Case file · Witch trials
The Delaware witch hunt
In March 1806, inspired by the Shawnee prophet Tenskwatawa, Delaware (Lenape) villages on the White River in Indiana held witch trials of people accused of sorcery and of cooperating with Americans, including Christian converts; several were burned.
1806 CE · 40.10, -85.68 · status: account
The account
Tenskwatawa preached a return to Native ways and named witches as the cause of the people's suffering. The killings alarmed Indiana's governor, William Henry Harrison.
The sceptical view
The accounts come mainly from Moravian missionaries and American officials who were hostile to the movement.