First Witch Hanging in America

When we think of witch trials and punishment, most of us likely think of Salem, Massachusetts. However, the first recorded witch hanging in America actually took place in Hartford, Connecticut on May 26, 1647.

We know very little about Alse (Alice) Young, other than she was executed as a witch. There is some evidence she may have been the wife of John Young, who bought a plot of land in Windsor in 1641. He sold his land in 1649 and then disappeared from the town records. Alse Young had a daughter, who was accused of witchcraft some 30 years later but no son. That meant she would have been eligible to inherit her husband's estate. This seems to have occurred in many of the early cases of witchcraft.

No details have been left of the trial or exact charges. Historical records have led some historians to believe there was some sort of widespread illness in Windsor in 1647, but it's uncertain if charges against Alse Young had anything to do with this. Two separate records do show that she was hanged on this day in 1647 at the Meeting House in the town square in Hartford for being a witch.

Witchcraft had become punishable by death in the colony of Connecticut in 1642. This crime was removed from the list of capital offenses in  1750.

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