Richmond Haunts long-form
American Witch Legends: Grace Sherwood, Moll Dyer and the Bell Witch
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About this episode
| American witch stories sit at the difficult intersection of belief, accusation, persecution and folklore. This episode begins with the historical origins of witchcraft fears, then considers how real legal cases and community tensions became legends retold across generations.
The documented history includes Grace Sherwood of Virginia, who was tried by water in 1706. The episode also explores stories associated with Moll Dyer in Maryland, the Witch of Yazoo City in Mississippi and the grave known locally as the Witch’s Grave in Minnesota. The final traditions concern the Screecham Sisters and Maria Hallett in Massachusetts and the Bell Witch of Tennessee. These accounts do not all rest on the same evidence: some begin with court records or identifiable people, while others survive primarily as regional folklore. The episode preserves those distinctions rather than treating every story as literal history. |
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