Goodwife Ann Glover
Goodwife Ann Glover (Goody Glover) was convicted of and hung for witchcraft in 1688, before the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Later in Salem, much of the same thinking was utilized by the townspeople. The incident revolved around the Goodwin family. John Goodwin and his four young children had a housekeeper. One day the oldest child, Martha (13), accused the housekeeper of stealing some of the linens. This led to Glover saying some nasty things to the girl, who immediately came down with horrible, violent fits (much like the fits experienced by the girls in Salem). Not only did Martha suffer from the fits, her three younger siblings suffered from them as well. After consulting doctors, they agreed there was no natural cause and it was witchcraft. Glover was arrested for witchcraft.
After her imprisonment, the children recovered somewhat from their pain. It did not last long, however and the children continued to suffer far after Glover’s death. Glover’s attitude and appearance added to the witchcraft suspicions. Many considered her a mean, old hag. When the authorities searched her home, they recovered puppet like dolls made of rags and goat hair. Glover explained she used these dolls to cause harm to others. Not only did she admit to owning and using the dolls, during her trial she would not renounce the Catholic faith. Unlike the overwhelming majority of the occupants of Boston, Glover was Irish Catholic and not a Puritan. Because she would not renounce her faith, the court took it as her admitting guilt. Like the later trials at Salem, the Goodwin children experienced some type of uncontrollably painful fits caused by a woman or women in the community that looked and acted the part of a witch. One of the other main similarities is the age of the accusers. Martha was the oldest child, being thirteen, and the youngest, Benjamin, was only five.
By: Jessica McKenzie
Credits and Sources:
Seymour, St. John D. Irish Witchcraft and Demonology, 1913. At Sacred-texts.com. Accessed September 13, 2016. http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/iwd/iwd08.htm
Turvey, Brent E. Criminal Profiling: An Introduction to Behavioral Evidence Analysis.3rd ed. Boston, MA: Elsevier, 2008.
Witch-Hunting in Seventeenth Century New England: A Documentary History 1658-1695.2nd ed. Edited by David D. Hall. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press, 1991.
