Exactly one hundred years after Salem, Winnsboro became the site of one of the last recorded witch hunts in the United States. In 1792, bizarre hysteria gripped the countryside after livestock started dropping dead and several residents fell into unexplained fits. The community placed the blame on 77-year-old Mary Ingelman, a German-born widow and herbalist, accusing her of bewitching cows and turning a neighbor into a horse to ride to a secret coven.
A mob rounded up Ingelman and three others, holding an illegal vigilante trial at a plantation south of town. Though tortured and badly burned, Ingelman survived. Demonstrating backcountry resilience, she refused to back down: once she recovered, she took her tormentors to legitimate district court and had several members of the mob indicted for assault.