George Jacobs (Salem witch trials) George Jacobs (Salem witch trials) George Jacobs Sr. (1609–1692) was an English colonist in his 70s in the Massachusetts Bay Colony who was accused of witchcraft in 1692 during the Salem witch trials in Salem Village, Massachusetts. He was convicted and hanged on August 19, 1692. His son, George Jr., was also accused but evaded arrest. Jacobs' accusers included his daughter-in-law and granddaughter, Margaret. Jacobs is believed to be the George Jacob baptized 13 February 1608/09 at St. Dunstan in the West, London, son of barber-surgeon George Jacob and wife Priscilla of Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. Jacobs' body was buried near
Valais witch trials Valais witch trials The Valais witch trials consisted of a witch-hunt including a series of witch trials which took place in the Valais (the prince-bishopric of Sion, today part of Switzerland) beginning in 1428. The Valais witch-hunt is the first of the systematic campaigns which would become much more widespread in the decades to come, initiating the period of witch trials in Europe. The persecutions started in French-speaking Lower Valais and spread to German-speaking Upper Valais and to nearby valleys in the Western Alps. They subsided after six to eight years (c. 1434/6), but the phenomenon spread further afield from