Did you know that Connecticut had witch trials thirty years before the more-famous Salem Witch Trials? From 1647 to 1663, Hartford Connecticut accused 37 people of being witches. Leading to 11 executions. An influenza epidemic in New England in 1647 likely helped get things started.
Things began to slow down in the early 1660s. Ironically, this is partly attributed to the return of the governor of the Connecticut colony, John Winthrop Jr., who was seen as an expert in witchcraft! He had seen major alchemists in England stand against false accusations of witchcraft, and was well-versed in “natural magical practices” as well as alchemy. Winthrop therefore was skeptical of the accusations being made in Connecticut. He wanted to catch true witches not just squabbling neighbors. For instance, Winthrop’s court established that multiple witnesses needed to bear witness to the same act of witchcraft simultaneously. This understandably results in fewer witchcraft accusations and no witches were executed in Connecticut after 1670.
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