Virginia Grate Hopes plantation 

Do you know anything about enslaved Africans and if they were ever blamed for being a witch? There were no African-American witches around here. Here in Virginia, there was a white witch of Pungo. That was Grace Sherwood. Here there was only white witchcraft which was basically small cases of witchcraft, and Grace was the only serious witch that ever lived here. But, with white witchcraft you were usually only banished or forced to pay a fine. It was not as common as up north like in Massachusetts where you see a witch craze happening. There’s a lot of debate about whether witchcraft had actually been practiced or if there was just a disease outbreak. Most people who believed in witches believed in superstitions. Most of the cases here in Virginia were more in the late 1600s. Do you know anything about the punishments they might have had for witches if they were accused of witchcraft? Here it would only be a fine or banishment, unless you were Grace Sherwood. Sometimes they might put the witch through the thing where you put your head and arms through the holes. We heard about people having their ears nailed to the wall. That’s only for perjury, which is if you lie on trial. Most witches will have to deal with that up north. Do you know about male witches, were there any? There were male witches, but most people being burned to the stake were women. Some books say only women can be witches. Before the book came out, both men and women were being accused of witchcraft. The men who wrote the book wanted the male witches to end so that all witches would be female. It was a very hard time to live in for a woman.