Nearly 100 years after Salem, a German immigrant widow in Vermont faced trial by water ordeal for witchcraft. In 1785, Margaret Krieger was dropped through ice into the freezing Hoosick River—and survived.
Guests:
Joyce Held, Pownal Vermont Historical Society – researcher who uncovered Margaret’s full story
Jamie Franklin, Bennington Museum Curator – connected the trial to post-Revolutionary War political tensions
Key Points:
Margaret Schumacher Krieger (1725-1790) married Johann Krieger in 1741, moved to frontier Vermont
After Johann’s death in 1785, neighbors accused her of witchcraft to seize the family’s mill and land
Recent research suggests the family were Loyalists, adding political motivation to the accusations
Margaret was acquitted after surviving the water test and moved back to Massachusetts
Modern Legacy:
Historical marker installed 2023 at Strobridge Recreation Park, North Pownal, VT
Annual Witches Walk commemorating “extraordinary women” – next event September 13, 2025
Connect:
Facebook: Pownal Historical Society
Website: www.pownal.org
This case reveals how witchcraft accusations often masked land disputes, cultural tensions, and political conflicts in post-Revolutionary America.
This week Jamie Franklin, Director of Collections and Exhibitions at Bennington Museum in Vermont recounts the life and experiences of the accused witch Margaret Krieger. Jamie details what is known of her life and her 1785 trial. Learn about the broader context of the time period, the unique colonial history of the Southern Vermont region and the relevance of this topic even today. Integral to the discussion is Joyce Held’s research on Margaret’s life, the Pownal Historical Society’s role in erecting a historic marker, and the public dedication ceremony for the marker, aiming to honor Margaret Krieger’s memory. This lesser known accused witch in the American colonies underscores the significance of understanding the past and its influence on our global present.
Josh Hutchinson: Welcome to Thou Shalt Not Suffer: The Witch Trial Podcast. I'm Josh Hutchinson.
Sarah Jack: And I'm Sarah Jack. About two months ago, a group dedicated a memorial marker in Pownal, Vermont to Margaret Krieger, reportedly the defendant in a 1785 witch trial. We discuss the case in this episode.
Josh Hutchinson: Along the way, we learn about the history of Southwestern Vermont.
Sarah Jack: As part of that, we'll learn about the early German and English settlers of the area.
Josh Hutchinson: Learn the role the area played in the American Revolution.
Sarah Jack: And all about the Krieger family.
Josh Hutchinson: We'll also hear the full account of the witch trial.
Sarah Jack: Find out methods considered to test if Margaret Krieger was a witch.
Josh Hutchinson: And learn the outcome of the [00:01:00] trial.
Sarah Jack: Hear all about the memorable dedication of the marker for Margaret Krieger.
Josh Hutchinson: And learn about the Bennington Museum.
Sarah Jack: This fascinating history of Margaret Krieger is told to us by Jamie Franklin, the curator of the Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vermont.
Jamie Franklin: My name is Jamie Franklin, and I am informally, I'm just the curator. My formal title is Director of Collections and Exhibitions. And so I'm in charge of, as the title would imply, our collections. We have a large collection of archives, photographs, works of art, really, a really diverse collection that kind of tells the history of our region, Bennington, Southern Vermont, Vermont at large, and the immediately surrounding region in upstate New York, western Massachusetts, really from basically from colonial contact up to the present day.
Jamie Franklin: We have worked a little bit with the [00:02:00] indigenous peoples, and we're doing that more and more but largely from the colonial period up to the present day. And I'm in charge of our collections, making acquisitions, organizing most of our major exhibitions, those sorts of things.
Josh Hutchinson: Great. And what would you like us to know about Southern Vermont?
Jamie Franklin: We're right down here in the corner, Bennington, and even more particularly Pownal, where the Krieger Witch Trial actually occurred, is literally, Pownal is the furthest southwest in the state of Vermont, so we're right, border right up against the Berkshires in northwestern Massachusetts and upstate New York. Troy is just about a 45 minute drive west of us. And Vermont's history is unique in relationship to all of the other New England colonies. We were settled much later than all the other New England colonies. It really wasn't until the mid 18th century that there were permanent colonial settlements being established here in Vermont, and particularly it [00:03:00] started really here in southwestern Vermont.
Jamie Franklin: Bennington is often referred to as the earliest kind of permanent colonial settlement in Vermont, though Pownal has its own unique story, which we will dive into a little bit deeper. Yeah, nowe're right down here in the corner of the state next to New York and Massachusetts, and we have a little bit of a different story than a lot of the rest of New England.
Sarah Jack: What was the pattern of settlement or the communities in the area like at that point in time?
Jamie Franklin: Using Bennington as an example, the first kind of permanent colonial settlement that was established here in Bennington wasn't until 1761. It's a complicated story, because Vermont was the 14th state to join the Union, but it wasn't until 1791, after the Revolution, and the reason for that was because New Hampshire and New York were basically fighting over the land that would become Vermont, and the [00:04:00] original settlers that came up to Bennington started in central Massachusetts, Westfield as well as, Eastern Connecticut, the Norwich, Connecticut area, so the first kind of groups of settlers to arrive in Bennington were coming up from those regions, and they by and large were what were known as religious separatists, so the Congregational Church reigned supreme in New England in the 18th century, and the earliest settlers here in Bennington were basically escaping what they felt was a religious establishment that they no longer agreed with.
Jamie Franklin: They believed that you needed to confess publicly your faith in Christ. And the established congregational churches started to loosen up, and if your grandparents had confessed, then you were automatically inducted into the church, and so these separatists felt that was getting a little too loosey goosey for them, and so they were starting to establish their own churches, but their towns were taxing them to support the [00:05:00] established church. And so they were trying to establish their own churches. Some of those were able to do those within the community, but again, their tax money was going towards the establishment church. And so a lot of them were seeking to get away from that and establish their own churches in places that hadn't already been settled.
Jamie Franklin: And Bennington was one of those places those groups came to, because there really was no colonial settlement here in Bennington at that point. And Pownal was a little bit different. Pownal and the story of the Kriegers was that actually there was Germanic New York settlers who were arriving in what would have been the kind of far eastern reaches of the Rensselaerwick manor, which was basically an area of New York settlement attached to Troy and Albany, New York.
Jamie Franklin: And so there were what were referred to as Dutch settlers, they were actually Germanic settlers that had arrived in Pownal by about the 1740s. But they were basically under the assumption that area was controlled and owned by [00:06:00] New York. But when the English settlers, so the settlers who arrived in Bennington in the 1760s, they were basing their claims to the land on New Hampshire land grants through the English colonies, whereas the Dutch settlers ran into the assumption that it was owned by New York.
Jamie Franklin: When Pownal was formerly chartered by the English in 1760, there were already what were known as Dutch squatters there in Pownal, including the Krieger family and because Johann Juri Krieger, so Widow Krieger or Margaret Krieger's husband, had already established a gristmill there in Pownal along the Hoosic River. They made an exception for him. Most of the what they referred to as the Dutch squatters were kicked out by the English settlers. But they let Juri Krieger stay, because he had established and improved his land. And basically, they needed a mill, and he had already built one. And so they granted him an exception and gave him a plot of [00:07:00] land there next to his mill, where he and his wife, Margaret, and their family lived up until the time of the trial after Juri Krieger passed away in 1785.
Josh Hutchinson: Thank you. That was all so very interesting to me. Vermont kind of gets overlooked when you're thinking about colonial history. Think about the 13 colonies and don't realize what the struggle was going on for control of Vermont.
Jamie Franklin: mean, Vermont was actually an independent republic. So from 1777 until 1791 Vermont operated independently of the other United States and had its own Republican government. But it was wanting to be a state, but because of the dispute between New Hampshire and New York, they were operating independently for that period of time and in the period prior to the Revolution, there was a lot up in the air. That's the period of the Green Mountain Boys, which a lot of people, if they know anything about early Vermont history, that's what they [00:08:00] know, and a lot of that was centered right here in Bennington, because we fall right on what became the New York-Vermont border. And that was the disputed area between New Hampshire and Vermont. And that's the larger kind of political context of what was happening here in Vermont during that period.
Josh Hutchinson: I've been there to the Bennington Memorial.
Jamie Franklin: Yeah, the Bennington Monument. Yeah, that was, that was the whole history of the museum and the history of Bennington is connected in deep ways to the Bennington Monument.
Josh Hutchinson: And in the late 18th century, what would life have been like for someone like a Widow Krieger?
Jamie Franklin: Widow Krieger, Margaret Krieger, and her husband, Johann Juri, as I mentioned earlier, they were granted land there by the English proprietors in 1760, and they would have been pretty much out on their own. It wasn't a very thickly established area.
Jamie Franklin: Bennington over the course of the 1760s and into the 1770s, and what we now know as [00:09:00] Old Bennington, which is right here behind the museum. So it's starting to become what you would understand as a community of settlement. There were houses, there were general stores and other stores along the main street. The Kriegers living there next to their mill along the Hoosic River wouldn't have had a whole lot of neighbors. There were a couple of people settled there sporadically beginning in the 1760s under the English grants that were being awarded at that time.
Jamie Franklin: They ran a mill. They had three sons who were born in the period after they settled in Pownal. So actually Margaret and Juri were married in 1745 and probably settled in Pownal shortly thereafter. For Margaret, it would have been, raising the boys, helping Johann with the mill and around the family, probably helping out with livestock. They probably would have raised a lot of their own food, they probably would have had gardens. It would be pure conjecture to think about what their social life, or even what their relationship with the larger community would've been, other than the fact [00:10:00] that we know that they would've been seen as somewhat of outsiders from the beginning, because they were part of the Dutch squatters group, which had largely been eradicated and sent away by the English grantees in the 1760s.
Josh Hutchinson: Sounds like they could have been the only German family there, and that must have been culturally, a big culture shock initially.
Jamie Franklin: Yeah, no, and they were very much a part of that culture. They were married at the Albany Dutch Reformed Church, so they were more connected there, though Margaret herself had actually been born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, which is just south of Pownal. She was born there in 1725. Her parents were Germanic. I don't know that larger context. Williamstown was largely a fort and military outpost in the 18th century, so I'm sure that there was some intermingling between sort of the English settlers connected to the fort and some of the kind of Dutch settlers that were on the kind [00:11:00] of far edge of the New York German settlements there, but they lived within the community seemingly working well with their neighbors.
Jamie Franklin: A lot of it is conjecture because we only know the real basic facts about her life. We know when she was born, we know her parents, we know her children, we know when she was married. We know those sorts of basic biographical facts, but everything else, beyond the fact that this was very much on the edge of settlement during this period. A lot of it would be up to conjecture.
Sarah Jack: So they had a long marriage before he passed away. And then what happened?
Jamie Franklin: Johann Juri, or John Gregor as it was anglicized, after establishing himself in Pownal amongst the English, they referred to him as John Gregor Krieger. He passed away in 1785, and so the story of the Krieger Witch Trial as we know it really is only passed down to [00:12:00] us from one a mid 19th century account. And T. E. Brownell was a well respected Pownal citizen. He was a lawyer and he wrote a early history of Pownal in the 1860s. It was actually published as part of Anne Marie Hemenway's compilation of Vermont histories. She edited a multi volume suit of town histories that composed the entire early history of Vermont, and so Brownell wrote this early history of Pownal, and within that early history of Pownal, which was published in the 1860s, as I said earlier, was a one paragraph account, which is really all we have to base our knowledge of the trial itself on. Again a fairly reliable source but coming some 80 years after the events that it purports to tell, and we don't have an exact date for when the trial itself occurred.
Jamie Franklin: However, we can I think, fairly know that it probably happened not [00:13:00] long after Johann Krieger passed away in 1785. Her sons, or those who were still living, at least, actually two of her sons passed away prior to her husband, had established a mill down in Williamstown, where their mother had come from. And they had been down there since the 1760s. So when her husband passed away in 1785, she would have been a widow living on her own on property with a mill that would have been highly desirous to her neighbors, who may not have liked them in the first place or the fact that they were granted land in the first place some 25 years earlier.
Jamie Franklin: And based on our knowledge of the history, the story as Brownell told it, we can assume that she was probably accused of witchcraft shortly after he passed away in 1785.
Jamie Franklin: Their name is Krieger. It's spelled a million different ways, depending on where you look. Brownell actually refers to them as the Gregors, G R E G O R. We generally refer to them [00:14:00] today as the Kriegers. K R I E G E R. Though on their gravestones it's Kriger. K R I G E R. I just used that to preface this because he begins the story with Gregor.
Jamie Franklin: 'Gregor settled a little north of the Rock, which bears his name,' and I'll say Krieger Rocks is still a well known landmark there in Pownal, above the river. 'A very good story, the Truth of which we do not vouch, is told of his wife. This of course brought upon her the envy and suspicion of the good people. And in after years, when witchcraft prevailed and her husband had gone to his long rest, she was accused of being a witch and brought before a committee appointed to judge and dispense justice in such cases.
Jamie Franklin: After reviewing of the grounds of accusation and consulting the evidence of the case, they deferred a direct decision and required that she be subjugated to two tests in order that they might determine the points of witchery. First, that she should climb a tree, and if upon cutting it she was not [00:15:00] killed, she was a witch, otherwise not. Second, that a hole be cut in the ice sufficient to let her body through, and if upon trial she sunk to the bottom, an acquittal should be granted, but if she floated, the penalty of the law should be visited upon her.
Jamie Franklin: After some deliberation, they adopted the latter test, and the poor woman was obliged to undergo the process of sinking, which of course she did. With much effort, she was saved from drowning and allowed to go free, with the wise conclusion of the judge, that if she had been a witch, the powers infernal would have supported her.'
Jamie Franklin: That's the entire account of the Krieger Witch Trial as it's been passed down to us. Everything else just basically has to be inferred through the little that we can determine about her life, which thanks to Joyce Held , who I've collaborated with very closely on this project. Joyce Held is a member of the Pownal Historical Society and has done extensive research to help unearth Margaret Krieger and give her name [00:16:00] back as part of this larger research project.
Josh Hutchinson: There's so much there that I want to touch on. The story of a widow owning property that's coveted by neighbors is very familiar in witch trial history and not having her sons in town to defend her or take, or I assume they didn't take control of their father's property after he died and it went to her. We've seen that several times.
Jamie Franklin: Yeah, no, and again it's supposition, but I think based on the historic record of what we do know as you said, this was a fairly common scenario where she technically legally I, I think wasn't. As you said legally speaking, the land should have passed from her husband to her one living son, but he was already well established with his own mill in Williamstown, south of Pownal. We can [00:17:00] probably assume fairly accurately that the son wasn't going to take over the mill. Her neighbors probably understood the basics of that story and accusing her of being extraordinary, whatever that means. That was basically the only thing she was being accused of, as far as Brownell is telling the story. That's the only real basis that we have of her being accused, but I think the larger context of them having been granted that land somewhat outside of the normal context, because they had established that mill.
Jamie Franklin: 1785, you're still early on. It may have been, I'm not 100 percent sure on this, it probably was still the only mill there in North Pownal in the immediately surrounding area, and mills were very much needed during this period. They would have to grind wheat and corn. They were used for all sorts of reasons. I know when Bennington was being set up, one of the very first things that was ordered was that they put out a call amongst all of the early settlers and said, 'the first person to build a [00:18:00] mill will be granted the land upon which it is built.'
Jamie Franklin: And so these sorts of things were really critical infrastructure in these towns during the 18th century. And having a woman being the only kind of heir to a property that's highly coveted within the community and having the family already been somewhat outsiders, I think we can safely assume that the accusation was largely based on the desire to take that land.
Sarah Jack: And according to the account, it looks like they were using the current legal system to try to uproot her or to proceed. What legal code were they operating under?
Jamie Franklin: They say committee. What exactly that means is a little unclear. Vermont was an independent republic at this time. There probably would have been some committees would have probably been centered around more populated areas, so Bennington would have had some sort of judicial apparatus in effect, but the use of the word [00:19:00] committee, and actually I've also seen it referred to as a safety committee. That term isn't used in Brownell's account, so it's a conjecture, but there were series of committees, one of which were known as safety committees, that were set up during the period of the Revolutionary War.
Jamie Franklin: And because Bennington was an epicenter of the war, we had the battle here in 1777, there was quite a bit of activity, and there was very active safety committees that were going on here in the mid 1770s. Now, by the mid 1780s, I don't know exactly what the relationship between those kind of pre Vermont Constitution committees and the Constitution would have been, but I think it's safe to say that there might have been informal, local kind of safety committees, what would have essentially served as the judicial apparatus of that local community at the time, which would have been composed of her neighbors who coveted her land. That's probably the best guess [00:20:00] that we can make, but I'm guessing that it was something along the lines of what we understand to be a safety committee like those that were operating during the Revolution, probably composed of her neighbors who are the same people who are accusing her of witchcraft.
Josh Hutchinson: Now, you said two of her sons had passed before their father?
Jamie Franklin: One of them passed away. They were granted land and built a mill, as I mentioned earlier in Williamstown. I think that was in 1767. And then four years later, so I guess that would've been 1771, one of her sons passed. And then another one of her sons actually died in the Battle of Bennington in 1777. Yeah, her sons were definitely intimately involved in kind of communities relatively nearby, involved in the Battle of Bennington so they were definitely, they weren't ostracized from their communities in any way.
Jamie Franklin: And then her son would have died a war hero. And it seems a little odd to me [00:21:00] that they go after her after her son's given his life for the new country. But there were other reasons driving them to target her. The irony and I think the kind of contradictions of the Revolution are myriad. We've been doing a lot of research into the role of kind of the black presence during the Revolutionary War and the Battle of Bennington. Sipp Ives is a figure who's only in recent years come to attention, and he was actually a black man who fought for the Green Mountain Boys and lost his life during the Revolution, and the irony of a black man fighting for freedom for his country when he wasn't going to be granted that same freedom that he was fighting for his neighbors. So those sort of ironies, I think abound when you think about the revolution and kind of the quote unquote 'ideals' that were being fought for.
Sarah Jack: Is there anything interesting that happened to her after her trial?
Jamie Franklin: We don't know a lot about what happened to her [00:22:00] after her trial except for the fact that she moved back to Williamstown, where she was born and where her one surviving son lived and had a mill. And I think it makes perfect sense. You're accused of witchcraft, you're dunked in the icy river, luckily you survive, you're saved, you're acquitted. You probably don't want to live there anymore, and it may very well be that she was essentially pushed out, because the same people who accused her of witchcraft and wanted to grab her land may have made life, despite being acquitted of witchcraft, relatively unbearable.
Jamie Franklin: Again, all conjecture but we do know she moved back to Pownal and lived out the last few years of her life there in Pownal with her son and her grandchildren, and which is where she's buried, she's buried there in the West Lawn Cemetery in Pownal, alongside her husband and her sons and grandchildren.
Josh Hutchinson: I find the idea of a tree test very interesting. I haven't encountered that [00:23:00] before in any other witch trial.
Jamie Franklin: The water test is iconic. You see the image of it that was published in the 17th century. Sometimes you see them hanging on chairs with a a seesaw apparatus where they dunk them. Sometimes they're bound.
Jamie Franklin: The idea of climbing a tree. There is at least one other version of the story, which is basically a retelling of Brownell's account. Grace Greylock Niles was another kind of town historian. She was a bit of an eccentric. She wrote a number of books. Her account of the Krieger trial largely parallels Brownell's, but she confuses things and attributes the widow to one of the sons, which made no sense, because the son didn't have a widow, so she gets her facts wrong, but the tree idea is something that just comes up, and in some cases, it seems like she was given an option between the two. In Brownell's telling, it's more like they're going to test her with both, but then in deliberation, they decide that the [00:24:00] water test is the better. If I were given a choice between the two, I'd choose the icy water myself, because there's not a lot of chance you're going to survive, or at least be in very good condition if you're, depending on how high they expect you to climb and how far you fall, that doesn't seem like a very good option.
Jamie Franklin: That's another one I haven't heard of, but it comes up in Brownell's and in Grace Greylock's accounts of the Krieger Witch Trial but apparently it was vetoed. And the water trial is what they ended up going with.
Sarah Jack: My first thought is maybe they were thinking, oh, we're not going to be able to cut through the ice, and she has to be tested. But then they're like how high can she climb? How, maybe she was, strong and sturdy, she was extraordinary, but maybe it was going to be too problematic to do the tree. But man, plunging into icy water. Do we know what month this happened in?
Jamie Franklin: Don't know what time it is, but they mention ice in Brownell's account very clearly, so one can assume, and cutting a hole in the ice. The idea of cutting a [00:25:00] hole in the ice, the river, it's a flowing body of water. Imagine it. Images of this where they're bound and tied and so that there would have been a rope attached to her, so it's not like they just dropped her in, she sank, because then you would have floated down the river, and how do you pull her back up out of the ice when she's out of there?
Jamie Franklin: So I'm guessing they had a rope attached to her that allowed them to pull her back in, but that wouldn't have been pleasant regardless. The tree would have been bad enough, but the ice wasn't a great way to go either.
Sarah Jack: And she could have, she could be the last woman to undergo a water test like that in the colonies.
Jamie Franklin: It's interesting one of the fun little bits that I was able to dig up as, as I was just doing research about this and trying to understand the larger context and, we think of witch trials and, me as somebody who's interested in history and has a basic knowledge, the Salem Witch Trials in the late 17th century, but 1785 is really late.
Jamie Franklin: And [00:26:00] so I was just trying to do a little bit of digging and figuring out what were they talking, what sort of things were they saying about witches, witchcraft, here in southwestern Vermont in the late 18th century. And in fact, I did stumble across a couple of newspaper articles from the Vermont Gazette, which would have been the local, Bennington-based newspaper, one was from the 1780s, around the time of Krieger's trial, and it was more like an oratorical kind of exercise where you see this occasionally where people will write essays to show off their kind of reasoning and debate skills. And this is a letter that was published in the Vermont Gazette, I think it was 1788, where he's basically giving all the reasons why witchcraft is not real.
Jamie Franklin: But then even more interestingly was a wonderful article that was published in the Vermont Gazette in 1801. And it's unsigned, but he refers to the last 35 years, so presumably [00:27:00] he's 35 years old or around that, or maybe 35 years from his, what he refers to as his childhood, and he says that witchcraft has been on the decrease over the last 35 years. So that would have dated back to the 1760s, 1770s, depending on exactly what he meant by 35 years ago and, it's a, it's another wonderfully written article.
Jamie Franklin: The title of the article is Witchcraft, and it starts, 'when I was a boy, I well remember that scarcely a week passed without hearing some notable tale of recent witchcraft. But at this day, we hardly hear such a tale once a month. Then there were at least four able-bodied witches to a town, but now scarcely one can be mustered. Now I know of several whose towns with not a single witch in them. Then, if a teamster had his sled or wheels upset, the nearest witch was sure to bear the blame of it. But now he is forced to lay it off upon a rock, a stump, or a snowdrift. In those days, if a man was taken out of his warm bed and [00:28:00] ridden a hundred miles through the air, it was certainly some old witch who did it. Now it is turned off upon a dream, a disturbed imagination, or at best, the Nightmare.'
Jamie Franklin: And then he goes on about this and then towards the end he goes on to surmise why witchcraft has been on the wane. So he says, they actually talk about the revolution being one of the reasons why witchcraft might have been on the wane, which of course doesn't explain why there was a witch trial in 1785, right on the tail end of the Revolutionary War, but he goes 'no, I hereby declare it is my opinion that this decrease is owing to another cause.' Quote, 'every generation grows wiser and wiser, I will add, better and better, and not a word more.' And that's how the article ends. So that's an article published here in Bennington in 1801, giving some sort of context for the idea that witchcraft and witches were something that somebody growing up in the 1760s and 70s around this area would have found relatively [00:29:00] commonplace.
Jamie Franklin: However, Krieger's is the only known witch trial. Of course, it's a vague record, and there may have been other cases, but we don't know of them. It's the only known witch trial, and it is quite a late date, as you note, 1785. I don't know of any trials anywhere in New England after that date. It's the only one ever recorded in Vermont, to the best of our knowledge.
Josh Hutchinson: The latest that we know of before that would have been a 1697 trials of Sarah's ancestor in Connecticut, Winifred Benham, and her daughter, Winifred Benham Jr. That's the last formal one that we have court records for. But I do want to point out that we've spoken with a witch trial historian, Owen Davies, who wrote a book called America Bewitched. And in there, he says that due to extrajudicial, people taking the law [00:30:00] into their own hands to deal with witches, more people actually died as witches after Salem than were killed by the authorities.
Jamie Franklin: Yeah. And it's tough because there's really no hard documentation to go by here, because Vermont was very much in limbo, literally and certainly figuratively, too, caught between New York and New Hampshire, an independent republic, there's very little kind of formal legal paperwork that survives, and Pownal as a town and a community was extremely small at this period, and I know that Joyce has also gone over to Albany and Troy to try and see if there are any records there, and she hasn't been able to track any down, and we don't have any documentation of it, but that doesn't mean that other examples of this might have happened during the period. Because it seems like the idea of witches and witchcraft, according to that 1801 account, were not something that would have been surprising.
Josh Hutchinson: There were [00:31:00] definitely rumors of witchcraft and off the record accusations going on that are reported in some newspapers through the 18th century and even the 19th century and up to today, you see this occasionally. So yeah, witchcraft belief is very persistent.
Jamie Franklin: And that's actually one of the reasons why I really was excited to be able to do this project and to erect the marker to commemorate the trial, because accusations of witch hunts are something we're hearing a lot about these days, and so I think these issues of false accusations and lack of following the judicial process, those are things that are happening to this day. It's different contexts, but it's still very much something that I think is relevant to us today.
Sarah Jack: I think this historical marker project is really a big deal. I'd love to hear how you got involved, how you and Joyce Held [00:32:00] connected and moved forward.
Jamie Franklin: The Krieger Witch Trial Marker Project was an outgrowth of actually an exhibition that I curated, which is here at the Bennington Museum right now, and it runs through the end of the year. I don't know if anybody's going to hear this before the end of the year, but so the project grew out of that, and actually I reached out to Pownal and the folks at the Pownal Historical Society a year and a half ago now. I don't remember the exact timing, I think it was spring of 2022, and I was working on this project. I wanted to learn what they knew about the Krieger Witch Trial, and Joyce had really been already working on this for a decade or so, trying to dig up information on who Widow Krieger was, what her name was, all of the information that she ultimately discovered.
Jamie Franklin: And I met with them about that, and then around the same time in the summer of last year, 2022, the Manchester Historical Society, which is just north of us here in Bennington, Sean Harrington is the curator of the Manchester Historical [00:33:00] Society, and he partnered with the Vermont Folklife Center, which is the state sponsor of the William G. Pomeroy Foundation, and the Pomeroy Foundation has a historic marker program called Legends and Lore, and the Pomeroy Foundation is probably better known for funding all of the New York State historic markers. The historic markers that are erected now in the late 20th and now in the 21st century are not actually funded by the state of New York. They're funded by the William G. Pomeroy Foundation and so they have this Legends and Lore marker project. Sean Harrington at the Manchester Historical Society worked with Andy Kolovos who is at the Vermont Folklife Center and the William G. Pomeroy Foundation to create a marker to what's known as the Manchester Vampire or the Demon Vampire of Manchester. And so this is a whole other wonderful story, which kind of provides context into kind of late 18th century belief systems here in southwestern Vermont. In [00:34:00] very brief, the story of the Manchester Vampire. The only surviving account is a handwritten manuscript, which is part of a largerearly history of Manchester, which was written by a Pettibone, a well respected member of the Manchester community, believed to be written around the 1860s, and it recalls the story of Rachel Burton. So Rachel Burton was married to Isaac Burton, Captain Isaac Burton, who had actually fought in the Revolution, and she died what we now know as tuberculosis, back then it was consumption in 1791. Captain Burton, her widow husband, remarried, and about a year after he remarried, his second wife also died of consumption, and I hear that story and I go of course, if you're going to accuse somebody of vampirism, it's gotta be the husband, Isaac Burton, but no, it was the first wife, Rachel Burton, that was accused of being a vampire.
Jamie Franklin: You look at it, and you think the reality of it [00:35:00] is Isaac Burton was probably an asymptomatic carrier of consumption, and both of his wives caught it from him, but this was a case where Pettibone tells the story that his friends and family became kind of inflamed with this idea that they needed to dig up Rachel Burton's body, and they actually, the story goes that they burnt her remaining organs in a public spectacle there in Manchester around 1793.
Jamie Franklin: And so they erected this marker to the vampire story there in Manchester last year, and so I connected with Sean Harrington, who I know, I work with closely. He's on a number of committees here at the Bennington Museum, and he connected me with the Vermont Folklife Center and the Pomeroy Foundation, and we decided as part of this larger exhibition project, Haunted Vermont, we wanted to create a historic marker through the Pomeroy Foundation grant program to commemorate the Krieger Witch Trial.
Josh Hutchinson: What can you tell us about the [00:36:00] dedication ceremony?
Jamie Franklin: I worked closely with the Pownal Historical Society through all of this. The museum was the kind of non profit of note that applied for the grant. We applied to the Pomeroy Foundation through the museum. We were awarded the grant. And then I worked closely with the Pownal Historical Society.
Jamie Franklin: We had our own Krieger Witch Trial subcommittee. So we helped plan the dedication ceremony that happened back in September. And they really wanted to make it a kind of family friendly, basically honoring Margaret Krieger's memory and recognizing the ordeal that she went through, and so we actually started the dedication ceremony with a witches walk. So we invited people to come dressed up as witches, whatever that meant to them. There were a lot of kind of stereotypical popular American culture type witches wearing pointy black hats, black cats, brooms, but I think somewhere around two to three dozen people showed up wearing witch [00:37:00] costumes, and so we had a little parade that was led by a couple of musicians across the bridge, which crosses the Hoosic River, which is right there adjacent to where we put the sign. So the sign is in what's known as Strobridge Park, right there in North Pownal. It's off of Route 346 as you're driving through North Pownal on Dean Road. A bridge crosses the river right there.
Jamie Franklin: So they paraded across the river towards where the historic marker is, and then we had a brief kind of ceremony where I gave some remarks. I talked a little bit. I mentioned the 1801 newspaper article and talking about the idea of becoming better and acknowledging that this is still an issue, people are still being accused unjustly of a lot of things due to various belief systems. And this is something that we need to keep in our kind of collective community memory.
Jamie Franklin: Joyce Held then told the story of Margaret Krieger basically for the first time. She wanted to keep a lot of the information that she had been doing, researching, close to her chest until it was finally made public, and she told that story there[00:38:00] at the dedication ceremony. Sean Harrington was also there as a representative of the Vermont Folklife Center.
Jamie Franklin: And then we revealed and pulled the the cloth off of the marker. And so it was a really fun time. We had live music. We had treats for the kids. There were a lot of young people there. It was really fun, but there were also older people who are very deeply interested in early American, early Vermont history, reenactor types that we're interested in those sorts of things. So it was really wonderful. I think we had something like 100 to 150 people show up for the dedication ceremony there. So it was really wonderful to be able to go through this process of research, of getting the grant, and then finally putting the sign up and seeing that it's a story that really resonated with people today in 2023.
Josh Hutchinson: A great turnout. I'm so glad everybody got to hear the story and why it's relevant today.
Sarah Jack: Is there anything else you would like to share about the museum or [00:39:00] Margaret or anything else you'd like to put out there?
Jamie Franklin: Haunted Vermont was a really fun exhibit. I was able to do research on the Krieger Witch Trial, on the Manchester Vampire. Another kind of integral part of that exhibition is an archive of materials that we recently were gifted by Shirley Jackson's eldest son, Lawrence Hyman. So Shirley Jackson, for those who aren't familiar, was a mid 20th century writer. I call her the queen of Gothic fiction. She's probably best known for her short story, 'The Lottery,' but she also wrote a number of novels, including The Haunting of Hill House, which has received quite a bit of attention in the last couple of years. There was a Netflix very roughly based on The Haunting of Hill House recently. And she actually wrote a book for school aged children ages 8 to 12, on the Salem Witch Trials in 1956 or 57. You think about when that was published and the idea that children should be learning about the Salem Witch Trials was right at the height of the Red Scare and McCarthyism, [00:40:00] and so I say all of this only because we'll continue to have a selection of material from Shirley Jackson's archives out and on permanent display for years to come. It doesn't necessarily tell the Krieger Witch Trial story, but for those who are interested in those sorts of things and in Shirley Jackson's work, her work will continue to be on view here at the Bennington Museum.
Jamie Franklin: We tell the history and story of Southern Vermont, and anybody interested in that material, we're open to the public. We close for a couple of months in the early winter, January, February, and March, but we reopen on April 1st, and we're open through the rest of the year, and we're usually open, depending on what time of year it is. Our schedule sometimes shifts, but during the height of our exhibition cycle, from like June through October, we're open seven days a week from ten to four, usually.
Jamie Franklin: But just check our website. It's www.benningtonmuseum.org. That will have the latest up to date hours and days that we're open. And I encourage people to come and learn not just about Widow Krieger, but about Vermont history at large.[00:41:00]
Sarah Jack: And now for a minute with Mary.
Mary-Louise Bingham: Gary Foxcroft began his advocacy when he and his wife, Naomi, began to enroll children deprived of an education in a primary school they built with the support of family and friends at Akwa Ibom State in Nigeria. Many of these children were believed by their families to be practicing sorcery and were thrown to live on the streets. These children were now at risk of being exploited and suffered brutal deaths. Gary and Naomi connected with other advocates to provide shelters for these children and consulted with UN agencies. Gary was the subject of a documentary linked in the show notes, titled Saving Africa's Witch Children. Safe Child Africa is an organization that is based in the UK which was cofounded by Gary and Naomi. After 15 years of advocacy, Gary is now focusing on other [00:42:00] endeavors. Thank you, Gary Foxcroft, for the children that still live.
Sarah Jack: Thank you, Mary.
Josh Hutchinson: Here's Sarah with End Witch Hunts News.
Sarah Jack: End Witch Hunts, a non profit 501(c)3 organization, Weekly News Update.
Sarah Jack: We would like to acknowledge the positive progress made by the global community against witch hunts in the past year. At End Witch Hunts, we remain steadfast in our support for and recognition of advocates and organizations driving positive social change in communities worldwide grappling with witch hunts and violence from witchcraft accusations. Numerous initiatives and collaborations are actively addressing this issue. Anti-witch-hunt advocates encompass a diverse array of individuals, including victims, their families, descendants, academics, professors, authors, activists, lawyers, politicians, ambassadors, journalists, podcasters, artists, museum directors, writers, playwrights, [00:43:00] policemen, teachers, genealogists, historians, students, senior adults, middle aged adults, young adults, teenagers, and children. Anyone contributing to the mission to end witch hunts by expanding the reach of impact through their unique talents, skills, and knowledge, be it through education, legal interventions, or courageous conversations, is a powerful voice for the innocent. Whether you've delved into an informative book, participated in an online education or advocacy event, tuned in to a podcast episode addressing human rights, or engaged in the conversation to end witch hunts in any capacity, you too are an advocate for the innocent. We thank you for being a part of this growing movement to stop hunting witches.
Sarah Jack: As we close out 2023, we want to illuminate the remarkable efforts of our dedicated volunteers, creators, and guests, who have been instrumental in shaping our podcast and contributing to the success of all End Witch Hunts education, memorial, and justice initiatives. [00:44:00] These champions are committed to combating the age-old scourge of witch hunts, advocating for change, education, tolerance, and justice on a local and global scale. In a world where fear and disregard for the dignity of all mankind lead to the harm and persecution of vulnerable and innocent individuals, End Witch Hunts aims to be an organization of action.
Sarah Jack: In May of 2023, collaborative efforts to pass state legislation absolving those accused of witchcraft in Connecticut culminated in the adoption of House Joint Resolution 34. This landmark resolution offered an apology and cleared the names of 34 witch trial victims. Our exoneration and memorial efforts aim to honor victims, raise awareness, develop purposeful conversations, and foster understanding about accepting all vulnerable members of a community.
Sarah Jack: Take a stand for justice. Sign our petition at change.org/witchtrials to urge the state of Massachusetts to amend legislation, ensuring the inclusion of all those wrongfully [00:45:00] executed for witchcraft in the Massachusetts colony. Five women faced unjust executions for witchcraft in 17th-century Boston, and it's time to clear their names.
Sarah Jack: Additionally, support the crucial work of memorials for all witch trial victims in Connecticut by visiting connecticutwitchtrials.org. Engage with witch trial memorials. Amplify their stories on your social media and play a vital role in raising awareness. The future safety of potential witch hunt victims relies on this collective effort.
Sarah Jack: Be a part of the movement for witch hunt justice. As we leap into 2024, let's persist in elevating the voices of both historical and contemporary victims of witch hunts. Together, we can demand a future where each individual is accorded the dignity, safety, and respect they rightfully deserve.
Sarah Jack: When the dawn of 2024 breaks on January 1st, we'll have transformed the podcast to its new name, Witch Hunt. We appreciate your ongoing support and can't wait to continue this journey. Work with us in 2024 by discussing why we hunt witches, [00:46:00] how we hunt witches, who we hunt as witches, and how we stop hunting witches. Your voice is part of the work. Visit aboutwitchhunts.com/ starting January 1st, 2024.
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Josh Hutchinson: Thank you, Sarah.
Sarah Jack: You're welcome.
Josh Hutchinson: Thank you for listening to Thou Shalt Not Suffer: The Witch Trial Podcast.
Sarah Jack: Join us next Wednesday for the inaugural episode of Witch Hunt.
Josh Hutchinson: That's right, subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts and the next episode will be in your inbox on Witch Hunt Wednesday.
Sarah Jack: To visit us, now go to aboutwitchhunts.com/.[00:47:00]
Josh Hutchinson: Remember to tell all your friends about this show.
Sarah Jack: Support our efforts to end witch hunts. Visit endwitchhunts.org to learn more about our organization.
Josh Hutchinson: Have a great today and a beautiful tomorrow.