Salem’s witches were pardoned, but Britain’s weren’t. There’s now a movement to change that

While the women accused in the infamous Salem witch trials in colonial America have long since been pardoned, the convictions of hundreds of British women executed under similar laws officially still stand. Now, one local authority in southern England is campaigning to change that.

Decades before Salem, hysteria over witchcraft was already sweeping through England – and perhaps nowhere more fervently than in the southeast, such as in the neighboring counties of Kent and Essex, which border London.

Between 1560 and 1700, more than 500 women were tried for witchcraft in the southeast region, according to UK Parliament estimates. Of those, 112 were executed.

But one trial in Maidstone, Kent, in 1652 stands out for its scale and public fascination.

On July 30 that year, a court convened near where Maidstone Town Hall stands today. Thirty-two people faced charges ranging from theft and murder to witchcraft, Claire Kehily, councillor for Maidstone Borough Council, told CNN. Six women, accused of bewitching to death a 10-day-old infant, her mother, and a 3-year-old child, became the focus of the town’s attention, she said.