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Handwritten letter in cursive to the honorable Governor, Council, and General Assembly in Boston, signed at the bottom with several names.
Petition for bail from accused witches. (Photo: John Davis Batchelder Autograph Collection)

Witch trials begin in the American colonies.

1622

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Petition for bail from accused witches. (Photo: John Davis Batchelder Autograph Collection)

Over 300 individuals, the majority of whom are women, will be accused of witchcraft in what are known today as New England and New Mexico over the course of the next 70 years. The exact number hanged or executed remains unclear, but is at least 50. People are accused of witchcraft for many different reasons, including a number of free Black and Native people, as well as Quakers, midwives, herbalists, and other white settler-colonists seen as "disturbed" or morally or sexually "dangerous."