Law Alums Hunt for Witches

A group of 50 Law School alumni went on a witch hunt of 17th century Harvard this Saturday, one week before Halloween.

Led by Law School graduate Kenneth L. Bresler, author of The Witch Trial Trail of Boston and the Harvard Witch Walk, the alumni made stops at houses named for Harvard men involved in the witch trials, as well as other sites in Cambridge including the old burial ground on the corner of Garden St.

The tour was conducted as part of Law School reunion activities held this weekend.

Bresler's book, which served as the basis of the tour, describes the impact of the Salem witch trials on Boston and Harvard College and includes two self-guided tours similar to the Freedom Trail.

The author first became interested in the witchcraft trials, which are observing their 300th anniversary this year, because of their legal significance.

"The witch trials are among the most famous trials ever," Bresler said. "I started to read about the trials and realized how the witchcraft hysteria had engulfed Harvard."

According to the book, a dozen men associated with Harvard had ties to the trials. One student, George Burroughs, was tried, convicted and hanged for witchcraft in 1692.

Lt. Gov. William Stoughton, after whom Stoughton Hall is named, was the chief justice of the witch trials. Two treasurers of Harvard, Thomas Danforth and John Richards, acted as judges on the witchcraft court, along with their Harvard classmate Samuel Sewell.

Thomas Brattle, a classmate of Danforth and Richards, was one of the critics of the proceedings. The witch trials were finally brought to an end by the Reverend Increase Mather, a Harvard president.