While the date varies depending on the source, sometime within the last 48 hours, way back in 1647, the first American woman was executed in Salem, Massachusetts for being a witch. Achsah Young was hanged for using her knowledge of natural herbs to cure her neighbors of their ills. In 1692, 24 alleged witches were executed in New England, but Young and 11 others were killed in the nearly 50 years that lead up to the full-force-frenzy of the Salem witch frenzy.
Religion, superstition, folk magic, psychedelic wheat fungus, racism, the imaginations of children, the paranoia of adults, post-traumatic stress and litigiousness all may have played a role in this madness. Fears about women and their powerless positions in the American colonies definitely did.
With the revelations about Elliot Rodger’s sorority-focused massacre in Southern California coming to light at this same time, some might see coincidence at work or even a meaningful synchronicity at play or even a conspiracy. But I see something deeper and darker — it can be found in the very heart of America’s origins and in the manner in which our culture’s projected fears and anxieties often cast a spotlight on women as scapegoats for perceived ills and wrong-doing. This most recent tragedy is, sadly, nothing new.
This History Channel video must have been made before that channel went to shit. This account of the later horrors of the witch frenzy is full of actual public testimony from the time. The story is confused and panicked and shot through with secret hates and fears, vendettas and the force of privelege. It’s also all too familiar…
Stay Awake!
Please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I archive all of the videos I curate at Insomnia. Click here to check out more occult posts.
