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Connecticut pardons the "witches" it executed centuries ago [1]

['Rob Beschizza']

Date: 2023-05-30

Alse (Alice) Young, a resident of Windsor, Connecticut, was the first person executed for witchcraft in America, the judiciary documents showed. She was hanged at the gallows in Hartford in May 1647. The judiciary noted the panic over witchcraft in Hartford was smaller than the one in Salem, Massachusetts, but started four decades earlier. The last witchcraft trial in the state happened in 1697 and resulted in the charges against Wallingford residents Winifred Benham and her teen daughter being dismissed. Witchcraft continued to be listed as a capital crime until 1750.

The Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project, a group of advocates and ancestors of those convicted, said in a statement a total of 34 victims were indicted on witchcraft charges in Connecticut during the 1600s.

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[1] Url: https://boingboing.net/2023/05/30/connecticut-pardons-the-witches-it-executed-centuries-ago.html

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