Ann Greenslit^[1] Pudeator was a well-to-do septuagenarian widow hanged on charges of being a witch on September 22, 1692^[2]. September 22 is the 265th day of the year (266th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events February 13 - Massacre of Glencoe March 1 - The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with the charging of three women with witchcraft. ...

Thomas Greenslit was her first husband and they had five children (Thomas, Jr., Ruth, John, Samuel, and James). Ann's maiden name is not known, nor the place of her birth. After Thomas' death, she married Jacob Pudeator and took his name. Jacob died in 1682, leaving Ann well-off. Some have theorized that her likely occupation as a nurse and midwife, along with her being a woman of property, made her vulnerable to charges of witchcraft.

Goody Pudeator's alleged inventory of misdeeds included:

• Presenting the Devil's Book to a girl and forcing her to sign it.
• Bewitchment causing the death of neighbor's wife.
• Appearing in spectral form to afflicted girls.
• Having witchcraft materials in her home, which she claimed was grease for making soap.
• Torturing with pins.
• Causing a man to fall out of a tree.
• Killing her second husband and his first wife.
• Turning herself into a bird and flying into her house.

Many of these allegations were made by Mary Warren, one of the so-called "afflicted girls". ^[3] Her other accusers were John Best, Sr., John Best, Jr., and Samuel Pickworth. Ann Pudeator was tried and sentenced to death on September 9, 1692, along with Alice Parker, Dorcas Hoar, Mary Bradbury, and Mary Easty.^[4] It is not known where she is buried. She was hanged on Gallows Hill in Salem Town. One of the great injustices of the Salem Witchcraft Trials was the admission of spectral evidence. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Mary Warren is a character in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller. ... September 9 is the 252nd day of the year (253rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Events February 13 - Massacre of Glencoe March 1 - The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony with the charging of three women with witchcraft. ...

Ann's son Thomas testified against George Burroughs at his trial for witchcraft. George Burroughs (c. ...

In October 1710, the General Court passed an act reversing the convictions of those for whom their families had pleaded, but Ann Pudeator was not among them^[5].^[6] Ann was exonerated in 1957 by the Massachusetts State Legislature, partly because of the efforts of Lee Greenslit, a Midwestern textbook publisher.

See also

• Salem witch trials

1876 illustration of the courtroom; the central figure is usually identified as Mary Walcott The Salem witch trials, which began in 1692 (also known as the Salem witch hunt and the Salem witchcraft episode), resulted in a number of convictions and executions for witchcraft in both Salem Village and Salem...

References

1. ^ The name's orthography was unsettled, and it appears as Greenslit, Greenslet, and Greenslade, along with other variations.
2. ^ Hill, Frances, A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials, Doubleday, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-385-47255-2. p. 113.
3. ^ Hill, Frances, A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials, Doubleday, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-385-47255-2. p. 187.
4. ^ Hill, Frances, A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials, Doubleday, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-385-47255-2. p. 182.
5. ^ Hill, Frances, A Delusion of Satan: The Full Story of the Salem Witchcraft Trials, Doubleday, New York, 1995. ISBN 0-385-47255-2. p. 206.
6. ^ Lang, Daniel, "Poor Ann", The New Yorker, September 11, 1954, pp. 83ff.