June 10

Think about it, someone has to be first in any new endeavor, right? In 17th century Massachusetts, it was Sixty-year old Bridget Bishop. She died on the 10th in 1692, at the conclusion of her trial on charges of witchcraft during the infamous Salem Witchcraft Trial she was hanged. There is a widespread belief that the convicted witches were burned at the stake. While that was widely true of European witches, the ones in Salem, Massachusetts were hung. In all, 14 women and 5 men were hanged. Five more died in prison while awaiting trial and one man Giles Corey (pictured) who refused to plead either guilty or not guilty or testify in his trial was, pursuant to English common law, subjected to "peine forte et dure” and simply crushed to death on September 19, 1692. Tell me, can you get ruder than that? Apparently, the plea Nolo contendere had not been invented.