‘Witches are icons’: Americans embrace their family ties to Salem trial victims

Genealogists looking for standout ancestors proud to claim connection to 17th-century witches'

What do Hollywood actor Humphrey Bogart, Senator Mitt Romney and half the US presidents have in common?

They are all alleged descendants of someone involved the 1692 Salem witch trials, in which an infamous outbreak of religious hysteria resulted in 19 early settlers hanged and one pressed to death.