Virginia witch pardoned 300 years after trial

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Witch of Pungo is no longer a witch.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine on Monday gave an informal pardon to Grace Sherwood, who 300 years ago became Virginia’s only person convicted as a witch tried by water.

“I am pleased to officially restore the good name of Grace Sherwood,” Kaine wrote in a letter that Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf read aloud before a re-enactment of Sherwood’s being dropped into the river.

“With 300 years of hindsight, we all certainly can agree that trial by water is an injustice,” Kaine wrote. “We also can celebrate the fact that a woman’s equality is constitutionally protected today, and women have the freedom to pursue their hopes and dreams.”

Sherwood, a midwife who at times wore men’s clothes, lived in what today is the rural Pungo neighborhood, and she later became known as “The Witch of Pungo.”

Her neighbors thought she was a witch who ruined crops, killed livestock and conjured storms, and she went to court a dozen times, either to fight witchcraft charges or to sue her accusers for slander.

She was 46 when she was accused of using her powers to cause a neighbor to miscarry.

On July 10, 1706, Sherwood was dropped into the Lynnhaven River and floated – which was considered proof she was guilty because the pure water cast out her evil spirit, according to the belief system of the time.

Belinda Nash, 59, has been researching Sherwood for years and asked the governor to exonerate the woman.