Virginia's governor, Timothy Kaine issued a pardon for Grace Sherwood --
the Witch -- just this past year.  Like most accused witches in the
early modern Anglo-American world, there were stories that she blighted
crops,  killed livestock ,and could manipulate the weather.   There was
little offical momentum to see the charges through (a jury of women
could find no suspicious marks), but in the face of continued rumor and
accusation, she was tried by "ducking" (dunking) in 1706 -- apparently
by her own desire to clear her name.  She floated -- like a duck, a sure
sign of her guilt -- and was thereupon locked up.  She was in jail for a
number of years before gaining her release.

Her trial record was one of the first documents collected and published
by the Virginia Historical Society.

David Kiracofe


Harold Forsythe wrote: I would like to know more about the "Witch of
Pungo."  She lived in Princess
Anne County as there was no Virginia Beach back then.  Hugo Prosper
Leaming
in Hidden Americans makes some startling claims about the history of
Princess Anne County and its hinterland in the Great Dismal Swamp.



David Kiracofe
History
Tidewater Community College
Chesapeake Campus
1428 Cedar Road
Chesapeake, Virginia 23322
757-822-5136

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