NH Humanities presenter Margo Burns will be presenting The Capitol Crime of Witchcraft: What the Primary Sources Tell Us on Wednesday, October 25th at 7pm.
On first impression, the witchcraft trials of the colonial era may seem to have been nothing but a free-for-all, fraught with hysterics. Margo Burns explores an array of prosecutions in seventeenth century New England, using facsimiles of primary source manuscripts, from first formal complaints to arrest warrants, indictments of formal charges to death warrants, and the reversals of attainder and rescinding of excommunications years after the fact; demonstrating how methodically and logically the Salem Court worked. This program focuses on the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692 and 1693, when nineteen people were hanged and one crushed to death, but also examines a variety of other cases against woman in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Open to the public. Free admission.
This program is made possible by a grant from NH Humanities and The Friends of the Library.
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