1192: Anna Göldi The Last Person to be Executed for Witchcraft in Europe Born: 24 October 1734, Senwald, Switzerland Died: 13 June 1782 AD, Glarus, Switzerland Anna was born into a very poor family at the bottom of the social ladder. She worked as a maid in various households from the age of fifteen, but…
1140: Agnes Waterhouse The First Woman Executed for Witchcraft in England* Born: c.1503, England Died: 29 July 1566, Present-day Chelmsford Borough, Essex, England Her sister and daughter were also accused. Agnes’s daughter was just eighteen. Like most accused witches, Agnes was a widow. She was accused of murdering her neighbor through witchcraft. When questioned, Agnes…
1109: Dame Alice Kyteler Evil Poisoner or Innocent Victim…? Born: c.1263, Kilkenny, Ireland (Present-day Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland) Died: after 1325, Possibly Dublin, Ireland (Present-day Dublin, Republic of Ireland) Alice was from a wealthy family. Her parents were Norman with some Flemish ancestry mixed in and Alice was the only child in her family. When…
1108: Petronilla de Meath The First Irish Woman Burned at the Stake for the Crime of Heresy Born: c.1300 AD, Meath, Ireland (Present-day County Meath, Republic of Ireland) Died: 3 November 1324 AD, Kilkenny, Ireland (Present-day Kilkenny, Republic of Ireland) Petronilla was a maidservant to Alice Kyteler; both of whom were some of the first…
1004: Frances Griffiths Subject of Some of the Famous Cottingley Fairies Photographs Born: 4 September 1907, Bradford, England, United Kingdom Died: 11 July 1986, Belfast, Ireland, United Kingdom It is hard to believe it now with the advent of photoshop technology, but the Cottingly Photographs were so convincing for their time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle…
841: Grace Sherwood, The Last Person Convicted of Witchcraft in Virginia Born: c.1660, The Colony of Virginia, (Present-day Pungo, Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States of America) Died: Autumn 1740, Pungo, The Colony of Virginia, (Present-day Pungo, Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States of America) Also Known As: The Witch of Pungo or the Virginia Witch Grace…
726: Emilie Sagee Mostly Ghostly Born: 1813, Dijon, France Died: Unknown Also Known As: Octavie or Emilie Saget Emilie claimed to have never seen her spectral doppelganger, but many others did in multiple locations. She was a nineteenth century Frenchwoman who worked as a schoolteacher and was seen as pretty and likable. But according to…
681: Cora the Witch Legend behind the Cora Tree on Hatteras Island in North Carolina Birth and Death Dates Unknown, As Are Locations Reportedly, Cora showed up one day and started living in a little hut not far from the Cora Tree. She lived alone except for this baby she took with her everywhere. Pretty…
550: Mercy Brown One of the Many Victims of Not Just Tuberculosis but Also the Vampire Hysteria Born: January 1872, Rhode Island, United States of America Died: 17 (or 19) January 1892, Exeter, Rhode Island, United States of America After Mercy died, people reported seeing her ghost walking in the cemetery and town and her…
“The editress has only to say that if the people will do their duty to themselves as faithfully as has been done by them, all will yet be well…But let no man sleep at his post.” 505: Anne Royall The First Female Journalist to Interview a United States President Born: 11 June 1769, Baltimore, The…