Connecticut apology for witch trials gets a look
Two years ago, a class of eighth graders in North Andover, Mass., led an effort that resulted in the exoneration of a woman who had been accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials.
Now it’s Connecticut’s turn to atone.
A joint resolution that was introduced in January would name and apologize to the people who were tried for witchcraft in the state some 375 years ago.
A group of authors, lay historians and descendants of those convicted in the trials have championed the resolution, which was considered by the state’s Judiciary Committee. It will receive a hearing later this spring that will determine whether state legislators bring it to the floor for a vote during this year’s legislative session.
The group pushing the resolution, the Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project, wants the state to recognize the nearly three dozen people accused, apologize for their persecution and send a message about the dangers of alienating people. The trials happened across the state.
“You’ve got scapegoating and fear and accusations and blaming,” said Sarah Jack, a member of the exoneration project group whose ancestor was accused of witchcraft. “When you don’t understand a group and then you blame them for a problem, that is witch-hunt mentality.”
Jack is a descendant of Winifred Benham, a woman who was indicted on a charge of witchcraft in Wallingford, Connecticut, in 1692 but not killed. Another two of Jack’s ancestors were killed during the Salem Witch Trials. At 47, she said she considered herself at “prime witch hunt age,” as many of the women who were persecuted over witchcraft accusations in the 17th century were over the age of 40.
She said that the resolution, while tied to an event that took place during the 17th century, still had modern relevance for marginalized groups and women.
Though not as often referenced or as documented, the Connecticut Witch Trials took place about 30 years before the Salem Witch Trials and were the first of their kind recorded in American history.
At least 34 people were accused or convicted of witchcraft during the trials in Connecticut, which lasted from 1647 to 1697. By their end, 11 people — two men and nine women — had been hanged for suspicions of witchcraft. Those who were not killed were often ousted from their hometowns or fled from them in fear.
Allegations of witchcraft could result from things like contracting an illness, having a crop failure or experiencing a marital dispute. Women were the most often accused, and a single witness could be enough to accuse someone.
“Let’s get to the root cause of why they were targeted. It was because of misogyny. It was because of community panic,” said Beth Caruso, who co-founded the Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project and has written books about the state’s witch trials.
One of the people convicted was Alse Young, who historians believe was the first documented New Englander to be killed for witchcraft. Details of her life and death are scant. Historians believe that she was accused of witchcraft during an epidemic that killed many children, including those of a family who lived nearby. When her only child, a daughter, survived, others claimed that her use of witchcraft had kept the child alive.
Young, a resident of Windsor, Conn., was hanged in 1647. The town council in Windsor exonerated her 370 years later, in 2017.
But the Exoneration Project members and allies want to go a step further. While Young’s name is engraved on a brick in Windsor’s town center with the date of her hanging, it was paid for by a group of individuals. A resolution in the Statehouse, supporters say, could clear the way for Connecticut to help fund a memorial more significant than that.
During the early 2000s, a group of historians pushed for legislation that would recognize the people accused in the trials. However, there was little political will among Connecticut’s state legislators to engage with the effort; most considered an apology to the so-called witches too frivolous.
“When they hear you’re talking about witches and clearing their names, you know, people shy away from that,” said Anthony Griego, a retired New Haven police officer and amateur historian who was among those who proposed the initial resolution. “It’s a sensitive subject and it happened 300-someodd years ago.”
But in light of a political climate that some view as more hostile to women and other marginalized groups, state Rep. Jane Garibay, who is sponsoring the resolution, said she believed there was enough momentum to bring it to the floor of the state House of Representatives for a vote — and, possibly, pass it.
“It’s a simple thing to do to say, ‘We’re sorry this happened,’” Garibay said. “I think the time is now, especially when it feels like people aren’t understanding each other.”
Proponents of the resolution say the recognition would be meaningful for descendants. Many of their ancestors were either killed for witchcraft and then buried in unmarked graves or they fled their hometowns in fear, making it more difficult for them to be found by later generations.
“Maybe for some people it’s closure,” said Sherry Kuiper, who is the tenth great-granddaughter of Young. “For me it would just be good to see that recognition for her.”
Others, pointing to the annual flocks of tourists to Massachusetts commemorating the Salem Witch Trials, believe Hartford, where many of the trials happened, could benefit from the added attention. Others say it could help raise awareness about the forces that brought about the witch trials in the first place.
Jack, Kuiper and other descendants are most likely to be among those who will testify at Connecticut’s Statehouse in coming weeks about their ancestors and the state’s witch trials. Aside from recognizing the names of the people accused, they said what they wanted most was an apology from the state. That way, Jack said, it would set an example for future generations on how to treat those “othered” by society.
“Ultimately, individuals have to change their thinking,” she said. “We really want to impact that.”
Though not as often referenced or as documented, the Connecticut Witch Trials took place about 30 years before the Salem Witch Trials and were the first of their kind recorded in American history.