The Covington Principal Arrest: A Modern Echo of the Witch Trials of Salem
ROCHESTER, NH – In a scene that feels ripped from the pages of a Nathaniel Hawthorne novel, the arrest of Covington Elementary School Principal, Mark Thompson, on charges of falsifying student records has sparked a firestorm of community outrage, drawing eerie parallels to the mass hysteria of the Salem Witch Trials. Thompson, a beloved educator with 20 years of service, was handcuffed this morning outside his own school, accused of boosting test scores to secure funding for a crumbling building. Just as the “afflicted girls” of 1692 used spectral evidence to condemn the innocent, parents and officials are now pointing fingers without clear proof, turning a once-respected leader into a modern-day scapegoat. The district’s superintendent, a descendant of Salem judge Samuel Sewall, refused comment, but the symbolism is unavoidable. History, it seems, is not just repeating itself—it’s grading on a curve.