Newsletter Archives

Introduction: In this article, as Halloween approaches, Melissa Davenport Berry describes some of the witches who lived in the mysterious, now-abandoned village of Dogtown on Cape Ann, Massachusetts. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Inland among the lonely cedar dells
Of Old Cape Ann – near Gloucester by the sea,
Still live the dead – in homes that used to be.
All day in dreamy spells
They tattle low with tongues of tinkling cattle bells,
Or spirit tappings of some hollow tree,
And there, all night – all night out of the dark – they bark – and bark.

— Dogtown Common by Percy MacKaye

The myth, magic, and mystery of Dogtown, an abandoned village in Gloucester on Cape Ann in Massachusetts, has captivated generations of locals and sightseers.

Long after the 1692 Salem witch hysteria, a group of women who resided in Dogtown were thought to be witches. According to local legend, their spirits are believed to continue haunting the area, and each year, numerous individuals trot along the trails in hopes of encountering these bewitched supernatural figures.

Among these ghostly notables are Tammy Younger, “Luce” George, Molly Jacobs, Granny Rich, Easter Clark, Judy Rhines, and Old Ruth, a.k.a. John Woodman.

Their residences can be found on the map featured below, from Charles E. Mann’s book In the Heart of Cape Ann – The Story of Dogtown, published in 1896 and drawn in the author’s own hand.

Tammy Younger & Aunt Luce George

One of these,
Last of the witches, pinched with spirit-hunger,
Was Tammy Younger.

Long after Salem days she cherished the lore
Old Cotton Mather cursed. She knew the clink
Of sieve and shears, and how to brew dire drink
Of foxberry leaves with gore
Of new-stuck swine. Full many a godless grudge she bore
To make in church a deacon gape or blink,
While she at home would scratch his puppet with bristles
Of prickly thistles.

— Dogtown Common by Percy MacKaye

Tammy Younger aka “Queen of the Witches,” who supposedly had the power of sheer will to control and get people and animals to do her bidding, resided with her aunt Luce George. It was claimed the two women bewitched oxen pulling wagons and wouldn’t release them from their spell until their drivers paid tribute from the load they were carrying.

Tammy was born to William and Lucy (Foster) Young and married James McCormic on 23 August 1775. It is purported he died at sea. She later lived with her aunt Luce George.

Here are a few tidbits reported on the Dogtown witches.

This article reports:

The House of the Witch

Yet there is food for emotion in the Deserted Village. The very first spot in it, on Fox Hill, after one crosses tiny, brawling, brown tinted Alewife Brook, is Tammy Younger’s cellar. Now Tammy Younger (short for Thomasine) was a witch, and so was her aunt, Luce George. As the spectator [reporter] stood on the brink of the ruined cellar, filled thick with muddy sumac, which is all that remains of the domicile of “the Queen of the Witches,” he could see the bridge over the brook, where the laden oxen used to be halted by her black art, with their tongues hanging helplessly out of their mouths, until their owners ran up the hill and brought tribute from the loads. Luce George had the unique power of bewitching a load of wood so that it would not stay on the cart unless a portion was duly unloaded at the door.

Below is a sketch showing Tammy Younger practicing her toll spells.

The caption reads:

The oxen would remain transfixed until the old witch collected her toll, then she would break the spell.

Judy Rhine

Another lady of the (witch)craft was Judy Rhines, who lived on Commons Road, now beneath the Goose Cove Reservoir. According to an account published in Harper’s Weekly, Judy was targeted by local lads:

Like several others of these dames, she [Judy] picked up a meager living by fortune-telling. It is said that once upon a time two boys, knowing that the chattels of a witch were ever public property, determined to prove themselves public-spirited by carrying off two of Judy’s geese. Judy’s tall, gaunt figure was seen in a moment, as she came shrieking and brandishing a hoe; but the retort of a goose flung full in her face so prostrated her that the boys were able to make off with their prey.

Judy also picked berries and cleaned houses for a living, but the big scandal on Judy shows up in a poem. This side dish is mentioned in the New York Herald’s review of the poem Dogtown Common by Percy MacKaye. According to MacKaye, Rhines cast a spell on the minister.

This article reports:

A weird legend of Cape Ann forms the basis of Percy MacKaye’s saga of witchcraft colored with the half tints of modern psychic phenomena. Judy Rhines, the daughter of the witch who abides on Dogtown Common, whence the men go to the fishing and seldom come back, casts her very human spell upon John Wharf, the minister.

However, an even hotter tip on Judy comes from Thomas Dresser, who claims Judy had been known to work the streets, along with two other sorceresses: Molly Jacobs and Liz Tucker.

Dresser notes:

“These three unfortunates comprised Dogtown’s red-light district.”

Create a free account at GenealogyBank for 7 days to start your journey and discover the stories your ancestors left behind.

Note on the header image: close-up of Tammy Younger. Credit: Louise Welch.

Related Articles:

• Mystery of Abandoned Village Dogtown (part 1)
• Mystery of Abandoned Village Dogtown (part 2)
• Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 51 (part 1)