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Delusions Of Witchcraft

Although there have never been any hangings for witchcraft on the Cape, many believed in the agencies of ghosts and witches. This has proved a never ending source of material for writers. Incidents have been related of haunted houses, prowling spirits, and voices from seemingly empty graveyards. But at least one of these stories can be disqualified by the following account.

It is related that “Old Chapman,” the British Captain, would sometimes get high, and that one night returning home with some hale companions, as they approached the meetinghouse, Chapman ran ahead, but in the darkness was not missed. He stationed himself at a point in the graveyard, where he knew his companions would pass. When they came fully abreast, he roared with a voice that shook the hills, “Arise ye dead and come to judgement.” Nobody arose, but tradition says there was some of the fastest running that night ever known in East Harbor, Provincetown.

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