In the following pages, you will read a story that will seem like it could only be legend. But it is true above all oral tradition in this website, and is documented in several books and court records that I will cite, so that you may read further about the tragedy yourself, if you so desire. If you descend from the Benham family, then your grandmother was a witch, or rather "accused witch".
Winifred King Benham, wife of Joseph Benham, was widely known as "Winifred the Witch of Wallingford" Connecticut. She is probably so well documented because she and her youngest (12 yr. old) daughter referred to in court documents as "Winifred Jr.". were the last witch trial to be held in New England. Between the years of 1692 and 1697, Winifred was brought to trial 3 times accused of witchcraft. There were several steps you had to go through before you were executed, and in the last trial it would seem that Winifred made them all. When renewed accusations appeared, she and her family were forced to flee to Staten Island, N.Y., where her oldest daughter was already married and living.
Winifred may have been damned from the start. It is believed that her mother was Mary Hale, accused witch of Boston, Mass. who was brought to trial in 1681 and 1691 but acquitted. She ran a boarding house in Boston, and it was believed she was also poisoning her boarders. Whether or not the latter is true, I haven't been able to substantiate. But what happened to Winifred has been the subject of several books and articles. To see Winifred's story and where she lived, click on the fading skulls. |
