The story of William Potter is harder to tell than either of the previous. Maybe it would be best to start with his arrest in New Haven Connecticut in 1662. (Note: the Salem Witch Trials took place in 1692.)
His adult son John Porter had confessed to the minister of the church that he had witnessed his father committing a sex act with a calf. The minister went to the authorities and told them what he and been told by John.
When the authorities went to John to hear the story from him, he refused to talk to them. They arrested him on a charge of withholding evidence of a crime. They then arrested 72-year-old William Potter and deprived both son and father of food and water until both confessed to their crimes.
On the third day John was given water and released because his father began to tell his life story in vivid detail. His words were written by the town Scribner. For each page that the Scribner wrote, William was given a sip of water and a bite of bread.
The first page tells of how it had all started when William was only thirteen years old on his father’s farm in Sussex shire, England. In trying to get a baby calf to drink milk from a bucket he felt the calf sucking on his fingers. He wondered how it would feel to have the calf suck on his cock. “’Twas the devil’s demon what planteth sich thawt in me.” He went on to tell about every detail including the feelings he had on that first day. “Tho „twa the devil’s demon what giv me thawt, „twas me what did deed.”
The second page tells how he began to daily experiment in different ways “but „twas devil’s demon what led me on.”
The third page was almost entirely devoted to how he experimented with kids (baby goats) and lambs (baby sheep).
On the fourth page he tells about a sickness that took his mother and nearly took him. “I „twas laid low and not well til I be six an’ ten…beleeved it be Lord that punished me…tried hardly to stop…prade and prade.”
The sixth page was all about what a wonderful man his father had been especially after his mother had died. He and his father had worked hard to make a living husbanding the animals on the farm.
The next two pages tell about how his father had encouraged him to pursue a cousin to be his wife. She at first refused. “That’s where I should a left it. Now I bring shame.” He continued to pursue her and she had no alternative to choose from, so she gave in to him. She was in his words “a Goodwife.”
The ninth page tells of his father being killed, “knifed by fat woman who stoled his poke.” The woman was “hanged an hanged hi.” A friend of his father’s invited him and his wife to come to Plymouth Colony with him in 1624. By that time he had a son John and daughters, Anne, Mary, and Elizabeth.
The tenth and eleventh pages are devoted to who his children married and that by these marriages he was related to nearly everyone in the town of New Haven, Connecticut. He also talks about his many grandchildren.
On the twelfth page he tells how the “devil’s demon” led him back to the “evil.” He tells about the evil pleasure of defiling a cow and a bitch. He tells about killing both because he believed the devil’s demon possessed them. He thought of killing himself because he could not get rid of the demon’s voice in his head.
On the thirteenth page is written the story of his wife catching him with a calf. She kept silent but would never lay with him again for fear she would be possessed by his demon.
The next five pages tell that for years he was able to stop but again the demon took charge. In one day he killed nearly all of his stock because they tempted him.
Then suddenly he refused to talk any more. Apparently he was being interrogated by a whole committee of men because the Scribner lists a series of unrelated questions that William Potter refused to answer.
Three days later after again being deprived of food since he would no longer talk about his crime he had the Scribner write up his will. He contributed large sums to the church and to support of the minister who had reported him. Everything else was left to his “Goodwife.”
Three more days passed and William Potter was put on trial. A public trial was held in which all of the people including children were expected to attend. After a list of 59 charges of bestiality were listed off, his 18 page confection was read by the Scribner. He was then asked if he was guilty of any or all of the 59 charges. “Guilty of all,” he announced. The three members of the “jury” pronounced judgment that he would “hang by the neck until death takes him.”
Within the hour he was hanging dead before the community as a lesson that if you “let demons lead, ignominious death is your reward.”
This trial record including his 18 page confession which no one thought to have him sign is on record in New Haven, Connecticut.

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William Potter
The story of William Potter is harder to tell than either of the previous. Maybe it would be best to start with his arrest in New Haven Connecticut in 1662. (Note: the Salem Witch Trials took place in 1692.)
His adult son John Porter had confessed to the minister of the church that he had witnessed his father committing a sex act with a calf. The minister went to the authorities and told them what he and been told by John.
When the authorities went to John to hear the story from him, he refused to talk to them. They arrested him on a charge of withholding evidence of a crime. They then arrested 72-year-old William Potter and deprived both son and father of food and water until both confessed to their crimes.
On the third day John was given water and released because his father began to tell his life story in vivid detail. His words were written by the town Scribner. For each page that the Scribner wrote, William was given a sip of water and a bite of bread.
The first page tells of how it had all started when William was only thirteen years old on his father’s farm in Sussex shire, England. In trying to get a baby calf to drink milk from a bucket he felt the calf sucking on his fingers. He wondered how it would feel to have the calf suck on his cock. “’Twas the devil’s demon what planteth sich thawt in me.” He went on to tell about every detail including the feelings he had on that first day. “Tho „twa the devil’s demon what giv me thawt, „twas me what did deed.”
The second page tells how he began to daily experiment in different ways “but „twas devil’s demon what led me on.”
The third page was almost entirely devoted to how he experimented with kids (baby goats) and lambs (baby sheep).
On the fourth page he tells about a sickness that took his mother and nearly took him. “I „twas laid low and not well til I be six an’ ten…beleeved it be Lord that punished me…tried hardly to stop…prade and prade.”
The sixth page was all about what a wonderful man his father had been especially after his mother had died. He and his father had worked hard to make a living husbanding the animals on the farm.
The next two pages tell about how his father had encouraged him to pursue a cousin to be his wife. She at first refused. “That’s where I should a left it. Now I bring shame.” He continued to pursue her and she had no alternative to choose from, so she gave in to him. She was in his words “a Goodwife.”
The ninth page tells of his father being killed, “knifed by fat woman who stoled his poke.” The woman was “hanged an hanged hi.” A friend of his father’s invited him and his wife to come to Plymouth Colony with him in 1624. By that time he had a son John and daughters, Anne, Mary, and Elizabeth.
The tenth and eleventh pages are devoted to who his children married and that by these marriages he was related to nearly everyone in the town of New Haven, Connecticut. He also talks about his many grandchildren.
On the twelfth page he tells how the “devil’s demon” led him back to the “evil.” He tells about the evil pleasure of defiling a cow and a bitch. He tells about killing both because he believed the devil’s demon possessed them. He thought of killing himself because he could not get rid of the demon’s voice in his head.
On the thirteenth page is written the story of his wife catching him with a calf. She kept silent but would never lay with him again for fear she would be possessed by his demon.
The next five pages tell that for years he was able to stop but again the demon took charge. In one day he killed nearly all of his stock because they tempted him.
Then suddenly he refused to talk any more. Apparently he was being interrogated by a whole committee of men because the Scribner lists a series of unrelated questions that William Potter refused to answer.
Three days later after again being deprived of food since he would no longer talk about his crime he had the Scribner write up his will. He contributed large sums to the church and to support of the minister who had reported him. Everything else was left to his “Goodwife.”
Three more days passed and William Potter was put on trial. A public trial was held in which all of the people including children were expected to attend. After a list of 59 charges of bestiality were listed off, his 18 page confection was read by the Scribner. He was then asked if he was guilty of any or all of the 59 charges. “Guilty of all,” he announced. The three members of the “jury” pronounced judgment that he would “hang by the neck until death takes him.”
Within the hour he was hanging dead before the community as a lesson that if you “let demons lead, ignominious death is your reward.”
This trial record including his 18 page confession which no one thought to have him sign is on record in New Haven, Connecticut.