So I was watching videos on YouTube, the other day, and ended up going down the rabbit hole, like you do, and found the below video of Jean Smart, Zachary Levi, and Sarah Jessica Parker finding out they were genetically related to accused witches in Salem in 1692.
I feel for Sarah Jessica Parker, here, waiting to find out if her ancestor was one of the accused or an accuser, right?
Though both are horrible in different ways, you would still hope your ancestor was not an accuser and responsible for putting an innocent people to death, right?
Though the video doesn't fully tell you the outcome, the 3 women either escaped or were freed from prison, once the order came to stop executing people as witches.
Zachary Levi's 10x great-grandmother's story was especially interesting for two reasons ...
The first is that she underwent the process of "ducking" - which means they bound the woman and then threw her in the water to see if she floated!
That's right - Monty Python's joke about throwing the witch in the water to see if she floats was actually a real practice!
Of course, the human body is fairly buoyant until they consume water, so she "floated like a cork," which was considered "proof" of witchcraft.
Originally in the UK, their hands were not tied and bound, so they would naturally swim and stay afloat, but this was still considered witchcraft.
By 1692 in Salem, their hands and feet were bound, but they would still float at first, of course, rather than go under, until water was swallowed.
Fortunately, in Elizabeth Clawson's case, she was exonerated - which was extremely rare, and in fact, she may have been the only person exonerated.
That is because her husband rallied the town to sign a petition for her innocence and she was freed, despite the girls' fits, despite not passing their witch tests.
This was unusual for three reasons: Most of the women accused were already widowed or single, and if they weren't, anyone who tried to defend them - including husbands - would also then be accused of witchcraft, especially if poor or conversely, owned desirable land/assets.
Lastly - and sadly - sometimes families got swept up in the hysteria themselves, wanting someone to blame themselves, for crop failure or illness, and resulted to blaming the family member and finding "evidence," too, via power of suggestion.
However, Elizabeth's husband was able to successfully provide so many town signatures that the court could not ignore it - despite her floating like a witch! 😂
Regardless, below is the full list that I could find/that we know thus far of celebrities being related to those involved in the Salem Witch trials, both accusers and accused, and the outcomes.
Keep in mind that those who are deceased cannot be DNA tested for true verification, but reliant on genealogical records.
Most modern-day celebrities have been DNA tested and most discovered their genetic ties publicly, via shows like "Who Do You Think You Are" (British then US versions, NBC and TLC) ...
... and "Finding Your Roots."US, PBS)
Also, keep in mind this key:
* - Celebrities related to both accuser or judicial side and accused.
** - Celebrities related to two or more accused.
John Alden (escaped)
Benedict Cumberbatch, actor.
Mary Bradbury (escaped)
Calvin Coolidge, former US President.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, author, poet, and minister.
Ray Bradbury, author.
Alan Shepard, astronaut.
Christopher Reeve, actor.
Linda Hamilton, actress.
Reverend George Burroughs (executed)
George Washington, former US President.
**William Howard Taft, former US President.
John Adams and John Quincy Adams, former US Presidents.
Walt Disney, business and entertainment entrepreneur.
Sarah Cloyce (accused, executions halted)
Clara Barton, founding nurse of the American Red Cross.
Esther Elwell (accused, executions halted.)
Norman Rockwell, artist.
Sarah Jessica Parker, actress.
George Jacobs (executed)
**William Howard Taft, former President of the United States.
**William Howard Taft, former President of the United States.
Grace Coolidge, wife of former President of the United States,
Kyra Sedgwick, actress.
Susannah Martin (executed)
Chester Arthur, President of the United States.
Chester Arthur, President of the United States.
Burl Ives, actor, singer, and songwriter.
Dick Cheney, former VP of the United States.
Mickey Rourke, actor.
Rebecca Nurse (executed)
Vincent Price, actor.
Mitt Romney, US Senator and former US Presidential candidate.
Amy Grant, Christian singer/songwriter.
Ann Pudeator (executed)
Humphrey Bogart, actor.
Margaret Scott (executed)
*Claire Danes, actress.
Rachel Vinson (accused, executions halted)
Millard Fillmore, former US president.
Richard Gere, actor.
Lucille Ball, actress.
Samuel Wardwell (executed)
Scott Foley, actor.
Elizabeth Clawson (accused, exonerated)
Zachary Levi, actor.
Dorcas Hoar (escaped)
Jean Smart, actor.
Celebrities proven by family DNA to either be related to accuser or judicial side:
Joseph Herrick - Salem constable who arrested the accused.
* Jesse Williams, actor.
Captain Thomas Chandler - testified against Samuel Wardwell.
* Jeff Daniels
Celebrities proven on paper alone to be related to either the accused or accusers:
Mary Parker - accused, executed.
The Bush Family, former Presidents.
Gerald Ford, former President.
Will Wheaton, actor.
Mary Bradbury - accused, executed.
**Franklin Delano Roosevelt
John Proctor - accused, executed.
Lt. Nathaniel Felton - testified against his cousin, John Proctor.
*Tom Felton, actor.
Reverend George Burroughs - accused, executed.
Princess Diana, Prince William, Prince Harry
*John Kerry, former US Secretary of State and presidential candidate
Abigail Williams - accuser.
Julie Bowen, actress.
Judge John Hathorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne, author.
Mark Wahlberg, actor.
Judge William Stoughton -
*John Kerry (see above)
Can I just say that I find it hilarious that Sarah Jessica Parker and Tom Felton's relatives were accused of witchcraft, being that they both famously played witches and wizards? 😂
I imagine if the practice of "ducking" were still around today, both would be ducked, based on the old adage, "If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck?" 😂
I imagine if the practice of "ducking" were still around today, both would be ducked, based on the old adage, "If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck?" 😂
Now, you will note that there are less that lay claim to the accuser/judicial side - perhaps because not many will admit it!
What a shameful time in history, it makes me extraordinarily sad - and yet I can still see this sort of scapegoating/mass-hysterical belief still prevalent today.
And no, not from Trump's mouth saying he's being witch-hunted!
In fact, that infuriates me - because it was mostly women accused of witchcraft, particularly older women past their reproductive years, widows, "spinsters," or childless women - NOT white, wealthy male billionaires!
In fact, the closer modern example among presidential candidates of a true witch hunt would be Hilary Clinton, who some actually believe belongs to a Satanic pedophile cult, just because self-admitted mentally-ill YouTuber, Alex Jones said so!!
(Mind you, Alex Jones has been found guilty of defamation of character after the parents of Sandy Hook sued him for stating they were paid Democrats who made the story up.)
But even that isn't the closest comparison, because Hillary has a lot of power, compared to other women, but between the two candidates, the "witch hunt" scenario better fits Hillary than Trump.
Worse, the instruments of accusations were often women themselves to obtain power and approval of powerful men (I'm thinking of Meghan Kelly as I write this), which saddens me me and still occurs today.
Trump actually reminds me more of one of those accuser young ladies, already from wealthy families, gaining more power by false accusations, suspected in dabbling in witchcraft themselves in the woods just days before they threw out their first accusation (Abigail Williams and Betty Paris).
Thus, they accused others in deflection and their "fits" stemming from projected fear and guilt - much like people who have played with a Ouija board and the power of suggestion creates "symptoms of possession" in them?
Another theory - or perhaps another component of the accusations and fits - is that it is also suspect they may have suffered from ergot illness from rye bread.
And finally, another component which may have motivated their behavior was those ghost stories told to the girls by Tituba, the slave of the accuser Parris family, who had told the girls tales of witchcraft and Haitian voodoo as cautionary tales against witchcraft.
She is said to have given them homemade talismans of protection against witchcraft and warned them against witchcraft - however, her doing so may have inadvertently played a role in their power-of-suggestion hysteria.
Tituba herself was among the first to be accused, but she escaped death by being forced by her owners, the Parris family, to avoid death by confessing and helping young Betty Parris, and her cousin, Abigail Williams, to accuse others in the community.
Regardless, the "fits" were exhibited on cue, initially by 3 girls, but spread to other girls in the community in power of suggestion and mass hysteria.
Their fits, combined with environmental "evidence" such as harsh weather, as well as "spectral evidence" of "visions" and "ducking" - were considered "admissible evidence" in the judicial system back then.
As time went on, people started accusing each other based on grudges or wanting land from others.
In Reverend George Burroughs' case, however, the crime was actually the fact that he was an unordained Puritan minister with "Calvinist" or "Baptist" tendencies - being Christian, but not Puritan, was akin to witchcraft, by Puritan standards.
But my favorite story of that time is Giles Corey.
He refused to plea guilty or innocent, despite attempts at torturing him into confession, because not only did it not matter as far as his own death, but any plea given would result in his land and assets being distributed to the judicial system and the accusers, rather than left to his family.
Thus, they decided to place giant rocks on him and the judges and constables stood on him, trying to force a confession out of him, adding a new person on top/more weight, each time he refused.
But instead, when asked what he plead, each time, he simply smile and replied "More weight."
Which they did - and unfortunately, he was crushed to death - but he never uttered a plea, one way or the other - so they could not take his land and assets from his family.
As Project 2025 gets ever closer to their Christian Nationalist goals via Trump's executive orders, combined with his penchant for accusing anyone who criticizes him without proof, I can't help but wonder if we aren't heading again towards a mass-hysteria society that executes critics, again using spiritual hysterics as proof?
Trump has already said he'd love to execute certain people, and we're hoping he doesn't really mean it, but we don't know what his crazy, petulant ass really intends.
*Gulp*
But if so, what would YOU do?
Would you jump on the mass-hysteria bandwagon and not ask for proof, simply because you're not doing well and everyone else is claiming their a "witch?"
Would you consciously join the accusers in self-preservation to stay alive?
Would you confess under duress, knowing you were going to die either way, but in order to at least attempt (perhaps in vain) spare your family and their assets?
Would you plead not guilty and die quietly protesting your innocence until your final breath like most, or reciting the Lord's Prayer, like Reverence George Burroughs (a feat which was believed not to be possible by a witch)?
Or would you refuse to plea at all, thus ensuring your family's assets couldn't be legally touched, like Giles Corey, smiling and simply saying "more weight?"
We all would like to think we'd stand up for the falsely accused, but the truth is, unfortunately, most people - both then and likely now, - would either jump on the mass-hysteria bandwagon without proof OR consciously go along with what you know is BS out of fear/self-preservation. 😢
______________________________
PS - I took a DNA test in 2022 and had quite the dramatic revelation privately, but I never signed up for the part to see what famous or infamous people I might be related to.
I think because learning that I was NOT genetically related to my maternal family - including the people I thought were my grandparents - was quite enough of a bombshell, thank you! 😂
(That's a whole other blog post from 2022 that you can read, but yeah, finding that out blew my mind for a second and then I sighed and said "Well, makes sense to add more crazy fuel to the crazy dumpster fire already that is my family." 😂)
I learned also that I was actually very Polish on my mother's side (about 25%) and had no idea, as well as about 25% Scottish (both father and mother's side), about 25% British, 10% Irish, and the rest some small percentage of Welsh, Dane/Swedish/Nordic, and Balkan.
It would be kind of nice to find out what ancestors lives were like, like they do on the show - their struggles, what brought them to America, etc. but you only get that part if your famous, I guess.
Now, if I WAS famous and chose to air the dirty laundry that I already discovered in 2022 genetically, plus found out what famous people I'm related to AND find out the struggles and coming-to-America part, I think I would choose Henry Louis Gates' PBS show, "Finding Your Roots" - not only because I like him better as a person, but he has done the best job of tracing the roots of Americans of color (which the other show has not done much of).
Also because he doesn't just tell you the cool people you were related to, and their struggles, but also the not-so-cool people - he reveals the full truth, ready or not - and I'm the sort that likes the truth, pleasant or not, whether I want to hear it or not, or even if it takes me time to fully process - which is why I was the first one to take the DNA test to solve a family mystery versus the rest of my family.
I
For instance, Ben Affleck famously tried to sue the show after finding out he descended from slave owners, trying to keep it from airing.
The matter was resolved out of court and the segment initially aired without that clip, but has since been restored.
In fact, it actually made the PBS (public broadcasting) show more popular.
Since then, celebrities sign a contract in advance that there might be some sensitive information revealed that they're not proud of, which Henry Louis Gates now tells them off camera in advance and airs discussion of it later, if approved by the guest.
All have since approved the airing, stating that they feel it's their responsibility and duty to both admit it and denounce it publicly.
There is also a new show on Hulu called "No Taste like Home" that is an interesting mix on genealogy and culture food that's cool to see, where Antoni Porowski visits celebrities families at home for favorite meals and then traces back their genealogical origins to find food and family connections that's worth a watch.
It's interesting that some celebrities try to hold it together to not be emotional on camera, while others cry openly (Awkwafina), with Antoni definitely trying to Barbara Walters them for tears (my only criticism).
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.