Occult Oil Region

Venango Museum Staff
Oct 21, 2025
3 min read

Updated: 7 hours ago

Venango County's Witchcraft Scares

While Pennsylvania is known for avoiding large-scale witch trials, belief in witchcraft persisted well into the state’s frontier era. This post explores how fear, folklore, and superstition shaped several witchcraft scares in Venango County, revealing how quickly hysteria could spread in isolated communities.

This article draws from 19th-century county histories, folklore collections, and modern scholarship examining witchcraft belief in Pennsylvania and the Oil Region.

Margaret Mattson was a Swedish immigrant living in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, when she was accused of witchcraft in the winter of 1684. Neighbors said she could bewitch livestock, appear as a ghost, and practice dark arts. These claims led to the only officially recorded witchcraft trial in Pennsylvania. Mattson pleaded not guilty, and the trial was overseen by William Penn in February 1684.

During the trial, Penn reportedly asked Mattson if she had ever ridden a broomstick. Because her English was limited, she answered “yes.” Penn then said there was no law against riding a broomstick. In the end, Mattson was found guilty only of having the “fame” of a witch, not of actually practicing witchcraft. She was fined and released. Penn’s Quaker beliefs and his knowledge of witch persecutions in Europe influenced his decision, as he wanted to prevent similar hysteria in Pennsylvania. Even after her acquittal, Mattson became known as the “Witch of Ridley Creek.”

After Mattson’s case, Pennsylvania did not hold more formal witch trials, but belief in witchcraft continued, especially in frontier areas like Venango County. One of the county’s earliest recorded executions happened along French Creek, where a young Native American woman was accused of witchcraft. A council met near Fort Machault, and her peers condemned her. She was executed by stabbing and was said to have faced her death calmly.

Stories from the region also mention witch-doctors and charmers. In one account, parents asked a local charmer to heal a child bitten by a rattlesnake. Soldiers sometimes visited these practitioners before battle, hoping charms would protect them from bullets. These folk practices mixed superstition, medicine, and spiritual beliefs, showing the uncertainty of life on the frontier.

In the early 1800s, another witchcraft scare happened near Dempseytown in Venango County. A young woman from Sunville started having mental distress and fits, which neighbors saw as signs of bewitchment. Fear spread quickly, and many townspeople believed she was under a spell. Witch-doctors tried to cure her with charms, and others turned to a “seventh son,” who was thought in folklore to have special powers. None of these efforts worked.

As panic increased, townspeople tried more remedies. They brought the girl to Sugar Creek, thinking witches could not cross running water, and hung knives and horseshoes around her house. A visiting soldier even challenged the supposed witch to show herself, but nothing happened. During the day, the girl seemed normal, but at night her symptoms came back, attracting curious neighbors and strengthening belief in witchcraft.

Eventually, the panic faded as lawsuits were filed and more people became skeptical. One witness later said the girl admitted she had not believed she was bewitched until others convinced her. Medical care solved her symptoms, and she went on to live a normal life. This episode shows how fear and superstition once took hold in Venango County, even in a state known for its ideals of tolerance and reason.