Posted on 10/06/2012 12:11:36 PM PDT by ETL
HARTFORD, Conn. – Descendants of some of the 11 people executed for witchcraft in mid-1600s Connecticut are hoping for a little magic of their own: that Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will issue a proclamation clearing their distant relatives' names and condemning the prosecutions and killings.
Over the past seven years, descendants and their supporters have been trying to get state officials to denounce the Connecticut witch trials, which began in 1647, three decades before the more famous trials in Salem, Mass., and ended in 1697. About 46 people were prosecuted, according to a 2006 state report.
"They were wrongly accused. It's a justice issue," said Debra Lynne of New Milford, who says her great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, Mary Sanford, was hanged for witchcraft in Hartford in 1662.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
...great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandmother...? Give me a break.
Does she have some new evidence to bring to light?
The witches in The Crucible WERE witches. Some of them made false accusations of others while under oath.
Odd that The Crucible is used to smear the investigations of Communist activity in the United States. There WERE Communists in this country and quite a few were allied with the Soviet Union (knowingly or unknowingly) to subvert the United States government and the Constitution.
I don’t know this woman or her ancestor. Were there any witches in the colonies or were they all trumped up?
Miller’s message is that there is no crime in being a witch or a Communist.
My family went to Conn in 1630 from Salem, I think that keeping our hair intact was a more pressing concern, see Pequot war of 1637.
I don't know if there ever were real witches, but there most definitely were and are still communists in our country. The 0-administration and demonRat party in general is crawling with them.
Fine (but how do we know they were wrongly convicted?)
I’ve got a line that was there at the time, it wasn’t at all the kangaroo court of modern popular perception.
For example, a female collateral ancestor got hauled up in front of Increase Mather for killing her son with an axe. She was not hanged. She was put away. Crazy woman. Quite a few influental people descended from her, though. Several Presidents, Aaron Burr, Jonathan Edwards, etc.
Just tossing it in to see if it floats?
Look on the bright side...Salem is a tourist attraction.
Fortunately they already had the offspring which led to my dad and then to me.
I worked with one of the Procter descendants, Godless Socialist, I would have hung him.
Depends on your definition.
Is someone performing what they believe to be magical rituals a witch? Then almost certainly at least some of those accused were guilty.
Is a witch someone who actually meets the Devil in person, has sexual intercourse with him, and in return receives actual magical powers? Then almost certainly there have never been any "real witches" anywhere.
I've always thought the witch hunters faced an unfortunate logical dilemma. If the witches really did have magical powers, why didn't they use them to escape?Is someone performing what they believe to be magical rituals a witch? Then almost certainly at least some of those accused were guilty.
Sorry for the typo. Not sure what happened.
Yeah, if it floats, she's a witch! A witch!!... Burn her!!!
Villagers: (enter yelling) A witch! A witch! We've found a witch! Burn her! Burn her!
(After Sir Bedimere gets the crowd to admit that they dressed her up as a witch, their only basis for accusing her is that one of them claims that she turned him into a newt. But because he "got better", they need some way of determining her guilt).
Bedimere: there are ways of telling if she's a witch. What do you do with witches?
Villagers: Burn them!
Bedimere: And what do you burn, apart from witches?
Villagers: Wood?
Bedimere: Right! So why do witches burn?
Villagers: Because they're made of wood?
Bedimere: Right! . Now, what else do you do with wood?
Villagers: Build bridges with it!
Bedimere: But do we not also build bridges from stone; does wood float in water?
Villagers: Yes.
Bedimere: And what else floats in water?
King Arthur: (after more confused suggestions from the villagers) A duck!
Bedimere: Right! So, if she weighs the same as a duck, she'd float in water, and she must be made of wood, so.
Villagers: A witch! Burn her!
(They weigh the woman on a large scale with a duck in the other balancing basket, but inexplicably the scales do not tilt one way or the other. As the villagers drag the woman away, the witch looks at the camera and says with resignation "it was a fair court".)
Bedimere: (to King Arthur) Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?
Many or maybe even most of these cases were before CT was independent. So perhaps we can get the Queen to pay reparations,
I doubt many of the merchants there would want it any other way.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.