Bridget Bishop was not the first to be accused of witchcraft but she was the first to be executed for the crime in At the time of the trials, she was married to her third husband, the elderly sawyer Edward Bishop.
When arrested, Bridget was living on the property she inherited from her second husband Thomas Oliver, on present-day Washington Street in Salem Town. Two days later, complaints were filed against the two, as well as against Giles Corey and Abigail Hobbs.
Those who claimed to be tormented were Ann Putnam Jr. The afflicted girls writhed and convulsed. Judge Hathorne accused Bishop of afflicting the girls, which she denied. I am innocent of a witch. Bishop was held for trial in Salem jail, a short distance from her home. Perhaps she was tried first because the judges felt she would be the easiest to convict, as she was a marginalized member of the community.
Bridget Playfer, born sometime in the mid-to-late s in Norwich, England, married her first husband there in His name was Samuel Wasselbe alternate spellings Wasselbee and Wasselby. A previous child of the Wasselbes had died in England. Bridget married for the second time in , this time to a widower named Thomas Oliver, who was also from Norwich, England. The Olivers made their home in Salem Town. The couple had one daughter, named Christian. Oliver had three grown children from his previous marriage.
Oliver died in and, around , Bridget married Bishop as husband number three. The Bishops continued to live on the Washington Street property. Bridget Bishop was a target of witchcraft accusations for a variety of reasons. There was gossip that she was responsible for the deaths of her first two husbands. Ten neighbors now testified against her. Shattuck and his wife also accused Bishop of bewitching their son and causing his declining health. Others claimed that small items went missing when Bishop was around β a spoon, money, a mill brass.
