"You say witch...

...like it's a bad thing!"

Dear Diary,

I have set up this little Halloween display every year for many years but this year it has special meaning for me.  A couple of weeks ago I discovered that an ancestor was tried and convicted of witchcraft in the Salem witch hysteria of 1692.  My cousin, Ann Alcock Foster, ( my 9X great grandmother was her grandmother) was not hanged because she died in the Salem jail before they could carry out her sentence.  She was 72 years old.  Her daughter and granddaughter were also charged but never tried since Ann, after first strenuously denying that she was guilty, took the blame to save her daughter and granddaughter.  It was a very sad tale but I am proud of her courage.

So, now I have a very different perspective for Halloween knowing one of my ancestors suffered persecution for witchcraft.  It also makes me think of how this type of scapegoating still occurs today.  In 1692 it was witches, now it is Muslims and immigrants.   In Nazi Germany it was the Jews.  During the McCarthy era in the US it was the communists.  Fear can turn people into "witch hunters" quite easily.  I pray our better angels will prevail.

On a lighter note I have included a Halloween photograph of my dear Emerson!