Hands Off the Heirloom, Kid!

John Keenan has learned that he's descended from one of the most famous of the Salem "witches."

Keenan says it wasn’t till his grandmother passed away and genealogical papers were found in her house, that he discovered his familial ties to Rebecca Nurse.

More evidence was discovered last summer when Keenan’s father sold his home and the basement, which contained some of his grandmother's belongings, was being cleaned out. In the backyard Keenan discovered his 7-year-old son playing with something that appeared to be a silver basket.

“It turned out to be a fiftieth anniversary gift engraved with the names Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Nurse, marked 1840-1890,” Keenan said. “He was putting dirt inside it.” [Link]

Acting Like a Witch No Longer a Capital Offense

Genealogist David Nelson says that actor Tom Felton—best known for his portrayal of Harry Potter nemesis Draco Malfoy—is related to some of those executed at Salem as witches.

“He is a distant relative of John Proctor — who was hanged on August 19, 1692. I have informed Tom’s manager about witches in his family tree.” Mr Nelson, of Salt Lake City, US, has been probing the Salem witches’ history for four years.

He found the teen star is also related to seven others involved in the most infamous witch hunt in history — which was the subject of Arthur Miller’s celebrated play The Crucible. [Link]

An Incorruptible Commie's Witchy Past

According to Gunter Kruse, I have something in common with Vladimir Lenin: we both have convicted witches perched in our family trees.

"I went as far back as the middle ages and discovered one of Lenin's ancestor who lived in the 13th century", Kruse reported after spending several years in archives, drawing up the Western European branch of Lenin's family tree.

According to Kruse, the witch who was burnt at the stake by the Inquisition is the most intriguing member of the Ulyanovs family, though almost no information about her has survived. [Link]

Only witchcraft could explain why Lenin's body is so nicely intact 83 years after his death.

A Great Day to Hang in the Park

On Saturday, descendants of Alse Young, historians and onlookers gathered in a Hartford, Connecticut, park to mark the 360th anniversary of Young's hanging for witchcraft, and to remember Colonial Connecticut's ten other executed witches.

As each of the names of the nine women and two men was read, a bell was rung, and a white rose laid at the base of a tree, over which a hangman's noose dangled. A 12th rose was laid to remember the children of the executed.

"When's the hanging, yo?" asked one passer-by, a man astride a bicycle, prompting several of the assembled to walk over and explain why they were in the park. [Link]

The Sinister Midwife of Jamestown

By applying a fresh pair of eyes to old, well-worn sources, Martha McCartney dug up some juicy details for her Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary.

"I literally went through them all page by page, looking for every reference I could find," McCartney says. "So I picked up a lot of things that were considered too miniscule to worry about before."

Among her finds is this provocative tidbit about the first Virginian to be publicly accused of witchcraft: Joane Wright - who came to Virginia in 1609 - may have aroused suspicion because she was a left-handed midwife. [Link]

A Pagan Pedigree

Dennis Callahan claims to be a "fourth generation hereditary witch."

His great-aunt Marion was born with a veil, what is referred to in medical terms as a “caul.” It’s a hood of porous skin that covers the head of a newborn. It’s extremely rare to be born with a caul, which, for many, indicates a “third eye” or heightened psychic ability.

Marion's niece—Callahan's mother—married a man whose sister was a witch.

For the past 400 years, his ancestors have been witches who read tarot. But Callahan’s pagan ancestry stretches even further back to the Druids, who practiced a type of paganism unknown today because they didn’t write. [Link]

I will not criticize the claims made in this article for fear of waking tomorrow morning as a toad.

Beware of Angry Ancestors

From the Pittsburgh (Pa.) Tribune-Review:

Wiccans turn witch myths upside down

By Kim Lyons
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, October 18, 2005

She does get the occasional person looking to cast a spell to turn her ex into a toad, but for the most part, Amy Mokricky's Wicca students are looking for a balanced religious path, with spells and magic only a small part of the picture.

[snip]

Now, as the days shorten and the harvest season comes to a close, Wiccans and witches celebrate Samhain, the time on the calendar when contact with ancestors and the recently departed is most likely.

"The whole idea of trick-or-treating, of scaring off the ghosts and goblins probably came from the thought of confronting ancestors who might not be too happy with us," Mokricky said.

[snip]

[Read the whole story]