Salem Witch Trial Victim. Convicted of practicing witchcraft and hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. Twenty benches stand in a Memorial for the victims, one for each who were actively put to death (not counting those who died in prison). She was born between 1643 & 1650 to Andrew & Faith (Ingalls) Allen of Andover MA. She married Thomas Carrier, aka Morgan, a recently arrived bondservant, 7 May 1664, when she was 7 months pregnant with her eldest child. She unsuccessfully nursed her father and brothers in the 1690 smallpox epidemic, and thereby became a land owner in her own right. Some believe that she was accused of witchcraft in Salem in 1692 because she was a niece of the Rev. Francis Dane of Andover. (Over one third of the Salem accused were related to him or his wife in some way.) Martha's trial was fully transcribed at the direction of Cotton Mather, who believed this case to represent the strongest case for the use of spectral evidence. The evidence he found persuasive was the testimony of Martha's 16-year old-son, Richard, and her 12-year-old daughter, Sarah, that she made them become witches to "haunt" others at her direction. However, John Proctor (who was hung the same day as Martha) wrote the governor that he witnessed these children's torture in the jail where he was also imprisoned: they were reportedly tied neck to ankles (with a rope down their backs) and left that way until said what their interrogators wanted to hear. Salem erected a memorial in a downtown park for her and each other person hung (or, in one case, pressed to death) during the hysteria. The "witches" hung at Salem were dumped in a nearby ravine.

Salem Witch Trial Victim. Convicted of practicing witchcraft and hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. Twenty benches stand in a Memorial for the victims, one for each who were actively put to death (not counting those who died in prison). She was born between 1643 & 1650 to Andrew & Faith (Ingalls) Allen of Andover MA. She married Thomas Carrier, aka Morgan, a recently arrived bondservant, 7 May 1664, when she was 7 months pregnant with her eldest child. She unsuccessfully nursed her father and brothers in the 1690 smallpox epidemic, and thereby became a land owner in her own right. Some believe that she was accused of witchcraft in Salem in 1692 because she was a niece of the Rev. Francis Dane of Andover. (Over one third of the Salem accused were related to him or his wife in some way.) Martha's trial was fully transcribed at the direction of Cotton Mather, who believed this case to represent the strongest case for the use of spectral evidence. The evidence he found persuasive was the testimony of Martha's 16-year old-son, Richard, and her 12-year-old daughter, Sarah, that she made them become witches to "haunt" others at her direction. However, John Proctor (who was hung the same day as Martha) wrote the governor that he witnessed these children's torture in the jail where he was also imprisoned: they were reportedly tied neck to ankles (with a rope down their backs) and left that way until said what their interrogators wanted to hear. Salem erected a memorial in a downtown park for her and each other person hung (or, in one case, pressed to death) during the hysteria. The "witches" hung at Salem were dumped in a nearby ravine.

Bio by: Linda Mac