October is American Archives Month, as well as the run-up to Halloween. To mark the season, State Archivist Ashley Miller pulled some spooky artifacts from the state's history: a plate from Daniel Webster’s last meal, the remains of the Sixth New Hampshire Infantry’s battle flag from the Battle of Antietam, and court documents from the trial of one of New Hampshire’s alleged historical witches.

Dr. Tricia Peone gave a lecture on that last topic Thursday, starting with a woman named Jane Wolford who lived near Portsmouth in the mid-1600s and had the first documented witchcraft trial in New Hampshire.

Wolford was often accused of turning into a yellow cat, but was acquitted of being a witch a few times. Still, it is likely that Witch Creek in Rye was named after the place where she used to

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