In January of 1706, in the usually tranquil southern farming settlements around Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, a married couple named Hill suddenly claimed that both their hogs and their cotton had been bewitched by a neighbor woman. The accused? A feisty farming widow, mother of three and likely a midwife and herbalist: Grace Sherwood.
Prior to the death of Grace's husband, James, the Sherwoods had maintained a 7-year legal feud with the Hills and with other neighbors, Elizabeth and Anthony Barnes. Ms. Barnes accused Grace of spiriting herself through the keyhole, shapeshifting into feline form, then attacking Elizabeth with fangs and claws, finally vanishing back through the keyhole.
For the slanderous remarks they'd made about Grace, the Sherwoods took the two couples to court and won the case. As a widow on her own, Grace had also sued the Hills for assault and battery. She too won her case against her bullying, thuggish neighbors, and was awarded 20 pounds sterling.
Given this rich history of abuse and bad blood, it's not surprising that Grace, by standing up for herself, became the centerpiece of a full blown sorcery accusation. It was a devastating thing, to be labeled a witch in those days. Like modern cyber-bullying, its actions stained a person forever. Grace's ordeal, however, would become a statistic: the very last official witch trial on American soil.
To understand the context and the setting in which Grace lived, remember that every village in early America had at its center a public place of punishment, based on medieval English custom. To deter crime and shame wrongdoers, a variety of correctional appliances stood at the ready: wooden stocks, a whipping post, branding irons, and a pillory. The pillory apparatus held the culprit's head and hands in a tight grip. It was used for an alphabet soup of charges: arson, blasphemy, coin-clipping, drunkenness, and witchcraft. The punishment routinely included nailing the unfortunate's ears to the pillory -- or lopping them off. Onlookers and passersby added to the prisoner's misery, often pelting him or her with stones or excrement.
A ducking stool or chair also sat nearby on the community pond or river. Fractious citizens (mostly women) being disciplined as "scolds" or gossips were strapped onto the stool, then plunged repeatedly under water.
For the more serious crime of sorcery or enchantment that Mrs. Sherwood was charged with, a crueler punishment was called for. Termed "ordeal by water" or "witch ducking," it required a larger body of water to test the supernatural issue at hand. The ordeal set up an ingenious lose-lose situation. Was the accused in league with the devil? If so, she would not sink, but float, and then likely face prision or worse The theory further held that water was a pure element; thus only the pure of heart would sink. An ironic victory, indeed: to win your case, but drown from it.
Before Grace underwent her watery ordeal, however, she was publicly shamed and tortured. To establish "proof" of witchcraft, her clothing was removed, followed by the shaving of all body hair. In this way, every inch of her body could be examined. An audience of local citizens, preachers, and court officials stood by as a jury of five women, selected for being "ancient and knowing," did closeup scrutiny for "witches' marks" and "the witches' teat." As they peered at Grace's body, especially her lady parts, they used sharp pins to jab each suspicious spot, a ritual called "pricking the witch."
Would it surprise you to learn that Elizabeth Barnes, one of Grace's most unfavorite neighbors, was on the jury panel?
A woman accused of allegiance to the devil was thought to carry these marks somewhere on her body, a slam-dunk to a guilty verdict. Almost any old mole, wart, or skin imperfection would do. This is one of the reasons why more than 50,000 women were burnt at the stake or killed for sorcery in other gruesome ways in the centuries from the 1300s into the 1800s.
In Grace Sherwood's case, the jury women triumphantly announced: "Wee of the Jury have Searched her & found two things like titts with several Spotts."
Sherwood was ordered to appear at the next court session but defied the order. After various legal tussles and delays, the presiding judges ordered Grace to undergo an ordeal by water on July 10, 1706. Unlike the cry for blood hysteria of the Salem trials, the Virginia officials seemed lukewarm on their witch-hunt. In fact, the sheriff was told to halt the proceedings if the weather turned bad, and to monitor the procedure so that Sherwood's life was not endangered.
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