The Witch Known as Eunice Cole

The Witch Known as Eunice Cole
Hampton, NH

The Salem Witch Trials are as much of a stable to Massachusetts as Fenway Park is, but the truth is witch folklore has been around much longer than the famous 1693 witch trials in Salem and some earlier documents suggest that New Hampshire has had it's issues with witches. Well...witch, I should say. Eunice Cole is the only person to have ever been accused and jailed in the state of New Hampshire for being a witch. This was back in 1657, four decades prior to the trials in Salem. But where did this lady go wrong? Let's check out the facts:

Eunice and her husband, William Cole, came to America in the early part of 1637 in what is now Quincy, Massachusetts but did not stay long. They followed Reverend John Wheelwright to New Hampshire and bought land from an Indian tribe and founded the town of Exeter. In 1640, William and Eunice moved to Hampton where things didn't go so smoothly for Eunice. Now, keep in mind, this was back before women's rights was just a mad mans or women's idea and that any women who spoke out wasn't taken too kindly. This is where Eunice's problems began, she was way too outspoken for a lady of her time.

For the first ten years Eunice was in Hampton, she was in court several times due to her vile words about the community. On one occasion, some sailors thought it was funny to harass an old lady, but Eunice wasn't going to take no lip; she told them that they won't see home ever again. Later that night, when the sailors went out to sea, a huge storm hit and it was so severe that it wrecked their ship just past Island of Shoals. They are those who swear that it was Eunice that made that ship wreck.

This incident was probably the last straw for the people as she was convicted of witchcraft in 1657 and spent three years in a Boston prison. That wasn't it though, because she was sent to jail again on witchcraft charges. Her husband, William, died in 1662 and when Eunice was released from jail, she had no home to go to. The town of Hampton sold it to pay to care for her husband's final moments and for her imprisonment. The townspeople seemed to have a soft side, or they just feared her, as they built her a small cottage and took turns caring for her.

However, their "love" for the jailbird witch only went so deep, because when she died in 1680, they dragged her body out of the house and simply pushed her in a shallow grave. This was before they drove a wooden stake in her heart just for good measure to make sure the foul mouthed "goody" Eunice Cole never returned. In 1938, the town of Hampton gave her a ceremony by some sorts as they took copies of the court documents accusing her of witchcraft and burned them. They then put the ashes in an urn, but never buried them, instead they found their final resting place inside the Tuck Museum. According to most townspeople, she's made many appearances since her death. Her favorite spot though seems to be the museum itself, as some believe that her unmarked grave is somewhere close to it. Footsteps can be heard and a shadow of an old woman can be seen in the museum.

Eunice Cole may have not been a real witch with powers, but some would say she did have the power to do inflict an emotion...and that is fear. Thank you for reading and happy hauntings.

Email me: scaredsheetlessncn@hotmail.com

Website: scaredsheetlessncn.blogspot.com

Further Reading/References to this Story:

"Haunted New Hampshire" by Thomas D'Agostino