Two New York Witches
Does New York City have any witches in its history? We have all heard of the Salem Witch Trials, but did the witch hunt phenomenon ever make it to New York City? Well, here’s an interesting NYC fact for you! The Salem Witch Trials took place in 1692, and witch trials in New York City predate that! Witchcraft was a great concern to the Dutch, the first Europeans to settle in the area we know today as New York City. From 1625-1664, the colony was known as New Amsterdam or New Netherland. It was a Dutch trading colony. The Dutch deeply feared the powers of demons and witches. While of course they feared their own becoming possessed by demons and witches, a former Director of New Netherland accused the indigenous peoples of bewitching him! However, the Dutch discouraged witch trials, and as a result, there are fewer reports of witch hunts in NYC than elsewhere on the east coast. Yet, a few New York residents were indeed accused of witchcraft! Let’s learn who they were!
Elizabeth “Goody” Garlick – The Not-So-Wicked Witch of the Hamptons
The name “Goody Garlick” itself, basically begs a good witch story! Let’s travel back in time to 1639, when Lion Gardiner purchased land in eastern Long Island (now Suffolk County) and became founder of the first English settlement in New York. He was a notable man who had three children, one of whom was named Elizabeth Gardiner. Tragically, when Elizabeth Gardiner was just 16, she fell ill, likely from complications of childbirth. As she lay dying, reports claim she began to shriek, “A witch! A witch! Now you are come to torture me because I spoke two or three words against you!” Naturally, her father came running and asked her what she saw. She flailed and shrieked and claimed there was “a black thing at the bed’s feet.” She accused Elizabeth Goody Garlick of being her tormentor. Elizabeth Gardiner passed away the next day. There was a trial where Goody Garlick was accused of all sorts of witchcraft, including a baby falling ill and dying immediately after she picked it up and set it down. People claimed she sent animal familiars out to do her dirty work and that she cast evil eyes. The verdict came back as Not Guilty, though it ordered Goody Garlick to act “neighborly and peacefully.” The town had no more instances of witchcraft following Goody Garlick.
Jane “Naut” Kanniff the “Witch” of West Nyack
Nearly two centuries after the Salem Witch trials, poor Jane Kanniff found herself on trial for witchcraft. Her trial would be the last witch trial in New York. The year was 1816, and Jane “Naut” Kanniff came to West Nyack from Scotland. She was a fish out of water. Most of the town was of Dutch descent and very prim and proper. Jane was from Scotland (a then very-disfavored place of origin), wore brightly-colored clothes, was a single mother, and had had two marriages! She also had a black cat and a talking parrot! She was the widow of a physician and has also learned some healing techniques from her mother. So she naturally began creating tinctures that healed people. Which upset the male doctors and clearly meant she must be a witch! Soon the whole town seemed to gang up on poor Naut, and anything small that went wrong was blamed on her. Surely this woman with a talking parrot who could cure people of illness was a witch! A trial was held using the time-honored troubling tradition of seeing if the accused witch weighed less than a Bible. One must imagine the scene trying to find a scale large enough for this ordeal. It is also said the residents of the town found the heaviest Bible they could. A giant wood and brass bound Dutch Family Bible. They truly did everything they could to make sure Jane weighed less than the Bible, but when Jane stepped on the scale, sure enough, the Bible went flying to the rafters while Jane’s side plopped to the ground. Jane was spared a witch’s fate.
What is a Witch?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a witch is “a person thought to have magic powers, especially evil ones, popularly depicted as a woman wearing a black cloak and a pointed hat and flying on a broomstick. That being said, today, many people also refer to witches as either especially nasty women or, conversely, women who are especially in tune with nature. Many believe that modern day witches should be celebrated. If there is a wonderful and/or witchy woman who you feel should be celebrated, check out the Welcome to Times Square billboard. You can put them on a billboard for 24 hours for as low as $150 a day! It might also be a great way to appease an angry witch to keep them from putting a spell on you!