A 19th-century illustration of the founding of the colony of New Haven (in later

Connecticut) by puritan preacher John Davenport, 1638.

ullstein bild / Getty Images

By RAY CAVANAUGH
October 31, 2016

Owing to its brief but intense history as a place where people were
accused of and punished for witchcraft, Salem, Mass.—a.k.a. “Witch
City”—becomes a major venue for Halloween activity and
anticipation each October. However, by the time Salem’s witch trials
started in 1692, Connecticut—the only colonial American place other
than Salem with a significant track record of witch
trialsand executions—was already winding down its half-century of
persecution.
In 1647—five years after Connecticut made witchcraft a crime
punishable by death—Hartford saw the first witch-related execution
in colonial America when Alse Young was sent to the gallows. As no
records of her trial survive, details of her case are sketchy. There is
speculation that she was deemed responsible for an epidemic in a
nearby community.

Life was typically bleak for these colonial settlers. When they weren’t
busy contending with defiant natives, there was hunger, cold and the
frequent fatal epidemic. Someone was to blame for all this. In the
prevailing Puritan ethos, the presence of Satan was a daily reality,
and he could appear in myriad ways, witchcraft among them. These
colonials subscribed to a literal reading of Exodus 22:18, with its
instruction that, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” Those
persons who didn’t conform—in lifestyle, appearance, or demeanor—
to the rigid Puritan mores were at increased risk of being accused.

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Between 1647 and 1697, about three dozen people (the exact number
is disputed, as many court records have been lost) were charged with
witchcraft in Connecticut. Eleven were executed, all by hanging. Nine
of the 11 were women. The two men executed were hanged along with
their wives. Of those who weren’t executed, some fled their
community; others were banished.

Connecticut’s second executed witch, Mary Johnson, was sent to the

gallows in 1648 after having been detained and tortured for years,
according toConnecticutHistory.org. Under duress, she admitted to
“familiarity with the Devil” and “uncleanness with men and devils,”
thereby providing the first recorded confession of witchcraft in the
American colonies.
When Connecticut’s witch purges began, just a single witness was
needed to mount a trial and conviction. If one had a vindictive enemy
or someone who stood to gain financially from one’s downfall, then a
witchcraft prosecution could result. It didn’t take much, except for a
bit of imagination. Elizabeth Reis’ book Damned Women: Sinners
and Witches in Puritan New Englandrelates how one accused
Connecticut woman allegedly bewitched her neighbor’s oxen and
“caused beer to jump out of a barrel.” As ridiculous as these
accusations now sound, the consequences could be deadly serious.

As would later be the case in Salem, women were disproportionately

targeted and could even be blamed for a man’s misdeeds or
recklessness. In one case, after a man accidentally shot and killed
another man, Lydia Gilbert, of Windsor, Conn., was convicted and
sentenced to death for causing the incident through her witchcraft.

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Connecticut witch-hunting reached its peak in 1662 with the

Hartford Witch Panic, which saw three witches executed within
several weeks’ time. No witch-related executions took place after
1662, according to Connecticut’s Office of Legislative Research. By
this time, testimony from multiple witnesses was required in order to
obtain a witchcraft conviction. Also, authority figures, including
Connecticut’s colonial governor John Winthrop the Younger had
begun to question the value of the “evidence” in these witch trials, as
well as the possible agendas of the witnesses.

In fact, many of the accused after 1662 were acquitted—and some

were even awarded damages for having been slandered.
In 1668, Katharine Harrison, of Wethersfield, Conn., was found
guilty of witchcraft. But the court refused to impose the death
sentence, despite “the popular clamor for an execution,” as told by
R.G. Tomlinson’s book Witchcraft Trials of Connecticut. By then,
methods of interrogation that involved hot irons and boiling water
were deemed “diabolical.”

In 1692 – the same year that the Salem witch trials began – Fairfield,
Conn., saw an outbreak of witchcraft accusations. But none resulted
in execution. Though witchcraft would technically remain a capital
crime in Connecticut until the 18th century, the courts there were
growing skeptical and weary of witchcraft trials. Too many of them, it
seemed, were the result of personal feuds.

Even an unsolicited confession was no longer sufficient. When a

Connecticut man, Hugh Crotia, claimed that he had made a pact with
the Devil and practiced black magic against his fellow citizens, the
court formally declared him an “Ignoramus” in 1693 and set him
free, on the condition that he pay his jail expenses.

And yet, even as the Connecticut legal system entered a comparative

age of enlightenment, Salem was descending into a lethal hysteria—
20 witches executed in less than four months.

The records of Salem’s trials were better preserved, and the lethal
intensity and degree of witch-hunting there was unmatched
anywhere else in the New World. Plus, with the help of cultural
touchstones like Arthur Miller’s The Crucible and the vibrant Salem
tourism industry, the Massachusetts city would remain synonymous
with its witches—forever upstaging the more protracted witch trials
of Connecticut.

Contact TIME Editors about this story at editors@time.com.

History of Witches and Witchcraft
History of Witches and Witchcraft

Witches are one of the most traditional as well as mysterious entities we

associate with Halloween. When you think of a Witch, it's easy to conjure up an
image of an old, ugly, hook-nosed woman, stirring up a steaming potion that is
brewing away inside a cauldron. Of course her usual sidekick, the proverbial
black cat is probably not far away as you envision the witch clearly in your
mind's eye. Have you ever wondered where this sordid image of a witch
actually started? Did such vile beings really ever exist, or is this whole business
of a hideous, green-faced, evil sorcerer just one fabricated myth? Here's a look
back at the history of witches and witchcraft.

Thousands of years ago, people were forced to live much more primitive lives
than we currently know today. Without the luxury of modern medicine and
treatments, when a person was sick, ill or in pain there was little that could be
done about it. Becoming ill was much more dangerous in those ancient days,
and the ramifications of any sickness were frequently much more
serious. During those early days, there were some sage women that learned
the value of healing herbs, and other types of homeopathic treatments. These
women were actually very wise when it came to their knowledge of herbal
remedies. Many people received aid and were helped by the homemade
remedies made by these wise women. These astute women, skilled in the art
of natural medicine, also sometimes functioned as midwives and assisted in the
delivery of babies, using various plant-based medicines to ease the pain and
suffering experienced during childbirth.

Little was understood about healing and medicine in those ancient days, and as
Christianity spread across Europe, many clergy from the church felt very upset
by the existence of learned women who were healing others with medicine and
other remedies. As far as the church was concerned, all healing should be done
strictly through men in the church. There were many others who felt that if a
person was sick or ill that it was God’s punishment for some sin committed and
the suffering that came from it was just something that must be dealt with by
the afflicted person. Over time, the healers began to be associated and
accused of various things including heresy, being anti-Christian and eventually
many were accused of devil worship.

The word Witch actually is derived from the word “Wicca” meaning “Wise
One.” Certainly once considered wise and a knowledgeable resource during
trying times, witches were now considered to be something to be absolutely
feared and avoided. The church viewed healing, once helpful to many, now as
evil sorcery, pagan worship as well as something akin to black magic. These
supposed witches were accused of very bad things, most specifically that of
doing the devil’s evil bidding and being in cahoots with him in some
orchestrated plan to destroy mankind.
The accusations of witchcraft drove these healers further underground and
many lived quiet lives deeply in remote peasant villages. By the late 1400’s it
was not enough to sniff out, find and eventually question the witches about
how they were practicing their craft. Religious sources were planting enough
fear as well as hysteria into the minds of the people that it ran rampant
through many localities. Those accused of practicing any form of witchcraft
were tried quickly and then were executed publicly as punishment, in very
hideous and gruesome ways, for all in the village to see. The Church
perpetuated the idea that witches were performing devil worship and black
magic rituals. By killing those who were accused of such practices, it became
very easy to scare the general population into conformity and obedience. It
seems that although witches were accused of being evil and devilish, the actual
truth may be that powerful religious men didn’t really like the idea of a strong
woman having any kind of intelligence or aptitude in the community. The
Church leaders were probably somewhat intimidated by these talented gals and
it may have been easiest to just eliminate the problem, emphasizing of course,
that the church was against black magic and evil, not medicine.

Let the Accusations Begin

 As the years progressed, so did the
hysteria and unreasonable behavior that surrounded finding those that were
suspected of practicing witchcraft. Because witches had become so feared and
the Church had come down so strongly against anyone or anything associated
with witchcraft, the finger pointing became more and more commonplace and
the hysteria in the population reached a full-blown fervor.

The situation soon reached epic proportions when it was no longer necessary
for a person to be practicing rudimentary medicine or other such activities to be
accused. It seemed that just about anything out of the ordinary could get you
into trouble. A series of unfortunate events could be blamed on an evil spell or
witchcraft. Events such as illness, stillbirth or miscarriage were often blamed
on witches. If a neighbor became disgruntled at someone, it was easy enough
to eliminate that problem by making an appropriate allegation. It seemed that
no one was completely safe from being blamed, but in particular the more
unfortunate your circumstances were, the more likely you were to become a
target.

The Salem Witch Trials

 Samuel Parris’ daughter Betty,
and his niece, Abigail Williams came down with a mysterious illness late in 1691
that caused them to have strange seizures or fits where their bodies would flail
about wildly. The doctors at that time couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong with
the girls largely because of their limited knowledge. These ill-advised doctors
decided that since they couldn’t determine what was wrong, the girls must be
bewitched. Having any association or link to witchcraft at this time in history
was a really big deal and as soon as it was thought that the girls had some sort
of an evil spell upon them, the accusations began to fly. The unfortunate and
most obvious culprits were some of the least able to defend themselves. A
woman named Tibuta, an Indian slave that had worked for the Parris family,
was the first person accused by the young girls of casting a spell on them. A
couple of local women were also accused, one who was homeless and very
impoverished (Sarah Good) and another who was known to have not attended
church in years (Sarah Osborne). Although eventually all these women were
executed for supposedly practicing witchcraft, both of the Sarah’s proclaimed
their absolute innocence until the day they died.

During this time of accusations, insinuations as well as extreme hysteria, many

women were brought up on charges of witchcraft and were ultimately executed,
usually by being burned alive while tied to a stake or by hanging. The events in
Salem led to nearly 200 people being accused of being witches both in Salem
and some of the outlying areas. Many people were eventually hanged for the
crime, while several others died while awaiting their trials. By late 1692, the
trials were eventually called to an end and any of the remaining of the accused
were pardoned and subsequently released from prison, assuming they could
pay for the food they had consumed while in prison. Even though the trials
ended, the idea of maintaining religious control over the general population
through scare tactics was far from over.

Folklore and Legend

Witches and the practice of witchcraft continued to be feared and the legends
and myths surrounding them continued to evolve quite a bit over
time. Because of the ancient festival of Samhain, (a celebration at end the
harvest season) there is as great deal of folklore regarding witches that has
come down through the ages. During Samhain, witches were thought to anoint
themselves with a balm that made their face very shiny and light. Perhaps this
ointment gave their skin an ethereal appearance, leading to rumors of
flying. Early witches did carry brooms, not for flying of course, but these
brooms were used to cleanse an area or room before a healing ritual could be
performed in it. This practice, along with the fact that perhaps a witch was
seen out on All Hallows Eve using a broom to aid in hopping a creek or
riverbed, could have led to the notion that witches could fly and did so with the
aid of a broomstick. Let’s face it, it didn’t take much in those days to start a
vicious rumor nor did it necessarily need to have much truth in it. Back in
those days, it was also widely believed that on Halloween night, spirits of the
dead could roam the earth freely, so perhaps it is not such a stretch to think
that these same people may have believed that Witches were out flying around
in the midnight sky.

There are many superstitions and myths regarding the black cats that are often
associated with witches as well. Many legends told that black cats were spirits
of witches recreated in animal form. Other stories professed that black cats
were just helpers of witches and assisted them in carrying out their black magic
and were considered their supernatural counterparts. Of course most of these
stories have little truth to them, and mostly consist of mythological legends
that have been told and retold by very superstitious people who then passed
them on for generations.

As far as the original hideous image of witches that we started this tale with—
the cackling, old, ugly, hooked-nose lady stirring her cauldron; well, it’s likely
that she never really existed except in the vivid imaginations of
storytellers. Witches were often retold as being old and ugly beings because
evil was considered to be ugly—thus it made the story that much better to
portray the witch in this way. The cauldron that we associate with witches
obviously stems from the large pot that potions and poultices were made in by
the early healers to aid both the sick and afflicted.
Halloween and Witches

Halloween and witches will always go hand in hand. You can bet that witches
will remain as one of Halloween’s favorite personas for costume dress up as
long as there are kids that are out trick or treating. Knowing and appreciating
the rich historical value of witches throughout the ages is undoubtedly going to
enhance your Halloween experience as well. Recreating a witch look for
Halloween is a really great costume idea that is rich in both folklore and
legend. After understanding the history of witches being thought to be one of
them may actually be a really nice compliment.

Today's witch costumes have taken a wide and varied turn and not many
women will choose to dress up as the ugly, old and haggard beings that are
thought of in the myths and legends of yesteryear. Modern women like the idea
of being a character that is both mystical and magical. A sexier, more
captivating version of a Halloween witch fits the bill perfectly. There is also
something very beguiling and bewitching about the modern takes on witches as
well. A witch costume with a decidedly sexy and feminine flair will capture the
flavor of the witch of yesteryear while still adding a modern twist that today's
woman is likely to embrace as she casts a unique Halloween spell of her very
own.