Earth Walker
June 2nd, 2001, 01:11 AM
Descendants of 5 of the hanged lobby legislators.
WASHINGTON -- Descendants of five women who were hanged
for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of the late 17th
century are pressing politicians to exonerate their ancestors.
In four months in the summer of 1692, 19 people were hanged
for witchcraft and one was crushed to death in the small town
of Salem in colonial Massachusetts, north of Boston.
The trials began when four girls were pronounced "bewitched"
by the town's doctor.
One of the accused, Susannah Martin, laughed at her accusers,
one of whom fell into a fit. "Well i may (laugh) at such folly," she
said, according to court records.
She was hanged on Gallows Hill.
In 1957 the state legislature approved a resolution exonerating
some of the accused, including "one Ann Pudeator."
The campaigners want the names of Bridget Bishop, Alice Parker,
Margaret Scott, Wilmot Redd and Martin to be added to the
resolution.
Three centuries later Martin's descendant, Craig Martin, 54, a
civil engineer, is fighting to clear her name.
"She was a woman who spoke her mind," he said.
The Salem witch hysteria began when four girls started playing
fortune-telling games with a female slave. When the girls
displayed mysterious physical symptoms, they were diagnosed as
"bewitched."
They began naming people they suspected of inflicting their
symptoms. By the end of March 1692, 200 people were jailed
under charges of witchcraft.
The trials ended after so-called "spectral evidence" -- reports of
hostile ghostly presences that formed the basis of the
prosecutions -- was called into doubt.
British writer Frances Hill, author of A Delusion of Satan: The
full Story of the Salem Witch Trials, said: "It's absolutely obvious
that those who were being hanged were the enemies of the
grown-ups or the girls who were doing the naming. The only
people who were innocent were the people who were hanged."
Scientists say that the girls' symptoms may have been caused
by "bad acid trips" from eating rye contaminated with ergot, the
fungus from which LSD is derived.
---The Times of London
To believe what you see is to be deceived.
**********************************
Reject all illusions of social harmony.
WASHINGTON -- Descendants of five women who were hanged
for witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of the late 17th
century are pressing politicians to exonerate their ancestors.
In four months in the summer of 1692, 19 people were hanged
for witchcraft and one was crushed to death in the small town
of Salem in colonial Massachusetts, north of Boston.
The trials began when four girls were pronounced "bewitched"
by the town's doctor.
One of the accused, Susannah Martin, laughed at her accusers,
one of whom fell into a fit. "Well i may (laugh) at such folly," she
said, according to court records.
She was hanged on Gallows Hill.
In 1957 the state legislature approved a resolution exonerating
some of the accused, including "one Ann Pudeator."
The campaigners want the names of Bridget Bishop, Alice Parker,
Margaret Scott, Wilmot Redd and Martin to be added to the
resolution.
Three centuries later Martin's descendant, Craig Martin, 54, a
civil engineer, is fighting to clear her name.
"She was a woman who spoke her mind," he said.
The Salem witch hysteria began when four girls started playing
fortune-telling games with a female slave. When the girls
displayed mysterious physical symptoms, they were diagnosed as
"bewitched."
They began naming people they suspected of inflicting their
symptoms. By the end of March 1692, 200 people were jailed
under charges of witchcraft.
The trials ended after so-called "spectral evidence" -- reports of
hostile ghostly presences that formed the basis of the
prosecutions -- was called into doubt.
British writer Frances Hill, author of A Delusion of Satan: The
full Story of the Salem Witch Trials, said: "It's absolutely obvious
that those who were being hanged were the enemies of the
grown-ups or the girls who were doing the naming. The only
people who were innocent were the people who were hanged."
Scientists say that the girls' symptoms may have been caused
by "bad acid trips" from eating rye contaminated with ergot, the
fungus from which LSD is derived.
---The Times of London
To believe what you see is to be deceived.
**********************************
Reject all illusions of social harmony.