Fairfield connecticut witch trials

A sign behind Fairfield's Town Hall commemorates the area where accussed witches were once "dunked. The area formerly known as Edward's Pond behind Fairfield's Town Hall was once an area used to "dunk" accused witches. Today, the area is a grassy land. Taken Oct. An illustration of a woman being arrested for witchcraft adorns a sign in front of what was once called Edward's Pond. The area today is now filled with grass and trees. A sign behind Fairfield's Town Hall commemorates the area where residents accussed of witchcraft were once "dunked.

WESTPORT — Halloween is around the corner, and with that comes young trick-or-treaters disguised as superheroes, ghosts and the fabled magicians of old — witches. Interestingly enough, the town has its own history with the latter. Some testimonies maintain that she intimated an allegiance with the dark powers, while others claim that she maintained an unwavering denial of guilt until the moment of her death. Familiars were small and sometimes invisible animals believed to be sent to aid the witch in carrying out acts of witchcraft.

The body of the accused was searched diligently, with clinical precision; any unusual growth or mark upon the skin was suspect and hailed as evidence of witchery.

Frequently, the psychological strain endured by the condemned was enough to manifest itself in delusions or mental breakdowns that seemed self-incriminating by nature. They are not. Reprinted by permission. In all, Connecticut heard 43 witchcraft cases, with 16 of these ending in execution. And Wethersfield, with nine documented accusations and three executions between and , is where the story begins.

In the first case, that of Mary Johnson, there was no trial, or even a documented accusation, because Johnson confessed under pressure from Reverend Samuel Stone. Even less is known about this couple or the circumstances surrounding their ordeal. An inventory of the Carrington estate, completed in , revealed the value to be a paltry 23 pounds, 11 shillings. Their debts further cut that value in half.

In Wethersfield, more than years after the fact, the line between legend and reality is particularly blurred because many court records are incomplete or missing altogether, and those that do exist offer severely biased accounts. Since the overwhelming majority of the victims were poor and often transient, most did not leave any personal belongings for historians to study.

In the novel, for instance, the witch of Blackbird pond is a Quaker. While Quakers were certainly viewed as dissidents, they were not persecuted in Connecticut as witches. Yet most readers would never think to question such a point. And so the line between fact and legend grows blurrier. Those accused of witchcraft were thought to have signed a compact with the devil, choosing him over God and thereby gaining supernatural powers.

A person exhibiting pride, discontent, greed, and lying risked being believed a witch. How could the Puritans, whose culture emphasized education and prudence, have believed such outlandish notions? Wethersfield residents, for their part, had plenty to fear. They could lose their sheep and other farm animals to wolf and bear attacks.

The Connecticut River could flood at any time, wiping out crops. Epidemics visited the region in and, killing dozens of townspeople in an already small and unstable population. The local Native Americans were equally dangerous.