Ann Pudeator was one of the accused and executed townspeople of the Salem Witch Trials. She was, like many others who were executed, an older lady who at the time was age 70.
There is some speculation that she was targeted due to being a wealthy landowner and her occupation. However, this is just speculation, as she was hanged next to some of the most pious women in the city. Some victims, such as John Proctor, are easily connected to the reasons for their execution, while some are just speculative because there is not enough written history of the person prior to the trials.
Family Life
There is little known about Ann prior to the Salem Witch Trials. It is not known if she was born in Massachusetts Bay or migrated over from England.
It is known that she married Thomas Greenslade, and the couple had five children together.
- Thomas Greenslade Jr
- Ruth Greenslade
- John Greenslade
- Samuel Greenslade
- James Greenslade
Thomas passed away, and Ann found work being a midwife and nurse. She worked with Jacob Pudeator's wife, who suffered from alcoholism. Unfortunately, the wife succumbed to her alcoholism and died in 1675. During the time that Ann took care of his wife, Jacob grew fond of her.
A year later, the two married and were married for 6 years until his death in 1682. After his death, Jacob left Ann a large estate,
Trial and Execution of Ann Pudeator
Ann's name first comes up when she was accused by Mary Warren of being a witch for 12 years. She was named alongside Alice Parker, and both were accused of actively hurting people. The was the following:
“Goody Parker told me she had been a witch these 12 years & more; & Pudeator told me that she had done damage, & told me that she had hurt James Coyes child taking it out of the mother's hand”
It seems as though Ann's position as a midwife made her susceptible to accusations. Midwives would deliver babies, and unfortunately, there was much death during birth. Many babies died due to complications, and many mothers died during childbirth. With Ann being present or the death of some of these children, it was easy to create an emotional argument while using spectral evidence to prove the accuser's point.
Due to this accusation, Alice Parker and Ann Prudeator were arrested on the grounds of witchcraft.
It seemed the first allegations against Ann did not stick, and she was released. However, she was then accused and arrested again. The second time she was arrested and examined, it would not lead to her release.
She would be accused of the following:
- Presenting the Devil's Book to a girl and forcing her to sign it
- Bewitchment causing the death of a neighbor's wife
- Appearing in spectral form to afflicted girls
- She had witchcraft materials in her home, which she claimed was grease for making soap
- Torturing with pins
- Causing a man to fall out of a tree
- Killing her own second husband and his first wife
- Turning herself into a bird and flying into her house
The first accusation of presenting the Devil's Book to a girl, she stood firm that she never knew the girl or had even seen her. The girl's name was Sarah Churchill, who did seem to know Ann and her husband, Jacob.
During the trial, Sarah Bibber and Ann Putnam Jr were asked if they knew Ann Prudeator, to which they said no and then, like always, fell into fits that could only be stopped when Ann touched them.
More accusers came, and more stories were pushed on Ann. The stories were mostly hearsay and spectral evidence, but the judges and jury believed it. She was sentenced to hang with 7 others on September 22, 1692.
She petitioned the judges one last time, named her accusers, and spoke again of them lying against her. It did not help her cause.
On the day of her execution, the cart holding the prisoners became stuck, and the "afflicted" again threw themselves into fits, claiming that the devil was holding back the cart from the gallows.
The cart moved forward, and the seven were hanged, including Ann Pudeator. She would be one of the last to die due to the Salem Witch Trials.
