Witch of Hampton Legend: Story of Eunice "Goody" Cole

Witch of Hampton Legend

Witch of Hampton Legend is a legend based in Hampton, NH. Eunice “Goody” Cole was said to be New Hampshire’s only convicted witch.

Witch of Hampton (Goody Cole) was put on trial for being a witch and convicted in 1656. The mid 1600’s was an era when many witches were being accused of being a witch, was at the time was against the law, punishable by death.

Goody Cole was imprisoned in a Boston prison and her property taken by the town of Hampton New Hampshire. The town sold her property and used the money from the sale to pay for her imprisonment in Boston MA.

After her release from the Boston prison she was near the end of her life. The people of Hampton NH gave Goody Cole a place to live, a small hut like building in the center of Hampton where she died a lonely death in 1662. Some legends claim that Goody Cole was thrown from a cliff, though this was never verified.

Goody Cole had been blamed for many major disasters, including a shipwreck that people believed Goody used her witchcraft to sink the ship that killed eight residents of Hampton.

Goody was exonerated from her crimes in 1938. Her headstone sits outside the Tuck Museum in Hampton NH to remember Goody Cole.

As it turned out, after Goody Cole died it was discovered that she was never the witch that she was accused of being.

Between the years of 1939 and 1963, the town of Hampton NH saw a mystery woman roaming around town.  An old woman with blue eyes and grey hair would wander around town asking people where Goody’s memorial was.  A police officer saw the old woman wandering around a cemetery reading the words on the stones.  He asked her what she was doing and she stated she was walking around as she had been doing for hundreds of years.  When he went to shine his flashlight on her, she was gone.  Other townspeople claim they have seen the woman walk through closed doors.

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