Solve One Problem, Cause Another
The Witch of Pungo has been completely cleared of any wrongdoing by the Governor of Virginia. That's right, she's free and clear, completely exonerated. Grace Sherwood has been given back her good name by Governor Timothy M. Kaine. Ms. Sherwood was not available for comment on her exoneration, however, since she's been dead 300 years or so.
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The Witch of Pungo is no longer a witch. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Monday exonerated Grace Sherwood, who 300 years ago became Virginia's only woman convicted as a witch tried by water.
"I am pleased to officially restore the good name of Grace Sherwood," Kaine wrote in a letter Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf read aloud before a re-enactment of Sherwood's being dropped into the river.
"With 300 years of hindsight, we all certainly can agree that trial by water is an injustice," Kaine wrote. "We also can celebrate the fact that a woman's equality is constitutionally protected today, and women have the freedom to pursue their hopes and dreams."
Sherwood, a midwife who at times wore men's clothes, lived in what today is the rural Pungo neighborhood, and later became known as "The Witch of Pungo." Her neighbors thought she was a witch who ruined crops, killed livestock and conjured storms, and she went to court a dozen times, either to fight witchcraft charges or to sue her accusers for slander.
She was 46 when she was accused in her final case of using her powers to cause a neighbor to miscarry.
On July 10, 1706, Sherwood was dropped into the Lynnhaven River and floated — proof she was guilty because the pure water cast out her evil spirit, according to the belief system of the time. The theory behind the test was that if she sank, she was innocent, although she would also drown.
Sherwood may have been jailed until 1714, when records show she paid back taxes and with the help of then-Gov. Alexander Spotswood she was able to reclaim her property. She then lived quietly until her death at 80.
Belinda Nash, 59, has been researching Sherwood for years and asked for the governor to exonerate the woman. A group annually remembers Sherwood with a re-enactment in the river.
Ok, so great, her name has been cleared and she is not guilty of the crime. Now we have another problem. What do we call her? The Former Witch of Pungo? The Witch of Pungo who wasn't? The Artist Formerly Known as the Witch of Pungo? We're so confused.
By Black Jack, Monday, 10 July , 2006 @ 7:10 pm
I know Pungo quite well. It’s as close to heaven as you can get and still be in Virginia. Why the authorities dunked Grace in the Lynnhaven, is a mystery as it’s some distance from the intersection of Princess Anne Road and Indian River Road which is downtown Pungo. (Munden’s store is the landmark). The North Landing River is closer than the Lynnhaven, as is Back Bay.
Back in ‘62 I built a duck blind on the Lynnhaven, on Capt. Evans oyster bottom, now there was a great man. Best oysters on the Chesapeake and the first place ever I caught a Blue Crab. I was 5 or 6 and a chicken necker. Hallowed ground.