The American Witch Trials Before Salem - Witches & Witch Hunting in Colonial North America
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 พ.ย. 2022
- While the Witch Trials of 1692/3 Salem are the most infamous in American history, there were numerous other Witch Panics, Trials and Executions in the North American Colonies. This episode discusses the earliest Witch Trials in Virginia, Maryland and Connecticut. From the first woman accused in Virginia, to the first executed in Connecticut, the men accused and executed, even those executed aboard ship on their way to the Colonies come learn the history of the Colonial Witch Trials that happened before being overshadowed by those in Salem.
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#witch #witchcraft #americanhistory
Recommended Reading:
Boynton - Connecticut Witch Trials - 978-1626193871
Ross - Before Salem: Witch Hunting in the Connecticut River Valley, 1647-1663 - 978-1476666488
Karlsen - The Devil in the Shape of a Woman - 978-0393317596
Hall - Witch-Hunting in Seventeenth-Century New England: A Documentary History 1638-1693 - 978-0822336136
Virginia - General Court Hears Case on Witchcraft (1626) - encyclopediavirginia.org/entr...
Primary Documents Connecticut Witchcraft Trials - libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/...
Make Sure to Subscribe & Consider supporting Esoterica by
becoming a monthly Patron - www.patreon.com/esotericachannel
a one time donation - www.paypal.me/esotericachannel
or the Super Thanks - Your support is profoundly appreciated!
Accusing your friends neighbors of evil is making a comeback.
Where have you been for the last decade?
🤣
😂
@@xunqianbaidu6917 today it's both sides
Did it ever really leave?
Thank you. I am a direct descendant of John Alden, who was lucky to be a survivor of the Salem Trials, but never knew about the frenzy in Connecticut. All witch trial victims should be posthumously pardoned and their killers condemned.
Yes I feel the same way, the witch trials in Connecticut were not known to me either.
As a descendent of a banished colonialist, I find this fascinating
Thank you for this video! It's so hard to find information on Alse Young. I found out I am a direct descendant and since then it's been frustrating to see that what happened to her has been overshadowed by Salem. What happened to all of these men and women was terrible and horrifying.
Keep looking. There's an essay or article about a member of the Connecticut government that was ousted and was so bitter he burned the city notes, documents, logs, everything out of spite. Supposedly, that's why we have nothing but mentions of those trials. My ancestors were likely those that sat in the jury. Thomas Holcome was a political leader and Deacon William Gaylord was a church leader. Either would have been in the courthouse. Another ancestor, Richard Birge, likely knew Ms. Young. I hate to think my family did hateful things, but they may have. They would've hanged me as I am a practicing witch. 😅
Thanks for your continued efforts to raise the level of the discourse and to create community among TH-camrs!
Many thanks for your generous support!
It was truly wonderful to find this learned corner of TH-cam!
John Hale's 'A Modest Enquiry Into the Nature of Witchcraft [etc.]' has a good summary of witchcraft trials in New England before the Salem witch panic and what people at the time thought of it.
The book is a good source on the trials themselves too. Hale was a pastor in Beverly at the time and part of the movement to find and execute witches. His book could be summarized as "So maybe we went a little overboard, but . . . "
You hhp
Interesting stuff. I would have used this as a resource last year when I taught honors US History to 8th graders. You should have seen the presentations my kids gave for the Salem With Trials unit I laid on them using a Shirley Jackson audio book. One skit was absolutely hysterical... It would have been rad to give them the Ben Franklin article!
It is pretty interesting - pity these trials don't get more coverage or that Salem isn't seen as part of a larger Colonial and Euro-Sphere event. There are powerful lessons to be learned from all this, imho.
@@TheEsotericaChannel I was particularly interested to hear that Winthrop was involved in legal cases involving Winthrop. Witch Trials were an important turning point in the evolution of modern jurisprudence that we would do well to scrutinize.
I am a grand daughter of Goody Bassett.
Neat - it's amazing how many ancestors survive!
America: We had the most heinous witch trials!
Wurzburg: That's cute.
My ancestor was one of the Salem 20, too bad for them she already had many children.
Same here. 10x Grandpa Proctor had a backup plan bc his wife was pregnant and he already had a little league team 😂
Wow, I had no idea about this Connecticut witch hunt! Thank you so much for shedding a light on this! This was incredibly fascinating to listen to on a slow work day. 🥰
It's really a pity that the whole picture of witch trials is so poorly understood - the victims deserve better
@@TheEsotericaChannel I absolutely agree! It’s insane how little we really know.
It sounded like you said "alchemist governor" :)
Bring back alchemist governors!
jesse "the alchemist" ventura
Nutmegger/Connecticut resident here. I love this channel and didn't even know a lot of this Connecticut history. Thank you Dr. Sledge for simultaneously entertaining and enlightening me.
human beings are a very panicy bunch. it's our worst trait and the cause of so many deaths
Verily
This is so interesting!!! Especially the fact that the paranoid of witchcraft colony had an alchemist governor thats kind of a funny oxymoron
Thank you so much for covering this topic! I am a historian from Connecticut and worked on a project that sought to bring to light Connecticut's witch trials. While I think Salem is fascinating, it does frustrate me that people tend to think of it as the be-all-end-all of New England's witch panic. I actually grew up down the street from some very notorious sites relating to Connecticut's witch trials. For those looking to know more, I would suggest reading about Goodwife/Goody Knapp (tried and executed) and Mary Staples (was informally accused of witchcraft by none other than Roger Ludlow, but a slander lawsuit prevented a formal accusation).
Yep, I included some of the documents about them in the episode - it was an important episode for me to make !
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, research and ideas.
I know it's not much but at least purchase yourself an item of sustenance to keep you going during your hours of research!
Many thanks!
This production quality is just immaculate, such a pleasure to watch and listen
You are becoming my favorite teacher of all time.
While I do not wish to make light of these events overly, the joking qualification of Winthrop as “Sane” reminds me of the modern trope of “We need an adult.” With dubious irony status.
_"I am an adult."_
My Maternal Grand mother was a Litchfield and thus was descended from a very long line of Interesting characters .Some of whom were early settlers in the new World. This is why always watch interesting vids of this area in the US to if any ancestors are mentioned, thankfully none were mentioned this time...😁😁
Very good, thanks for the upload. Many moons ago I did my history degree dissertation on witchcraft trials in England.
I always wondered if there where more witch trials other than Salem. Thank you for this video!
I absolutely learning about these little known facts, thank you so much for this! Excellent work as always.
Hope you and the family had a happy thanksgiving! Always appreciate your videos.
Omg this is going to be so good!!! I am so excited to listen!
Thanks Dr. Sledge, for another informative video.
I really enjoy you sharing scholarship with us. Excellent stuff!
awesome as always!
Grace Sherwood aka the Witch of Pungo is celebrated in Virginia Beach today, Witch Duck Road leads to the pond in which shes was ducked. There's a Sherwood Lane, Witch Duck Bay and Witch Duck Point. There's a statue of her is the city as well.
This by far the best channel I've come across that offers genuine knowledge of occult science's and literature thx for the content.
Awesome video, one of my relatives did a family tree discovering that we were related to an accused witch in Connecticut. From the court documents it sounded like she was just a mean old lady and a bad cook (sounded just like my grandma, her descendant 😂) And she was one of the ones banished from the colony
"For Pete's sake, if you can't stop stinking up the village with burnt cabbage just go away!"
@@williamchamberlain2263 yup pretty much
Another great video! I especially appreciate the reading recommendations. This is going to be incredibly vague, but I'd love a video on late medieval black books and how they used christianity or how christian folk magic really was. I've read bits of some Norwegian black books and they surprised me how christian they were. It's a lot of "to make a sick mare well, feed her the last spoon of porridge made on michaelmas and then recite three hail marys before the beast". I mean, I know a lot of witch persecutions weren't really about the fear of the devil and more about social and political warcraft. I just find it so strange to be executing people who are clearly christian for being in league with the devil.
So, logically, If she weighs the same as a duck... she's made of wood!
Who are you, who are so wise in the ways of Science?
Fantastic work as per always, Dr. Sledge, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate the insight and knowledge I have attained through your videos, and I look forward to continuing this fascinating journey into the esoteric and Arcane. I also would love to see more collaborations with Atun-Shei films, perhaps diving into New Orleans voodoo or the native American contributions to hoodoo and similar southern folkways that are sadly often overlooked and understudied.
Great idea and thanks!
I very much enjoyed this video and learned new information. Thank you for being on TH-cam :)
Thanks to the cashier at Stater Bros. For recommending this channel ♥️😊
This very episode is exactly why you are a rock star, and I am a true fan of your's, Sir.
Thank you for awesome video !
Thanks for the video, my 10XGreat grandparents John & Joan Carrington were two of the victims of Connecticut and one of my distant cousins was married to Grace Sherwood, who has plaque in the Virginia Beach Heroes Monument (possibly because she did take part in the first wet tee-shirt display in Virginia Beach).
Jon Stevens addressed this topic on the Daily Show a while ago. Yes you were in a new country. We are all heavier than ducks.
I thoroughly appreciate the VVitch reference. A little light in the dark if you will.
Most excellent !!
Thanks!
Thanks
Thank you
Very interesting. Could you follow this up with a video on the extreme kind of pastors who, in the current day, believe in witchcraft? Would be interesting to see it compared.
Thank you.
Such a pleasure to hear someone pronounce "respite" correctly.
Just started watching the channel and it's extremely interesting. Do you know of anyone doing similarly accessible scholarly work on East Asian mythology, mysticism, etc.?
Often only the devastating plight of indigenous people is what one envisions when reading the words "Puritan Colonization". Mahalo JJS, for voicing the many heinously cruel things endured by some upon that acreage cleared of rocks and trees.
@17:26 now that’s a “different look” for Benjamin Franklin wearing a interesting hat X 😂😎😁👍🏻🙌🏻✨❤️🔥✨
He became famous for that 'coon-skin' hats while he was in France.
Nice woodcuts!
I would love any further reading you recommend on the association between apocalyptic Christian beliefs and the colonization of North America. I haven't heard anything about the two being overtly linked before, and the idea that they are is pretty fascinating.
I know it's a lot to ask, but it would really help if you could add subtitles when you mention specific names. In this case you referred (5'40") to a second-Temple period Jewish sect that denied the existence of angels and demons. I am endlessly curious and whenever I learn something new, or a new information shows up, I look it up immediately to expand my background knowledge. But, sometimes, like in this case, I can't even get started.
He said 'Sadducees'. The same ones mentioned in the New Testament. Lot of info available... Just got to watch for scholars speaking more about the later religious traditions rather than keeping them in clear historical context...
Thanks also to The Doctrine of Discovery.
Great video.
I wonder what a certain Witchfinder General would think of the c. 1650s Rhode Island Public Transit System!
Also, Alchemist = critical "scientific"/skeptical thinker (sort of) in the 1st half of the 1600s.
Bewitching as always.
Family history just waving in the wind
I’m a descendant of Nicholas and Margaret Jennings.. thank you for talking about this.
You may be interested to know, I grew up in Connecticut and went to High School during the mid 80's where we often used a slang phrase "That's Wicked Cool".
I moved out of state and some 30 years later, I stated that same phrase in conversation with someone I had recently met in the Rocky Mountain area. He asked me, "are you from Massachusetts?
I answered, "No, I'm from Connecticut." He went on to explain he works with someone born and raised in Mass., this coworker uses the phrase "That's Wicked" all the time.
I find it curious that Connecticut and Massachusetts seem to have flipped what was once most evil in descriptive wording and use the word "Wicked" to represent something wild and exciting.
I suppose you must also take into consideration the grade school curriculum of the late 70's to mid 80's included history lessons on the Salem Witch Trials along with a brief mention of trials in Connecticut. As early as grade 3 our class took a field trip to Salem, Mass. along with a field trip to another Puritan-like town in Connecticut east of Coventry where a woman had been put on trial and convicted of witchcraft.
Anyway, I thought it was worth noting how New England Culture has changed.
Thx for the videos. I enjoy the format and topics and look forward to future videos.
When I was a kid in southern Ontario in the 'sixties, "wicked' with that favourable meaning had a short run in the fashionable argot of young people; since then, I've heard it now and again over the years in central and eastern Canada.
Thanks \,,/
Thank you for this im alse youngs 17th great granddaughter i actually practice witchcraft myself i appreciate knowing more about her
You should do an episode on the little black book of Venus
Justin, you’re a savage creator ❤
what is the title of the paining at the 5:05 mark? Also, thanks for this video, I really enjoy your videos!!
CAN YOU DO ONE ON ANCIENT BABYLONIAN RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY ONE DAY?
Im a descendent of one of the Danvers/Salem trials, 13 generations ago. The family were all imprisoned and the mother executed. Personally I think she was executed for being outspoken and having land.
That tended to do it
Freightened people always should know better, but it is hard to blame them. If you aren't thinking strait for fear of personal harm, you aren't. That may not be your fault. I want to live also.
There should have been some level heads to even those keels even. An odd mixture of metaphor, but the points made.
All that said, these people wouldn't have known how to successfully do this to the man, and it falls on those in charge to have the authority. This often failed, as you pointed out. Not everyone is able to instill a feeling of being able to handle things to others.
People were being tared and feathered around this time also. If you have even been burnt and had tar on you, you might get how bad that is. A hanging might be a better end, even if it was unjust.
Unfortunate events for sure, but I worry people are trying to impose their level of understanding and poise on people not so gifted. I feel a large amount of compassion for all involved. It is all to easy to judge & hard to forgive. I don't see this having eveolved out of humans. If anything, this should give us perspective.
Thank you for a fair version of events. We need to remember who we are.
Silly thing. Someone posted the often cited quote, "Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.". Looking back over history...doomed! Lol.
Sorry, but I could end on such a somber note.
Well I didn't know there were witch trials in Virginia and Maryland as well! All I know was the one in Salem, MA, and I don't think I knew about the one happening in Conneticut either 😅. #themoreyouknow
Do Northumberland and great island imps next. Let's just tell All of my family history 😂😂😂 mystic river? ❤❤
Yes men still believe that our witches out there in the world how they can hurt them. This hateful behaviour stem from fear of unknown knowledge.
Please expound on the dead sea scrolls or even the philosophers stone 🙏, thank you
I guess it doesn't suprise me this happened in the rest of the thirteen colonies,but this history really should get more coverage and recognition and be taught 🤔
Are you at all familiar with Joseph Citro's book, Passing Strange? It's about supernatural events in New England. At one point, he relates the tale of the entities he labels "the horrible harlequins". It is a kind of Jungian supernatural event. These oddly-dressed fellows gave some colonists a VERY hard time. I can't do the story justice here. If you can get a hold of the Citro book, I think you'll be glad you did.
Thanks for the recommendation that sounds really interesting. Going to seek the book out.
"... CATS and DOGS, LIVING TOGETHER! ..." 🤣😂👍
Im a direct decedent of Richard Birge, Thomas Holcome, and Deacon William Gaylord. At least one of them knew Alice Young personally and at least one was involved in her trial.
Edit: this was in Windsor and Hartford Connecticut in 1647.
I just finished an excellent book, "The Ruin of All Witches" by Malcolm Gaskill, about the witch trials of Hugh and Mary Parsons, in Springfield, Massachusetts. It isn't a thorough witch story for Esoterica viewers, but it is a complete description of the world of the settlers in these early frontier settlements, and it describes well the environment and thinking behind these people and how the psychological pressures and real world threats the colonists were under, helped create the fear that sometimes expressed relief through fears of witchcraft. These trials took place circa 1650.
And another, less esoteric grounded book, "Regeneration through Violence", by Richard Slotkin, does explain how the reality of "frontier", for European settlers from the 17th Century through the 19th Century, grounds and creates the worldview of early Americans and helps create the national mythos we still have and carry with us today of "living in the frontier" no matter there is no more geographic frontier to discover. Recommend!
My 10th great grandparents John and Joan Carrington were executed for witchcraft in Hartford, Connecticut in March of 1651. I don’t know a lot about the circumstances behind their hanging and would love to know more. Unfortunately I don’t think it was well recorded.
I need a TV show on the alchemist governor
anyone can explain what symbol is used for this channel? i wonder since Esoterica appeared is this a hand holding another smiley hand or squeezed frog or is this something completely different? first impression is mayan style, but certainly it is not.
My fear is of this coming back, as humans in North America become more radicalized in Christianity.
Jameson Reese....radicalized IN Christianity? In my neck of the woods people are getting radicalized Against Christianity. Apparently now it is not acceptable to say anyone's destructive / hurtful/dishonest behavior is wrong. It's all 'you do you' and no accountability.
A good man
💜🙏
We were taught in public schools that our ancestors-the pilgrims-fled to the New World "to escape religious persecution"; and now we know why they were being persecuted-it was because they were committing wretched, intolerable deeds! Enlightenment isn't everything but this country is still yet to be enlightened in the sense of having basic scientific underpinnings
⚡⚡
🙏
My ancestor, Mary Barnes, was the last person to be hanged in Connecticut.
I wonder if there were witch panics in the French or Spanish colonies of North America?
Louisiana has a reputation of occultism which goes beyond the Marie Leveaux tourist industry.
There of course was a lot of distance between the puritans in New England and the largely Catholic French and Spanish colonizers on the Gulf.
But not so much distance to Canada?
PS: Love the archaic spelling.
If I ever have kids they are def getting an archaic spelling of a common name.
"Cathoran" sounds good.
The Catholic colonies were populated by many folks fleeing the Inquisition. Worse than witch hunting?! Many "Crypto" Jews, those who converted to Catholicism but maintained some hidden practices, came to NM. It's a fascinating history. NM also has Brujas; herbalists, midwives...witches.
UUhere all my UUitches at?
Somehow using the u rather than the v makes it so much worse
Also y'all had trials up there too, right? They even had them in colonial Bermuda of all places
@@TheEsotericaChannel honestly, if it happened here, it's entirely off my radar. I am profoundly uninterested in Canadian history and the only thing I know about it was fed to me by the state in public school where they don't exactly highlight the atrocities. If you ever want to make your lowest reaching video ever (for science), do one on Canadian UUitches!!
And this was crazy to find out since my family of origin are Jehivahs witnesses and I have been studying witchcraft and wicca for years..I just found out right before Halloween of the ancestry. (yes I know they weren't actually witches but strange coincidence)
While I can understand abandoning the Jehovah's Witnesses (heretical to the core), why did you ultimately opt for Wicca? No judgement, only curious.
@@Xbalanque84 I was drawn to it because its nature based and unstructured (probably because I had enough rules shoved down my throat). im not in a coven either though.
My children are direct descendants of Winifred Benham
I'm so, I was one of those witches that was hunted, tortured and murdered. It's so nice to be able to practice out of the closet but make no mistake the persecution and demonizing people, especially women, for practicing their form of spirituality that threatens them is still very much alive. I want to say thank you for paying them honors and respects as I wish to do as well. To me they are all Saints and martyrs for the love of their truth, their own truth.
up in this witch!
Hey doctor sledge do you plan on touching the subject of communism, ive seen you mention it in various of your videos it would be interesting to see that angle historically also
Gonna do an episode on Marx at some point. Maybe esotericism in the Soviet Union.
I wish someone had told me what was going on and who are ancestors are. There needs to be an instruction sheet for everyone who has historical trauma because that way we will be able to navigate interactions and avoid past traumas. A good thing is how healers/witches, Quakers, religious sects, refugees ect worked together. No more witch hunts, no more demonizing. Lets put people in really good environments and give them some really good exoerinces so that they aren't trapped in repeat generational trauma cycles. I love my children, and I want them to have good lives.
I've seen a video on tik tok (so I took it with a grain of salt since I didn't have the time to research the topic) stating that our current depiction of witches - mostly the pointy hat, was influence by antisemitism. Any thoughts on the matter?
yep, that's true.
🙂
So was it being left handed that was associated with being a witch or a sinister , The hidden hand Of fate ... That Fascinates me , Because the left side of the body is controlled by the right side of a brain , Possibly left handed individuals could have greater development of the Neural pathwaves on the right sides of their brains , Associated with art dream creativity Vision , As opposed to more mundane and analytical processes Handled by the left side of the Brain , At least that's what they were saying in the 1980s when I read on this