The History of Witchcraft on Long Island
Witch trials have a long history throughout Europe and the United States. I’m sure it would not take long for you to conjure up a famous witch trial in your mind. The most notable one in the United States being the Salem Witch trials. More than two hundred were accused, thirty were tried, and 19 were executed by hanging. This tragedy was a result of hysteria and fear surrounding witchcraft and the occult. In 1657 this fear would take root on the eastern end of Long Island, New York.
It all began one evening in February in East Hampton. Lion Gardiner’s sixteen year old daughter Elizabeth became ill after having recently given birth. She was so ill, that her husband had fetched her father to stay by her bedside. This strange illness left her delirious with fever. She swore she saw a black figure at the end of her bed and in the corner of her room. Elizabeth was convinced she was bewitched. Her mother was not convinced and insisted she not share any of this with her husband or father, as she was concerned for her daughter’s mental state.
When some women from the village visited Elizabeth during her illness, she told them Goody Garlick had pricked her with pins. “Ah, Garlick, you jeered me when I came to your house to call my husband home. You laughed and jeered me, and I went crying away. Oh, you are a pretty one!…Send for Garlick and his wife…I would tear her in pieces and leave the birds to pick her bones!” This was one of Elizabeth’s many outcries against Garlick. During her delirium Elizabeth also exclaimed, “A witch! A witch! Now you are come to torture me because I spoke two or three words against you. In the morning, you will come fawning.”
The local women tried to rid Elizabeth of her bewitchment with a combination of oil and sugar. They even tried cough syrup. Afterward a pin fell from her mouth. During this time a pin falling from someone’s mouth was a sign of being bewitched.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth would never recover and died a few days after her ordeal began. With this the townspeople looked to Goody Garlick as the source of the trouble. The charge: witchcraft.
Goody Garlick, “goody” being a term for “good wife”, was married to Joshua Garlick, knew about healing and herbal remedies. Speculation was that she also wasn't very well liked by other people in the town, whether for failed herbal remedies or gossip. Sadly, It was common for healers to be accused of witchcraft if a remedy failed. It was also possible for townspeople to accuse those with a less than congenial attitude of witchcraft simply because they didn’t like them. Though sufficient evidence was needed to bring a suspected witch to trial. There was usually no trouble gathering this evidence regardless of its validity.
After Goody Garlick was accused the matter was taken to the meeting house and the magistrates. Before sentencing her, there was a trial. She did not speak on her behalf, and there were eleven witnesses against her. Besides the bewitching of Elizabeth Gardiner, Goody Garlick was also accused of causing the deaths of four other people, fits in Goody Simon, and harming or killing local animals. Goody Garlick’s husband stood by her throughout the trial. The magistrates concluded she was responsible for Elizabeth’s death, but just before her sentencing, John Gardiner appeared to defend Goody Garlick. He proposed they seek help outside their small town of East Hampton. The magistrates then decided to send her to trial in the General Court of Connecticut, as their town was too small to sufficiently determine her guilt or innocence. The General Court in May 1658 pronounced Goody Garlick “not guilty” because of lack of evidence. She was sent back to East Hampton and mandated to attend, what now would be considered parole hearings. Upon her return to East Hampton her and her husband were offered jobs with John Gardiner on his estate.
As we know not all witch trials had such happy endings. Most ended in death and pain. The hysteria surrounding witchcraft and the occult was born of fear and ignorance. It is unfortunate so many lost their lives to this hysteria. At least here on Long Island we can find reassurance that true justice was served to Good Garlick, a member of one of our founding communities.
By: Dikastiría
If you would like to learn more about the hysteria and misinformation that birthed various witch trials across Europe and the United States, pick up “Malleus Maleficarum” by Heinrich Kramer, and “Demonology” by King James I. For sources on accurate depictions of witchcraft and information on the occult as supported by science and the pagan community, please visit your local witch or occult shop. There are a few on Long Island who would be happy to share their knowledge, including our coven, the coven of Harmonia Daimonikos. You can also watch the Emmy award winning news segment by Antoinette Biordi of News 12 Long Island entitled “Beyond the Broomstick”.
