While the Salem Witch Trials are notably the most infamous and deadliest trials in America’s history, they were not the last to happen on U.S. soil. Almost 100 years after witches were prosecuted and hung in New England, the state of South Carolina faced its own witch hunt.
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In 1792 in Fairfield County, cattle began to mysteriously get sick and die. People in town began to act strange and claimed to be possessed. With no explanation for the sudden loss in cattle and strange behavior, accusations of witchcraft began to surface.
Eventually a total of four residents in the town of Winnsboro were accused of being witches, though most of the allegations led back to a woman named Mary Ingleman.
Farmers testified that Ingleman was responsible for using magic to lift a cow and slam it back to the ground, breaking its neck. Another local claimed she had used spells to levitate people off the ground. Rumors also suggested that she could transform into different animals, including a panther, to stalk her prey. One of the strangest accusations made against Ingleman was that she had turned a young man into a horse and rode him to a witches’ convention where the devil was also in attendance.
She had also been known to perform simple cures and use herb remedies on the townsfolk, while the other three accused were said to have practiced hypnosis and other uncommon rituals.
Trying to avoid the mass hysteria that had been associated with the Salem trials and desperately seeking answers for the strange happenings, residents of the town hastily blamed Ingleman and her three neighbors for the bizarre misfortunes. Though no hard evidence could be provided against the women, they were illegally tried and convicted of witchcraft at a local farm, where one man acted as both judge and jury.
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As punishment they were beaten, tortured and burned almost to the point of death. Some stories suggest that after the trial there were many unsuccessful attempts to execute Ingleman. Supposedly, she even survived a hanging. She eventually died of old age.
Today, locals claim Ingleman’s spirit haunts the Winnsboro Courthouse waiting to get revenge for her unjust sentencing.
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