Modern culture has really taken the witch in interesting places. From the evil Wicked Witch of the West in the original Wizard of Oz to the Not-Really-Wicked-But-Misunderstood Witch of the West Elphaba in the book and play Wicked, it is clear that witches can take on any number of personas. Today, witches can be good, bad, cutesy, goofy, and cunning. But not so long ago, the term "witch" was not taken so lightly.
Here at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, we often talk about scapegoating. If one looks at the history of the witch, this term comes to the fore pretty quickly. In Europe, between approximately 1480 and 1700, between 40,000 and 100,000 women and men were put to death on the charge of witchcraft. Accusations often arose as a result of an unexplained natural phenomenon--such as a failed crop or sick livestock-- or simply out of the malicious desire to seek revenge on another person.
Today, campaigners will petition Justice Secretary Jack Straw to posthumously pardon the 2,400 women and men wrongfully put to death for witchcraft in England and Scotland before the Witchcraft Act put an end to the practice in 1735. (Read full article here.) These campaigners follow the example of Swiss groups who successfully urged the government to pardon Anna Goeldi, the last woman in Europe on record to be put to death for witchcraft in 1782. While such pardons are, of course, entirely symbolic, I think this gesture is an important one. Not only does it officially clear the names of innocent victims, but makes a stand against scapegoating and lets everyone know that this injustice has no place in today's society.
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The Pungo Witch, as she has come to be called, or in real life, Grace Sherwood, was accused of bewitching a neighbor's crop in 1698. Allegations of other 'witchy' things escalated over time in the Princess Anne County government. Her accusers decided to test her by 'ducking,' or, trial by water, her innocence or guilt determined by whether she floated or drowned. Drowning, by the way, was the GOOD outcome.
On July 10th, 1706 at ten o'clock, Grace Sherwood was tied by her thumbs, cross-bound and dropped into the western branch of the Lynnhaven River near what is now known as Witchduck Point in Virginia. Unfortunately for Sherwood, she floated. Guilty of being a duck? No, guilty of being a witch. She was imprisoned, and eventually released, but Sherwood lived the rest of her life quietly unvindicated, and died in 1740.
I guess they taught her a lesson, huh? Grace Sherwood was a midwife who would often wear men's clothing while working her own homestead. She went to court a dozen times to either defend herself or sue her neighbors for slander, yet never turned her back on a woman in need of her skills. She never married. Thus one can assume that then, as now, a woman who takes care of herself, a confident, competent woman, is suspect at best, ducked at worst, but always, apparently, in need of being taught to mind her place.
In 2006, she was pardoned by the Governor of Virginia, Timothy M Kaine--300 years after her ordeal. The wheels of justice sure do run slow, sometimes, but at least they turn.
Correction, she DID marry. Now one must ask, where was he during this whole thing? Hmm?
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