The Salem witchcraft trials are events that most Americans have heard of, but about which they actually know very little. For example, some people believe that witches were burnt in Salem. Actually, the prescribed punishment for witchcraft under English law was hanging. Another commonly held belief is that the witchcraft hysteria started when a group of young girls in Salem, under the tutelage of Tituba, an African slave, used magical spells to try to find out the occupations of the men that they would marry. This cluster of beliefs now has the status of an academic urban legend. The notion that a group of girls was using magic to find out about their future husbands stems from a careless reading of a remark of Rev. John Hale, who wrote that one of the young accusers had confided to him her own use of magic in this way. (by Walter F. Rowe, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Forensic Sciences The George Washington University Washington, DC)

About Author:

Professor Walter F. Rowe is a Professor of Forensic Sciences at The George Washington University, where he has been a member of the faculty of the Department of Forensic Sciences for more than 30 years. Professor Rowe has a B.S. in chemistry from Emory University and a Master's and Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University. He served two years in the U.S. Army crime laboratory system as a forensic drug chemist and a forensic serologist.

During his military service Rowe was also a credentialed criminal investigator and participated in processing crime scenes (including the scene of the Fort Bragg murders, for which Dr. Jeffrey McDonald is now serving multiple life prison terms). He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and a former member of the editorial board of the Journal of Forensic Sciences. Professor Rowe is also a member of ASTM Committee E30, which sets standards (including educational standards) for a variety of forensic science disciplines.

Walter F. Rowe is also a member of the American Society of Trace Evidence Examiners. He has been a consultant forensic scientist to law-enforcement agencies, prosecutor's offices and defense attorneys; Professor Rowe has worked closely with Barry Scheck and Peter Neufeld of the Innocence Project. He has contributed chapters to monographs and textbooks in forensic science, including one of the two main textbooks used for undergraduate instruction in the field of forensic science. Professor Rowe is a member of the Council of Forensic Educators and is a past president of that organization.

Source: https://forensicsciences.columbian.gwu.edu/walter-f-rowe