The Witch Of Pengo?.. Poongo?...Pungo.

 By: Christopher Brown 

Mother of 3 kids, herbalist, farmer, and contains warts on her or his body… Witch? These characteristics describe Grace Sherwood. Grace Sherwood was a middle-class woman who lived in Princess Anne, Virginia from 1660-1740. Grace was not only one of the selected few of people who were convicted for being a witch, but also the last person to be convicted of being a witch in Virginia. 

Grace Sherwood had been accused of being a witch on multiple occasions. Some of these occasions being she caused crops and livestock to die, put curses on families, and even a woman by the name of Elizabeth Barnes said Grace slipped through her door key hole to get into her bed chamber and ride her like a horse. A little excessive with the details do you think?

After being taken to trial on multiple occasions and having her case looked at by each level of government back then, she was eventually asked to be tested by water. This is called dunking. 

The test of water is when such a person is accused of being a witch, they are ordered to be tied to a cucking stool  and be dropped into deep water. If such a person can escape and rise to the top they aren’t a witch, but if they sink and drown then they are innocent. That “totally” sounds like a win-win situation. Grace didn’t want to deny such a trial because it would just make her look guilty so she went with it. 

Grace then proceeded to save herself and not drown and was placed in jail in Williamsburg, VA. It’s stated that on the night of Grace Sherwood dunking there was a storm with terrible lighting strikes. She was released in 1714. In 1733 she made a will bequeathing her property to her three sons. Beginning in the 20th century according to Emilee Hines in the Book, “Virginia Myths And Legend: The True Stories Behind History’s Mysteries”, held an annual Pungo Strawberry Festival in the still rural part of the city that included a reenactment of Grace Sherwood’s dunking(Hines). Also in the 20th century the mayor of Virginia pardoned Grace Sherwood from her being accused of being a Witch. She is known to be immortalized in Princess Anne, as she has a statue where people can pay due respect to her. 

Works Cited: 

 “Grace Sherwood.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, August 7th, 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Sherwood

Schons, Mary. “Witch Trials in The 21st Century.” Accusations of Witchcraft persist, Jeannie Evers, Emdash Editing, Kara West. National Geographic Society. September 15th, 2022. 1145 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20036.     

Walk With History. “The Last Modern Day Witch Trial.” The Witch of Pungo. Youtube. October 17th, 2021. San Bruno, CA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gRXBM5lIyg

Links for Further Research: 

Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/10/AR2006071000495.html

This site contains information on Grace Sherwood being pardoned. 

National Geographic.https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/witch-trials-21st-century This link provides information on the witch trials in the 21st century.

National Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/newsletters/article/why-were-witches-killed-20220516 explains why witches were killed from back then to know. 

The Bell Witch

Author: Donelle Eubanks

Throughout Americas history there has been many legends of witches. When most people hear the word witch, they probably think of a woman making potions, putting evil spells on people, wearing a pointy hat, and riding on a broom stick. That is not the image of famous Bell Witch. This story isn’t like any other, it is one of the most horrific hauntings in American history.

According to Alan Browns book “Haunted Tennessee Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Volunteer State” In the year of 1804, John Bell, a farmer from Halifax County, North Carolina moved to Robertson county Tennessee. He moved and purchased 320 acers of land where he would eventually build a log cabin for him and his family. It wasn’t until a decade later where the haunting on the John family began. It was in the year of 1817 where John noticed a strange creature on his lawn. It was said that the creature had the head of a rabbit and a body of a dog. Reacting in fear John Bell shot at the strange creature, and it ran off. After that day John and his family’s life was never the same.

The nights to come were traumatic. In Alyssa Gravitt’s Article “The Terrifying True Story of the Bell Witch” it is said that blankets began to get pulled off of beds, people’s hair was getting pulled, and they were waking up with scratches and bruises. It is also said that the daughter of John, Elizabeth Bell, was tortured the most by the spirit. She was covered in bruises because she was being pinched and slapped by this demonic ghost.

The Spirit soon identified itself as “Kate Bates”. On the Bell witch Cave website, they say Kate was a “mean old neighbor of John Bell who believed she was cheated by him in a land purchase”. They also say in on the website that she swore on her deathbed to haunt John Bell and his family. This spirit that was now called The Bell Witch became so popular the President at that time, Andrew Jackson went to Tennessee to visit this spirit, but didn’t get very far because of the entity stopping the carriage from entering the road up the cabin.

The haunting continued until the year of 1820 where John Bell died suddenly. A vial had been found by John Bell, Jr and he gave some of the liquid that was in it to his cat, that died immediately. The Bell Witch Website says the spirit spoke up and said, “I gave Ol’ Jack a big dose of that last night, which fixed him!”. John Jr then threw the vial into the fireplace where it eventually went up into flames.

After he died it is said that Kate Bates, The Bell Witch, spirit went into a cave, and is still active. People that have visited the cave and the cabin say they still hears noises, and sometimes see lights from the cave. There have been movies, tv shows, and also books made to explain this legend even more, but maybe we will never really know why Kate Bates wanted John Bell dead.

 “Cursed: The Bell Witch: Trespassing”

Works Cited:

Brown, Alan. “Haunted Tennessee Ghosts and Strange Phenomena of the Volunteer State” Feb. 2009.https://books.google.com/books?id=mSLiFwJzOH4C&pg=PA72#v=onepage&q&f=false

Clarke, Roger. “An American Haunting: in search of The Tennessee’s Bell Witch”. December 1, 2017.https://www.pressreader.com/uk/fortean-times/20171201/281535111243250

Gravitt, Alyssa. “The Terrifying true story of The Bell Witch” The Southern Weekend. thesouthernweekend.com/bell-witch/

Pat Fitzburgh: “The Bell Witch Haunting”. October 28, 1999. http://www.bellwitch.org/story.htm

For Further References:

Jackson Medical Products LLC. “The Bell Witch Cave”. 2010 https://bellwitchcave.com/ This website gives more information about the legend and how to visit the cave.

“The Bell Witch”. Wikipedia, 21, Sept. 2020. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Witch. This article gives more information on where this even took place. This article also gives some newspapers that were published during that time.