Rare Witch Trials Document Sells for $26K in Auction

The original court indictment of Margaret Scott, a Rowley woman who was hanged during the 1692 Salem Witch Trials, was sold on March 15 in at the Swann Auction Galleries in New York City for $26,000. 

"It's not that unusual to see a document from this early, but it's almost impossible to get one on the auction market from the witch trials," Rick Stattler of Swann Auction Galleries told The Salem News. "They just don't turn up."

This is just the third time in a 50-year career that Town Archivist Richard Trask can recall a witchcraft document being sold, he told the Salem News.

Pre-auction estimates had the rare document selling between $25,000 to $35,000, CBS reported.

Scott, a widow in her 70's, was one of the last people to be hanged throughout the witch histeria.All together, 19 were hanged and 1 was stoned during the trials.

, which was the district of Salem Village until 1752, stand in memory of key figures in those tragic events, both a handful of local victims who were executed as witches and their accusers.

The is located at 176 Hobart Street.