Mary Walcot, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, and Mercy Lewis

Ye killed my grandmother. That is, my grandmother of 13 generations past. True, ye did not lay thine hands upon her, nor literally tie the noose upon her neck, but ye shook, ye trembled, ye went into fits. Ye convinced the magistrate of her wickedness. Ye caused her to be hanged. I wonder, do ye dwell in that place ye hath presumed to have sent her?
Dark portions of my soul are stirred up by the story of my Great-Great-etc Grandmother. I wonder, what was it about her that made her a target for the deadly accusations? Was she opinionated? Not easily bullied? Difficult to get along with? Ugly? Is there a part of her that lives on in me? I do not believe that she danced with the devil, cast sinister spells, nor gave suck to any fiend. I do believe she knew she could save her life if she would say that she had. She must have been a stubborn woman. She must have been a woman disinclined to deceit. She must have been tremendously complex and disheartened by the society in which she lived. I wonder, how did she deal with the lies, the outlandish accusations? She is on record as having laughed at the display of "fits" her accusers made at her trial. I imagine it was an accusatory laughter, and it probably was meant to send chills down the spines of the young liars standing before her. I imagine that in her elderly state she had lost any semblance of beauty. I imagine that her accusors were in their prime. I imagine there's a whole lot more to this story than I ever will know, and I imagine, that I'm a whole lot more like Susannah Martin than I ever wanted to be.
I know how angering it is to be accused of something I have not done. I know how frustrating it is to think that people believe I've done something unacceptable, and to not have any words to convince them otherwise. I know what its like to make my own defense and have it unheard. But for me, the consequence was not death. And so, I am lucky. One day, I hope to have a long conversation with Susannah. She fascinates me.