Martha Carrier
Hanged during the Salem witch trials (her children had claimed she was a witch while undergoing torture which included being hung by the heels until the blood was ready to come out of their noses); Massachusetts Bay Colony, 19 August 1692
In refusing to submit to the unanimous wishes of the male judges, ministers and politicians who gave legitimacy to her accusation of hysteria, she stood up to male authority figures wielding not only physical power, but spiritual authority and she spoke her mind
Her actions against the court did not save her as she, another woman and four men were found guilty for witchcraft and sentenced to death by hanging on 5 August 1692
On 19 August 1692, Martha was taken in the back of a cart to Gallows Hill in Salem. Cheering crowds lined the streets and gathered at the scaffold to witness the hanging of Martha and the four men
She never relented as, even from the scaffold, her voice was heard asserting her innocence refusing to confess to "a falsehood so filthy"
Her body was dragged to a common grave between the rocks about two feet deep where she joined the bodies of George Burroughs and John Willard
In 1711, her family received a small amount of recompense from the Massachusetts government for her conviction: 7 pounds and 6 shillings
The Massachusetts government apologized to Thomas Carrier for the hanging of his wife and reversed the conviction
The Salem documents themselves reveal that her crime was not witchcraft but an independence of mind and an un-submissive character
One of a series working with AI to give face to women executed as witches; these form part of a broader collection of Horror Portraits at www.horrorportraits.xyz
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