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A Virginia witch trial loosely based on the story of Joan Wright is featured in a 2017 episode of the British drama television series Jamestown. [19] In 2019, an original play, "Season of the Witch" premiered at the Jamestown Settlement. The play is a dramatic retelling of the witch trials in Virginia, with a focus on the story of Wright. [20]
The most notable witch trial that occurred in colonial Virginia is the case of Grace Sherwood of Princess Anne County, the only Virginia woman to have ever been found guilty of witchcraft. In 1698, her neighbors first accused Sherwood of having “bewitched their pigs to death and bewitched their Cotton [crop]”.
Judges were even administering water tests in order to find out if the accused were actually guilty or not. Records even show that the last witchcraft trial that took place on the mainland colonies happened in Virginia around 1730. Since then, the trials that occurred in Virginia are often forgotten as a key aspect of witchcraft in Colonial ...
A look back at the colonial roots of a Halloween hallmark.
[8] [9] A 24-member jury was convened, and the witch trial heard testimony from numerous county residents. [10] [11] All records regarding his charges have been lost. [12] [13] [14] On November 20, 1656, Harding was found guilty of the charges, sentenced to 13 whip lashes, ordered to pay all court costs, and formally banished from the county.
In the years since the witch trials, the unfairly-accused have been exonerated and, in 1957, Massachusetts issued a formal apology for the trials, stating that the proceedings were "shocking" and ...
Puritan pilgrims carried these beliefs to the American colonies, and during the hysteria over witchcraft in the 1500s and 1600s, black cats were feared and vilified, believed to be witches in ...
Although few Virginia records survive from that era, 19 known witchcraft cases were brought in the colony during the 17th century, all but one of which ended in acquittal. [ 9 ] [ 14 ] [ 28 ] The one conviction was a 1656 case of a man convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to 10 stripes and banishment from the county.