Joan Wright of James City County is the earliest witchcraft allegation on record in Virginia in 1626. This was a statute that was passed by James I called “An Act against Conjuration Witchcraft dealing with evil and wicked Spirits.” Most cases in Virginia were the charge of maleficium, causing harm to people or property by supernatural means. In criminal witchcraft cases, England’s witchcraft law of 1604 was upheld in Virginia Courts. The fine was payable by 1,000 lbs of tobacco with further punishment if deemed necessary. Instead, the forbiddance of accusations against persons termed as witches and filing charges against them. The only Virginia law passed specifically addressing Witchcraft wasn’t intended to abolish the practice of Witchcraft. Most of these cases were a result of slander and gossip that were defamation suits of false accusers. However, some two dozen known cases are dealing with Witchcraft in Virginia’s colonial days. When men and women settled the English colony at Jamestown, Witchcraft was a punishable offense.ĭue to court records being destroyed by fires during the American Civil War, it’s impossible to know precisely how many witchcraft cases were heard in Virginia and when. Witch trials were prominent within the English Colonies for centuries, and a law was passed by Parliament criminalizing the practice of Witchcraft in 1542. With deep-rooted Christian faith, the Europeans believed that the natural world was a place that could be shaped by supernatural forces. The belief is that the outward appearance was evidence of the internal state of the soul. Another belief was the unfamiliar personal appearance of the Indians was in connection with the English philosophy and theology that links the body and soul. Some believed that the Indian’s religious beliefs and rituals were from being the Devil incarnate or in the flesh. They found the Indians seasoned with the Devil and compared them to the English Witches they believed in. The Jamestown colonists often referred to or described the Indians as being more like a devil than a man and made sounds like wolves or devils. It’s believed these concerns were manifested by Jamestown Colonists, whose perception of Virginia Indians was a belief they were devils or, at the very least, devil worshippers. They had strong beliefs in the Devil’s powers and his presence in the New World. Native Americans and WitchcraftĬolonial Virginians had a genuine concern for Witchcraft before they even set foot on American land. To this day, there remain artifacts of the existence of the Native Americans that populated the peninsula. The plantation is built on land cleared by local Indians in the 1500s, most likely the Chesepian. The signal used to summon the ferry operator was done with a cannon back in those days. The house was built in the 1600s and named Ferry Plantation as one of eleven stops of the ferry that ran up and down the Lynnhaven River transporting everything from goods to people and animals. At last count, the number of spirits occupying the parcel has reached 11, and undoubtedly they each have a story to tell. The ghosts of Ferry Plantation House make the property one of the most haunted sites in Virginia.
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