9 Witches!
Before Salem, There Was East Hampton
by Lucy DeWitt
On Friday, November 6th, just one week after Halloween, our MAR 355 class gathered in Duke Lecture Hall to discuss witches. While most people immediately think of the infamous Salem Witch Trials, Long Island has its own, lesser-known connection to witchcraft hysteria.
Thirty-five years before Salem, in the town of East Hampton, New York, a woman named Goody Garlick stood accused of witchcraft.
In February of 1657, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Gardner Howell had just given birth to her first child. Shortly after, she fell into delirium, screaming, “A witch, a witch, now you’ve come to torture me!” Her behavior alarmed those around her so much so that they called her father, Lion Gardner, a well-known figure in the community. When he entered the birthing room (a space usually reserved only for women), Elizabeth named her tormentor: Goody Garlick. Soon after uttering the accusation, Elizabeth passed away, making things not look so good for Goody.
A three-week trial followed, marking the first recorded witchcraft trial on Long Island. Although Goody Garlick was eventually found “not guilty” of witchcraft, that verdict didn’t carry the same meaning it does today. In the 17th century, “not guilty” often meant there wasn't enough evidence for conviction, not that the accused was innocent.
Despite escaping execution, Goody’s life was forever changed. Branded as a witch by her neighbors, she lived the rest of her life on the outskirts of society, condemned by rumor.
As this is a marine science course after all, it’s worth remembering that Goody’s story unfolded during a time when maritime life and witchcraft fears coexisted along the same shores. Seventeenth-century Long Island was both a coastal settlement reliant on the sea and a deeply superstitious community. While sailors faced the uncertainties of tides, storms, and trade, those on land faced social tensions, isolation, and fear of the unknown.
The coexistence of maritime life and witchcraft hysteria reminds us that early colonial life was shaped by both practical dependence on the ocean and the spiritual anxiety about unseen forces. It’s easy to view witch trials as distant or irrational (and I’m not saying that they weren’t), but they were part of the same world that gave rise to whaling, shipbuilding, and exploration.
A Purrfect Scapegoat
The Horrific Fates of Accused and Convicted Witches
by Kimberly Bagielto
From the years 1400 to 1800, around 500,000 people were sentenced to death after being found guilty of witchcraft, while another 500,000 were also accused without the death penalty. Convicted witches were killed by hanging in the American colonies due to lumber being an important resource. Convicted witches were seen as not even being worth the sacrifice of wood, which was used for fuel and construction. However, in Europe, it was more common for witches to be burned at the stake.
Accused witches also experienced torture and humiliation, even if they were never convicted. In 1591, King James authorized the torture of witches since he believed that they had specific characteristics. Accused witches were put through trials, including water tests where they were bound by the hands and feet and put in the water. If they floated, they were witches, and if they sank, they were innocent. However, by the time the test was concluded, they were likely already dead from drowning. The accused were also tortured by a strappado, which was used to inflict pain until the accused eventually confessed, even if they were innocent. Another type of punishment is in the case of Giles Corey, who was crushed to death by stones after he would not plead guilty or not guilty after being accused of witchcraft.
The Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches) was published in the late fifteenth century and, at that time, was the second most published book behind the Bible. This work was used by both Catholic and Protestant denominations in their efforts to hunt down witches, which were considered heretics to Christianity. Some parts of the literature even gave step-by-step instructions to conduct a witch trial, from the inferencing of women who were suspicious of being a witch, to the interrogation, in which was usually torture, to the punishments of women who were “proven” to be witches. The Malleus Maleficarum greatly contributed to the death of witches across the fifteenth sixteenth, and seventeenth century, totaling to around 500 million on the low end and up to millions on the higher end.
One of these accused witches was Elizabeth “Goody” Garlick, who lived in Long Island in East Hampton. In February 1658, Elizabeth Gardener Howell, one of the first people born on Long Island, gave birth to a child but had fallen ill. During that, she had described a “black thing at the bed’s feet” and claimed that Goody Garlick stood by her bed at night waiting to cause harm to her. As Elizabeth Gardener died just three days after given birth, Goody Garlick was prosecuted by the town, and several other witnesses rose up to speak their cases. These accusations ranged from blaming Goody Garlick for the death of their children to the death of crops. The trial for Goody Garlick’s witchcraft was held three months after the death of Elizabeth Gardener in which Goody Garlick was found not guilty— this verdict exists one of three, in which “not guilty” doesn’t disprove the suspensions of her or her relatives being a witch, “innocent” would mean that her and her family would be free of being further accused.
From how long ago these witch hunts were, you might think there wouldn’t be any more hunts in our modern age. However, there are witch hunts that continue to this day! Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the primary areas where witch-hunting is still prevalent today. To put it to scale, in that area alone, 5000 people were accused of being a witch and killed in 2023 alone!
by Lucy DeWitt
On Friday, November 6th, just one week after Halloween, our MAR 355 class gathered in Duke Lecture Hall to discuss witches. While most people immediately think of the infamous Salem Witch Trials, Long Island has its own, lesser-known connection to witchcraft hysteria.
Thirty-five years before Salem, in the town of East Hampton, New York, a woman named Goody Garlick stood accused of witchcraft.
In February of 1657, sixteen-year-old Elizabeth Gardner Howell had just given birth to her first child. Shortly after, she fell into delirium, screaming, “A witch, a witch, now you’ve come to torture me!” Her behavior alarmed those around her so much so that they called her father, Lion Gardner, a well-known figure in the community. When he entered the birthing room (a space usually reserved only for women), Elizabeth named her tormentor: Goody Garlick. Soon after uttering the accusation, Elizabeth passed away, making things not look so good for Goody.
A three-week trial followed, marking the first recorded witchcraft trial on Long Island. Although Goody Garlick was eventually found “not guilty” of witchcraft, that verdict didn’t carry the same meaning it does today. In the 17th century, “not guilty” often meant there wasn't enough evidence for conviction, not that the accused was innocent.
Despite escaping execution, Goody’s life was forever changed. Branded as a witch by her neighbors, she lived the rest of her life on the outskirts of society, condemned by rumor.
As this is a marine science course after all, it’s worth remembering that Goody’s story unfolded during a time when maritime life and witchcraft fears coexisted along the same shores. Seventeenth-century Long Island was both a coastal settlement reliant on the sea and a deeply superstitious community. While sailors faced the uncertainties of tides, storms, and trade, those on land faced social tensions, isolation, and fear of the unknown.
The coexistence of maritime life and witchcraft hysteria reminds us that early colonial life was shaped by both practical dependence on the ocean and the spiritual anxiety about unseen forces. It’s easy to view witch trials as distant or irrational (and I’m not saying that they weren’t), but they were part of the same world that gave rise to whaling, shipbuilding, and exploration.
by Vivian Taylor
When you picture a witch today, do you picture a lady in black with a cat the color of the night trailing behind her? If so, then you’ve likely been influenced, perhaps inadvertently, by fears stemming from the medieval ages and Hollywood’s depiction of them. The idea of a witches familiar dates back to around the 1500s. During this time, it was believed that witches were connected with animals and that these animals would share gossip with them. The sign of this connection was called the “witch’s mark”. It was some kind of physical blemish that stood out as unusual. The familiar would also have a similar mark.
The idea of a cat being a familiar was somewhat common at the time, as they roamed wherever they wanted to go, which caused the paranoid people of the time to think that they were spying on them. Originally this idea of a cat as a witch’s companion was non specific and applied to all cats. Eventually this idea merged with the idea that black was the color of evil. This became the reason the black cats took the spotlight as a witches companion.
When people saw a cat during this time, they panicked and assumed it was a witch’s familiar. As a result, they would often decide to kill it to prevent it from sharing any information it had gathered with the witch. This would result in an increase in mice. More mice lead to the spread of disease, which in turn would lead to death. This increase in disease was then also blamed on witches, rather than on the consequences of killing predators to disease vectors. This allowed both disease and accusations of witchcraft to snowball all because a cat crossed someone’s path. It wasn’t witches that cursed communities, but ignorance and paranoia.
When you picture a witch today, do you picture a lady in black with a cat the color of the night trailing behind her? If so, then you’ve likely been influenced, perhaps inadvertently, by fears stemming from the medieval ages and Hollywood’s depiction of them. The idea of a witches familiar dates back to around the 1500s. During this time, it was believed that witches were connected with animals and that these animals would share gossip with them. The sign of this connection was called the “witch’s mark”. It was some kind of physical blemish that stood out as unusual. The familiar would also have a similar mark.
The idea of a cat being a familiar was somewhat common at the time, as they roamed wherever they wanted to go, which caused the paranoid people of the time to think that they were spying on them. Originally this idea of a cat as a witch’s companion was non specific and applied to all cats. Eventually this idea merged with the idea that black was the color of evil. This became the reason the black cats took the spotlight as a witches companion.
When people saw a cat during this time, they panicked and assumed it was a witch’s familiar. As a result, they would often decide to kill it to prevent it from sharing any information it had gathered with the witch. This would result in an increase in mice. More mice lead to the spread of disease, which in turn would lead to death. This increase in disease was then also blamed on witches, rather than on the consequences of killing predators to disease vectors. This allowed both disease and accusations of witchcraft to snowball all because a cat crossed someone’s path. It wasn’t witches that cursed communities, but ignorance and paranoia.
 |
| A depiction of a witch and her familiars from 1579. Images like this were printed in witch trial pamphlets or early newsbooks, to “prove” that witches had familiars. The familiars were thought to suck blood or feed from the witch, forming a pact with her that could be seen as a witch’s mark. |
The Horrific Fates of Accused and Convicted Witches
by Kimberly Bagielto
From the years 1400 to 1800, around 500,000 people were sentenced to death after being found guilty of witchcraft, while another 500,000 were also accused without the death penalty. Convicted witches were killed by hanging in the American colonies due to lumber being an important resource. Convicted witches were seen as not even being worth the sacrifice of wood, which was used for fuel and construction. However, in Europe, it was more common for witches to be burned at the stake.
Accused witches also experienced torture and humiliation, even if they were never convicted. In 1591, King James authorized the torture of witches since he believed that they had specific characteristics. Accused witches were put through trials, including water tests where they were bound by the hands and feet and put in the water. If they floated, they were witches, and if they sank, they were innocent. However, by the time the test was concluded, they were likely already dead from drowning. The accused were also tortured by a strappado, which was used to inflict pain until the accused eventually confessed, even if they were innocent. Another type of punishment is in the case of Giles Corey, who was crushed to death by stones after he would not plead guilty or not guilty after being accused of witchcraft.
 |
| Image 1. https://myschizlife.wordpress.com/2021/04/14/witch-trial-tests/ |
This image shows a depiction of the water tests. Most people volunteered to take these tests for the sake of their families. If they were proven to be innocent, their family name would remain intact and in good standing among the community. Unfortunately, many of the volunteers died trying to prove their innocence.
This image shows the strappado, which was used to force accused witches to confess to their crimes. Their arms were tied and forcibly pulled upwards until the accused could no longer take the pain and admitted to being a witch. It was also common for the accuser to promise to stop if the accused witch would confess. Unfortunately, they would often lie and keep asking questions and torture them until death.
Witchcraft Identifications & Their Accusational Origins
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| Image 2. https://digpodcast.org/2020/03/22/blood-on-the-ravenstone-judicial-torture-penal-violence-and-capital-punishment-in-early-modern-europe/ |
This image shows the strappado, which was used to force accused witches to confess to their crimes. Their arms were tied and forcibly pulled upwards until the accused could no longer take the pain and admitted to being a witch. It was also common for the accuser to promise to stop if the accused witch would confess. Unfortunately, they would often lie and keep asking questions and torture them until death.
Witchcraft Identifications & Their Accusational Origins
by Eily Montenegro
Accusations of witchcraft developed during the Reformation Period in Germany around Christian beliefs. For a long time, witches were of little concern to Christians as St. Augustine stated that all supernatural beings, including witches, were created by God and would ultimately serve a purpose in his plan. It wasn’t until Pope Innocent VIII created a massive campaign against witches that the trials began. He had Heinrich Kramer write Malleus Maleficarum, or “The Hammer of Witches,” which acted as a guidebook for how to identify and deal with witches. Until the 18th Century, this was the second most published book in the world– right behind the bible. Typical identifications for witches would be an inability to cry and having devil’s marks (such as unusual birthmarks or moles) which would not bleed or warrant a reaction from the accused when pricked. These identifications remained prevalent to the present day when witches are depicted. When we think about witches in the modern day, we tend to think about an old, mischievous lady with a broom, a wart, a pointed hat, a cauldron, and a cat. Oftentimes, we also picture green skin, drawing from the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz.
In Salem, accusations that upstarted the witch trials may have had a link to ergot fungus in wheat fields. There were high levels of rainfall in Salem, which promotes the growth of Claviceps purpurea, which can cause hallucinations, tingling sensations, mania, delirium, and muscle spasms– all of which are highly associated with curses from witchcraft. The four girls who began the accusations worked in the wheat fields and likely suffered from ergot poisoning, known as ergotism. About 80% of the people accused of witchcraft were women, with most of the accusers being other women. When a man is accused of witchcraft, it is usually because of a female relation of his already being accused. The accused were typically women who were older, poorer, had tourettes or dementia, were widowed, or were midwives. Many of the women killed for witchcraft were found guilty where they were tortured into their confession or they were found innocent when they chose to take a “water test” as their death would prove their innocence and protect their families.
Where Witches Lie and Lay
Accusations of witchcraft developed during the Reformation Period in Germany around Christian beliefs. For a long time, witches were of little concern to Christians as St. Augustine stated that all supernatural beings, including witches, were created by God and would ultimately serve a purpose in his plan. It wasn’t until Pope Innocent VIII created a massive campaign against witches that the trials began. He had Heinrich Kramer write Malleus Maleficarum, or “The Hammer of Witches,” which acted as a guidebook for how to identify and deal with witches. Until the 18th Century, this was the second most published book in the world– right behind the bible. Typical identifications for witches would be an inability to cry and having devil’s marks (such as unusual birthmarks or moles) which would not bleed or warrant a reaction from the accused when pricked. These identifications remained prevalent to the present day when witches are depicted. When we think about witches in the modern day, we tend to think about an old, mischievous lady with a broom, a wart, a pointed hat, a cauldron, and a cat. Oftentimes, we also picture green skin, drawing from the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz.
 |
| This image depicts the Malleus Maleficarum, written by Heinrich Kramer, a German churchman. It is known as the most infamous witch-hunting book, detailing methods of identifying and dealing with witches. Its name translated to “The Witches Hammer” and was written in 1484. Along with the bible, it was one of the two books brought onto The Mayflower. |
In Salem, accusations that upstarted the witch trials may have had a link to ergot fungus in wheat fields. There were high levels of rainfall in Salem, which promotes the growth of Claviceps purpurea, which can cause hallucinations, tingling sensations, mania, delirium, and muscle spasms– all of which are highly associated with curses from witchcraft. The four girls who began the accusations worked in the wheat fields and likely suffered from ergot poisoning, known as ergotism. About 80% of the people accused of witchcraft were women, with most of the accusers being other women. When a man is accused of witchcraft, it is usually because of a female relation of his already being accused. The accused were typically women who were older, poorer, had tourettes or dementia, were widowed, or were midwives. Many of the women killed for witchcraft were found guilty where they were tortured into their confession or they were found innocent when they chose to take a “water test” as their death would prove their innocence and protect their families.
 |
| The wheat depicted above contains ergot fungus, a known hallucinogenic that may have sparked the Salem witch trials. This fungus is oftentimes used to create LSD. Those suffering from ergotism may believe that they have been suddenly bewitched or cursed. Image source: Northern Grain Growers Association |
Where Witches Lie and Lay
by Lawrence Pak
The Malleus Maleficarum (Hammer of Witches) was published in the late fifteenth century and, at that time, was the second most published book behind the Bible. This work was used by both Catholic and Protestant denominations in their efforts to hunt down witches, which were considered heretics to Christianity. Some parts of the literature even gave step-by-step instructions to conduct a witch trial, from the inferencing of women who were suspicious of being a witch, to the interrogation, in which was usually torture, to the punishments of women who were “proven” to be witches. The Malleus Maleficarum greatly contributed to the death of witches across the fifteenth sixteenth, and seventeenth century, totaling to around 500 million on the low end and up to millions on the higher end.
One of these accused witches was Elizabeth “Goody” Garlick, who lived in Long Island in East Hampton. In February 1658, Elizabeth Gardener Howell, one of the first people born on Long Island, gave birth to a child but had fallen ill. During that, she had described a “black thing at the bed’s feet” and claimed that Goody Garlick stood by her bed at night waiting to cause harm to her. As Elizabeth Gardener died just three days after given birth, Goody Garlick was prosecuted by the town, and several other witnesses rose up to speak their cases. These accusations ranged from blaming Goody Garlick for the death of their children to the death of crops. The trial for Goody Garlick’s witchcraft was held three months after the death of Elizabeth Gardener in which Goody Garlick was found not guilty— this verdict exists one of three, in which “not guilty” doesn’t disprove the suspensions of her or her relatives being a witch, “innocent” would mean that her and her family would be free of being further accused.
From how long ago these witch hunts were, you might think there wouldn’t be any more hunts in our modern age. However, there are witch hunts that continue to this day! Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the primary areas where witch-hunting is still prevalent today. To put it to scale, in that area alone, 5000 people were accused of being a witch and killed in 2023 alone!
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