Hangings on Gallows Hill: 18 different stories

The very first death of the Salem Witch Hunt Trials in 1692 occurred on June 10^th to Bridget Bishop. A month and nine days later five more deaths would occur: Rebecca Nurse
Sarah Good, Susannah Martin, Elizabeth Howe, and Sarah Wildes. We are already familiar with the stories of Nurse and Good; Nurse, an old woman who was unlikely to be accused (McFarland,Salem Bewitched, 5), and Good, a woman who was the town beggar, who just like Bridget Bishop, no one particularly liked. However, Martin’s, Wildes’s, and Howes’s stories are less likely to be told.

Martin was a sixty-seven year old widow. She was married to George Martin and had eight children. She had been accused of witchcraft before in1688, along with a battle over Martin’s inheritance. When her father died, he left the majority of his estate to his second wife. This angered Martin, and is what to be believed, was a huge reason as to why she was accused of witchcraft.

There was a rumor that Wildes had participated in illicit sex. The accusations made against her began years before the Trials when she had married John Wildes. She was his second wife, and his first wife’s sister had accused Wildes of putting a spell on her. Also, Jonathon Wildes, Sarah’s stepson, began having fits shortly after she and his father were married. Many thought that this was her demonic doing.



Elizabeth Howe's Tombstone

Howe was a kind woman who was accused of witchcraft. The only real reason she was accused was because she had argued with some neighbors. They accused her of killing their young daughter, along with two of their cows. Her brother-in-law testified against her saying that she killed his sow and inflicted numbness in his hand. One of the girls claimed that her specter had drug her to the Salem pond and tried to drown her.



Sarah Good's Tombstone

All five women were executed on July 19, 1692. They were hanged at Gallows Hill. Something interesting, which may have been a reason as to why another five people were executed on August 19, 1692, was Sarah Good’s last words. Before she was hanged, Sarah good had cursed Judge Nicholas Noise. She said, “I am no more a witch than you are a wizard and if you take away my life God will give you blood to drink.” When Noise was to die, he died choking on his own blood.

The next to be hanged at Gallows hill were George Burroughs, Martha Carrier, John Willard, George Jacobs, Sr., and John Proctor.

 

George Burroughs was minister for three years (1680-1683). He was seen as the “Leader of Witches²³.” This accusation was made for many reasons: he survived many brutal attacks from Wabnaki Indians, he was supposedly jealous of Deodat Lawson for having the job Burroughs desired, and his first two wives had died. It was said by the Putnam family that Burroughs was cruel to his wives. One of these wives were also related to Judge Harthorn, the judge who had questioned and sentenced all of the previous accused to death.

Martha Carrier was known as the “Queen of Hell.²⁴” She was like many of the first women accused, for she had a low status and was very poor. The interesting thing about Carrier’s story was that her whole family was thought to be witches.   Her sons Richard and Andrew were tied neck to heels until blood was ready to come out of their noses, so that they would confess. This caused her younger children, Sarah and Thomas Jr., to testify against her in court. They also claimed themselves to be witches.

Although there is little known about John Willard, one thing we do know, is that he was also betrayed by family. The first person to accuse him was Ann Putnam. She not only blamed him for supposedly tormenting her, but for the death of her baby sister. In distress, Willard sought for help through his wife’s grandfather. However, they were unable to meet up at the time. Later, his wife’s grandfather had seen Willard at a dinner party in Boston, where he claimed that Willard “looked after such a sort upon me as I never before discerned in any²⁵.” After this encounter he began to feel ill, and was in suffering when it came to urinating. He blamed this on Willard, claiming him, as a witch. This was more apparent to Willard’s wife’s grandfather when Daniel, his grandson, had become deathly ill, after wishing that Willard would be hanged. Unfortunately, Daniel had died, and the court had deemed it as an unnatural death due to evidence, bringing Willard to his inevitable fate on August 19^th, 1962.

George Jacobs Sr. was about 72 when he was arrested on May 10^th, 1692. He was arrested with his granddaughter Margaret Jacobs. Their primary accuser was Sarah Churchill, who had accused them during her testimony as she was being tried for witchcraft. Margaret Jacobs had also become her grandfather’s accusers, in hopes that she would save herself. Jacobs also had many other accusers. Many of which were women, who accused him of beating them with his walking stick and by other physical means. Men who had accused Jacobs claimed that his specter was what caused many women to suffer in May 11. Jacobs, being a feisty old man, laughed in court as he was accused. He said many things such as, “You tax me for a wizard, you may as well tax me for a buzzard I have done no harm,” and “Well: burn me, or hang me, I will stand in the truth of Christ, I know nothing of it²⁶.”

John Proctor was a man that was sixty years of age. He was unlike many, for he was a well-established man. His story plays into Carol Karlsen’s theory that those with property were victims of the Salem Witch Hunt Trials. This was only because their land would become government property, thus making others rich and prosperous.

 The last set of hangings at Gallows Hill occurred on September 22^nd, 1962. In this hanging eight lives were taken: Martha Corey, Mary Eastey, Ann Pudeator, Alice Parker, Mary Parker, Wilmott Redd, Margaret Scott, and Samuel Wardwell.

            Martha Corey was an accepted member of the Salem Church, and was the first to break the mold of those typically accused. It was Corey’s impure history that made her a target. When Corey was in her youth she had given birth to an illegitimate son.²⁹ Martha tried to cease the theory that she was a witch by reciting scriptures. Another major reason as to why Corey was accused was that she was skeptical to the notion that witches even existed. Her questioning the authenticity of the girls fits and the existence of witches made her an easy target.

            Mary Eastery was the sister of Rebecca Nurse. It is said that she was “condemned for her unwavering appeal of innocence³⁰.” She was not a member of Salem, for she resided in Topsfield. Harthorn the major contributor to the sentencing of the accused harshly questioned Eastery:

Harthorn: How can you say you know nothing when you see these tormented [girls], and accuse you that you know nothing?

Eastery: Would you have me accuse myself?

Harthorn: Yes if you be guilty.

Eastery: Sir, I never complied but prayed against [the devil] all my days... I will say it, if it was my last time, I am clear of this sin.

            She was convicted due to her claims of her innocence, and was hanged at Gallows Hill.

            Ann Pudeator was a twice-widowed woman who had property. She had five children with her first husband. She was said to be in a paid profession of a mid-wife or nurse after the death of her first husband. What made Pudeator a target, was that later became the wife of Jacob Pudeator, a man whose wife Ann had tended too during her illness. Ann and Jacob married less than a year after Jacob’s first wife had passed.

            Alice Parker accused by the same person as John Proctor. She was arrested in September, and hanged shortly after.

            Mary Parker was from Andover, and she came to trial in Salem. The whole time that she was in trial she was sure that they had the wrong person. There is no significant documentation as to why Parker had become a part of the Salem Witch Hunt Trials in 1692, who were accused. The little that is actually known about Parker is that she was from a wealthy family and Nathan Parker’s second wife.

            Wilmott Redd was the only person from Marblehead to be accused. She had a volatile temper and was notorious for fighting with her neighbors. It is said that she sent her specter to Salem to torment one of the six Puritan girls.

            Margaret Scott was the only person to be accused from the town of Rowley.  There were many reasons as to why the people in her community thought of her as a witch: her low stature, number of child fatalities, widowhood, and begging. Scott had a total of seven children; only three survived. She was seventy-seven when she was tried for witchcraft.

            Samuel Wardwell was born to a Quaker family. His profession was carpentry. When he moved to Andover to find work, he ended up marrying his second wife. She was a wealthy woman, and her wealth was a big contributor as to why he was accused. Many thought that Wardwell was unfit to marry such a wealthy woman. During his examination he had originally plead guilty, but his conscience and pride had gotten the best of him. He recanted his original story, and was hanged at Gallows Hill.


The last two picture citations:
George Jacob Sr. Trial: (O'Linder 2009)
The hangin witch: (Pea Body Essexd Muesuem)