#history

Connecticut Witch Trial Victims Still Wait for PardonAlse Young immigrated from England and settled in Windsor, Connecticut, in the 1630s. In 1647 she became the first woman in Connecticut to be hanged for witchcraft, and possibly the first in the American colonies. She wasn't the last; by 1663 a total of 11 people, nine of them women, were executed for witchcraft in Connecticut, long before the Salem witch trials. Nine generations later, Young's namesake Alse C. Freeman has joined other descendants of those accused of witchcraft in Connecticut to demand that these 11 be completely exonerated. They united under the name of the Connecticut Witch Trial Exoneration Project. The states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Virginia have all pardoned or acquitted those convicted during witch trials. The city of Windsor pardoned the two from that village who were executed, Alse Young and Lydia Gilbert, in 2017. There have been several pushes to get the Connecticut victims exonerated over the past decade, but nothing has happened. Why can't Connecticut clear their names? It appears to be a bureaucratic problem. When you take a close look at the law, "the governor of Connecticut lacks the power to pardon and the State Board of Pardons and Paroles does not have a posthumous waiver process." In order to pardon anyone for a wrongful conviction based on unjust laws of the past, the powers of the state government will need to be changed by law. Read about this roadblock and the efforts to exonerate America's first witch trial victims.(Image credit: CT WITCH Memorial) #witch #witchtrial #Connecticut #history

A Century of Halloween CostumesHalloween costumes have come a long way since the early 20th century. Back then, most costumes were homemade, and therefore really creepy, depending on one's talent. But they were supposed to be scary, right? Or at least ridiculous. Later Halloween became an excuse to dress up and show off. As mass marketing got into the game, costumes became more varied, but also more bland. Then Hollywood saw Halloween costumes as a marketing scheme to promote movies and TV series. Somewhere along the way, Halloween became an excuse for an adult party, in which you could dress up as sexy as you want, because it's a costume, right? Glamour magazine made a video photoshoot of Halloween costumes to highlight the more popular costumes of each decade from the 1920s to the 21st century.#costume #fashion #history 

A Cockeyed Look at Halloween in the FutureAncient history is often hard to understand, because we've lost so much context. Figuring out what really happened from scarce and deteriorated artifacts comes with a good possibility of getting the story all wrong. We make jokes about the future, in which archaeologists unearth artifacts from the 21st century and totally misread what was going on. What misconceptions will future generations have about Halloween?

Historic Inspirations for the Legend of VampiresWhile our modern idea of vampires has been codified by Count Dracula, stories of dead people returning as blood-sucking monsters have been around since ancient times. The legend varied by place, at least until Hollywood got hold of the idea. We don't know exactly who first told tales of vampires or vampire-like creatures, but it seemed to have happened in a lot of different places. The ancient myths seem to have arisen as a convenient way to explain why bad things happen. But there are natural phenomenon that added layers to the vampire myth.