HomeFairfax General ForumArrest/Ticket SearchWiki newPictures/VideosChatArticlesLinksAbout
Fairfax County General :  Fairfax Underground fairfax underground logo
Welcome to Fairfax Underground, a project site designed to improve communication among residents of Fairfax County, VA. Feel free to post anything Northern Virginia residents would find interesting.
Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Curious one ()
Date: October 30, 2013 08:59AM

I had a dream the other night about living in the area back in colonial times about maybe mid-1700's. In the dream, a witch was found to be living amoungst the community, was identified, tried, and then burned.

In the dream, the witch tells me that she was wrongly accused, because she was a "good" witch, and now seeks her revenge for some reason (I think her resting place was disturbed?). I can't remember the name, it was a bit unusal sounding (due to her strange accent).

Anyway, I woke up curious and did a little research, and I found only a brief mention on this link...

Re: Records available: Fairfax County, Virginia - Archiver
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/TNDICKSO/1999-02/0918732414


Also came across this thread on FFU, that was interesting to read...

Witches - Myth or Reality?
http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/read/40/912703.html
Attachments:
witch.png

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Fairfaxian ()
Date: October 30, 2013 09:06AM

Fairfax County was cut from the northern part of Prince William County in the 1740s. Prince William County was founded in the 1730s.

In America, there were only a scant few witch trials after the infamous Salem trials, which took place in 1692. While Virginia saw some witch trials earlier in the seventeenth century (1600s), they seem to all have been further south. Only one witch case occurred in Virginia in the eighteenth century (1700s), and that was in Norfolk in 1705, decades before the founding of Prince William and Fairfax Counties.

Source: http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/witchtrial/na.html

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: WingNut ()
Date: October 30, 2013 09:10AM

Hey you can say whatever you want and just repeat the lies the libtard media told you, but the truth is VERY DIFFERENT.

There was a witch problem in America many centuries ago.

Patriotic Americans rose to the occasion and fought against the witches.

The problem was eradicated, there are no more witches in America.

Be a little more grateful to the fathers of our country, you commie.
Attachments:
180px-Anonymous_portrait_of_Jean_Lafitte,_early_19th_century,_Rosenberg_Library,_Galveston,_Texas.jpg

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Fairfaxian ()
Date: October 30, 2013 09:16AM

WingNut Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey you can say whatever you want and just repeat
> the lies the libtard media told you, but the truth
> is VERY DIFFERENT.
>
> There was a witch problem in America many
> centuries ago.
>
> Patriotic Americans rose to the occasion and
> fought against the witches.
>
> The problem was eradicated, there are no more
> witches in America.
>
> Be a little more grateful to the fathers of our
> country, you commie.

That's pretty funny stuff.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: October 30, 2013 09:19AM

WingNut Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> The problem was eradicated, there are no more
> witches in America.



Not true. I'm still here.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Totally Overblown ()
Date: October 30, 2013 09:38AM

Witches were hung in the US, not burned. That happened over in Europe.

And it was only a few isolated incidents and not widespread as hollywood would have you believe.

The largest incident happened in Salem, MA where around 30 people (women AND men) were killed. The 2nd most famous set of trials happened in Pennsylvania but nobody was killed.

And they were NOT witches as you know them today. It had absolutely nothing to do with religious intolerance or any of the liberal propaganda crap. None of them practiced Wicca or the "old religion". All of the victims were Christians that were accused of conspiring with the devil.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: October 30, 2013 09:40AM

Totally Overblown Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> And they were NOT witches as you know them today.
> It had absolutely nothing to do with religious
> intolerance or any of the liberal propaganda crap.
> None of them practiced Wicca or the "old
> religion". All of the victims were Christians
> that were accused of conspiring with the devil.


Exactly; the devil and hell are COMPLETELY Christian ideas. We don't worship him, nor do we believe in hell. That's all you guys.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Well.... ()
Date: October 30, 2013 10:00AM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Totally Overblown Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > And they were NOT witches as you know them
> today.
> > It had absolutely nothing to do with religious
> > intolerance or any of the liberal propaganda
> crap.
> > None of them practiced Wicca or the "old
> > religion". All of the victims were Christians
> > that were accused of conspiring with the devil.
>
>
> Exactly; the devil and hell are COMPLETELY
> Christian ideas. We don't worship him, nor do we
> believe in hell. That's all you guys.

But you do believe in good and evil, right?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: October 30, 2013 10:07AM

Well.... Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> thisisajokeright Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Totally Overblown Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> >
> > > And they were NOT witches as you know them
> > today.
> > > It had absolutely nothing to do with
> religious
> > > intolerance or any of the liberal propaganda
> > crap.
> > > None of them practiced Wicca or the "old
> > > religion". All of the victims were
> Christians
> > > that were accused of conspiring with the
> devil.
> >
> >
> > Exactly; the devil and hell are COMPLETELY
> > Christian ideas. We don't worship him, nor do
> we
> > believe in hell. That's all you guys.
>
> But you do believe in good and evil, right?


Yes. But good/evil isn't solely a Christian idea. It's ingrained in almost every religion.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Well.... ()
Date: October 30, 2013 10:10AM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well.... Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > thisisajokeright Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Totally Overblown Wrote:
> > >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> >
> > > -----
> > >
> > > > And they were NOT witches as you know them
> > > today.
> > > > It had absolutely nothing to do with
> > religious
> > > > intolerance or any of the liberal
> propaganda
> > > crap.
> > > > None of them practiced Wicca or the "old
> > > > religion". All of the victims were
> > Christians
> > > > that were accused of conspiring with the
> > devil.
> > >
> > >
> > > Exactly; the devil and hell are COMPLETELY
> > > Christian ideas. We don't worship him, nor do
> > we
> > > believe in hell. That's all you guys.
> >
> > But you do believe in good and evil, right?
>
>
> Yes. But good/evil isn't solely a Christian idea.
> It's ingrained in almost every religion.

Obviously, but you can't deny that there are evil witches, just as there are "good" witches, right? Also I've seen "good" witches think its good to pass spells on people (make them fall in love with someone that likes them, wish bad things to happen to bad people, etc.).

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Bill.N. ()
Date: October 30, 2013 10:14AM

According to this site: http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Witchcraft_in_Colonial_Virginia#start_entry
the last witch trial in Virginia was 1730. The accused was convicted and sentenced to be whipped.

There are a couple of points that should be remembered. The first is that Virginia records are incomplete due especially to disruptions in the Civil War. The second is that records would not necessarily reflect extra-judicial executions. For example a slave owner who executed his own slave for witchcraft might not make it into legal records.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Curious one ()
Date: October 30, 2013 10:18AM

WingNut Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey you can say whatever you want and just repeat
> the lies the libtard media told you, but the truth
> is VERY DIFFERENT.
>
> There was a witch problem in America many
> centuries ago.
>
> Patriotic Americans rose to the occasion and
> fought against the witches.
>
> The problem was eradicated, there are no more
> witches in America.
>
> Be a little more grateful to the fathers of our
> country, you commie.

There are actually still alot of people in the United States alone that practice "witchcraft". In Salem alone, there are several covens (groups of witches) that live there.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: October 30, 2013 10:20AM

> Obviously, but you can't deny that there are evil
> witches, just as there are "good" witches, right?
> Also I've seen "good" witches think its good to
> pass spells on people (make them fall in love with
> someone that likes them, wish bad things to happen
> to bad people, etc.).



I'm not denying that. Some practice "black" magick and others, like me, practice "white" magick. Black comes back threefold.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: History lesson ()
Date: October 30, 2013 10:28AM

Curious one Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> There are actually still alot of people in the
> United States alone that practice "witchcraft". In
> Salem alone, there are several covens (groups of
> witches) that live there.

This is true. I've actually been to Salem.

But its not "witchcraft" according to the definition used in the 1600/1700's. Back then witchcraft consisted of dark powers given to you by making a pact with the devil. These powers were then used to hurt other people.

Wicca is simply a revival/mixture of the old pagan religions. They have no supernatural powers and their rituals mostly revolve around seed sowing and crop harvesting. However sometime in the mid-20th century these pagans thought it would be cute to start referring to themselves as "witches". Probably the result of the counter-culture attitude that is prevalent among alternative religions. They REALLY did themselves a disservice by adopting this confusing and completely inaccurate moniker.

And the general public has been confused as fuck ever since.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Well.... ()
Date: October 30, 2013 10:35AM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> > Obviously, but you can't deny that there are
> evil
> > witches, just as there are "good" witches,
> right?
> > Also I've seen "good" witches think its good to
> > pass spells on people (make them fall in love
> with
> > someone that likes them, wish bad things to
> happen
> > to bad people, etc.).
>
>
>
> I'm not denying that. Some practice "black" magick
> and others, like me, practice "white" magick.
> Black comes back threefold.

That's what I've heard as well. Can you go into detail and explain the difference between the two, please?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: October 30, 2013 10:41AM

Well.... Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> That's what I've heard as well. Can you go into
> detail and explain the difference between the two,
> please?



Gladly. So, black magick would be used toward someone against their will. It is generally for bad results (death, job loss, going broke, miscarriage, etc). Comes back threefold and is pretty much practiced only by those of the Voodoo/Hoodoo sects (though they probably don't ALL practice black magick -- IDK, I've never studied it close enough to know for sure).

White magick, on the other hand, is more for the person working the spell. You can do a spell for someone else but you must have their permission and it must not harm anyone. White magick brings positive results like love, luck, money, health, etc. It harms no one; you should never do a spell for a specific person to love you (because it would be against their will). Instead, you'd do a spell to make yourself more attractive to that person.

Wiccans follow moon phases very closely and there are correspondence charts for EVERYTHING -- stones, incense, oils, herbs, even candle colors. You wouldn't do a love spell during a waning moon, because the waning moon is used for spellwork involving banishing something, or getting rid of a bad habit.

Does that make sense? :)

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Questions??? ()
Date: October 30, 2013 10:44AM

There was an episode of "A Haunting" where a woman had a demon in her house. She had been practicing Wicca in the home (improperly) and had invited the demonic spirit in. She had a friend come over and try to exorcise the demon using a Wiccan spell, that failed miserably. It seemed like the Wiccan was using magic against a demon and it failed to do anything. At least in a Catholic ritual of exorcism the possessed or affected area is reviled by God being invoked. Wiccans say their power comes from Mother Earth, but I suspect it is closely tied to the Devil in some way or another.

Why would a wiccan spell not work at all against a demon? Wiccan's casting spell is still witchcraft, right?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Well.... ()
Date: October 30, 2013 10:45AM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well.... Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> >
> > That's what I've heard as well. Can you go into
> > detail and explain the difference between the
> two,
> > please?
>
>
>
> Gladly. So, black magick would be used toward
> someone against their will. It is generally for
> bad results (death, job loss, going broke,
> miscarriage, etc). Comes back threefold and is
> pretty much practiced only by those of the
> Voodoo/Hoodoo sects (though they probably don't
> ALL practice black magick -- IDK, I've never
> studied it close enough to know for sure).
>
> White magick, on the other hand, is more for the
> person working the spell. You can do a spell for
> someone else but you must have their permission
> and it must not harm anyone. White magick brings
> positive results like love, luck, money, health,
> etc. It harms no one; you should never do a spell
> for a specific person to love you (because it
> would be against their will). Instead, you'd do a
> spell to make yourself more attractive to that
> person.
>
> Wiccans follow moon phases very closely and there
> are correspondence charts for EVERYTHING --
> stones, incense, oils, herbs, even candle colors.
> You wouldn't do a love spell during a waning moon,
> because the waning moon is used for spellwork
> involving banishing something, or getting rid of a
> bad habit.
>
> Does that make sense? :)

Yes, it sure does. The use of horoscopes and stuff seem to be pretty accurate sometimes, and that seems tied to phases of the moon, sun, and planetary shifts (as well as the constellations).

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: October 30, 2013 10:54AM

Questions??? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There was an episode of "A Haunting" where a woman
> had a demon in her house. She had been practicing
> Wicca in the home (improperly) and had invited the
> demonic spirit in. She had a friend come over and
> try to exorcise the demon using a Wiccan spell,
> that failed miserably. It seemed like the Wiccan
> was using magic against a demon and it failed to
> do anything. At least in a Catholic ritual of
> exorcism the possessed or affected area is reviled
> by God being invoked. Wiccans say their power
> comes from Mother Earth, but I suspect it is
> closely tied to the Devil in some way or another.
>
> Why would a wiccan spell not work at all against a
> demon? Wiccan's casting spell is still witchcraft,
> right?


Let me first off start by saying we believe in a place called "the Summerland." It is akin to purgatory but not as ominous sounding. Once someone passes over their soul goes to the Summerland and they then decide if they want to stay in spirit form or be reincarnated.

When you do spellwork you should (but don't always have to) cast a circle. When you cast a circle you call upon the guardians, the God and Goddess and the watchtowers of the elements. You do your spell inside of the circle (which is like a "protective bubble") and if you have to leave the circle for any reason (so say you forgot an herb on the counter) you have to cut a door. If you don't close the door bad spirits can get in. Once you're done with your spellwork you have to close the circle/take it down. At the end of every spell, if a circle is cast, you have to thank the God/Goddess for coming, thank the elements yadda yadda but it's also important to say something like "thanks to every spirit who came to watch, you don't have to go home but you can't stay here" (for lack of better words).

As far as that spell not working against a demon, perhaps there was a lack of concentration on the spell caster's part (that's the key to success). They may have been amateurs (like myself).

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: October 30, 2013 11:00AM

Let me also add I think the reason Christians are so scared of witchcraft and are quick to call us devil worshipers is because Pagans (since the dawn of time) view Cernunnos as their God (if you choose to follow the Celtic Gods). He's also referred to as "the Horned One" -- if you look at his pic you'll see how he resembles the Christian characterized "Satan."

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Cernunnos.jpg

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: DOH! ()
Date: October 30, 2013 11:02AM

No, only some teachers!

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Hello! ()
Date: October 30, 2013 11:17AM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Let me also add I think the reason Christians are
> so scared of witchcraft and are quick to call us
> devil worshipers is because Pagans (since the dawn
> of time) view Cernunnos as their God (if you
> choose to follow the Celtic Gods). He's also
> referred to as "the Horned One" -- if you look at
> his pic you'll see how he resembles the Christian
> characterized "Satan."
>
> http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc
> /Cernunnos.jpg

The Devil goes by different names, did it ever occur to you that Cernunnos, might be (and probably is) the devil?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: October 30, 2013 11:23AM

Hello! Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> The Devil goes by different names, did it ever
> occur to you that Cernunnos, might be (and
> probably is) the devil?



That's cute. Paganism and their Gods were around long before Christianity. It's funny, all major religions celebrate some sort of "birth" of their Gods in December, Christians didn't want to feel left out so they came up with "Christmas" (which was "Yule" before they got ahold of it).

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Hello! ()
Date: October 30, 2013 11:42AM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello! Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> >
> > The Devil goes by different names, did it ever
> > occur to you that Cernunnos, might be (and
> > probably is) the devil?
>
>
>
> That's cute. Paganism and their Gods were around
> long before Christianity. It's funny, all major
> religions celebrate some sort of "birth" of their
> Gods in December, Christians didn't want to feel
> left out so they came up with "Christmas" (which
> was "Yule" before they got ahold of it).


So were dinosaurs, but that's not what the ancient peoples called them. Dinosaur for example is a scientific term developed in the past hundred or so years. Just because Hebrews and later Christians came along later and labelled the same thing a different name, doesn't mean the two are different. (For example, we call a cow a cow in the English language, but several other ancient languages describe the same animal with a completely different word.)

Bottom Line....A horned being worshipped as a god is bad news.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: October 30, 2013 11:46AM

Hello! Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Bottom Line....A horned being worshipped as a god
> is bad news.


Yes, to Christians.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Hello! ()
Date: October 30, 2013 12:46PM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello! Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > Bottom Line....A horned being worshipped as a
> god
> > is bad news.
>
>
> Yes, to Christians.

But in this case, Cernunnos is not a bad guy at all. According to Wikipedia, he's got atlers and is revered as being a god of fertility. There are even some connections with Saint Ciarán...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cernunnos

The god labelled [C]ernunnos on the Pillar of the Boatmen is depicted with stag's antlers in their early stage of annual growth.[2] Both antlers have torcs hanging from them. The lower part of the relief is lost, but the dimensions suggest that the god was sitting cross-legged, providing a direct parallel to the antlered figure on the Gundestrup cauldron.

In spite of the name Cernunnos being attested nowhere else, it is commonly used in Celtological literature as describing all comparable depictions of horned/antlered deities.

This "Cernunnos" type in Celtic iconography is often portrayed with animals, in particular the stag, and also frequently associated with the ram-horned serpent, and less frequently bulls (at Rheims), dogs and rats. Because of his frequent association with creatures, scholars often describe Cernunnos as the "Lord of the Animals" or the "Lord of Wild Things", and Miranda Green describes him as a "peaceful god of nature and fruitfulness".[18]

The Pilier des nautes links him with sailors and with commerce, suggesting that he was also associated with material wealth as does the coin pouch from the Cernunnos of Rheims (Marne, Champagne, France)—in antiquity, Durocortorum, the civitas capital of the Remi tribe—and the stag vomiting coins from Niedercorn-Turbelslach (Luxembourg) in the lands of the Treveri. The god may have symbolised the fecundity of the stag-inhabited forest.

Other examples of "Cernunnos" images include a petroglyph in Val Camonica in Cisalpine Gaul. The antlered human figure has been dated as early as the 7th century BCE or as late as the 4th.[19] An antlered child appears on a relief from Vendeuvres, flanked by serpents and holding a purse and a torc.[20] The best known image appears on the Gundestrup cauldron found on Jutland, dating to the 1st century BC, thought to depict Celtic subject matter though usually regarded as of Thracian workmanship.

Among the Celtiberians, horned or antlered figures of the Cernunnos type include a "Janus-like" god from Candelario (Salamanca) with two faces and two small horns; a horned god from the hills of Ríotinto (Huelva); and a possible representation of the deity Vestius Aloniecus near his altars in Lourizán (Pontevedra). The horns are taken to represent "aggressive power, genetic vigor and fecundity."[21]

Divine representations of the Cernunnos type are exceptions to the often-expressed view that the Celts only began to picture their gods in human form after the Roman conquest of Gaul.[22] The Celtic "horned god", while well attested in iconography, cannot be identified in description of Celtic religion in Roman ethnography and does not appear to have been given any interpretatio romana, perhaps due to being too distinctive to be translatable into the Roman pantheon.[23] While Cernunnos was never assimilated, scholars have sometimes compared him functionally to Greek and Roman divine figures such as Mercury,[24] Actaeon, specialized forms of Jupiter, and Dis Pater, the latter of whom Julius Caesar said was considered the ancestor of the Gauls.[25]

Possible reflexes in Insular Celtic[edit]

There have been attempts to find the cern root in the name of Conall Cernach, the foster brother of the Irish hero Cuchulainn[26] in the Ulster Cycle. In this line of interpretation, Cernach is taken as an epithet with a wide semantic field — "angular; victorious; bearing a prominent growth" — and Conall is seen as "the same figure" as the ancient Cernunnos.[27]

Possible connection to Saint Ciarán[edit]

Some see the qualities of Cernunnos subsumed into the life of Saint Ciarán of Saighir, one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. When he was building his first tiny cell, as his hagiograph goes, his first disciple and monk was a boar that had been rendered gentle by God. This was followed by a fox, a badger, a wolf and a stag.[28]

Neopaganism[edit]

In Wicca and other forms of Neopaganism a Horned God is revered; this divinity syncretises a number of horned or antlered gods from various cultures, including Cernunnos. The Horned God reflects the seasons of the year in an annual cycle of life, death and rebirth.[29]

In the tradition of Gardnerian Wicca, the Horned God is sometimes specifically referred to as Cernunnos, or sometimes also as Kernunno.[30]

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Curious one ()
Date: October 30, 2013 12:47PM

So back to my original question, looks like some great feedback on dates, etc. Could someone who was practicing magic have been arrested/killed secretly for being a "Witch"?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: LetsRock ()
Date: October 30, 2013 12:50PM

This is the reason Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton avoid Virginia.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Virginia History ()
Date: October 30, 2013 01:00PM

Not in Fairfax county, but interesting nonetheless...

Grace Sherwood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Sherwood

Grace White Sherwood (c. 1660 – c. 1740), known as the Witch of Pungo, is the last person known to have been convicted of witchcraft in Virginia. A farmer, healer, and midwife, her neighbors accused her of transforming herself into a cat, damaging crops and causing the death of livestock. She was charged with witchcraft several times; at her eventual trial in 1706, Sherwood was accused of bewitching Elizabeth Hill, causing Hill to miscarry. The court ordered that Sherwood's guilt or innocence be determined by ducking her in water. If she sank, she was innocent; if she did not, she was guilty. Sherwood floated to the surface and may have subsequently spent up to eight years in jail before being released.

Sherwood lived in Pungo, Princess Anne County[a] (today part of Virginia Beach), and married James Sherwood, a planter, in 1680. The couple had three sons: John, James, and Richard. The elder James died in 1701; Grace Sherwood inherited his property and never remarried.

Sherwood's first case was in 1697; she was accused of casting a spell on a bull, resulting in its death, but the matter was dismissed by the agreement of both parties. The following year she was accused of witchcraft by two neighbors; she supposedly bewitched the hogs and cotton crop of one of them. Sherwood sued for slander after each accusation but her lawsuits were unsuccessful and her husband had to pay court costs. In 1706 she was convicted of witchcraft and was incarcerated. Freed from prison by 1714, she recovered her property from Princess Anne County, after which she lived on her farm until her death in 1740 at the age of about 80.

On July 10, 2006, the 300th anniversary of Sherwood's conviction, Governor Tim Kaine restored her good name, recognizing that her case was a miscarriage of justice. A statue depicting her was erected near Sentara Bayside Hospital on Independence Boulevard in Virginia Beach, close to the site of the colonial courthouse where she was tried. She is sculpted alongside a raccoon, representing her love of animals, and carrying a basket containing garlic and rosemary, in recognition of her knowledge of herbal healing.

Family background[edit]

Sherwood was born in 1660[1] to John and Susan White. John White was a carpenter and farmer[2] of Scottish descent; it is uncertain whether he was born in America. Susan was English by birth;[3] their daughter Grace was born in Virginia, probably in Pungo.[4][5]

Grace White married a respected small-farm landowner, James Sherwood, in April 1680, and they were wed in the Lynnhaven Parish Church.[1][5][6] The couple had three sons: John, James, and Richard.[7] John White gave the Sherwoods 50 acres (20 ha) of land when they married, and on his death in 1681 left them the remainder of his 145 acres (59 ha) farm.[7] The Sherwood family was poor, and lived in an area inhabited by small landowners or those with no land at all.[5][8][9] In addition to farming, Grace Sherwood grew her own herbs, which she used to heal both people and animals. She also acted as a midwife.[10] When James died in 1701, Grace inherited his property.[11][12] She did not remarry.[4]

No drawings or paintings of Sherwood exist, but contemporary accounts describe her as attractive and tall and possessing a sense of humor. Sherwood grew medicinal herbs and wore trousers instead of a dress while working on her farm; both traits were atypical of ladies of that era. This combination of clothing and good looks was said to attract men and upset their wives.[2][13] Sherwood biographer and advocate Belinda Nash suggests that Sherwood's neighbors may have been jealous of Sherwood and that the witchcraft tales may have been conjured up in an effort to remove her from and gain her property.[1][13] Sherwood was required to go to court at least a dozen times, in order to defend against accusations of witchcraft or to sue accusers for slander.[13

Witchcraft and Virginia[edit]

The existence of witches and demonic forces was taken for granted by the American colonists—witchcraft was considered the work of the Devil.[14][15][16] Strange behaviors supposedly identified witches to the colonists.[17] As early as 1626, nineteen years after the founding of the Jamestown colony, a grand jury sat to consider whether Goodwife Joan Wright was a witch—she had supposedly predicted the deaths of three women and had caused illness as revenge for not hiring her as midwife. No record of the outcome is extant.[18] Nevertheless, Virginia did not experience the type of mass hysteria evidenced by the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials in 1692–1693, where 19 people were executed on allegations of sorcery, several years before the first accusations against Sherwood.[13] Ecclesiastical influence in Virginian courts was much less than in those of New England—Virginia's clergy participated little in witchcraft accusations and trials, unlike their New England counterparts.[19] New England's Puritans had settled in towns, and community pressure helped contribute to witchcraft convictions. There were few such towns in Virginia, where the population mostly lived on farms and plantations, scattered over a large area.[20]

Virginia's lay and religious leaders sought to prosecute offenses such as gossip, slander, and fornication, which they felt were a threat to social stability in the new colony. They wished to avoid witchcraft prosecutions, which were divisive.[21] Virginia courts were reluctant to hear accusations of witchcraft and were even more reluctant to convict. Unlike the Salem witch trial courts, where the accused had to prove her innocence, in Virginia courts the accuser carried the burden of proof.[22] Further, Virginia courts generally ignored evidence said to have been obtained by supernatural means, whereas the New England courts were known to convict people based solely on it.[23] Virginia required proof of guilt through either searches for witch's marks or ducking. Judges and magistrates would dismiss unsubstantiated cases of witchcraft and allow the accusers, who found themselves "under an ill tongue", to be sued for slander.[11][24][25] Frances Pollard of the Virginia Historical Society states: "It was pretty clear that Virginia early on tried to discourage these charges being brought of witchcraft because they were so troublesome."[13] People's fears of witchcraft in Virginia were not based on their religious beliefs as much as they were rooted in folklore, although the two often intermingled.[26] The southeastern corner of Virginia around present-day Norfolk and Virginia Beach (where Pungo is located), saw more accusations of witchcraft than other areas. According to Leslie M. Newman, this may have been due to local poverty as there was no cultural elite to restrain such prosecutions.[9]

Although few Virginia records survive from that era,[8] 19 known witchcraft cases were brought there during the 17th century, all but one of which ended in acquittal.[13][27] The one conviction was a 1656 case of a man convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to 10 stripes and banishment from the county.[28][29][30] There were no executions for witchcraft in Virginia.[13] Nonetheless, as late as in 1736, Virginia's justices of the peace were reminded that witchcraft was still a crime, and that first offenders could expect to be pilloried and jailed for up to a year.[8] In 1745, John Craig, a Presbyterian minister in Augusta County, Virginia, made assertions of witchcraft after his child and several of his animals died, and was in response accused of using evil arts to divine who was responsible. Neither he nor those who accused him brought their claims to court to face "unsympathetic magistrates", though prosecution for witchcraft was still possible in Virginia.[31] The last Virginia witchcraft trial took place in 1802 in Brooke County, which is now in West Virginia. In that case, a couple claimed that a woman was a witch, an accusation ruled slanderous.[32]

The trial by ducking (immersing the accused, bound, in water, to see if she would float) appears to have been used only once in Virginia, to try Sherwood.[13][32] It was believed that, as water was considered pure, it would reject witches, causing them to float, whereas the innocent would sink.[32]

Accusations against Sherwood[edit]

Initial claims of witchcraft[edit]

Sherwood was first charged with witchcraft in a court case held in early 1697, in which Richard Capps alleged that she had used a spell to cause the death of his bull. The court made no decision on this charge;[1] the Sherwoods then filed a defamation suit against Capps that was discontinued when the parties came to an agreement.[33] In 1698, Sherwood was accused by her neighbor John Gisburne of enchanting his pigs and cotton crop. No court action followed this accusation, and another action for defamation by the Sherwoods also failed. In the same year Elizabeth Barnes, alleged that Sherwood had assumed the form of a black cat, entered Barnes' home, jumped over her bed, drove and whipped her, and left via the keyhole. Again the allegation was unresolved, and again the subsequent defamation action was lost. For each of the failed actions Sherwood and her husband had to pay court related costs.[1][11][33][34]

According to Richard Beale Davis in his journal article on witchcraft in Virginia, by this time "Princess Anne County had obviously grown tired of Mrs. Sherwood as a general nuisance".[35] In 1705, Sherwood was involved in a fight with her neighbor, Elizabeth Hill.[36] Sherwood sued Hill and her husband for assault and battery, and on December 7, 1705, was awarded damages of twenty shillings (1 pound sterling).[4][37] On January 3, 1706, the Hills accused Grace Sherwood of witchcraft, although she failed to answer the charge in court.[38] On February 7, 1706, the court ordered her to appear on a charge of having bewitched Elizabeth Hill, causing a miscarriage.[28]

Trial by water[edit]

Proceedings resumed in March 1706; the Princess Anne County justices sought to empanel two juries, both made up of women. The first was ordered to search Sherwood's home for waxen or baked figures that might indicate she was a witch. The second was ordered to look for "demon suckling teats" by examining her.[8][39] In both instances, reluctance on the part of the local residents made it difficult to form a jury and both juries refused to carry out the search.[28][35] On March 7, 1706, Sherwood was examined by a jury of 12 "ancient and knowing women" appointed to look for markings on her body that might be brands of the Devil.[40] They discovered two "marks not like theirs or like those of any other woman."[40] The forewoman of this jury was the same Elizabeth Barnes who had previously accused Sherwood of witchcraft.[5]

Neither the colonial authorities in Williamsburg nor the local court in Princess Anne were willing to declare Sherwood a witch.[11] Those in Williamsburg considered the charge overly vague, and on April 16 instructed the local court to examine the case more fully. For each court appearance, Sherwood had to travel 16 miles (26 km) from her farm in Pungo to where the court was sitting.[1][28]

On May 2, 1706, the county justices noted that while no particular act of maleficium had been alleged against Sherwood, there was "great cause of suspicion".[41] Consequently, the Sheriff of Princess Anne County took Sherwood into custody, though Sherwood could give bond for her appearance and good behavior.[38] Maximilian Boush, a warden of Lynnhaven Parish Church, was the prosecutor in Sherwood's case.[1] On July 5, 1706, the justices ordered a trial by ducking to take place, with Sherwood's consent,[42] but heavy rains caused a postponement until July 10, as they feared the wet weather might harm her health.[43] Sherwood was taken inside Lynnhaven Parish Church, placed on a stool and ordered to ask for forgiveness for her witchery.[38] She replied, "I be not a witch, I be a healer."[1]

At about 10 a.m. on July 10, 1706, Sherwood was taken down a dirt lane now known as Witchduck Road,[13][44] to a plantation near the mouth of the Lynnhaven River.[38][45] News had spread, and the event attracted people from all over the colony,[1] who began to shout "Duck the witch!"[13] According to the principles of trial by water, if Sherwood floated she would be deemed guilty of witchcraft; if she did not, she would be innocent. It was not intended that Sherwood drown; the court had ordered that care be taken to preserve her life.[29]

Five women of Lynnhaven Parish Church examined Sherwood's naked body on the shoreline for any devices she might have to free herself, and then covered her with a sack.[38] Six of the justices that had ordered the ducking rowed in one boat 200 yards (180 m) out in the river,[1][13] and in another were the sheriff, the magistrate, and Sherwood. Just before she was pushed off the boat Sherwood is said to have stated, under clear skies, "Before this day be through you will all get a worse ducking than I."[13] Bound across the body – her right thumb to her left big toe and her left thumb to her right big toe – she was "cast into the river",[30] and quickly floated to the surface.[11] The sheriff then tied a 13-pound (5.9 kg) Bible around her neck. This caused her to sink, but she untied herself, and returned to the surface, convincing many spectators she was a witch.[1] As Sherwood was pulled out of the water a downpour reportedly started, drenching the onlookers.[13][32] Several women who subsequently examined her for additional proof found "two things like titts on her private parts of a black coller ". She was jailed pending further proceedings.[40]

Aftermath

What happened to Sherwood after her ducking is unclear[8] as many court records have been lost.[c][46] She served an unknown time in the jail next to Lynnhaven Parish Church,[40] perhaps as long as seven years and nine months.[32] She was ordered to be detained "to be brought to a future trial", but no record of another trial exists, so it is possible the charge was dismissed at some point.[40] On September 1, 1708, she was ordered to pay Christopher Cocke 600 pounds (270 kg) of tobacco[d] for a reason not indicated in surviving records, but there is no mention of the payment.[40] She appears to have been released some time in or before 1714, since in that year she paid back taxes on her 145-acre (59 ha) property—which Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood helped her to recover from Princess Anne County—off what is now Muddy Creek Road.[32][47][48] She lived the remainder of her life quietly until her death in 1740, aged about 80.[1][13][49] She is believed to have died in August or September 1740.[50] Her will was proved on October 1, 1740; it noted that she was a widow.[8] She left five shillings each to her sons James and Richard and everything else to her eldest son John.[51]

According to legend, Sherwood's sons put her body near the fireplace and a wind came down the chimney. Her body disappeared amid the embers, with the only clue being a cloven hoofprint.[11] Sherwood lies in an unmarked grave under some trees in a field close to the intersection of Pungo Ferry Road and Princess Anne Road in Virginia Beach.[1] Stories about the Devil taking her body, unnatural storms, and loitering black cats quickly arose after her death, and local men killed every feline they could find; this widespread killing of cats might have caused the infestation of rats and mice recorded in Princess Anne County in 1743.[2]

Legacy

Grace Sherwood's case was little known until Virginia Beach historian and author Louisa Venable Kyle wrote a children's book about her in 1973. Called The Witch of Pungo, it is a collection of seven local folk tales written as fiction, although based on historical events.[49][52] Sherwood's story was adapted for Cry Witch, a courtroom drama at Colonial Williamsburg, the restored early capital of Virginia.[13]

A statue by California sculptor Robert Cunningham depicting Sherwood with a raccoon and a basket of rosemary was unveiled on April 21, 2007, on the site of the present-day Sentara Bayside Hospital, close to the sites of both the colonial courthouse and the ducking point.[53][54] The raccoon represents Sherwood's love of animals and the rosemary her knowledge of herbal healing.[53] A Virginia Department of Historic Resources marker (K-276) was erected in 2002, about 25 yards (23 m) from Sherwood's statue. The place of her watery test and the adjacent land are named Witch Duck Bay and Witch Duck Point.[e][54] A portion of Virginia State Route 190 in Virginia Beach, a north–south thoroughfare on its western side which traverses Interstate 264 at exit numbers 14–16, has been named "Witchduck Road".[55] Other commemorations in Virginia Beach include Sherwood Lane and Witch Point Trail.[44][56] A local legend in Virginia Beach states that all of the rosemary growing there came from a single plant Sherwood carried in an eggshell from England.[f][11]

Belinda Nash, in addition to writing a biography of Sherwood, worked tirelessly to get her pardoned.[58] Governor Tim Kaine officially restored Sherwood's good name on July 10, 2006, the 300th anniversary of her conviction.[32] Annual reenactments of the ducking have taken place since 2006. No one is actually ducked in these events, which embark from a spot across from Ferry Plantation House along Cheswick Lane, which is very close to Witch Duck Bay.[59][60] According to local residents, a strange moving light, said to be Sherwood's restless spirit, still appears each July over the spot in Witch Duck Bay where Sherwood was thrown into the water.[54]
Attachments:
GraceSherwoodCloseB.jpg

Options: ReplyQuote
Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia
Posted by: Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia ()
Date: October 30, 2013 01:47PM

Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia
http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Witchcraft_in_Colonial_Virginia#start_entry

Witchcraft was a genuine concern for colonial Virginians. The colony's English settlers brought with them a strong belief in the devil's power and his presence in the New World. This belief was first manifested in the Jamestown colonists' early perceptions of the Virginia Indians, whom they believed to be devil worshippers. After 1622, some colonists began to accuse one another of practicing witchcraft. Though witchcraft cases in Virginia were less common and the sentences less severe than the more famous witch trials of Salem, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, evidence exists that about two dozen such trials took place in Virginia between 1626 and 1730. They ranged from civil defamation suits to criminal accusations. The most famous of these was the trial of Grace Sherwood of Princess Anne County, in which the judges determined her guilt by administering a water test. Records indicate that the last witchcraft trial in the mainland colonies took place in Virginia in 1730; five years later, Parliament repealed the Witchcraft Act of 1604, the statute under which British American colonists prosecuted accused witches. Since then, witchcraft has been largely forgotten as an aspect of life in colonial Virginia.


Background

The English colonists who came to Virginia in 1607 believed in the reality of witchcraft before they even set foot on North American soil. Like most Europeans, their Christian faith had deep roots, and they perceived the natural world as a place that could be shaped by supernatural forces. Witch trials had been a part of English life for centuries, and Parliament had passed a law criminalizing the practice of witchcraft in 1542, so the men and women who settled the English colony at Jamestown would have considered witchcraft to be a real and punishable offense.

The English colonists believed the Indians they encountered to be devils, or at least devil worshippers. In their descriptions of Virginia Indians, the Jamestown colonists often used supernatural terms: John Smith described the paramount chief Powhatan as "more like a devil then a man," while George Percy recalls the Indians "making noise like so many Wolves or Devils." Alexander Whitaker, an Anglican minister, reported that he found the Indians to be "very familiar with the Devill" and observed, "Their Priests … are no other but such as our English Witches are." This perception stemmed partly from the colonists' interpretation of the Powhatans' religious beliefs and rituals (some settlers believed that the Powhatans' main deity, Okee, was the devil incarnate) and partly from the Indians' unfamiliar appearance. As the historian Edward L. Bond wrote, "Colonial accounts of native bodies carried implications beyond mere physical descriptions … for English philosophy and theology linked body and spirit by suggesting that the exterior appearance of the body gave evidence of the interior state of the soul."

All this led the colonists and most Englishmen to conclude, as Puritan minister William Crashaw did in 1613, that "Satan visibly and palpably raignes [in Virginia], more then in any other known place of the world." Initially, it was easier for the English to connect the Indians' unfamiliar appearance and rituals to their traditional understanding of demonology than to accept a worldview that differed so greatly from their own. The early English interpretation of native life in Virginia did much to support the widespread contemporary belief that the practice of witchcraft was "most comon in … [the] wild partes of the world," as the Scottish king James IV (later King James I of England) wrote in his 1597 study, Daemonologie. Around 1622, however, once the Virginia colony had stabilized and its English population grew, the colonists began to turn their suspicions inward, no longer focusing their accusations on the Indians, but on each other.

Defense Against Witchcraft

This amulet, believed to be from the eigtheenth century, contains a prayer intended to protect a woman from "any mannor of Wichcraft or Evle spirit" that might "in habit & disturbe the wearar of this precept." The prayer invokes a verse from the Gospel of Matthew that says if one has faith, mountains can be moved.
Attachments:
3759scr_a452e6137dacd2a.jpg

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia (Cont.)
Posted by: Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia ()
Date: October 30, 2013 01:51PM

Witchcraft Cases in Virginia

Most of Virginia's colonial-era court records were destroyed in fires during the American Civil War (1861–1865), so it is impossible to know exactly how many witchcraft cases were heard in Virginia and when. Historians know of some two dozen cases dealing with witchcraft in colonial Virginia. Most of these cases are defamation suits resulting from slander or gossip; in fact, the only Virginia law to specifically address witchcraft, passed in Lower Norfolk County on May 23, 1655, was intended to eliminate not the practice of witchcraft, but rather "divrs dangerous and scandalous speeches … raised by some psons concerning sevrall women in this countie termeing them to be witches, whereby their reputacons have beene much impaired, and theire lives brought in question." False accusers were to pay a fine of 1,000 pounds of tobacco and could be further punished by the court if it was deemed necessary.

In criminal witchcraft cases, Virginia courts adhered to England's witchcraft law, a 1604 statute passed under James I called "An Act against Conjuration Witchcraft and dealing with evil and wicked Spirits." In Virginia these cases deal mostly with the charge of maleficium—causing harm to people or property by supernatural means. The earliest witchcraft allegations on record against an English settler in the British North American colonies were made in Virginia in September 1626. The accused, Joan Wright of Surry County, was a married woman and a midwife. A number of Wright's neighbors testified against her, alleging that, through witchcraft, she had caused the death of a newborn, killed crops and livestock, and accurately predicted the deaths of other colonists. Wright was acquitted despite her own admission that she did in fact have knowledge of witchcraft practices.

The charges against Wright are typical of many witch trials during the colonial period: at a time when most misfortunes, like crop failure, illness, or death, had no apparent cause, witchcraft was a relatively logical explanation; an eccentric or unpopular member of the community made a convenient scapegoat. The fact that Wright was a woman is typical, too: in the surviving records of witchcraft cases in Virginia, only two accused witches were men, reflecting a trend that also exists in the legal records of England and the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Witch Duck Creek

The most famous witch trial in colonial Virginia is the case of Grace Sherwood of Princess Anne County. Sherwood was first accused by her neighbors in 1698 of having "bewitched their piggs to death and bewitched their Cotton"; later that year another neighbor claimed that "the said Grace came to her one night and rid [rode] her and went out of the key hole or crack of the door like a black Catt." Grace Sherwood and her husband, James, brought defamation suits against the accusers, but did not win either case. The rumors and accusations continued until 1706, when Sherwood stood trial before the General Court. After a long investigation, the court justices decided to use the water test to determine her guilt or innocence. The test, which was so controversial that it was no longer used on the European continent at the time of Sherwood's trial, involved binding the accused's hands and feet and throwing him or her into a body of water. A defendant who sank was presumed innocent, because the water—a pure element—had accepted him or her; a defendant who floated was presumed guilty. Sherwood floated. She was convicted and imprisoned, but by 1714, she had been released.

Sherwood's case reflects how reluctant Virginia authorities were to execute convicted witches. English law prescribed harsh punishments for witchcraft, the most extreme being "paines of deathe," but no person accused of the crime in colonial Virginia was executed. By comparison, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, nineteen so-called witches were executed in 1692 alone. (Some historians have pointed to the death of Katherine Grady, who was hanged in 1654, as an example of a Virginia execution for witchcraft, but Grady's trial and death took place at sea, on a ship bound for the colony.)

The last witchcraft trial on record in Virginia took place in 1730, five years before Parliament repealed the English statute against witchcraft. Justices charged the accused, a woman named Mary, with using witchcraft to find lost items and treasure. She was convicted and whipped thirty-nine times. This was likely the last criminal case of witchcraft tried in any of the mainland colonies. That same year, Benjamin Franklin published in the Pennsylvania Gazette a satirical report of a witch trial in New Jersey. His elaborate, mocking descriptions of the practices of court justices in trying witches illustrate the beginning of a shift in the colonial perception of witchcraft from terrifying reality to puritanical fantasy.

~~~~~

A bolt of lightning releases the handcuffs on a woman accused of being a witch and strikes down her inquisitor in this late nineteenth-century lithograph of a colonial-era trial. This scene by Boston-based artist Joseph E. Baker shows one of the witch trials in Salem, in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Virginia also held witch trials in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, though they were fewer in number and the sentences less severe than those in New England.
Attachments:
TheWitch-no1.jpg

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia (Cont.)
Posted by: Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia ()
Date: October 30, 2013 01:52PM

Beyond the Colonial Period

By the turn of the eighteenth century, witchcraft cases had virtually disappeared from court records in Virginia—and from popular memory. Over time, Virginia's witch trials were overshadowed by the cases tried in New England, which were more numerous and more sensational, and then forgotten altogether. This collective amnesia came into play during the sectional crisis in the decades leading up to the Civil War, when tensions between northern and southern politicians regarding slavery ran high. On February 16, 1849, Democratic congressman Henry Bedinger of Virginia, having grown tired of defending the South and the practice of slavery to "fanatical" abolitionists, invoked the Salem witch trials as evidence of the North's immorality and the South's cultural superiority, saying, "There are some monstrosities we never commit." This misperception of the history of witchcraft in Virginia persists even today.


Time Line
~~~~~~~~~~~
1542- Parliament passes a law making witchcraft "a felony punishable by death and forfeiture of goods and chattels."


1597- James VI, king of Scotland (later crowned James I of England), publishes Daemonologie, a book that examines the practice of witchcraft and supports witch hunts. In it, he writes that witchcraft is "most comon in … [the] wild partes of the world."


1604- Parliament passes "An Acte against Conjuration Witchcrafte and dealing with evill and wicked Spirits," outlawing witchcraft and allowing authorities to prosecute accused witches in Virginia.


1613- In a foreword to Anglican minister Alexander Whitaker's Good Newes From Virginia, Puritan minister William Crashaw reports that "Satan visibly and palpably raignes [in Virginia], more then in any other known place of the world."


September 11, 1626- The General Court meets in Jamestown to hear evidence against Joan Wright of Surry County, who is accused by her neighbors of practicing witchcraft. She is acquitted in what may be the earliest allegation of witchcraft on record against an English settler in North America.


1654- Katherine Grady, en route to Virginia from England, is accused of being a witch, tried, found guilty, and hanged aboard an English ship.


May 23, 1655- Lower Norfolk County passes a law prohibiting its residents from falsely accusing other colonists of witchcraft. Offenders will be fined 1,000 pounds of tobacco.


1698- James and Grace Sherwood sue John and Jane Gisburne and Anthony and Elizabeth Barnes for defamation and slander. The Sherwoods allege that both couples accused Grace Sherwood of practicing witchcraft.


January 1706- Luke Hill formally charges Grace Sherwood with witchcraft.


March 1706- In response to Luke Hill's charge of witchcraft against Grace Sherwood, the Princess Anne County Court impanels a jury of women, including Elizabeth Barnes, to search Sherwood's body for witch's marks. The jury finds two marks, and Sherwood is ordered to jail to await trial.


July 5, 1706- Grace Sherwood stands trial for witchcraft in Princess Anne County. The justices decide to subject Sherwood to the water test to determine her guilt or innocence. If Sherwood sinks, she will be presumed innocent; if she floats, she will be presumed guilty.


July 10, 1706- Grace Sherwood undergoes a water test to determine whether she is guilty of the charge of witchcraft. Sherwood floats, indicating her guilt, and once ashore is examined for witch's marks. A jury of women finds two marks. Sherwood is imprisoned and ordered to undergo another trial. It is unclear whether the second trial ever occurred.


1730- A woman named Mary is accused of using witchcraft to find lost items and treasure. She is convicted and whipped thirty-nine times. This is the last witchcraft trial on record in Virginia.


October 22, 1730- In the Pennsylvania Gazette Benjamin Franklin publishes "A Witch Trial at Mount Holley," a satirical account of a witch trial in New Jersey.


1735- English Parliament overturns the Witchcraft Act of 1604 and replaces it with the Witchcraft Act of 1735, which criminalizes the pretense, not the practice, of using black magic.


February 16, 1849- Democratic congressman Henry Bedinger of Virginia invokes the Salem witch trials as a defense against Northern claims that Southern culture is inherently immortal and brutal.
Attachments:
Matteson-witch.jpg

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: October 30, 2013 02:46PM

Witchcraft in Colonial Virginia Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Defense Against Witchcraft
>
> This amulet, believed to be from the eigtheenth
> century, contains a prayer intended to protect a
> woman from "any mannor of Wichcraft or Evle
> spirit" that might "in habit & disturbe the wearar
> of this precept." The prayer invokes a verse from
> the Gospel of Matthew that says if one has faith,
> mountains can be moved.

What kills me about this is that this "protection against witches" in a roundabout way is still witchcraft...

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: No way 2 Go ()
Date: October 30, 2013 03:51PM

It seems to me there was one a couple of months ago, but I can't remember witch county.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Question for thisisajokeright ()
Date: October 31, 2013 06:36AM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello! Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> >
> > The Devil goes by different names, did it ever
> > occur to you that Cernunnos, might be (and
> > probably is) the devil?
>
>
>
> That's cute. Paganism and their Gods were around
> long before Christianity. It's funny, all major
> religions celebrate some sort of "birth" of their
> Gods in December, Christians didn't want to feel
> left out so they came up with "Christmas" (which
> was "Yule" before they got ahold of it).


So you cast spells and such, and profess to be a good witch huh? I'm curious to know, have you ever cast a bad spell? Maybe just once in anger at bullies that were mean to you, a boss you couldn't stand, or someone that cut you off in traffic?

Seems to me someone with that kind of power would need an immense amount of self-control in this kind of world.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: I Am The Warlock Coo Coo Catchoo ()
Date: October 31, 2013 07:26AM

I think we should burn fucktards that spell the word magic with a "k". You can not make yourself appear more respectable just because you practice magick rather than magic.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Charlie Brown ()
Date: October 31, 2013 07:27AM

I burned a turkey club yesterday. Does that count as a burning a 'which?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Witch Burning continues ()
Date: October 31, 2013 07:35AM

Looks like Witch burning never went away, check this out...

Accused 'Witch' Kepari Leniata Burned Alive By Mob In Papua New Guinea (GRAPHIC PHOTO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/kepari-leniata-young-mother-burned-alive-mob-sorcery-papua-new-guinea_n_2638431.html

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: October 31, 2013 08:41AM

I Am The Warlock Coo Coo Catchoo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think we should burn fucktards that spell the
> word magic with a "k". You can not make yourself
> appear more respectable just because you practice
> magick rather than magic.


Ah yes, I was expecting this comment. Ignorant people often don't know the difference between magick and magic. Magic is an ILLUSION practiced for entertainment. Magick (with yes, a k) is the act of putting all of your energy into a spell (be it fire-based, water-based, etc) and sending your energy out into the Universe so the spell be complete. It's a completely private thing.

The more you know...

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: October 31, 2013 08:42AM

Question for thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> thisisajokeright Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Hello! Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> >
> > >
> > > The Devil goes by different names, did it
> ever
> > > occur to you that Cernunnos, might be (and
> > > probably is) the devil?
> >
> >
> >
> > That's cute. Paganism and their Gods were
> around
> > long before Christianity. It's funny, all major
> > religions celebrate some sort of "birth" of
> their
> > Gods in December, Christians didn't want to
> feel
> > left out so they came up with "Christmas"
> (which
> > was "Yule" before they got ahold of it).
>
>
> So you cast spells and such, and profess to be a
> good witch huh? I'm curious to know, have you ever
> cast a bad spell? Maybe just once in anger at
> bullies that were mean to you, a boss you couldn't
> stand, or someone that cut you off in traffic?
>
> Seems to me someone with that kind of power would
> need an immense amount of self-control in this
> kind of world.


Have never done a bad spell. The rule of three makes it pretty easy to avoid that, although I've definitely wanted to...

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Book Burner ()
Date: October 31, 2013 09:34AM

Ed Long, county executive, would like to be able to burn the people who have called him out on his policies. Specifically, that paying more taxes for fewer services is a good thing and that for the libraries to destroy books is not a bad thing.

He probably gets support from people like Ryan McElveen and Patti Reed on the school board as they only think money should be spent on turf and band trips. You can just see the three of them plotting to have trials and burn the people who question their authority and insight.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Bill.N. ()
Date: October 31, 2013 12:05PM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ah yes, I was expecting this comment. Ignorant
> people often don't know the difference between
> magick and magic. Magic is an ILLUSION practiced
> for entertainment. Magick (with yes, a k) is the
> act of putting all of your energy into a spell (be
> it fire-based, water-based, etc) and sending your
> energy out into the Universe so the spell be
> complete. It's a completely private thing.
>
> The more you know...

The more you realize it's an affectation. It is simply the resurrection of an archaic spelling of the word in order to distinguish one form of magic from another.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Mikeymike ()
Date: October 31, 2013 10:53PM

We good Christians sho do love our pagan holidays and traditions. That's funny shit. And we burned a whole lot of witches, around the world, before we figured out most of em prolly weren't. Just pretty girls, who were the envy of the town hags and frustraters of loser fapping plowboys. What a waste of good tail!

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Question for thisisajokeright ()
Date: November 01, 2013 10:55AM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Question for thisisajokeright Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > thisisajokeright Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Hello! Wrote:
> > >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> >
> > > -----
> > >
> > > >
> > > > The Devil goes by different names, did it
> > ever
> > > > occur to you that Cernunnos, might be (and
> > > > probably is) the devil?
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > That's cute. Paganism and their Gods were
> > around
> > > long before Christianity. It's funny, all
> major
> > > religions celebrate some sort of "birth" of
> > their
> > > Gods in December, Christians didn't want to
> > feel
> > > left out so they came up with "Christmas"
> > (which
> > > was "Yule" before they got ahold of it).
> >
> >
> > So you cast spells and such, and profess to be
> a
> > good witch huh? I'm curious to know, have you
> ever
> > cast a bad spell? Maybe just once in anger at
> > bullies that were mean to you, a boss you
> couldn't
> > stand, or someone that cut you off in traffic?
> >
> > Seems to me someone with that kind of power
> would
> > need an immense amount of self-control in this
> > kind of world.
>
>
> Have never done a bad spell. The rule of three
> makes it pretty easy to avoid that, although I've
> definitely wanted to...

What is the "Rule of Three"?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: November 01, 2013 11:02AM

Question for thisisajokeright Wrote:

>
> What is the "Rule of Three"?


Basically, what you do comes back to you three-fold.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: November 01, 2013 12:09PM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Question for thisisajokeright Wrote:
>
> >
> > What is the "Rule of Three"?
>
>
> Basically, what you do comes back to you
> three-fold.

Oh okay. Next question, who "governs" your activities other than the "Rule of Three"?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Question for thisisajokeright ()
Date: November 01, 2013 12:15PM

Sorry meant to put in "Question for thisisajokeright" instead of "thisisajokeright"

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: November 01, 2013 12:19PM

Question for thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sorry meant to put in "Question for
> thisisajokeright" instead of "thisisajokeright"


There is no "governing" body. Some Wiccans join covens which are lead by High Priests and Priestesses -- I'd imagine it would be up to one of them to govern. However, many Wiccans are solitary practitioners and therefore would self-govern.

As far as which Gods/Goddesses we worship -- that's an individual choice. I, for one, call on Bast often. We draw from many different religions/Gods. Some people favor the Hindu Gods (like Ganesh or Kali), some favor the Celtic Gods (like Cernunnos or Morrigan), some like the Egyptian (like Bast or Ra), some like the Norse Gods (like Freya and Odin), some like the Greek Gods (like Apollo or Venus). Some incorporate a little from each, others don't.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Question for thisisajokeright ()
Date: November 01, 2013 02:00PM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Question for thisisajokeright Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Sorry meant to put in "Question for
> > thisisajokeright" instead of "thisisajokeright"
>
>
> There is no "governing" body. Some Wiccans join
> covens which are lead by High Priests and
> Priestesses -- I'd imagine it would be up to one
> of them to govern. However, many Wiccans are
> solitary practitioners and therefore would
> self-govern.
>
> As far as which Gods/Goddesses we worship --
> that's an individual choice. I, for one, call on
> Bast often. We draw from many different
> religions/Gods. Some people favor the Hindu Gods
> (like Ganesh or Kali), some favor the Celtic Gods
> (like Cernunnos or Morrigan), some like the
> Egyptian (like Bast or Ra), some like the Norse
> Gods (like Freya and Odin), some like the Greek
> Gods (like Apollo or Venus). Some incorporate a
> little from each, others don't.

Interesting, so do any of these spells you use actually work? And if so, can you give us an example?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Sharon Bulova ()
Date: November 01, 2013 02:39PM

Witches!?! That's just what we need a new "Witch Tax" to cover the cost of roads.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thisisajokeright ()
Date: November 01, 2013 03:05PM

Question for thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> thisisajokeright Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Question for thisisajokeright Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Sorry meant to put in "Question for
> > > thisisajokeright" instead of
> "thisisajokeright"
> >
> >
> > There is no "governing" body. Some Wiccans join
> > covens which are lead by High Priests and
> > Priestesses -- I'd imagine it would be up to
> one
> > of them to govern. However, many Wiccans are
> > solitary practitioners and therefore would
> > self-govern.
> >
> > As far as which Gods/Goddesses we worship --
> > that's an individual choice. I, for one, call
> on
> > Bast often. We draw from many different
> > religions/Gods. Some people favor the Hindu
> Gods
> > (like Ganesh or Kali), some favor the Celtic
> Gods
> > (like Cernunnos or Morrigan), some like the
> > Egyptian (like Bast or Ra), some like the Norse
> > Gods (like Freya and Odin), some like the Greek
> > Gods (like Apollo or Venus). Some incorporate a
> > little from each, others don't.
>
> Interesting, so do any of these spells you use
> actually work? And if so, can you give us an
> example?

Witches don't cast and tell ;)

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Question for thisisajokeright ()
Date: November 01, 2013 04:00PM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Question for thisisajokeright Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > thisisajokeright Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > Question for thisisajokeright Wrote:
> > >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> >
> > > -----
> > > > Sorry meant to put in "Question for
> > > > thisisajokeright" instead of
> > "thisisajokeright"
> > >
> > >
> > > There is no "governing" body. Some Wiccans
> join
> > > covens which are lead by High Priests and
> > > Priestesses -- I'd imagine it would be up to
> > one
> > > of them to govern. However, many Wiccans are
> > > solitary practitioners and therefore would
> > > self-govern.
> > >
> > > As far as which Gods/Goddesses we worship --
> > > that's an individual choice. I, for one, call
> > on
> > > Bast often. We draw from many different
> > > religions/Gods. Some people favor the Hindu
> > Gods
> > > (like Ganesh or Kali), some favor the Celtic
> > Gods
> > > (like Cernunnos or Morrigan), some like the
> > > Egyptian (like Bast or Ra), some like the
> Norse
> > > Gods (like Freya and Odin), some like the
> Greek
> > > Gods (like Apollo or Venus). Some incorporate
> a
> > > little from each, others don't.
> >
> > Interesting, so do any of these spells you use
> > actually work? And if so, can you give us an
> > example?
>
> Witches don't cast and tell ;)

And now you see why no one trusts them. ;)

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: E i e i o ()
Date: November 02, 2013 07:43PM

Last month I burnt a grilled cheese sand Witch. Does that count?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: ye ()
Date: November 03, 2013 03:43PM

there should be fairfax underground witch trials

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Haunted Stamford1692 witch trial ()
Date: November 03, 2013 05:32PM

related subject matter......

Haunted Stamford: 1692 witch trial
http://www.newstimes.com/news/article/Haunted-Stamford-1692-witch-trial-4949662.php

STAMFORD -- We've all heard of the Salem witch trials, thanks in large part to Arthur Miller's play, "The Crucible." But Salem's saga wasn't the only witch hunt that blew through New England in 1692.

That same year, a Stamford house servant accused two women of witchcraft. And according to Richard Godbeer, a leading expert on witchcraft in the Colonial era, Stamford's story is a far more typical example of 17th century witch hunts.

The servant, Katherine Branch, lived with the Wescot family down on Stamford's shoreline, near Wescot Cove, according to Stamford Historical Society Librarian Ron Marcus. In April of 1692, Branch fell to the ground, her body contorting strangely, after returning from picking herbs. In the coming weeks, she would suffer several similar fits, convulsing, weeping and calling out hysterically. At first, the local midwife, Sarah Bates, examined Branch, concluding her illness could be due to natural causes. But after an unsuccessful bleeding -- a common medical practice for ailments in those days -- Bates concluded that Branch was bewitched.

Soon, Branch began relaying stories about a cat that spoke to her, offering to take her to a place where she could have fine things and meet fine people. In Godbeer's 2005 book, "Escaping Salem: The Other Witch Hunt of 1692," the University of Miami professor wrote that "sometimes, Kate declared, the cats turned into women and then back again, though who the women were she could not say."

At first.

"About a half a dozen people were accused in the beginning. That's not massive, but it's a significant number," Godbeer said in a telephone interview this week. Of that number, two women went on to be formally accused: Stamford's Elizabeth Clawson and Fairfield's Mercy Disborough. Like many of the cases in Salem, Clawson had personal ties with her accuser. The Wescot family and Clawson had feuded for several years, and Branch knew the family she worked for.

But unlike in Salem, where 19 witches were hanged, both women were ultimately acquitted.

"The villagers did not just assume blindly that just because Kate Branch was accusing women of witchcraft, they were guilty," said Godbeer, "They carried out a series of experiments to figure out why these women might perhaps be worthy of suspicion."

While history paints Puritan societies as overwhelmingly ruled by superstition and quick to finger-point, Stamford residents were actually very skeptical of Branch's story. And unlike many other witch hunts, Stamford's saga was recorded in a large amount of documents that still exist. From those records, Godbeer was able to piece together stories of villagers like Thomas Asten, who tested a theory that a bewitched person would laugh themselves to death if someone held a sword over her head.

To test his skepticism, Asten held a sword over Branch's head, and witnessed her laugh. But when a neighbor noted that Branch may have laughed simply because she knew the sword was being held over her, Asten tried again, more clandestinely. "This time she neither laughed nor changed her expression in any way," Godbeer wrote in his book.

During the investigation, Clawson, who Marcus said lived roughly in the area of modern-day Washington Boulevard and Main Street, was even "ducked" in a Fairfield pond. Seventeenth century theory held that witches would float if their bodies were dropped into water with their hands and feet bound, while those who were not witches would drown -- a trial that usually proved more dangerous for the innocent.

But Clawson floated -- just as one would expect a witch to do.

But even after failing this test, a large number of neighbors continued to question Branch's accusation, and to assert that Clawson was innocent. In June, 76 Stamford residents signed an affidavit, stating that Clawson had never acted maliciously toward her neighbors or used threatening words. And after the case made its way through the courts in nearby Fairfield, it was determined that there was not sufficient evidence to convict Clawson of witchcraft, which was a capital crime.

"The reason this Stamford case matters is that most people's perception of 17th century New England witchcraft is based on the Salem witch hunt. New Englanders have a reputation of being trigger-happy, believing that being accused is the equivalent of being found guilty and executed," said Godbeer. "But that's not what happened in Stamford."

Much of Branch's fits can be explained away by modern science, Marcus said earlier this month. According to records, Branch's mother had also suffered from fits, which adds credence to a theory that it could have been a medical issue. But Godbeer said the real reason behind her fits have little to do with the story.

"It's really tempting when you look at someone like Kate Branch to ask, `Well, what was really going on? Was it epilepsy?' But I would argue that's precisely the wrong question to be asking," he said.

"Whether witchcraft exists or Kate Branch was faking or an epileptic or whatever is really, I think, the very least interesting thing one could possibly think about," he continued. "What matters is understanding what people believed and thought was going on, and what shaped their behavior."
Attachments:
witch trial.jpg

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: VA History - Witches of Virginia ()
Date: November 03, 2013 07:22PM

Witches of Virginia
http://hoydensandfirebrands.blogspot.com/2009/03/witches-of-virginia.html

In North America, most people think of Salem when witch trials are mentioned, but Virginia has the dubious honor of holding the first such trial on the continent in 1626. Before then, the Powhatan priests were often regarded by the English as witches. In 1613, Reverend Alexander Whitaker stated in Good newes from Virginia, "Their priests (whom they call Quiokosoughs) are no other but such as our English Witches are." Perhaps the colonists preoccupation with the native population and the fact that few English women had yet to arrive held off trials in the beginning.

In any case, Virginia was far less rabid in prosecuting witches than either the home country or Salem. Only thirteen women and two men are known to have been tried for the crime. Granted, many records are likely to have been lost over the centuries, but most of those accused were found not guilty and often turned the tables on the accuser by successfully suing for defamation of character.


Joan Wright was the first person in Virginia to have been tried for being a witch in September 1626. Goody Wright was most likely a cunning woman. Because few in the seventeenth century could afford physicians and those who could often didn't trust them, cunning folk were popular healers for the masses. Joan engaged in foretelling the future and was a midwife. Also, she was left handed, which further helped her accusers to place blame on her being in league with the devil.


Apparently, on at least three occasions, Joan prophesied that certain individuals would bury their spouses, which indeed came to pass. Of course, with modern sensibility, we know that healers of any era often can make such predictions with a high degree of accuracy. In one case, she attended the birth of Lieutenant Giles Allington's wife. Due to Joan's left handedness, Allington's wife distrusted her and a second midwife also assisted.


After the delivery, the woman grew sore in the breast (most likely an infection) and was bedridden for five weeks. Soon after, the lieutenant himself fell sick as did the child. Goody Wright was accused of witchcraft for these incidents and several others. Unfortunately, the record is unclear as to what punishment, if any, she might have received, or even if she was found guilty. However, she was fined one hundred pounds of tobacco for an unspecified act.


Katherine Grady has the unfortunate distinction of being the only person executed in the colony for the offense. In 1654, she was en route from England to Virginia when a violent storm hit. Such disturbances were often associated with witchcraft. Of the passengers, Kath Grady, an elderly woman, apparently best fit the description of a sorceress. Detailed accounts either went unrecorded or were lost, but the captain hung the woman during the storm. Although technically she had yet to arrive on Virginia's shores, the colony can be held accountable for her death as the case fell under its jurisdiction, where the captain reported upon reaching the Jamestown port.


Reverend David Lindsay emigrated from Scotland, a country with many witch trials, and accused William Harding of witchcraft in 1656. He was sentenced with thirteen lashes of the whip and ordered to leave the county. The records do not reveal what it was that he had done to have been found guilty.


Other cases included the usual bewitching of horses, cows, and chickens. Some women were inspected for witch marks on their bodies, but in only one other case were there any serious accusations.


The most famous witch in Virginia's history is Grace Sherwood. She was a healer, a midwife, and most likely a cunning woman. She was body searched, ducked, and finally vindicated on July 10, 2006 when Governor Tim Kaine restored her good name. I'll feature her in a future post as the Witch of Pungo deserves her own space.
Attachments:
gracesherwood.jpg

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Curious one ()
Date: November 04, 2013 01:48PM

Thanks for all the input, I keep having this dream (or parts of it) off and on over the past few days. During the "trial", it looks like the Freemasons (or at least some of them) are somehow involved.

Were the Freemasons ever linked to witch trials?

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Bill.N. ()
Date: November 04, 2013 03:19PM

If you believe some sources they were...on the side of the witches. One story is that the Masons are descended from the Knights Templar who were suppressed by the Pope and King of France in part for their practice of witchcraft (although the evidence would suggest the real motive was to gain control of the wealth supposedly accumulated by the order).

If you want to seriously pursue this though I think you need to move beyond the resources of FFU and start doing serious research into witchcraft, the witch scares of the 17th century, freemasonry, the knights Templar and perhaps also start looking into Past Lives theories as well.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Some More Info ()
Date: January 21, 2014 09:14AM

The Witch of Pungo
http://hauntedstories.net/myths-legends/virginia/witch-pungo

Grace Sherwood lived around the turn of the 18th century is known for being the first (if not only) woman charged with being a witch in the state of Virginia. Most historians claim that her trial was the result of a less enlightened age, but there are some claims that support the charge of Grace Sherwood being a witch. Was an innocent woman convicted of witchcraft? Or did the powers she possess protect her from death?

Grace Sherwood was born around 1660 and married James Sherwood around 1680. Little else is known about her before 1698 when her and her husband began a series of lawsuits for defamation and slander. It seems they sued John and James Gisburne for claiming Grace was a witch and that she "cast a spell that blighted their crop of cotton". The case was quickly dismissed but the Sherwood were back in front of a judge in a matter of weeks. This time, they were suing for a hundred pounds from Antony and Elizabeth Barnes after Elizabeth allegedly claimed Grace came into her home late at night in the form of a cat and whipped her as she lay in bed before leaving through the keyhole in the door or a crack in the wall. Again, the charges of defamation were quickly dismissed.

James Sherwood would die in 1701 and Grace would never remarry. She would go on to sue Luke Hill claiming he had "beaten her to a great damage". She asked for fifty pounds, but was awarded only twenty shillings. The tactic of suing people backfired on her as a few weeks later Luke Hill, and his wife Elizabeth brought charges against Grace for practicing witchcraft.

Practicing witchcraft was still a serious offense. It was only ten years earlier that twenty people had been executed in Salem, Massachusetts for the same crime. A jury of women were formed to examine Grace for "spots" that were believed to be the mark of a witch. At this, the court did not know what to do. This was a precedent setting case. And the people in the area didn't want another witch hunt like the one in Salem. So, they passed the case to the governors council in Williamsburg. The higher court did not want to rule on such a touchy issue, so they passed the case back to the original court.

It was then decided to subject Grace to a time honored test for witchcraft called "Witch ducking". A rope is tied to the suspects right thumb and left big toe and a second rope around the left thumb and right big toe. The suspect is then tossed in the water. If they float or swim, they are a witch. If they do not (and they are rescued before they drown), then they are innocent. It is said that those who drown during the process are satisfied in the next life that their name was cleared.

The ducking of Grace Sherwood was to take place but was delayed because of...rain. On Wednesday, July 10, 1706 at 10am Grace Sherwood in front of a sizable crowd was ducked. Almost immediately, she came back to the surface with no signs of restraints and swam to the shore. The crowd began to talk: She was a witch! Grace was then shackled in irons and taken back to jail. Oddly, that's where the official documents end. There is no record of the punishment for being a witch. Some people say that she was held for a short time and then quietly released.

The next time Grace Sherwood appears in the courts documents is in 1733 with filing her will. Grace died in 1740, but that didn't stop the legend of her witchy powers. Some of the stories told include Grace needed some rosemary for cooking so she commandeered a ship, and within a day sailed to England and back to retrieve the needed item. It is said that only after that day did rosemary grow in Princess Anne County (now part of Virgina Beach). It it also said that much like The Devils Tramping ground, the spot where Grace Sherwood was ducked hasn't grown anything since that day.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Curious one ()
Date: May 03, 2014 08:07PM

I've this same or similiar dream off and on since, usually when I am very tired and sound asleep. It looks like there were two witches. One who was more of a Wiccan who used her abilities for healing, etc. (This is the one that was caught and tried), and then a second one that lived outside of the community that was doing all the evil stuff and it was all supposedly happening hear in Northern VA, yet I can't find much on witch trials in this area. Very strange since I don't read or even seek to read anything on witches and never watch stuff like that on TV.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: thatwouldbotherme ()
Date: May 03, 2014 08:24PM

This story is very strange. I thought you watched True Blood too many times and were a joker. I'm still not completely sure.

Have you ever wondered if you are a natural channel? The spirits of these witches are able to reach you, get inside of you. If I were you, I'd be a bit disturbed and frightened by it.

I believe you possibly could find a "white" wiccan practitioner to help you with this. Make them leave you alone, if it bothers you. There are some who would help you for free & really a truly ethical witch would see that you have been innocent here. I wouldn't trust anybody who wants money.

If something has been bothering you for this amount of time, you might want to get to the bottom of it.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: adsfasdfasdasdf ()
Date: May 03, 2014 08:25PM

Hmmmm...Maybe you have some kind of connection to this area or someone you know does that you're picking up on. Maybe the property you live on is haunted or something. thisisajokeright? might be able to elaborate more.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Witch Hazel ()
Date: May 03, 2014 09:12PM

...
Attachments:
funny-women-angel-witch.jpg

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: Witch Hazel ()
Date: May 03, 2014 09:13PM

....
Attachments:
a-ha-ha-funny-witch-broom-accident-pagan1.jpg

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: jdPED ()
Date: May 03, 2014 11:12PM

Fairfaxian Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Fairfax County was cut from the northern part of
> Prince William County in the 1740s. Prince
> William County was founded in the 1730s.
>
> In America, there were only a scant few witch
> trials after the infamous Salem trials, which took
> place in 1692. While Virginia saw some witch
> trials earlier in the seventeenth century (1600s),
> they seem to all have been further south. Only
> one witch case occurred in Virginia in the
> eighteenth century (1700s), and that was in
> Norfolk in 1705, decades before the founding of
> Prince William and Fairfax Counties.
>
> Source:
> http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/witch
> trial/na.html


only one ? probably a black widow. surprising there weren't more in that respect.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: aging debbie does dallas fan ()
Date: May 03, 2014 11:17PM

thisisajokeright Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Totally Overblown Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > And they were NOT witches as you know them
> today.
> > It had absolutely nothing to do with religious
> > intolerance or any of the liberal propaganda
> crap.
> > None of them practiced Wicca or the "old
> > religion". All of the victims were Christians
> > that were accused of conspiring with the devil.
>
>
> Exactly; the devil and hell are COMPLETELY
> Christian ideas. We don't worship him, nor do we
> believe in hell. That's all you guys.


oh they weren't real witches ? thanks sherlock !

read more. the town was starving from a low stores during a harsh winter - up north - in the salt belt

the grains had gotten a disease and when eaten caused awful halicinations

however. they didn't have a choice. the storehouse was near empty.

Options: ReplyQuote
Re: Did Fairfax County ever have Witch trials or Witch burnings?
Posted by: mmneX ()
Date: July 10, 2014 02:34PM

I heard that there were witches in northern va that moved out to area which is now sterling in loudoun county. Anyone know if this is true and are they still there today?

Options: ReplyQuote


Your Name: 
Your Email (Optional): 
Subject: 
Attach a file
  • No file can be larger than 75 MB
  • All files together cannot be larger than 300 MB
  • 30 more file(s) can be attached to this message
Spam prevention:
Please, enter the code that you see below in the input field. This is for blocking bots that try to post this form automatically.
 **      **  **     **  **     **  ********   **    ** 
 **  **  **  **     **  ***   ***  **     **  ***   ** 
 **  **  **  **     **  **** ****  **     **  ****  ** 
 **  **  **  **     **  ** *** **  ********   ** ** ** 
 **  **  **   **   **   **     **  **     **  **  **** 
 **  **  **    ** **    **     **  **     **  **   *** 
  ***  ***      ***     **     **  ********   **    ** 
This forum powered by Phorum.