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The Witch of Pungo
Above is a one-scene excerpt from a feature-length script written by J Darin Wales about the true story of Grace Sherwood, The Witch of Pungo.

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1706, colonial America – Princess Anne County, Virginia. The ropes still hang fresh from the trees of the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts. An underlying fear hangs in the air of the farming community of Pungo, Virginia, where any questionable death, crop failure, or aberration must be the work of the Devil and one of his minions.

This is the true story of Grace Sherwood, the only person in the history of Virginia to be convicted of being a witch.

Grace, an unconventional, outspoken, woman-before-her-time, widow of three young-adult boys, finds herself at the center of every calamity that befalls the people of Pungo. Traipsed to court a dozen times for supposed sorcery, Grace is over it and agrees to a trial by water – drown and you’re innocent; survive and you’re a witch.

This scene takes place near the end of Act II. Grace lives in her one-room cabin with her three young-adult boys on their 150-acre farm.  Grace has been to court numerous times defending her name and several months earlier won a decision against Luke and Elizabeth Hill for assault and battery, which embittered the Hills for revenge.

This is where we pick up the action in the dead of winter.