>From Jenny Gibbons: >All of which is a round-about way of saying no new news. No evidence of >witches being charged with mischief. More evidence of what we know -- that witches were believed to do mischief (ie., tangible harm). Thanks for looking in the various sources you cited. I agree that there's no smoking gun here, but there's lots of smoke (connecting mischief with what witches do), enough to justify further research in county court records to verify what charges of mischief meant to the courts. Another thought: Enders Robinson did a lot more research in familiy and local histories than most historians of the hysteria customarily do. I wonder whether histories of Billerica might contain local traditions about Rebecca Chamberlain. And is it possible that she was related to someone who was charged with witchcraft? Francine Nicholson _________________________________________________________________ Add photos to your e-mail with MSN 8. Get 2 months FREE*. http://join.msn.com/?page=features/featuredemail