manner_of_death mary parker 
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693 . The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people , fourteen of them women , and all but one by ___MASK11___ . Five others ( including two infant children ) died in prison . ___MASK11___ is the suspension of a person by a noose or ligature around the neck . The " Oxford English Dictionary " states that ___MASK11___ in this sense is " specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck ", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain " ___MASK11___ ". ___MASK11___ has been a common method of ___MASK22___ since medieval times , and is the official execution method in numerous countries and regions . The first account of execution by ___MASK11___ was in Homer ' s " Odyssey ". In this specialised meaning of the common word " hang ", the past and past participle is " hanged " instead of " hung ". Mary ( née Ayer ) Parker of Andover , Mass . , the daughter of John Ayer , was executed September 22 , 1692 , with several others , for witchcraft in the Salem witch trials . She was 55 years old and a widow . Mary ' s husband , Nathan , died in 1685 . Nicholas Noyes officiated . Her daughter , Sarah Parker , was also accused . Mary Parker was an 8th great - grandmother of U . S . President George W . Bush , who is a descendant or relative of up to 217 of the trials ' participants .