From 1692 to 1694, a mass hysteria was embedded into
communities surrounding Boston on falsely accused and self-proclaimed
witches and warlocks. In the City of Chelsea, a man – Captain John
Floyd – was accused of witchcraft.
“Say you are the child of the devil and you will not hang.”
In Danvers, these are the words inscribed on a monument dedicated to
the men and women accused of witchcraft. From 1692 to 1694, mass
hysteria was embedded into communities surrounding Boston on falsely
accused and self-proclaimed witches and warlocks. In the city of
Chelsea a man was accused of witchcraft.
John Floyd lived in Rumney Marsh (then Chelsea, now Revere) where he
owned much land. He had distinguished himself for service as a
captain in the Indian War. By his wife Sarah, he had seven children
born between 1662 and 1675, the first recorded in Lynn, the last two
in Malden. In 1692 he was in his mid fifties. On May 28, 1692, the
conspiracy filed a complaint against Captain John Floyd and 10
others. He was imprisioned. On August 11, 1692, at the examination of
Abigail (Dane) Faulkner of Andover, “Faulkner had a cloth in her
hand, that when she squeezed her hand the afflicted fell into
grevious fits as was observed. The afflicted said that Daniel Eames
and Captain Floyd was upon that cloth when it was upon the table.”
Nineteen were accused of witchery and hanged at Gallows Hill in
Salem. Most of the Salem witches were not from Salem. Most of the
accused in 1692, came from Andover, North Shore and Salem Village,
which is now Danvers and Peabody, MA. From 1692 to 1693, 168 were
accused and in various jails, notably Salem’s Witch Dungeon, awaiting
examination and/or trial, hoping the General Court would release them.
Sir William Phipps was the first Royal Governor of Massachusetts in
1692. He was in England at a time when the hysteria broke loose in
Massachusetts. He arrived back in Boston just in the time to be
embroiled in the witch trials and executions in Salem. He believed in
witches and soothsayers, but when his own wife was accused of
witchcraft, he put an end to the executions at Gallows Hill. It was
Governor Phipps who liberated 168 people in Salem’s Witch Dungeon who
were awaiting the hangmans noose. Captain John Floyd of Chelsea was
one of those liberated.