They were charged with "making their Neighbours Sheep dance in an uncommon Manner, and with causing Hogs to speak, and sing Psalms, &cs." 1 For these crimes, they would be weighed against the Bible and thrown hands and feet bound into a mill pond. The indicted couple had not hexed anyone, flown on broomsticks, or consorted with the devil. They agreed to serve as the day's ringers, to undergo the same trials as the prisoners in the hopes that the contrasting results would damn the witch and warlock. The other pair, also married, was among the loudest of the accusers. Two of the four, a married couple, stood accused of witchcraft. On October 12, 1730, three hundred people from Mount Holly, New Jersey, gathered together to perform experiments on four of their neighbors. Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants.
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