Case file · Witch trials

Fairfield County witch persecution

In 1792 neighbours in Fairfield County, South Carolina, held a mock trial in a barn, convicted Mary Ingleman and others of witchcraft, flogged them and burned their feet.

1792 CE · 34.45, -81.20 · status: official

The account

An accuser claimed Ingleman had turned him into a horse and ridden him. She sued her attackers and won; the case was reported in the South Carolina Gazette in November 1792.

The sceptical view

Later local legend of a witch hanged at the Winnsboro courthouse is false; the documented event is the mob trial and the lawsuit.

Sources

  1. WSOC: The South Carolina witch trials
  2. Fairfield County Genealogical Society: The 1792 witch persecution (PDF)
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