SALEM — Students from North Andover Middle School visited the Peabody Essex Museum Tuesday to film the latest scene in their documentary “The Last Witch.”
The movie tells the story of how the class has been working to formally exonerate Elizabeth Johnson Jr. — the last person to be convicted of witchcraft during the 1692 Salem Witch Trials.
The effort first started when Carrie LaPierre, an eighth-grade teacher at North Andover Middle School, became aware of the book, “In the Shadow of Salem,” about the town of Andover’s role in the trials, and how 22-year-old Johnson Jr. was ostracized and shunned by her community up until her death, after being convicted of witchcraft.
LaPierre came up with the idea for a project in which middle school students ages 13 and 14 would analyze primary sources, such as Johnson’s testimony and other court documents before writing letters and postcards to local legislators in an effort to get a bill passed that would formally exonerate Johnson. That happened in 2022.
“It was really interesting to see how far back all the history goes,” student Hadleigh Dowd said. “Looking at the documents and stuff, they’re very hard to read just because of the faded ink and torn paper, but also the old language that they used.”
As the project lasted longer than originally anticipated, LaPierre was able to include a second middle school class to continue the work where the first class had left off.
The first group wrote the bill and spent time calling, emailing, and sending letters to local legislators in an effort to get it passed. When the bill was finally sent to study, the group knew they would have to continue to advocate in order to resurrect the bill and actually file it.
“It was hard putting everything about Elizabeth in such a small email, while still trying to prove our point and have legislators listen to her story,” student Lilah Hernann said.
Fortunately, by working with then-state Sen. Diana DiZoglio, the Legislature was able to formally exonerate Johnson by attaching it as an amendment to the state budget in 2022.
Soon after this formal exoneration, filmmaker and producer Annika Hylmö caught wind of the project while researching the Rev. Francis Dane, who happened to be the grandfather of Johnson, and set out to bring the story to a wider audience with the creation of a documentary.
The documentary will include historical reenactments, interviews, and historical research relating to the Salem Witch Trials at locations like the Judiciary archives in Boston, the gravesite where Johnson was buried separately from her family, and most recently, The Salem Witch Trials 1692 exhibit at the Peabody Essex Museum.
“This is really an incredible exhibit that everyone should come and see,” said Hylmö. “It follows the journey of the Salem Witch Trials, and actually ends with Elizabeth in the very last module. The students hadn’t found out about what this exhibit actually is before coming here, so it’s really about them.”
While the Salem Witch Trials occurred more than 300 years ago, teachers and students alike emphasized that the lessons to be learned from this event and the individuals who lived through it are still very applicable today.
“It’s still completely relevant,” said LaPierre. “And I think that’s the biggest line that the kids were able to draw as eighth-graders — was the idea of bullying, and how a lot of these women who were accused of witchcraft were somebody different in their community.
“And by being an outsider or having that difference, they were targeted and persecuted by their community, and that’s something that still exists today.”
“One of the reasons that my daughter has been really passionate about this is the fact that there was speculation that Elizabeth had an intellectual disability,” said Mindy Crumbaker, whose daughter Mooney is involved in the project.
“And people that had intellectual disabilities couldn’t always speak up for themselves, so they would become an easy target. Mooney has two siblings with autism, so she has a really soft spot for speaking up for people.”
While the scene at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem is technically the last portion of the documentary to be filmed, aside from minor reshoots, the team is hoping to keep the project going to be as information-rich as possible. In May, they hope to go to the Rebecca Nurse Homestead in Danvers where the replica meeting house from the late 1600s sits, in order to film a reenactment of Johnson’s examination using the original court documents.
The group is also partnering with History Alive, a local theater organization committed to the production of new plays, theatrical scenarios, and other media based on true stories from Salem’s history. Through this partnership, the group will be able to apply for grants to give students the opportunity to work with historical costuming, reenactments, and to portray the full experience of what it would have been like to live in this area in the 1600s.
The project is also being sponsored through Creative Visions, a nonprofit organization that supports creative activists using arts and media to ignite social change. All contributions made to “The Last Witch” through Creative Visions would be eligible for a tax deduction. Pending additional funding, the full documentary is expected to be released in 2026.
“I literally thought the whole project would take about a week,” LaPierre said. “So to have it go on four years later, and now to be making a documentary about this, it’s just unreal.”
For more information on the project or to donate, visit thelastwitchfilm.com.
Michael McHugh can be contacted at mmchugh@northofboston.com or at 781-799-5202