Research
Intertextuality
“I live in a world of other’s words.” -Bakhtin
There is a distinct genre of New England folklore that relates to the supernatural phenomena of women, it is so prevalent that there is an intertextual understanding and expectation of women’s roles in this folk. It is a tradition for New Englanders to tell tales of witches and ghosts which we will review below. It is important to recognize that tradition is part of our identities (Handler and Linnekin 1984, 283) and that tradition is constantly being recreated by us in the present. Tradition should not be seen as existing within a vacuum, it exists with us in the present, it cannot stay the same, it continues to change with society, even though societal ideals of tradition are solid and often are perceived as static (Handler and Linnekin 1984). With this in mind, we can see that the tradition of New Englanders to perform the genre of supernatural women folktales speaks to a notion of their society's soul (Baumon 2004). The conception of women as magic-wielding and influential characters in society might shine a light on the ideologies of women in New England.
“
“In New England, we are not sure where truth ends and fancy begins. At any rate, many folks here love to tell these stories on winter evenings.”
—B.A. Botkin
Ocean Born Mary
There is a house deep in the forest of Henniker, New Hampshire that Ocean Born Mary continues to occupy even though she died there in the early 19th century.
​
She was born under tumultuous circumstances in 1720 when her English parents were emigrating to the “New World” in the rough seas of the Northern Atlantic. At the exact moment she breached, a pirate ship commandeered their vessel and her mother gave birth to her soon after. When the captain of the pirate crew heard the cries of this newborn, he told the mother that if she named her baby daughter after his own mother, Mary, he will spare the folks of being slaughtered by his crew. This is how Mary got her name. Once Mary’s mother complied with the demand he handed her an exquisite flowery silk tapestry to gift to Mary before she died.
​
Mary grew up to be a lovely woman and had children of her own. Unfortunately, her husband died young, leaving her to fend for her family alone. She was unable to make ends meet and was at the end of her rope, but serendipitously the old pirate captain who named her came back into her life.
​
He saw her as a daughter since he didn’t have any of his own and vowed to take care of her and her children until his dying day. When death came for the pirate captain, Mary took over his big house in the woods and lived there as a widow until she too succumbed to old age.
​
The house was left to nature and from time to time the townfolk would hear someone uncontrollably sobbing. Various people would also see flashes of a woman appear standing at the steps of the big empty home as if she was waiting for someone... Miraculously the silk tapestry remains in the house today and looks as new as it did in 1720 (Botkin 1944).
Betty Booker
This tale or perhaps lost history from Kittery, Maine serves as a warning for young men to respect their elders.
​
Betty was an old powerful witch who asked a young fisherman to spare her some hal'but from his catch one day. The young skipper sought to be thrifty and asked her to show him the coin for it, but Betty would have none of that. She gathered her witch friends and schemed a plan to teach him a painful lesson.
​
The next day the skipper went to sea and it seemed the waves were out to get him. Scared for his life, he retreated home along Chauncey's Creek. This usually calm creek acted as a wild river and the rain came down in blinding sheets, which warned the townsfolk that the witches were out with a vengeance. The young skipper knew they were coming for him, and hid under his bed petrified. With the gust of a hurricane-strength wind, his front door blew open. Storming in with it were Betty and her witches. They saddled the young man up with a bridle and Betty rode him like a horse up to York and back. It is known in New England, that when a witch's bridle is fastened to someone's head, they become servants to the witch who fastened it.
​
After his torture was done, Betty removed the bridle and crowed, "Never say sixpence, skipper, to a poor old woman again!"
​
The skipper took weeks to recover from the ordeal and aged greatly during that time. He never thought to be thrifty again and always respected his elders.
To prove this story is true, the townspeople claim that one of the old houses had a witches-bridle made from horsehair and birchwood found in the walls (Botkin 1944).
Old Deb
In Massachusetts, there is an old abandoned wagon road that dates back to the first English colonists that connects Carver and Plymouth. Somewhere just off this road, there lies a place known as Witches' Hollow.
​
This land is green all year round, even through droughts and snowstorms. Many New Englanders over the years claim to have seen witches casting spells, mounting their broomsticks, tending to their cauldrons, shapeshifting into black cats, and even dancing to the sound of an invisible fiddle in the moonlight with the devil in hand (Botkin 1944) (Dorson 1946) (Drake 1967). The legends of this area are abundant and the named witches are all described as old spinsters.
​
Old Deb might be the most prominent witch from this area. Many locals have their own family stories of her, which showed her penchant for scaring children who wandered. In one families tale, she is said to have released and controlled a neighbors farm bull to chase two little girls who ate the apples off of her apple tree. She always wanted to make sure children were terrified of her.
Moll Pitcher
The line between truth and fiction becomes even cloudier with the most famous fortuneteller of New England who resided in a small house by the sea cliffs of Lynn Massachusetts.
​
Moll, born Molly Diamond, was a renowned clairvoyant who came from a long line of witches and wizards (Drake 1967). She was a real woman who died in 1813 and may have marked the end of the old superstitions of witches by giving them a good name. People from all walks of life came to her to seek her insights into their fortunes, from sea captains to cabin boys to aristocrats. They all wondered what fate had in store for them and sought guidance on love affairs, criminal affairs, lotteries, business decisions, and their eternal legacies.
Famously, treasure-seekers often asked her where secret treasure could be found, and she would always reply something along the lines of, "Fools! If I knew where money was buried, do you think I would live in this tiny house that waves crash into!" (Drake 1967).
​
Moll ushered in the "new-age" witchery that we still see signs of today by making a business out of her magic.
