October 29, 2025
Introduction: In this article, as Halloween draws near, Melissa Davenport Berry tells tales of witches and warlocks from Maryland during the colonial era. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
While the 1692 witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, take the spotlight, Maryland had at least 16 cases of witchcraft – and many pre-dated the horrors of Salem.
Here are their stories from newspaper reports and archival sources.
Sea Witches: Mary Lee and Elizabeth Richardson
According to the article “Witchcraft Trials Part of History in Many Eastern Seaboard States,” published in the Virginian-Pilot, two of the earliest witchcraft cases in the Maryland State Archives involve executions aboard ships bound for Maryland from England.
The photo caption reads:
Susan Erichsen of the St. Mary’s County Historical Society poses with an 875-pound boulder in front of the Old Jail Museum in Leonardtown, Md. Local legend says a witch died with her hand frozen to the rock.
This article reports:
Two of the earliest witchcraft cases in the Maryland State Archives involve executions aboard ships bound for Maryland from England. Two men who had recently arrived on the Charity of London told colonial officials in St. Mary’s City in 1654 that the ship’s crew had hanged an old woman named Mary Lee and thrown her body overboard after she was accused of sorcery and allegedly confessed.
Her supposed crime: summoning a relentless storm that some on board blamed on the “malevolence of witches.”
The ship’s captain, John Bosworth, escaped blame by showing he was in his cabin when Lee was killed.
The depositions regarding the Lee execution were made in June 1654 to Maryland Governor William Stone. One of the deposed was Henry Corbyn, and he noted the seamen had stripped Lee naked to search for witch marks – which they claimed they had found, but the marks supposedly had disappeared the next day.
The other deposition was from a Jesuit priest named Father Francis Fitzherbert (alias Darby), whose record is cited in Maryland: The Land of Sanctuary. A History of Religious Toleration in Maryland from the First Settlement until the American Revolution.
The tempest lasted, in all, two months – and the suspicion arose that it was not on account of the violence of the ship or atmosphere, but instead was occasioned by the evil of witches. And so, they seized a little old woman suspected of sorcery; and after examining her with the strictest scrutiny, guilty or not guilty, they killed her. The corpse and whatever belonged to her was cast into the sea.
Another witchcraft execution that occurred at sea was that of Elizabeth Richardson in 1658 onboard the ship Sea Horse, bound from England to Maryland.
The Virginian-Pilot article further reports:
The second shipboard execution involved George Washington’s great-grandfather, John Washington of Westmoreland County, Va. He accused ship owner Edward Prescott in 1659 of hanging Elizabeth Richardson as a witch.
Washington felt her execution was an outrage and filed a complaint with Maryland Governor Josias Fendall.
Fendall had Prescott arrested and set a court date for 4 October 1659 and sent a letter to Washington summoning him from Virginia. He desired Washington to bring all witnesses who were present at the execution of Elizabeth.
Below is a copy of the correspondence between Governor Fendell and Washington, who excused himself:
“Because then, God willing, I intend to gett my yowng sonne baptized, all the Company and Gossips being allready invited.”
On 5 October 1659 a Provincial Court met at Resurrection Manor in St. Mary’s County, which was the house of Capt. George Reade Sr.
Fendall kept the court date and questioned Prescott, who said he owned the ship but insisted Master John Greene and his crew were about to mutiny, leaving him no option. Prescott was acquitted and no further charges were brought against him in this matter.
Witches and Warlocks on Land
The Virginian-Pilot article further reports:
Maryland’s only recorded execution for witchcraft on land occurred Oct. 9, 1685, in Calvert County. Rebecca Fowler was hanged after a jury found her guilty of “certain evil and diabolical arts called witchcrafts, enchantments, charms (and) sorceries.”
She was charged with bewitching several people and leaving their bodies “very much the worse, consumed, pined and lamed.”
Others mentioned in the article are the following:
Hannah Edwards from Calvert County was acquitted in 1686. She was accused of similar charges to Rebecca Fowler – using witchcraft, enchantments, and charms – against Ruth Hutchinson.
In October 1665, Elizabeth Bennett was brought before the Provincial Court in Saint Mary’s County. Bennett was charged with “witchcraft, burglary, murder and trespassing.” On 11 October 1665, the court, presided over by Phillip Calvert, determined the case against Elizabeth Bennett was “…not presentable,” and on October 16, she was “…cleared by proclamation.”
In 1674, John Cowman was arraigned, convicted and condemned for “witchcraft, conjuration, sorcery and enchantment used upon the body of Elizabeth Goodale.” He was reprieved and ordered to be employed in such service as the governor should see fit.
Samuel Smith confessed to witchcraft charges and was fined 28 pounds and 10 shillings.
In 1702 Virtue Violl of Talbot County was accused of using witchcraft against Elinor Moore, who had been rendered speechless. She was found not guilty, based on the testimony of the witnesses.
The Legend of the Witch Moll Dyer
The most famous witch in Maryland history may or may not have actually existed: Moll Dyer, who was pretty much blamed for any bad omens that hit Leonardtown – from failed harvests to sudden deaths, including several chronic illnesses during the harsh winter of 1697/1698.
She exists in folk lore, but as the Virginian-Pilot article states:
“There is no historical record of Moll Dyer, but her legend is as enduring as the 875-pound boulder in front of the Old Jail Museum in Leonardtown that supposedly bears her hand print. The alleged witch is said to have been driven from her home on the coldest night of the year by townsfolk who burned her cabin. Dyer died of exposure and was found with her hand frozen to the rock, the story goes.”
The legend of Moll Dyer is said to be the backstory for the Blair Witch fictional Maryland witch Elly Kedward.
Here is the informational sign for Moll Dyer’s Rock:
Dyer’s spirit is said to still haunt the land surrounding Leonardtown, looking for the men who forced her from her home.
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Note on the header image: witches and warlocks, AI-generated image. Credit: Melissa Davenport Berry.
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