Desc: The Devil Among Us: America's First Witch Hunt: Directed by Andy Blood. With Kate Aspinwall, Rose Blood, David Davino, Merrick Donnelly. Forty-five years before the Salem witch trials, Connecticut executed the first witch in the New World, a woman named Alice Young. That was in 1647. A flurry of witch accusations and trials followed, leading to the crescendo of the Hartford Witch Panic, beginning in 1662. What caused the witch hunts? Many different theories are examined, including the removal of unpleasant people, economics, fear of war, and dangerous personalities.