{"id":575,"slug":"north-pownal-witch-trial-marker-north-pownal-vermont","story":[{"heading":null,"paragraphs":["Pownal's is the sank — the 'widow floated' that's the logic broke, the 'saved' that's the accuser dove. The 'extraordinary woman' is the crime — the 'prosperous alone' that's the suspicion made, the 'envy' that's the charge's root. The 'two choices' is the damned — the 'tree chopped' that's the first test, the 'ice hole' that's the river's try.","The 'only Vermont' is the marked — the '1785' that's the sole trial, the '2023 marker' that's the memory raised. The 'lived on' is the won — the 'five years more' that's the survival kept, the 'Kreiger Rocks' that's the name kept. Pownal's is the proved — the 'sank innocent' that's the test's answer, the 'committee wrong' that's the verdict flipped.","The file keeps Pownal: the sinking proof, the extraordinary charge, the marked site, and the lived years.","North Pownal is the archive's Vermont file — the witch who sank and was saved."]},{"heading":"Why this file matters","paragraphs":["North Pownal is the archive's Vermont file — the only witch trial where sinking meant innocent.","A river keeps its test — the file's suggestion being that Pownal's hold is the inverted: the 'sank saved' that's the proof worked, the 'prosperity accused' that's the charge's root, and the 'marker raised' that's the memory late."]}],"name":"North Pownal Witch Trial Marker","aliases":[],"type":"FOLKLORE_MARKER","type_label":"Folklore Marker","cats":["DARK_HISTORY","WITCH_TRIAL_LEGEND"],"groups":["dark-history","legends"],"desc":"Marker commemorating the story of a widow subjected to a witchcraft ordeal.","full_desc":"North Pownal Witch Trial Marker is a folklore marker in North Pownal, Vermont. Marker commemorating the story of a widow subjected to a witchcraft ordeal. Local lore holds that An 1867 gazetteer account says widow Margaret Krieger was tested by being put into an icy river around 1785; she sank and was rescued. The marker presents the episode as local legend.","address":"50 Dean View","city":"North Pownal","county":"Bennington","state":"Vermont","postal":null,"region":"Northeast","lat":42.797076,"lon":-73.265305,"coord_kind":"EXACT","status":"HISTORIC_SITE","access":"PUBLIC","access_notes":null,"ownership":null,"website":null,"phone":null,"year_built":null,"year_opened":null,"year_closed":null,"year_demolished":null,"designation":null,"current_use":null,"research_notes":"Discovery/enrichment pass; geographic coordinates and current visitor conditions remain to be independently verified. Evidence confidence refers to attribution, not paranormal reality. Coordinates locate the 2023 commemorative marker, not a proven spot in the river. Neither witchcraft nor all details of the ordeal are established by marker placement.","stage":"SOURCE_RESEARCH","quality":{"level":"MEDIUM","score":65,"dims":{"location_confidence":0.75,"identity_confidence":0.65,"historical_confidence":0,"source_quality":0.8,"paranormal_claim_provenance":0.8,"coordinate_confidence":0.85,"current_access_confidence":0.7,"freshness":0.65}},"claims":[{"id":438,"type":"WITCHCRAFT_LEGEND","description":"An 1867 gazetteer account says widow Margaret Krieger was tested by being put into an icy river around 1785; she sank and was rescued. The marker presents the episode as local legend. The account has been recorded since 1867 Vermont Historical Gazetteer account cited by foundation. The reports at North Pownal Witch Trial Marker are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. The creature is part of the place's name now — whatever it was.","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","evidence_label":"Documented legend","entity":"Margaret Krieger","where":null,"first_report":"1867 Vermont Historical Gazetteer account cited by foundation","approx_date":"ca. 1785 alleged event","confidence":0.65,"conflict_notes":null,"source":{"name":"Witch Trial","url":"https://www.wgpfoundation.org/historic-markers/witch-trial/","publisher":"William G. Pomeroy Foundation","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":2},"conflicting_source":null,"variants":[]}],"history":[],"legends":[{"name":null,"summary":"An 1867 gazetteer account says widow Margaret Krieger was tested by being put into an icy river around 1785; she sank and was rescued. The marker presents the episode as local legend. Reports in the file date to 1867 Vermont Historical Gazetteer account cited by foundation. The reports at North Pownal Witch Trial Marker are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. The story is documented as legend — recorded and retold, never verified as fact. The story outranks the documentation, which is how you know it's folklore.","earliest":"1867 Vermont Historical Gazetteer account cited by foundation","evidence":"DOCUMENTED_LEGEND","source":{"name":"Witch Trial","url":"https://www.wgpfoundation.org/historic-markers/witch-trial/","publisher":"William G. Pomeroy Foundation","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":2}}],"entities":[{"name":"Margaret Krieger","claimed_identity":"Margaret Krieger","verified":null,"summary":"An 1867 gazetteer account says widow Margaret Krieger was tested by being put into an icy river around 1785; she sank and was rescued. The marker presents the episode as local legend. Reports in the file date to 1867 Vermont Historical Gazetteer account cited by foundation. The reports at North Pownal Witch Trial Marker are the site's second history — unofficial, unverified, and stubbornly retold. The name travels further than the proof; the sightings keep renewing the lease.","behavior":"An 1867 gazetteer account says widow Margaret Krieger was tested by being put into an icy river around 1785; she sank and was rescued. The marker presents the episode as local legend.","area":null,"first_ref":"1867 Vermont Historical Gazetteer account cited by foundation","source":{"name":"Witch Trial","url":"https://www.wgpfoundation.org/historic-markers/witch-trial/","publisher":"William G. Pomeroy Foundation","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":2}}],"events":[],"investigations":[],"encounters":[],"media":[],"persons":[],"visitor":{"tour_availability":"Verify before visiting","notes":"Site access varies; verify before visiting.","last_verified_at":"2026-09-18 11:32:55","source":{"name":"HauntHunt generic access guidance","url":"https://haunthunt.com/about#access-guidance","publisher":"HauntHunt editorial","type":"DIRECTORY","authority":2}},"sources":[{"name":"Witch Trial","url":"https://www.wgpfoundation.org/historic-markers/witch-trial/","publisher":"William G. Pomeroy Foundation","type":"OFFICIAL_SITE","authority":2}],"conflicts":[],"wiki":null,"counts":{"claims":1,"history":0,"legends":1,"entities":1,"sources":1}}