Witches have played a unique part in history. For centuries we have heard the tall tales; that witches are coming to haunt our dreams, curse us, and cast spells. Movies and media over the years portray them as evil-minded creatures or misunderstood Wiccans.

Many of us read the crucible during High School, learning how witchcraft was used as a scapegoat to kill those who society wanted to avoid. Traveling around Salem today, you can still see remnants of that dark history, and how the supernatural and unknown led to those executions in the 1690’s.

The interesting thing about Salem is that although the deaths are inexcusable, there was an attempt to use the judicial system, allowing the accused to stand before a Jury and declare innocence. This is important, because ten years before the Salem trials, a group of townsfolk took matters into their own hands.

The Witch of Hadley

Mary (Reeve) Webster was a woman living in Hadley, MA with her husband, William Webster. They were a lovely quaint couple that mostly kept to themselves. However, according to the stories, she had a temper that could flare up when aroused. This mixed with a few oddities made her stand out from the crowd. She wasn’t exactly the most popular.

Over time these oddities led to rumors that she was a witch. Townsfolk came up with stories, saying that she controlled cattle. In one story Mary entered the home of a friend. While there a chicken fell through the chimney into a pot of boiling water. The chicken, although hurt, escaped. What makes it stranger, however, is that the next morning there was a scald mark on Mary, in the same place the chicken had been injured. People claimed that Mary was supernatural and soon they began to blame her for any incidents in town. The accusations grew so large that in 1683 she was arrested, brought to Boston, and tried as a witch.

The Jury was able to see through the madness and Mary was declared innocent. She was happy and free…or so she thought. When Mary returned to town, a man by the name of Philip Smith became gravely ill. He was a prominent figure in society, holding many roles and having many friends. Smith had come down with a very high fever and began to suffer multiple seizures. He claimed that he was unable to move his arms, that he was being held down by a greater force. Of course, a few of his friends assumed that Mary was behind the doing and they planned to prove it.

While one man kept watch, the others went to pester Mary, knocking on her door and ransacking her home. When they arrived back to check on Smith, he claimed that he had felt at ease over the last hour. This apparently was enough evidence for the men to take matters into their own hands. That night the men went to Mary’s home while her husband was away, dragged her out and beat her. Then they took a rope, slung it over a tree and hanged her. After, they cut down her body, dragged it over into the woods and buried her under a pile of snow.

The next morning when they came to check up on Smith they found him dead. His body was covered in bruises, and he has small cuts on his back. His face and chest were swollen and the corpse still warm. The men were more confused than ever. They didn’t know one crucial thing.

Mary had survived the encounter, and she would go on to live another 11 years before dying of natural causes. Locals wondered if she could die at all, but nobody dared question her out of fear. After her death, Mary Webster was buried in the Old Hadley Cemetery. One of Mary’s descendants, Margaret Atwood, a famous author wrote the poem, “Half-Hanged Mary.” The last lines of the poem best describe the feelings Mary after the attempted murder,

Before, I was not a witch.
But now I am one.

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Haunted Places, Legends and Ghosts

The Witch of Hadley - Mary Webster

The Witch of Hadley - Mary Webster

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