It must be the season of the witch.
Politicians, historians, and schoolchildren in Massachusetts unite to expel a case of history that has haunted it for more than 300 years, and spell out the name of Elizabeth Johnson Jr. – Salem’s last guilty witch.
“It’s time of year to get it done,” Massachusetts Senator Diana DeZulio (D-Ola, Essex) told Post Saturday. She introduced a bill earlier this year to clear Johnson’s name by Massachusetts residents, and she hopes in the eyes of history.
Her area includes both North Andover, where Johnson lived, and Salem, where she was convicted of “the covenant with Satan” in January 1693.
“(Johnson) remains the only convicted witch not acquitted of the 1692 witch trials in the last 300 years,” The Witches of Massachusetts Bay blog mentioned.
“On August 10, 1692, 22-year-old Elizabeth Johnson Jr. of Andover, Massachusetts, was arrested for witchcraft…she told Judge Dudley Bradstreet that she, too,…participated in the great witch meeting in Salem Village,” the report said.
Johnson was sentenced to death on January 11 before Governor William Pepes halted his execution.
DeZulio was inspired to submit her bill by eighth graders at North Andover Middle School, under the tutelage of teacher Caroline LaPierre, who studied Johnson’s case as part of a school project this year.
The bill is currently in committee.
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