanging of Lydia Gilbert. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers, from across the U.S., are urging Connecticut officials to officially acknowledge this dark period of the state’s colonial history and posthumously exonerate those wrongfully accused and punished. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 photo, Beth Caruso, author and co-founder of the CT Witch Trial Exoneration Project, which was created to clear the names of the accused, stands on the Palisado Green in Windsor, Conn., where in 1651, an accident during a local militiamen training exercise led to the accusation of witchcraft and hanging of Lydia Gilbert. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers, from across the U.S., are urging Connecticut officials to officially acknowledge this dark period of the state’s colonial history and posthumously exonerate those wrongfully accused and punished. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 photo, a brick memorializing Alice ‘Alse’ Young is placed in a town Heritage Bricks installation in Windsor, Conn. Young was the first person on record to be executed in the 13 colonies for witchcraft. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers, from across the U.S., are urging Connecticut officials to officially acknowledge this dark period of the state’s colonial history and posthumously exonerate those wrongfully accused and punished. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 photo, a brick memorializing Alice ‘Alse’ Young is placed in a town Heritage Bricks installation in Windsor, Conn. Young was the first person on record to be executed in the 13 colonies for witchcraft. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers, from across the U.S., are urging Connecticut officials to officially acknowledge this dark period of the state’s colonial history and posthumously exonerate those wrongfully accused and punished. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 photo, Beth Caruso, author and co-founder of the CT Witch Trial Exoneration Project, which was created to clear the names of the accused, stands on the old town green in Windsor, Conn., where in 1651, an accident during a local militiamen training exercise led to the accusation of witchcraft and hanging of Lydia Gilbert. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers, from across the U.S., are urging Connecticut officials to officially acknowledge this dark period of the state’s colonial history and posthumously exonerate those wrongfully accused and punished. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 photo, Beth Caruso, author and co-founder of the CT Witch Trial Exoneration Project, which was created to clear the names of the accused, stands on the old town green in Windsor, Conn., where in 1651, an accident during a local militiamen training exercise led to the accusation of witchcraft and hanging of Lydia Gilbert. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers, from across the U.S., are urging Connecticut officials to officially acknowledge this dark period of the state’s colonial history and posthumously exonerate those wrongfully accused and punished. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Connecticut Historical Society Collections Associate Julia Morrow displays an original complaint letter dated back to 1669 against Katherine Harrison, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Hartford, Conn. Harrison, of Wethersfield, Conn. was tried multiple times for witchcraft. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers, from across the U.S., are urging Connecticut officials to officially acknowledge this dark period of the state’s colonial history and posthumously exonerate those wrongfully accused and punished. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Connecticut Historical Society Collections Associate Julia Morrow displays an original complaint letter dated back to 1669 against Katherine Harrison, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Hartford, Conn. Harrison, of Wethersfield, Conn. was tried multiple times for witchcraft. Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers, from across the U.S., are urging Connecticut officials to officially acknowledge this dark period of the state’s colonial history and posthumously exonerate those wrongfully accused and punished. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Connecticut Historical Society Collections Associate Julia Morrow displays an original complaint letter dated back to 1669 against Katherine Harrison, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Hartford, Conn. Harrison, of Wethersfield, Conn. was tried multiple times for witchcraft. The complaint against her detailed her offenses, including among other things that a hat she wanted to purchase now gave the owner a headache. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Connecticut Historical Society Collections Associate Julia Morrow displays an original complaint letter dated back to 1669 against Katherine Harrison, Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Hartford, Conn. Harrison, of Wethersfield, Conn. was tried multiple times for witchcraft. The complaint against her detailed her offenses, including among other things that a hat she wanted to purchase now gave the owner a headache. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 photo, a brick memorializing Lydia Gilbert is placed in a town Heritage Bricks installation in Windsor, Conn. In 1651, an accident during a local militiamen training exercise led to the accusation of witchcraft and hanging of Lydia Gilbert. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2023 photo, a brick memorializing Lydia Gilbert is placed in a town Heritage Bricks installation in Windsor, Conn. In 1651, an accident during a local militiamen training exercise led to the accusation of witchcraft and hanging of Lydia Gilbert. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

FILE - In this July 19, 2017, file photograph, Karla Hailer, a fifth-grade teacher from Scituate, Mass., shoots a video where a memorial stands at the site in Salem, Mass., where five women, including Elizabeth Johnson Jr., were hanged as witches more than 325 years earlier. In 2021, Massachusetts lawmakers formally exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr. 329 years after she was convicted of witchcraft in 1693 and sentenced to death at the height of the Salem Witch Trials. Johnson is believed to be the last accused Salem witch to have her conviction set aside by legislators. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)

FILE - In this July 19, 2017, file photograph, Karla Hailer, a fifth-grade teacher from Scituate, Mass., shoots a video where a memorial stands at the site in Salem, Mass., where five women, including Elizabeth Johnson Jr., were hanged as witches more than 325 years earlier. In 2021, Massachusetts lawmakers formally exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr. 329 years after she was convicted of witchcraft in 1693 and sentenced to death at the height of the Salem Witch Trials. Johnson is believed to be the last accused Salem witch to have her conviction set aside by legislators. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Decades before the infamous Salem witch trials in Massachusetts, Alse Young was killed at the gallows in Connecticut, becoming the first person on record to be executed in the American colonies for witchcraft.

The Windsor town clerk registered the death on May 26, 1647, in a diary entry that read: “Alse Young was hanged.” Young was the first of nine women and two men executed by the colony of Connecticut for witchcraft over 15 years, a period during which more than 40 people faced trial for having ties to Satan.

Now, more than 375 years later, amateur historians, researchers and descendants of the accused witches and their accusers hope Connecticut lawmakers will finally offer posthumous exonerations.

While such requests aren’t new, they have become louder as many genealogy buffs discover they have distant relatives involved in the lesser-known Connecticut witch trials.

“They’re talking about how this has followed their families from generation to generation and that they would love for someone just to say, ‘Hey, this was wrong,’” said Connecticut state Rep. Jane Garibay, who proposed an exoneration resolution after receiving letters from eighth- and ninth-generation relatives of accused witches. “And to me, that’s an easy thing to do if it gives people peace.”

Other states and countries have attempted to atone for a history of persecuting people as witches. Last year, Scotland’s prime minister issued a formal apology to the estimated 4,000 Scots, mostly women, who were accused of witchcraft up until 1736. Of the 4,000, about 2,500 were killed. A Scottish member of parliament last year called for posthumously pardoning them.

In 2022, Massachusetts lawmakers formally exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr., who was convicted of witchcraft in 1693 and sentenced to death at the height of the Salem Witch Trials. Johnson is believed to be the last accused Salem witch to have her conviction set aside by legislators.

In 2006, former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine gave an informal pardon to Grace Sherwood, a widowed midwife who was blamed by neighbors for ruining crops, killing livestock and creating storms and subsequently accused of being a witch. With her hands bound, Sherwood was thrown into a river to see if she floated, which was purported to indicate guilt. She managed to set herself free and spent seven years in prison.

Connecticut’s witch trials were held in the mid-to-late 1600s. In each of the New England colonies, witchcraft was considered a capital offense. According to the earliest laws in the colony of Connecticut, “any man or women (to) bee a Witch, that is, hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit, they shall bee put to death.”

Many historians believe fear and anxiety among the religiously strict English settlers led to the witch trials, noting how life was very difficult, given epidemics, floods, cold winters and starvation. Often, accusations started as a quarrel, or the death of a child or a cow, or even butter that couldn’t be churned.

Many of the people executed as witches were poor, single mothers.

Such was the case of Mary Johnson, a servant in Wethersfield, Connecticut, who was accused of “familiarity with the Devil.”

For years, she was tortured by a local minister who whipped her until she finally confessed to being a witch and admitted to “uncleanness with men,” according to Bridgeport author Andy Piascik, who wrote an article for Connecticut Humanities, an independent, nonprofit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Johnson is believed to have been hanged after giving birth to the child of a man she was not married to.

“It’s important to right the wrongs of the past so we learn from them and move on and not repeat those mistakes,” said Joshua Hutchinson, of Prescott Valley, Arizona, who traced his ancestry to accused witches in Salem and is the host of the “Thou Shalt Not Suffer: The Witch Trial Podcast.”

He noted that even in recent decades people have been killed in multiple countries because they were suspected of being witches or sorcerers.

Beth Caruso, an author, co-founded the CT Witch Trial Exoneration Project in 2005 to clear the names of the accused. The group is encouraging people who discovered through genealogy research that they are descendants of victims to contact Connecticut state legislators and urge them to support exoneration legislation.

Connecticut state Sen. Saud Anwar, who also proposed an exoneration bill, said he expects some people might laugh or scoff at the idea of the Legislature taking time to clear the records of accused witches. But he said the descendants are feeling some “serious stuff,” including a constituent who requested the resolution.

“His wish was that if there was a way to give some kind of a closure to the families,” Anwar said, “that would be one way for him to be able to say that he has done his share, even though his ancestors may have not done the right thing.”

Who is the first person accused of witchcraft

Abigail Williams was 12 years old when strange things began happening to her and her cousin, Betty Parris.

It was January 1692 and Williams was living with her uncle Samual Parris and his family in Salem Village, Massachusetts when she and Betty began having, “fits.”

Reverend Deodat Lawson was previously the minister of Salem Village and recorded his observations. In describing a visit to Mr. Parris’s home, Deodat noted that upon his arrival Abigail Williams had what he described as a “grievous fit.”

Wikimedia Commons A depiction of the Salem Witch Trials.

During this fit, she would move around the room in a rushed manner, “sometimes making as if she would fly, stretching up her arms as high as she could, and crying ‘Whish, Whish, Whish!’ several times.” The young girl also claimed to see invisible spirits and would sporadically cry out in pain.

A local doctor was brought in soon after, who identified the behavior as a result of witchcraft. And thus began the start of the Salem Witch Trials.

The Salem Witch Trials took place between 1692-1693, during which time over 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft.

Convinced that she had been possessed by witches, Abigail Williams became one of the main accusers during the Salem Witch Trials. Williams was responsible for standing as the key witness to many of the first accused witches.

Her accusations along with Betty Parris’ quickly spread around Salem and neighboring villages. The witch hunt was underway.

Wikimedia Commons Depiction of a trial during the Salem Witch Trials.

After Abigail Williams began making accusations, a special witch cake was created with the intention of exposing those who were guilty of witchcraft. To make a witch cake, a sample of the victim’s urine was taken and mixed with rye-meal and ashes. The concoction was then baked into a cake.

Witch-hunters would feed the cakes to special dogs called the “familiars,” thought to be helpers of the witches. The belief was that, under the spell of the witch cake, these dogs would reveal the name of the party guilty of afflicting the victim.

On February 26, 1692, after the first witch cake was made, Abigail Williams accused Tituba, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osbourne of holding supernatural powers attributed to witches. Williams named these women as the people she believed were bewitching her and causing her affliction. All three of them were arrested a few days later on February 29.

Though there are court records showing Williams’ presence at eight of the trials that occurred, her name and subsequent history of her life vanish halfway through the series of trials. Her last recorded testimony is from June 3, 1692, when John Willard and Rebecca Nurse were indicted.

What happened to Abigail Williams after that is unknown, as historical records of her following that trial cease to exist. However, if you are to believe author Arthur Miller (who wrote The Crucible), it is widely speculated that she became a prostitute in Boston.

If you liked this article on Abigail Williams, try reading the possible explanations for the hysteria behind the Salem Witch Trials. Then you may be interested in the historical origins of the witch.

Margaret Jones: First Person Executed for Witchcraft in Massachusetts

Margaret Jones was a midwife from Charlestown and the first person to be executed for witchcraft in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The only information that exists of Jones’ case comes from two sources, Governor John Winthrop’s journal and Reverend John Hale‘s book A Modest Enquiry in to the Nature of Witchcraft.

According to Winthrop’s journal, Jones was accused in 1648 by some of her patients who stated that she told them they would never heal if they refused to take her medicine.

When her patient’s illness and injuries didn’t heal, many began to suspect Jones of witchcraft, leading to her accusation in the spring of 1648.

Yet, according to John Hale’s book A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft, Jones was accused after quarreling with some neighbors:

“Several persons have been charged with and suffered for the crime of witchcraft, in the governments of the Massachusetts, New-Haven, or Stratford and Connecticut, from the year 1646, to the year 1692.

The first was a woman of Charlestown, Anno 1647 or 8. She was suspected partly because that after some angry words passing between her and her neighbors, some mischief befell such neighbours in their creatures, or the like; partly because some things supposed to be bewitched, or have a charm upon them, being burned, she came to the fire and seemed concerned.

The day of her execution. I went in company of some neighbours, who took great pains to bring her to confession and repentance. But she constantly professed herself innocent of that crime: Then one prayed her to consider if God did not bring this punishment upon her for some other crime, if she had not been guilty of stealing many years ago?

She answered, she had stolen something, but it was long since, and she had repented of it, and there was grace enough in Christ to pardon her that long ago; but as for witchcraft she was wholly free from it, and so she said unto her death.”

Jones’ case was heard by the General Court, which consisted of Winthrop, Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley and assistant governors John Endicott, Richard Bellingham, William Hibbins, Richard Saltonstall, Increase Nowell, Simon Bradstreet, John Wintrhop, Jr., and William Pynchon.

The evidence used against Jones was gathered using Matthew Hopkin’s witch-hunting manual, “The Discovery of Witches,” published just a year earlier, which advises “watching” a witch for a period of 24 hours to see if the witch’s imp, or familiar, comes to feed.

Jones was watched on May 18, 1648 and Winthrop stated an imp appeared “in the clear day-light.”

Boston Neck in 1722. The Boston gallows were located left of the fortification

Winthrop recorded all the evidence he gathered against Jones and the outcome of her trial in his journal, which states:

“At this court, one Margaret Jones, of Charlestown, was indicted and found guilty of witchcraft, and hanged for it. The evidence against her was:
1. That she was found to have such a malignant touch, as many persons, men, women, and children, whom she stroked or touched with any affection or displeasure, or etc. [sic], were taken with deafness, or vomiting, or other violent pains or sickness.
2. She practising physic, and her medicines being such things as, by her own confession, were harmless, — as anise-seed, liquors, etc., — yet had extraordinary violent effects.
3. She would use to tell such as would not make use of her physic, that they would never be healed; and accordingly their diseases and hurts continued, with relapse against the ordinary course, and beyond the apprehension of all physicians and surgeons.
4. Some things which she foretold came to pass accordingly; other things she would tell of, as secret speeches, etc., which she had no ordinary means to come to the knowledge of.
5. She had, upon search, an apparent teat … as fresh as if it had been newly sucked; and after it had been scanned, upon a forced search, that was withered, and another began on the opposite side.
6. In the prison, in the clear day-light, there was seen in her arms, she sitting on the floor, and her clothes up, etc., a little child, which ran from her into another room, and the officer following it, it was vanished. The like child was seen in two other places to which she had relation; and one maid that saw it, fell sick upon it, and was cured by the said Margaret, who used means to be employed to that end. Her behavior at her trial was very intemperate, lying notoriously, and railing upon the jury and witnesses, etc., and in the like distemper she died. The same day and hour she was executed, there was a very great tempest at Connecticut, which blew down many trees, etc.”

Jones was hanged from a tree on June 15, 1648 at Gallow’s Hill on Boston Neck, a narrow stretch of land connecting Boston peninsula to the mainland. Winthrop made note in his journal that a storm hit Connecticut the day of her execution, which was the state’s first tornado.

Jones’ husband, Thomas, had also been accused of witchcraft and arrested but was released after his wife’s execution. According to Winthrop’s journal, Thomas tried to leave the colony on a ship called the “Welcome” but it had a heavy load and had trouble keeping its balance.

When it became known that the husband of a convicted witch was on board, the captain quarreled with him and he was arrested and taken off the ship, after which, the ship reportedly stayed upright.

About 80 people were accused and arrested for witchcraft in New England between the years 1647 and 1688 and 12 were executed before a new witch hunt began a few years later in Salem in 1692.

Coincidentally, Reverend John Hale played a big part in bringing the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 to an end after his own wife was accused of witchcraft during the hysteria.

Sources:
Winthrop, John. History of New England from 1630-1649. Little Brown & Company, 1853
Hale, John. Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft. B. Green, and J. Allen , 1702
Hopkins, Matthew. The Discovery of Witches. Matthew Hopkins, 1647
Guiley, Rosemary. The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca. Visionary Living Inc, 2008
Witch-Hunting in Seventeenth-Century New England: A Documentary History 1638-1693. Edited by David D. Hall. Northeastern University Press, 2005

06/10 – Salem’s First “Witch”

On this day in 1692, an English woman by the name of Bridget Bishop was brought before a municipal court in Salem, Massachusetts. Settled in 1626 by Puritans (Protestant refugees from England), the town was gripped by a wave of terror that, according to many, was motivated by a recent string of occult incidents. Fearing for their lives, Salem’s residents accused Bishop – a bartender at Salem’s tavern, according to some accounts – of committing one of the most egregious crimes of all: witchcraft.

Salem in 1630, soon after it was founded by Puritans. Life in New England was difficult, and often very isolated. (NOBLE Digital Heritage)

A number of Salem’s young women claimed to have been possessed by an apparition that looked like Bishop; whenever Bishop glanced in their direction, the women were struck down, unable to move. Only Bishop’s touch would bring them back to life. Other “witnesses” claimed that Bishop owned a number of poppets, small figurines allegedly used in occult ceremonies, and one man proclaimed that Bishop had poisoned his cat. Perhaps the most damning bit of evidence was a popular belief that Bishop possessed a third nipple, a sure sign of a witch (although only two nipples were present on the day of Bishop’s trial). Much of the evidence against Bishop was contradictory, false, or disturbingly personal – Bishop had a number of enemies, having been married three times – but attendants were upset by Bishop’s calm demeanour and her demonstrably false statements. The court found Bishop guilty, and the crowd marched her off to be hanged. As the rope was placed around her neck, Bridget Bishop became the very first victim of the Salem Witch Trials.

Salem’s townfolk in the midst of a wave of “witch panic”. (History.com)

In the ensuing months, over 200 people in and around Salem were accused of witchcraft. Contrary to popular belief, none of them were burned at the stake: a majority of those found guilty were hanged, although one man was pressed to death with large stones. Partially inspired by circulating copies of Malleus Maleficarum – a discredited German manual for combatting the occult – the murderous rampage of Salem’s townsfolk is colonial America’s first example of mass hysteria. Puritanical fears of women, foreigners and sexuality likely motivated many of the killings (78% of Salem’s “witches” were women, and at least one was a slave from the West Indies). Many in Salem reportedly dealt with sleep terrors and paralysis, likely motivated by a string of night raids by Native Americans; additionally, Salem’s rye bread supply may have been infected with elements of hallucinogenics like LSD.

Another significant case of witchcraft accusations is the Salem witch trials in colonial Massachusetts, which occurred in the late 17th century. The trials began in 1692 when Betty Parris and Abigail Williams, two young girls from Salem Village, started exhibiting strange behavior. It was believed that they were under the influence of witchcraft.

The first person to be accused of practicing witchcraft during the Salem trials was Tituba, a Caribbean slave who worked in the Parris household. Tituba was accused of casting spells upon the girls and forcing them to engage in harmful magical practices. Although Tituba was the first person to be formally accused in the Salem witch trials, it is important to acknowledge that witchcraft accusations were not limited to her or to that specific time period. Witchcraft accusations and trials have occurred throughout history in various parts of the world, often resulting in widespread persecution and the execution of innocent individuals. Overall, while it is challenging to pinpoint the very first person accused of witchcraft, it is clear that witchcraft accusations have a long and complex history. The earliest documented cases date back to ancient civilizations, such as Mesopotamia, and continue to be a part of human society to varying extents in different eras and cultures. Such accusations have had profound and often tragic consequences for countless individuals throughout history..

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Exploring Dark Secrets: Uncovering the First Witchcraft Suspect