Last Salem 'witch' pardoned 329 years after Massachusetts students became involved

close

Video

Salem witch trials victim's home for sale

The former home of John Proctor is on the market for $600,000. Proctor was convicted of witchcraft and subsequently hanged in 1692.

A woman who was convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, finally has had her name cleared after more than three centuries.

Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday legally pardoned Elizabeth Johnson Jr.

Johnson's conviction took place back in 1693 — and she was sentenced to death amid the Salem Witch Trials. Johnson is the final accused "witch" to be cleared, the Associated Press reported.

"We will never be able to change what happened to victims like Elizabeth but at the very least can set the record straight," Massachusetts Sen. Diana DiZoglio, who approved the bill to pardon Johnson, told the AP.

SALEM WITCH TRIALS VICTIM JOHN PROCTOR'S HOME ON THE MARKET FOR $600K

Johnson was never executed or officially pardoned. 

A group of eight graders at North Andover Middle School in North Andover, Massachusetts, began researching the legislative steps needed to exonerate Johnson, the AP reported. 

Seen in this image is a 19th-century illustration of the Salem Witch Trials, which lasted from 1692 to 1693 in Salem, Massachusetts. (Public Domain)

In a statement to the AP, civics teacher Carrie LaPierre praised her students for examining "the long-overlooked issue of justice for this wrongly convicted woman," the news agency wrote on May 26.

"Passing this legislation will be incredibly impactful on their understanding of how important it is to stand up for people who cannot advocate for themselves and how strong of a voice they actually have," LaPierre told the AP.

MAN FINDS ‘WITCH BOTTLE’ WITH HUMAN TOOTH AND HAIR WHILE SEARCHING WOODS

On Twitter, DiZoglio announced the legislation "to clear the name of ‘Last Witch,’ Elizabeth Johnson Jr.," she wrote. She concluded her tweet by thanking LaPierre and the students.

The Salem Witch Trials began in 1692. Hearings and prosecutions lasted until 1693, according to the Massachusetts Trial Court Law Libraries.

Karla Hailer, a fifth-grade teacher from Scituate, Mass., takes a video on July 19, 2017, where a memorial stands at the site in Salem, Mass., where five women were hanged as witches more than three centuries years earlier. Massachusetts lawmakers on Thursday, May 26, 2022, formally exonerated Elizabeth Johnson Jr., clearing her name 329 years after she was convicted of witchcraft in 1693 at the height of the Salem Witch Trials. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)

Hundreds were accused and 20 were killed — 19 were hanged, and one man was crushed to death by rocks, the AP reported.

Johnson was 22 when she was sentenced to death by hanging until Gov. William Phips threw out her punishment as "the magnitude of the gross miscarriages of justice in Salem sank in," the AP wrote. 

Johnson did not have children — and she did not have anyone come to her defense. 

Johnson's own mother, and the names of dozens of others, were eventually cleared, though Johnson's name was not.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Fox News Digital was unable to locate records showing the year Johnson died.

Johnson did not have children — and she did not have anyone come to her defense, according to the AP.

"It showed how superstitious people still were after the witch trials," 14-year-old Artem Likhanov, a rising high school freshman, told the AP in August 2021 when the project was first reported. 

"It’s not like after it ended people didn’t believe in witches anymore. They still thought she was a witch and they wouldn’t exonerate her."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

DiZoglio’s bill modified 1957 legislation, plus a 2001 amendment, to include Johnson and some others who were exonerated after being wrongly accused and convicted of witchcraft in Massachusetts, according to the AP.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.