Alse Young Hanged: First Witch Execution in America
Alse Young was hanged in Hartford, Connecticut, on May 26, 1647, becoming the first person executed for witchcraft in the American colonies. Almost nothing is known about her life; the only surviving record is a brief entry in the journal of Governor John Winthrop of Massachusetts noting "one of Windsor arraigned and executed at Hartford for a witch." Her husband John Young held valuable property that may have made her a target. The execution launched a pattern of witchcraft prosecutions in New England that continued for half a century. Hartford experienced its own witch panic in 1662-63 that killed several people. The infamous Salem witch trials of 1692, which executed 20 people, are better known but were actually the end of the phenomenon rather than the beginning.
May 27, 1647
379 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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