John Howard is on my maternal side of the family. He had previously been accused, arrested and found innocent of the crime of being a werewolf. This was a common occurrence along with charges of vampirism, though more often in the earlier craze of Europe. John lived in the town of Rowley and on the 25th day of August 1692 he, along with John Jackson, Sr. & John Jackson, Jr. were arrested for afflicting acts of witchcraft against Martha Sprage of Boxford & Rose Foster of Andover. Documentation shows that during the "examination", it was testified that besides inflicting horrible acts of witchcraft upon his accusers he had been seen in the company of witches in a secret meeting. Also, that he (and the other two men) had been drinking heavily the alleged night of said 'affliction'. He was allowed to go free after suffering in prison only to be lynched in the countryside behind his home. Familial sources lean to the idea he committed suicide. So far I have found no substantiating evidence of that. Speculation is that the arrest was a result of one of the ladies' fathers' attempts to cover up her illicit meetings (possibly pregnancy) with John by making it appear she was helpless to the affects of witchcraft. It may well be her dad strung him up. Who knows, this may be a love story as well as a story of a witch craze.
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