Marilynne K. Roach
The Infamous Captain Bradley: A Cautionary Tale of the Salem Witch Trails
In the 1930s during the Great Depression, before images of actual trial documents became widely viewable, an enterprising con man covered the heartland, financing his travels by using Salem Witch Trial death warrants as collateral for loans from the unsuspecting. These fakes still manage to turn up not only among family papers, but also in museums and respectable auction houses proving once again the value of research. Even a laudable love of history can lead one into temptation.
Marilynne K. Roach (MarilynneKRoach.com) is an independent researcher, writer, and illustrator, has delved into the 1692 trials for nearly half a century and still finds new information cropping up in unexpected places. Roach was one of the sub-editors contributing to the definitive Records of the Salem Witch-Hunt, a member of the Gallows Hill Group that verified Proctor’s Ledge as the true location of the 1692 hangings (hailed by Archaeology Magazine as one of the top ten discoveries of 2016), and has authored several books about the Salem Witch Trials.
