The Witch Plat
Or the place where “The Witches” were hanged is on Proctor Street, Salem, marked off on this map by the dotted lines. The cross locates “The Crevice,” where the corpses were thrown. To touch a witch corpse was malignant; yet some bodies were taken away for burial at home.
Giles Cory was pressed to death in the field corner of St. Peters and Brown Streets, opposite the jail then on Church Street, corner of St. Peters Street, Salem.
Photograph of the Warrant for Mrs. Howe’s Arrest
MRS. HOWE’S CASE
Sunday, May 29, 1692, Ephraim Wildes, constable of Topsfield, with a capias signed by John Hathorne and Jonathan Corwin, Assistants, went to the home of James Howe, Jr., in Ipswich Farms, and took into custody the wife and mother as a witch.
She was charged with sundry acts of witchcraft upon the bodies of Mary Walcott and Abigail Williams, and others of Salem Village. She was examined the next Wednesday at the house of Nathaniel Ingersoll of that place. She pleaded not guilty, denied all knowledge of the matter and testified that she had never heard of the girls, Mary and Abigail, till their names were read in the warrant. But in court they fell down, they cried out, they were pinched and pricked, and they accused Mrs. Howe. She was remanded to prison to await the action of the Jury of Inquest. Her case was called Wednesday and Thursday, June 29 and 30, 1692.