The people wronged by the Salem Witch Trials as descendants fight to clear names

31 October 2023 , 21:25

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For some, Halloween masks the injustices of the Salem Witch trials. Ancestors of the victims hope to clear their names (Image: AP)

Families of doomed people who became victims of the Salem Witch trials are hoping to clear their name nearly four centuries later.

The Massachusetts Witch-Hunt Justice Project is made up of descendants of victims, along with history buffs. Its leader Josh Hutchinson, said it is "It’s important that we correct the injustices of the past," - a period in history in which a total of 25 people, mostly women, were sentenced to death and killed over the course of 1692 to 1693 in Colonial Massachusetts. Men and children were also killed.

Hutchinson, who noted he counts both accusers and victims among his ancestors, added: "We’d like an apology for all of the accused or indicted or arrested." The group hopes to take a petition to the Statehouse.

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A drawing of Martha Corey and her prosecutors. Corey was hanged, accused of being a witch. Her husband defended her and was also put to death (Print Collector/Getty Images)

The misogynistic trials were horrific in that baseless and egregiously unfair accusations were made against innocent people, mostly women, who paid the price for blind faith and unproven superstitions. It wasn't just the brief period of state-sanctioned deaths that was the problem, hundreds of individuals were accused of witchcraft in what would become the Commonwealth of Massachusetts between 1638 and 1693.

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Generally, those who were caught up in witch trials have been forgotten including five women hanged for witchcraft in Boston between 1648 and 1688. The Peabody Essex Museum described the trials as the "defining example of intolerance and injustice in American history."

So who were the accused women?

The accused

Among the women accused in Boston was Ann Hibbins, sister-in-law to Massachusetts Gov. Richard Bellingham. She was executed in 1656, as was Goodwife Ann Glover, hanged in Boston in 1688.

A plaque dedicated to her is located on the front of a Catholic church in the city's North End neighborhood, describing her as “the first Catholic martyr in Massachusetts." It's one of the few physical reminders of the city's witch trial history.

In one particular case, the Towne sisters from Topsfield, Massachusetts, were hanged in 1692. Rebecca Nurse - the sisters' maiden name was Towne - was nearly deaf and this may have prevented her from being able to defend herself properly in court. The jury returned a not guilty verdict on Rebecca, but the judges asked them to reverse it - sister Mary was also put to death, while the final sibling Sarah was inexplicably released.

The people wronged by the Salem Witch Trials as descendants fight to clear names

Gravesite of Samuel Sewall, a judge in the 1692-1693 Salem witch trials who later issued a public confession (AP)

The death of Bridget Bishop also shows the power of the unfounded suspicion of the time. The Peabody Essex Museum said "multiple accusers claimed Bishop’s specter was responsible for damages and afflictions" and that "testimonies were the result of longstanding suspicions or misattributed gossip about Sarah Bishop," a different person.

Justice

Several exonerations have been made by Massachusetts, along with a number of apologies, but not every person has been absolved.

The witch justice group has already successfully spearheaded a similar effort in Connecticut, home of the first person executed for witchcraft in the American colonies in 1647 - Alse Young. The last witchcraft trial in Connecticut happened in 1697 and ended with the charges being dismissed.

Connecticut state senators in May voted by 34-1 to absolve 12 women and men convicted of witchcraft - 11 of whom were executed - more than 370 years ago and apologize for the "miscarriage of justice" that occurred over a dark 15-year-period of the state’s colonial history.

Plaque memorialising Goodwife Ann Glover or Goody Glover, hanged as a witch in Boston in 1688 (AP)

Chief genealogist for the New England Historic Genealogical Society, David Allen Lambert, said: "We can’t change history but maybe we can send the accused an apology. It kind of closes the chapter in a way."