#witch

How to Be a Modern WomanCartoonist Sarah Andersen loves Halloween more than any other time of year. Her somewhat subversive and self-deprecating humor fits the spooky season so well. Take witches, for example. In olden times, witches were what we called strong, independent women who spoke their mind, even if it was occasionally unpleasant. They were burned at the stake for it. In the 21st century, we aspire to be like them. Especially those aspects that got them into trouble in the first place.
10 Halloween T-Shirts that are Spooky and FunLove Halloween but don't want to wear cumbersome costumes? T-shirts to the rescue: wear comfy shirts with cool Halloween-inspired designs created by indie artists instead.Check out Spooky Daily's top 10 selections of spooky and fun Halloween T-shirts that you can wear all day and all night long. Best of all, these are all available in inclusive sizes, including Big & Tall up to 10XL.Get them from the NeatoShop: Halloween T-Shirts​Wide Range of Sizes, Including Big and Tall up to 10XLThe NeatoShop's Halloween T-shirts are available in a wide range of sizes, including unisex and ladies slim fit (from S to 2XL), and Big and Tall T-shirts (sizes: 3XL, 4XL, 5XL, 6XL, 7XL, 8XL, 9XL and 10XL). They carry youth/kid sizes, toddler tees, and baby snapsuits as well, with worldwide shipping.Design above: Hello-ween by Harebrained Design features a walking Jack-O-Lantern tipping the top of its head as if it's a hat, saying "Hello ... ween" (get it?) The smiling pumpkin is silhouetted by a full moon and accompanied by two flying bats.#Halloween #HalloweenShirts #Featured
The Last Convicted Salem Witch has been ExoneratedIn 1692 and 1693, over 200 people were accused of witchcraft in Salem and the surrounding communities of colonial Massachusetts. Twenty people were executed for the crime. After the witchcraft panic died down, the cruelty of this injustice became apparent. Over the next 300 years, all but one of those convicted of witchcraft were clear of all crimes. The last remaining case was that of Elizabeth Johnson Jr. No one knows exactly why she was forgotten in the exonerations, but you can tell by her name that her mother was also Elizabeth Johnson. The elder Johnson was cleared of her witchcraft conviction, and Elizabeth Jr. may have been overlooked in the paperwork, if someone assumed the mother and daughter were the same person. The sole remaining conviction in the Salem witch trials came to the attention of teacher Carrie LaPierre. She explained the situation to her eighth-grade civics class at North Andover Middle School, and they took up the cause of clearing Johnson's name. Elizabeth Johnson Jr. was a local woman from Andover when she was accused of witchcraft in 1692, as were many of her relatives. LaPierre's students did their research and took Johnson's case to the state legislature, where an exoneration was placed into Massachusetts' latest budget bill. The final convicted Salem "witch" has now been cleared, and LaPierre's civics class learned a lesson in advocacy and state government. Read more about this story at Smithsonian.#witch #Salemwitchtrials #exoneration
Connecticut Witch Trial Victims Still Wait for Pardon​Alse 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
Hocus Pocus 2 is on the Way! In 1993, three witches played by Bette Midler, Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy were accidentally resurrected in the movie Hocus Pocus. The Disney Halloween comedy was a theatrical flop and lost the studio millions. But since then, a couple of generations of children have regularly seen Hocus Pocus during the Halloween season and grew up loving it. Now, 29 years later, the Sanderson sisters get resurrected again in Hocus Pocus 2! The three actresses may look a little older, but certainly not all that much older. The sequel will star the three original witches, plus Hannah Waddingham, Tony Hale, Sam Richardson, Doug Jones, Whitney Peak, and more. Hocus Pocus 2 will begin streaming on Disney+ September 30. -via Digg​#witch #movie #HocusPocus #HocusPocus2 #trailer
Victims of Scotland's Witch Trials May Be PardonedOur popular conception of witches in the 21st century is like of the villain in The Wizard of Oz, little more than a Halloween costume, a fun legend used to tell stories of magic. But up until 300 years ago, the accusation of being a witch was serious- deadly serious. In Scotland, 3,837 people were accused of witchcraft under the Witchcraft Act, and two-thirds of them were ultimately executed. Their trials involved torture until they confessed, carried out by keeping them awake until they hallucinated and pricking their skin with pins all over their bodies. In sheer numbers, Scotland was an outlier in pursuing and killing people for witchcraft over incidences that usually amounted to nothing. A group called the Witches of Scotland is seeking justice for those executed of witchcraft between 1563 and 1736. That would include a a legal pardon, an apology and national monument. They don't want to erase the history of the trials, quite the contrary, but acknowledgement that they were done wrong. Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi, the founders of the Witches of Scotland, explain who these victims were, what they endured, and why Scotland needs to own up to its past at Atlas Obscura.#witch #witchtrial #Scotland
Witch Finger Cookies with Red Velvet Hot ChocolateDomestic Gothess brings us two Halloween recipes that will spark up any party! These witch's fingers are shortbread cookies, but the appearance makes them downright ghoulish. The fingernails are blanched almonds, and the overall look is enhanced with some cinnamon for dirt and food coloring for blood. These would be good with hot chocolate, but for a Halloween effect, make that hot chocolate red! But this hot chocolate isn't just colored red. Domestic Gothess came up with a recipe that's not only blood red, but has the taste of red velvet cake.Red velvet is vanilla with a hint of chocolate and a tangy flavour from the buttermilk. I thought that adding buttermilk to the hot chocolate might cause it to curdle, so I used a little cream cheese instead to add that classic hint of tanginess; it tastes very much like red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting!The red velvet hot chocolate can be altered to be thick enough for dipping your cookies into or thinned to your own taste. Read how to make both of these Halloween treats at Domestic Gothess.​#food #partytreat #witchfinger #cookie #hotchocolate #cocoa #witch #blood #redvelvet #cake
The Witches of PaisleyThe town of Paisley in Scotland is now known for its weaving industry, and for giving us the word "paisley" for the Kashmiri teardrop-shaped textile pattern. But long before that, it was the site of the last mass execution of witches in Western Europe. A few years after the Salem witch trials in the American colonies, an 11-year-old girl named Christian Shaw started a witch hunt in Paisley. It all began when Christian told her mother that their servant Catherine Campbell had taken a sip of milk. Accused of theft, Campbell cursed the child in a blasphemous manner. Christian began to suffer fits and seizures, and eventually displayed symptoms that would remind us of the demon-possessed child Regan in The Exorcist, at least according to contemporary accounts. Christian named Campbell and 34 others as the witches who were to blame. After seven of them went to trial in 1697, one committed suicide and six were hanged and then burned. But before her death, one of the "witches" put a curse on the town itself, which had dire implications for Paisley's future, and is memorialized to this day. Read the story of the Paisley witches at Amusing Planet. #witch #witchtrial #Paisley #textile