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 To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html