THIS DAY IN HISTORY:
First "Witch" Executed in the British American Colonies (1647)
Nearly 50 years before the infamous trials that resulted in the execution of 20 people as witches in Salem, Massachusetts, Alse Young of Windsor, Connecticut, became the victim of the first recorded execution for witchcraft in the American colonies. Although she may have had a daughter who was also accused of witchcraft 30 years later, very little is known about Young's life, except that she was hanged at Meeting House Square in Hartford.