HERE is a duck--use THIS duck!
Posted on 07/10/2006 1:53:00 PM PDT by freepatriot32
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The Witch of Pungo is no longer a witch. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Monday exonerated Grace Sherwood, who 300 years ago became Virginia's only woman convicted as a witch tried by water.
"I am pleased to officially restore the good name of Grace Sherwood," Kaine wrote in a letter Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf read aloud before a re-enactment of Sherwood's being dropped into the river.
"With 300 years of hindsight, we all certainly can agree that trial by water is an injustice," Kaine wrote. "We also can celebrate the fact that a woman's equality is constitutionally protected today, and women have the freedom to pursue their hopes and dreams."
Sherwood, a midwife who at times wore men's clothes, lived in what today is the rural Pungo neighborhood, and later became known as "The Witch of Pungo." Her neighbors thought she was a witch who ruined crops, killed livestock and conjured storms, and she went to court a dozen times, either to fight witchcraft charges or to sue her accusers for slander.
She was 46 when she was accused in her final case of using her powers to cause a neighbor to miscarry.
On July 10, 1706, Sherwood was dropped into the Lynnhaven River and floated _ proof she was guilty because the pure water cast out her evil spirit, according to the belief system of the time. The theory behind the test was that if she sank, she was innocent, although she would also drown.
Sherwood may have been jailed until 1714, when records show she paid back taxes and with the help of then-Gov. Alexander Spotswood she was able to reclaim her property. She then lived quietly until her death at 80.
Belinda Nash, 59, has been researching Sherwood for years and asked for the governor to exonerate the woman. A group annually remembers Sherwood with a re-enactment in the river.
For Monday's ceremony attended by about 60 people, the re-enactment took place on land _ in front of the Ferry Plantation House, a historic home where Nash volunteers as director and, dressed in costume, tells visitors about Sherwood. The courthouse where part of Sherwood's trial took place was located on the old plantation property.
Nash's daughter, Danielle Sheets, was tied cross-bound, her thumbs to her toes, and placed in a small boat, just as Sherwood would have been.
"I be not a witch. I be a healer," Sheets shouted, in character. "Before this day be through, ye will all get a worse ducking than I."
___
On the Net:
Information about Grace Sherwood: http://carolshouse.com/witch/
Ferry Plantation House: http://www.virginiabeachhistory.org/ferryfarm.html
Virginia Historical Society: http://www.vahistorical.org/
Not to hijack this thread, but can some Tidewater FReeper please explain to me how this idiot keeps getting re-elected?
HERE is a duck--use THIS duck!
"Today, we're more enlightened. We blame those things on global warming."
ROFLMAO! This thread kicks butt.
LOL -- "I want you to be in charge of everything...not that lousy D&D manual!"
Cynthia McKinney wouldn't have floated. Pointless, I know... just a fun image.
I'm very interested in things scientific.
And if I lose, I'll pay up.
Just proves Kaine's soft on crime.
"I'll bet you ten bucks that Cynthia McKinney will float, and I am so confident of this that I will allow you to attach several cinder blocks to her first."
Which is why I wouldn't take you up on that bet - in case there's any remote chance of scientific reliability in the water 'witch' test.
That's still a sucker bet. Everyone knows she's full of hot air. You'd have to poke her with a long pin to even have a chance.
Now, maybe if you attached one of THESE you could bet even odds and have a shot:
"Not to hijack this thread, but can some Tidewater FReeper please explain to me how this idiot keeps getting re-elected?"
That's not hijacking this thread...it's about a witch, ain't it?
Actually no "Witch" burned at the stake in the Americas. They were hung.
Sheesh -- every time they catch one of these people, some liberal Democrat immediately sends them right back out on the street....
You know, I'm not one to defend Kaine for anything. But I doubt he actually spent much time on this. The woman in Virginia Beach lobbied for it for a good while. Kaine was responding to a constituent.
It got him some decent press, and took very little effort. It's a decent PR move.
Well when the rest of the country gets their political houses in order, their Governors can waste time on trivialities too.... </sarcasm>
Horses are "hung", people are "hanged."
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Don't know what it means, but there are no Freepers named "Elfstar." However, there is an account registered to "Debbie" from back in '98! |
Yeah I noticed that and eerily enough all of her posts are invisible!!!! Shes a with burn her.
Frankly, I've never heard either called a British case. I just thought Ansel12 was making the point that it was a British case since we were still under British rule at the time. That would apply to the Salem witch trials also. Perhaps Ansel is just trying to point that fact out since most people don't place these things in their original context of history.
They prefer to be referred to as Differently Magicked Persons. Previously, they'd called themselves People of Magic, and of course, during the 90's they were Wiccan-Americans.
Ya gotta keep up.
As logical as the global warming mantra.
If it rains too much, it's because of global warming.If it rains too little, it's because of global warming.
If the weather is too hot, it's because of global warming.
If the weather is too cold, it's because of global warming.
It there is an increase in tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean, it's because of global warming.
It there is a decrease in tropical cyclones in the Pacific Ocean, it's because of global warming.
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