The Salem Witch trials of 1692/93 were a sad chapter in American history when hysteria swept through a Massachusetts town, ending in the executions/deaths of more than two dozen people scapegoated for disruptions in the community because they were “witches.” Most were women in an era when women who were unmarried or otherwise departed from expected behavior were viewed with suspicion.
If you want to know more about who the victims of this literal “witch hunt” were, local writer Donna Shimko has put together a ’zine called Salem Witchcraft Trials Victims — A Tribute, which tells the story of each, written in the sympathetic voice of someone addressing the victim. They include stories such as that of Sarah Wilkes: Sarah, you were whipped in 1649 for fornication outside wedlock. In 1663, you married the judge John Wildes; the siblings of his first wife loathed you and accused you of Witchcraft. As a woman, I stand for you against your unjust accusations, punishment, torment and isolation, vicious sentence of death.”
To read more, pick up a copy at Mac’s Backs on Coventry, the Buckland Museum of Witchcraft in Old Brooklyn, and Spirit Apotheosis Botanicals in Bedford.