Witch trials outside of Salem

In early America, witch trials also took place outside of Salem, including in Maryland. Few people are aware of this fact or of the other legends, myths, or lore associated with witchcraft in this mid-Atlantic state. My new book, Witch Trials, Legends, and Lore of Maryland, reveals this fascinating history.

Available through Amazon, Amazon UK, Barnes and Noble, and other online book sellers.

It is also available as a Kindle Ebook (free to Amazon Prime members right now), it will be available in other electronic formats later in the year.

You may also purchase copies at Back Creek Books in Annapolis, the Annapolis Cigar Company, Fenwick Books in Leonardtown, or directly through the books website - Marylandwitches.com.

Mount Calvert, Maryland

I have a new blog post up on my other blog, Tobaccoland, about Mount Calvert in Prince George's County, Maryland.

Two women, Hannah Edwards and Rebecca Fowler, were both accused of using witchcraft in this area in the 1680s. Edwards was acquitted. Fowler was convicted and hanged.

Speaking at the Kensington Row Bookshop

I will be at the Kensington Row Bookshop on October 20, between 6 - 8, talking about my book, Justice at Salem, and my research on Maryland witches.

Joining me will be Conrad Bladey from the Center for Fawkesian Pursuits Bonfire Society, who will discuss the Gunpowder Plot.


Look below to find the bookshop on Google Maps:

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Ghost Adventures: Salem Witch House Ritual

I am not overly impressed with the ghost hunting shows on TV and usually don't watch them.
But this episode of Ghost Adventures caught my attention, especially as it dealt with Bridget Bishop.
In my book, Justice At Salem: Reexamining The Witch Trials, I argued that she was in fact a witch.



It is worth watching the entire episode. They next asked the ghost if she really did practice witchcraft and got a response that sounded like "I did" or "I didn't". It wasn't very clear. Of course, these communications are never clear, which leads skeptics to claim that it is just static and that these people are just hearing what they want to hear.

Sarah McDaniel, another witch of Annapolis

Elihu Samuel Riley, author of "The Ancient City": A History of Annapolis, in Maryland, 1649 - 1887, published in 1887, tells the story of a "witch" who correctly foretold that a certain ship ready to launch would not make it to the water on that day.

The incident had to have happened between 1769 and 1776 as the same story is recounted another book that he wrote/edited  Correspondence of "First Citizen"--Charles Carroll of Carrolton, Ang "Antilon"--Daniel Dulany, Jr., 1773: With a History of Governor Eden's Administration in Maryland. 1769-1776 (1902).

Riley wrote in The Ancient City:

Tradition tells us, that they built the "Brig, Lovely Nancy"—at the launch of which the following incident occurred: "She was on the stocks, and the day appointed to place her on her destined element, a large concourse of persons assembled to witness the launch, among whom was an old white woman named Sarah McDaniel, who professed fortune-telling, and was called 'a witch.' She was heard to remark— 'The Lovely Nancy will not see water today.' The brig moved finely at first, and when expectation was at its height to see her glide into the water, she suddenly stopped, and could not be again moved on that day. This occurrence created much excitement amongst the spectators ; and Captain Slade and the sailors were so fully persuaded that she had been 'bewitched,' that they resolved to duck the old woman. In the meantime she had disappeared from the crowd; they kept up the search for two or three days, during which time she lay concealed in a house."

"The 'Lovely Nancy,' did afterwards leave the stocks, and is said to have made several prosperous voyages.

 Another source, A NOTICE OF SOME OF THE FIRST BUILDINGS WITH NOTES OF SOME OF THE EARLY RESIDENTS, by Rebecca Key, published in the Maryland Historical Magazine, vol. 14 gives us what reports to be a first-hand account of the incident. Key was born in 1754 so the dates are consistent.

Key wrote:

The only vessel whose name I recollect was called "The Lovely Nancy" after Mrs. Roberts, an intimate acquaintance with whom I used to play in childhood. I remember the name from an incident connected with the launching. She was on the stocks and a large concourse of people assembled to see the launching. An old woman named Sarah McDaniel (white), a fortune-teller and witch, who was standing by said: "The 'Lovely Nancy ' will not see water to-day." She moved finely for a while but stuck at last and Captain Slade with his sailors, fully under the impression that the vessel had been bewitched, determined to duck the old woman. They searched for her busily two or three days during which time she lay secreted in my father's kitchen, which stood adjacent to his dwelling on the lot opposite to Mrs. Walshe's residence.

It is interesting to note that the woman's statement had an effect on the minds of the crew, so much so that the Captain sought to get revenge on her. And while, if he had caught her, he would have probably gotten away with dunking her, killing her would have been out of the question. Maryland at the time was under the laws of England and the The Witchcraft Act of 1735 removed the death penalty for witchcraft and instead punished anyone who "pretended" to use witchcraft with imprisonment for up to a year.The ruling classes, under the influence of the spirit of the age, ceased to believe that old women casting spells could have any effect on the health of a person or the safety of ships at sea, but the law still recognized that the common people could be tricked and thus victimized by those who pretended to practice the black arts.

Tripping on witches' ointment

Archaeologist James Grant in his book The Mysteries of All Nations: Rise and Progress of Superstition, Laws Against and Trials of Witches, Ancient and Modern Delusions; Together With Strange Customs, Fables, and Tales... - which is available as a free ebook from Project Gutenberg tells a brief story about the use of what was called witches' ointment:

An incredible story is told of a gentlewoman in Lyons, who possessed a pot of ointment of such rare virtue, that the application of it to one's body proved sufficient to transport the individual, in an instant, through the air to distant towns and countries. The lady being one evening in a room with her lover, anointing herself with part of the ointment, and repeating words in an under tone, was in the twinkling of an eye carried away through the air. Her companion, though astonished and somewhat[Pg 423] alarmed, did as he had observed his fair friend do, and presto he was conveyed away many miles to an assembly of witches. Afraid at what he beheld, he uttered a holy ejaculation. In an instant the assembly vanished, leaving him alone. He returned on foot to Lyons, and brought an accusation of witchcraft against his lover. The charge being proven, the woman, with her ointment, was consigned to the flames.

Grant then went on to give the ingredients typically found in such ointments: "Mountain parsley, wolves-bane, leaves of the poplar, and soot were frequently used in the preparation of witch ointment; and so were yellow water-cresses, the blood of a mouse, night-shade, oil, etc."

I am not the first to observe that night-shade can cause hallucinations or that the experiences described sound exactly like psychedelic experiences. The people at this time were unable to differentiate between what we call the real world and the world of dreams and visions. The whole history of spiritual experiences reported by people in every major and minor religion throughout history is replete with people who did not recognize this divide. To them it was all part of their reality, their universe. Today we think differently and as a result, dreams and visions no longer haunt or inspire us, but are relegated to the artificial world which is merely created by drugs and our minds.

Katie Coburn, the witch of Talbot County, Maryland

I came across a story recently regarding an alleged witch in Talbot County, Maryland. I can find no mention of any court cases involving her or any information about when she allegedly lived. The only information is that she lived in the area of Plain Dealing Creek, so-called because the area was settled by Quakers who dealt plainly with the Indians of the area (as opposed to the Catholics, Anglicans, and everyone else who had no qualms about ripping them off). I did drive to the area and found that the creek is now surrounded by private homes and there did not appear to be a suitable place to get out and search around. There was an old church nearby, but it was in disrepair and appeared to be part of a private residence. If any locals would like to provide me with additional information or point me in a better direction I would appreciate it.

The main source for the story appears to be a book published in 1898, Land of Legendary Lore: sketches of romance and reality on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, by Prentiss Ingraham.

According to Ingraham:

It was the ideal spot for spooks to haunt, while to enhance the dismalness of the old abode, it became the dwelling place of an old woman known as "Katie Coburn, the Witch." This "witch," the last of her kind known in Talbot, was old, deformed, hideous, and was guilty of diabolical ways and impish incantations to make herself feared. That she was dreaded by all, especially the children and negroes, there was no doubt, for the former were kept out of mischief by being threatened with her, and the latter felt that the sight of her was a hoodoo upon them. The negroes accordingly gave Witch Katie a very wide margin of room when they met her, and wore charms to counteract her spells, the "left hind foot of a rabbit, killed at the dark of the moou," doubtless being in great demand after a meeting with the "Witch of Plaindealing."

Not far from Plaindealing there lived a farmer whose cows pastured near the old burying-ground. One afternoon the boy whose duty it was to drive the cows home had to go near the lonely spot, and beheld to his amazement a stranger there ;—a man tall, stately, in the ancient garb like that worn by those whose portraits were in the deserted mansion. The man spoke to the boy, but the latter tied for home, told his story, and it was not believed. Again he saw the same man, and again, until at last he spoke to him, and for response saw him walk to a certain spot in the burying-ground and point downward, at the same time stamping his foot. This same performance was gone through with several evenings after, between the boy and the silent spectre in quaint old time costume.

On one occasion the spectre led the boy, now no longer afraid of him, into the old home and pointed to a portrait on the wall. The boy saw that the "ghost" was strangely like the portrait, dress and all. Then he was led back to the grave yard and the spectre pointed downward and stamped his foot, as before. As it was growing dark, and the cows had gone on ahead, the boy suddenly decided to go home, and he lost no time in doing so, his parents again laughing at his story. But then came the rumor that "Witch Katie" had not only disappeared from Plaindealing, but also from the country. The boy had not seen her since the coming of the quaint man of the grave-yard.

A similar version of the story is told in an 1876 edition of McBride's Magazine.
According to McBride's: 

It [Plain Dealing] was the very place for a first-class ghost story, and its fitness was heightened by the residence on the premises of Katie Coburn, the last witch of Talbot. This poor old creature, lonely, deformed, repulsively ugly and wretchedly poor, was a terror to negroes and children far and near, who had marvelous tales of her impish ways and diabolical cantrips.

It seems reasonable to think that at least part of the legend is true. A deformed woman may have lived in the area and some, especially the young and uneducated, may have believed that she was a witch. Whether or not she actually was or really wanted others to think that is anyone's guess. But as I argued in Justice At Salem: Reexamining The Witch Trials, there could be certain advantages to having other people think that you were a witch. Others might think twice about harming or taking advantage of you because they fear your supernatural ability to seek revenge. For a poor defenseless woman who no power in her society, this could have been her only means of self-defense against the the unthinking rabble.