Heads up: this post contains descriptions of violence and potentially upsetting events.
Sometimes, it’s the most unexpected places that have the strangest histories. I found this out for myself when I started researching the history of Winnsboro, a small town in the middle of South Carolina. I grew up 40 minutes away from Winnsboro, and knew it mostly for its pine trees and handful of gas stations along Highway 321. If you had asked me a few months ago, I never would have guessed that Winnsboro was also the site of a witch trial about three centuries ago. We know about the witch trial of Winnsboro because of an old manuscript called "History of Fairfield County, South Carolina" written by local lawyer Philip Edward Pearson who was alive at the time. While I don't have access to the manuscript itself, a string of news articles and blog posts have been published over the years referencing it, and they all agree on a few key facts. Four different people were accused and tried in an informal trial, but the main character around which the accounts revolve is Mary Ingelman, and she is who I will focus on here. As far as I can tell through cross-referencing articles, this is how the story went.
The trial occurred in 1792, 16 years after US independence and 100 years after the famous Salem witch trials. At this time, Winnsboro (then called Winsborough), was a small, isolated farming community. Strange things had been happening in the area. In neighboring Lexington county, a cult called the "Gifted Brethren" had just been disbanded for engaging in occult practices like hypnosis. In the wake of this disturbance, it is not surprising that the residents of Winsborough were uneasy. Around this same time, records indicate that a plague swept through the livestock of Winsborough, causing cattle to get sick. In the midst of this stress, residents of Winsborough started leveling accusations, the brunt of which landed on an older woman named Mary Ingelman.
Mary Ingelman was a German immigrant who either moved to Winsborough from Lexington county, or came from a family in Lexington. Either way, this could have provided a tangential link between her and the unsettling activities of the Gifted Brethren. Mary had been married at one point, but lived alone on the outskirts of town at the time of her accusation. Pearson described her as a “neat, tidy and descent old lady.” (Kale, 2014). She was known throughout the town for her knowledge of plants, and often gave people herbal cures for their medical problems. Pearson states that "her knowledge in pharmacy was considerable and her application of simples in the cure of country complaints was the result of much observation and gratuitous practice" (Hardy, 1970). It is likely that some of Mary's knowledge about healing came from German folk traditions. One source also noticed a Germanic version of the rune Ingwaz, which denotes "fertility, good fortune, and creativity", inscribed on her chimney in old pictures of her house (which was torn down in the 1970's). There is no way to directly determine if Mary herself inscribed the rune as it could have been made by someone else later on, however it is still interesting. All these factors together, Mary's status as a widow, herbal knowledge, and immigrant status mean that she perfectly fits the profile of accused witches in the majority of historical witch hunts (Horsley, 1979).
The first person to accuse Mary was a local named Rosy Henley, who claimed that Mary put a horrifying spell on her and her sister, causing them to levitate and act possessed. Pearson's manuscript states that "Lying in her bed she [Rosy] could not be prevented by the utmost exertions of four strong men from rising up and clinging to the ceiling." (Hardy, 1970). Both women also had bite wounds on their necks and shoulders, and pins and splinters sticking out of their skin.
In the wake of these shocking events, Mary's own son, Adam Free came forward with accusations. Free stated that Mary had once asked for one of his cows. When he turned her down, he claimed that she made the cow levitate and slam back to earth, breaking its neck. Next, Adam's son, Mary's grandson, Jacob Free came forward. Jacob testified that Mary turned him into a horse and rode him to a neighboring apple orchard. When he stretched out his horse neck to sneak an apple, Mary hit him in the head with extreme force.
The transfiguration theme continued with the next testimony. A townsperson named Collins testified that Mary had turned him into a horse as well. She reportedly rode him to a “grand convention of witches” in the middle of the night, where the devil himself made an appearance and complimented Mary on her mount (Kale, 2014).
Most of these testimonies were offered at an unofficial trial held at a farm building about 5 miles outside of town. Since Winsborough was a small out-of-the-way town, there was not a permanent judge or official to conduct a trial. So when the townspeople became uneasy about the supernatural happenings in their community, they took matters into their own hands and conducted an illegal trial. The leaders of the group seized Mary Ingelman and the three other accused; a man named Mr. Harding, Harding's wife, and an old woman named Sally Smith. They appointed a man named John Crossland as both Sherrif and Executioner. The only witnesses to speak were those who claimed to have been afflicted by witchcraft. No one argued on behalf of the accused, and Mary and her compatriots accepted a verdict of guilty without offering any defense.
The false jury carried out punishment immediately. They tied the accused to the building's poles and flogged them severely. Then, punishers held the accused witches' feet to a fire until the soles burned off. The punishment stopped just short of death, and, after this extreme torture, the villagers set the accused free to crawl away. Mary and the Hardings escaped safely but Sally Smith ran into a man on the road who struck her and trapped under a branch. She could not move and was trapped until passersby helped her the next day.
In the wake of these horrifying events, Mary continued to live in the town that had turned so virulently against her. A local pastor eventually talked the townspeople out of their frenzy, arguing that it was illogical to suspect old people of witchcraft since they would have used their supernatural powers to make themselves beautiful and young again. He stated "What woman with supernatural powers would use them to make herself ugly or old", and suggested that young men and women were the more likely culprits of witchcraft and wizardry since, "with a look and a few words murmured in a certain way," such people could enchant others to chase after them (Hardy, 1970). While the villagers were mollified by the pastor's argument, Mary continued to seek justice. She pled her case to several judges but most weren't willing to take action for fear of going against public opinion. Eventually, though, Mary found a magistrate in Camden District named William Yongue who was so outraged by her story that he issued a warrant for the arrest of John Crossland and ordered that he be sued five pounds on Mary's behalf. Unfortunately, Crossland fled west before he could be arrested and Mary never collected her due. However, the fact remains that Mary kept her home and land, and successfully got legal recognition while her former accuser was forced to flee.
Anyone who grew up in the American school system is likely to know about the Salem Witch Trials. Given the singularity and sensationalism often ascribed to the Salem Witch Trials, I never would have guessed that similar events took place in my own home state. We talk about Salem as if the ending was inevitable; defenseless, socially disadvantaged women were sent to innocent deaths, the natural scapegoats of mass hysteria. Stories like that of Mary Ingelman, though, prove that this conclusion was not as inevitable as it seems. Mary’s story has its fair share of horror, but it also attests to the immense power of an individual who is willing to champion themselves against all odds. Ironically, Mary's story proves her to be as threatening to society as the residents of Winsborough believed, although perhaps in a different way. As an independent woman, highly skilled in a craft like herbal medicine, and with the wherewithal to stand up for her rights and seek out legal justice against all odds, Mary demonstrated a type of powerful femininity that contradicted many of the patriarchal beliefs underpinning historical US society.
Sources
Hardy. (1970, January 01). The Witches of Fairfield, S.C. by Lee R. Gandee. Retrieved from https://esotericcolumbia.blogspot.com/2016/07/the-witches-of-fairfield-sc.html
Horsley, R. A. (1979). Who were the witches? The social roles of the accused in the European witch trials. The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 9(4), 689-715.
Jarvis, R. (2018, March 27). The Tiny Town In South Carolina With A Terribly Creepy Past. Retrieved from https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/south-carolina/witch-trial-winnsboro-sc/
Kale, W. (2014, February 20). "In the year of 1792 [...] people began to act possessed." Retrieved from https://woodshedrounwytha.wordpress.com/2013/10/07/witches/comment-page-1/
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