She Floats, She Fights, She Farms in Pants: The Witch Trial of Grace Shereood

🧙‍♀️ Episode Summary:

In 1706, Virginia held its first and only recorded trial by ducking—strapping a woman to a chair, tossing her in the river, and calling it justice. That woman was Grace Sherwood: midwife, widow, and suspected witch.

She wore pants. She grew herbs. She sued her neighbors. And when she didn’t drown? They threw her in jail anyway.

This week, we’re diving into colonial paranoia, the politics of pants, and how a river decided Grace’s fate.

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🪓 Topics Covered:

• Witch trials in early Virginia
• Trial by ducking (ordeal by water)
• Land-owning women and independence
• Rumors, court records, and colonial drama
• Grace Sherwood’s legacy and pardon

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📚 Sources & Research Credits:

• Encyclopedia Virginia – “Grace Sherwood (ca. 1660–1740?)”

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  The Witch of Pungo by Louisa Venable Kyle
• Virginia Beach History Museums – museumsvb.org
• Library of Virginia – virginamemory.com
• William & Mary Law Review – "Women, Witchcraft, and the Law"
• “The Old Jail” – Virginia Humanities
• Spookology internal research, written by Nichole Dela Montanye

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🎧 Credits:

Written and narrated by Keek (Nichole Dela Montanye)

With commentary and side-eye from Cardi

🎵 Music Credit:“Scary Spooky Creepy Horror Ambient Dark Piano Cinematic” by SoundGalleryByDmitryTaras — from ⁠Pixabay⁠Licensed under the Pixabay License (free for commercial use, no attribution required—but we’re doing it anyway, because the music is just that awesome).—

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