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A Witch Hunt in NH - Part III

© Christina Coruth

Goody was old, in poor health, and destitute when she returned to Hampton for the final time. She had no home, no family, and no friends. Hampton officials gave her a small hut to live in and ordered townspeople to take turns bringing food and wood to her. It is thought that she lived a couple of years. Her dead body was discovered when two days worth of supplies remained untouched outside her door.

According to legend, upon entering her hut, townspeople found that she was still alive and remained so just long enough to curse them and proclaim her intention to haunt the town. It is said that the townspeople buried her body in a shallow grave outside of the hut, driving a stake through her to ensure she would stay put. A couple of men who had been suspected of witchcraft returned that night. They reburied Goody’s body in an unmarked grave in the woods.

There are no records to indicate where Goody was buried. And, her death didn’t bring an end to the stories.

One of the many tales told about Goody came about because she had one of the best wells in town. Despite her close proximity to the Hampton marsh, her water never turned brackish. It was said that sailors would take water from her well and Goody, angered by this, would curse them out. In the autumn of 1657, eight people lost their lives when their boat capsized in Hampton Harbor. Townspeople claimed to have seen Goody cursing them and so was born the story that Goody was responsible for the tragedy. Two hundred years later poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a poem, The Wreck of Rivermouth, about the incident in which the blame was placed on Goody Cole, the witch, as this excerpt shows:

"Fie on the witch!" cried a merry girl,
As they rounded the point where Goody Cole
Sat by her door with her wheel atwirl,
A bent and blear-eyed poor old soul.
"Oho!" she muttered, "ye're brave to-day!
But I hear the little waves laugh and say,
The broth will be cold that waits at home;
For it's one to go, but another to come!'"

However, it is believed that Goody Cole was in prison in Boston during the autumn of 1657.

Tales of hauntings by Goody Cole became part of the folklore of the region. As late as 1908, Frank Fogg purchased a home that had been built on the land owned by the Coles. He and his wife reported strange things happened in the house, things that were probably caused by a ghost. He said he never would have bought the house if he had known it stood on Goody’s land. He and his wife left. The house is now the main building of the Tuck Museum.