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Post by Graveyardbride on Jun 11, 2014 18:23:02 GMT -5
Today Marks the Anniversary of the First Salem Witch HangingSALEM, Mass. – Today marks the day of the first hanging in what would eventually become known as the Salem Witch Trials.
Bridget Bishop was tried for witchcraft, gaining more accusations than any other alleged witch on trial. After pleading innocent, she was found guilty. She was hanged in Salem on June 10, 1692. According to the History Channel, “Bishop, known around town for her dubious moral character, frequented taverns, dressed flamboyantly (by Puritan standards) and was married three times.”
In March 1692, the first women in the coastal Massachusetts town to be charged with witchcraft were Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba, an Indian slave from Barbados. Good was hanged July 19, 1692, Osborne died in prison May 10, 1692, and Tituba was released from jail and sold to a new master, according to the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s chronology of the trials.
The Salem Witch Trials would lead to the arrests of approximately 150 individuals, of whom 19 were hanged, and a 20th, Giles Corey, was pressed to death. Those who had been awaiting trial were released the following year.
Today in Salem, you can attend witch trial re-enactments at the Old City Hall; walk through the cemetery where some of those associated with the witch trials are buried, and visit the Salem Witch Trials Memorial (above), where Bridget Bishop and the other 19 victims are memorialized in stone. Source: Megan Turchi, Boston Local, June 10, 2014.
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Post by Kate on Jun 10, 2023 10:47:39 GMT -5
The "Thought for the Day" reminded me of Bridge Bishop's hanging, which is now the 331st anniversary. In the old Yahoo group, we had a series of day-by-day events at Salem, which I very much enjoyed, but they might not be as popular today as they were then.
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Post by Kate on Jun 10, 2024 4:08:44 GMT -5
In a lot of books and articles about the Salem Witch Trials, Bridget Bishop seems to be something of an afterthought, when, in my opinion, her case was one of the worst of all. At least one of the men who testified against her, Richard Coman, blamed her for his own lechery and said that she came to him in the night and sat on his chest, trying to suffocate him. What probably happened was that he had sleep paralysis following a wet dream about her. William Stacy and two or three other men also accused her of plaguing him as they slept.
Another man testified that he was tormented by her "familiar," a creature whose "body looked like a monkey" with "a cock's feet" and "claws and the face somewhat more like a man's than a monkey." There was testimony from others that she had driven a pig "stark mad."
Thomas Oliver, her second husband was abusive and they were known to fight and at one time, they were sentenced to pay a fine or be whipped. Another time, they were sentenced to public humiliation. Oliver didn't live long after the public humiliation and when he died, his children accused Bridget of killing him.
Once a person was accused of witchcraft, any time something odd happened or there was talk of witches, people would remember and the person would often be accused again. If Bridget hadn't been accused of witchcraft at least twice before, she probably wouldn't have been accused in 1692.
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