Trip to Salem... and the library...
Sep. 28th, 2005 12:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrixrefugeeWhew... well, for various reasons, we got a late start to Salem, so I wasn't able to poke around Harrison's (the sci-fi and comic book stuff store I mentioned)... but we got quite a bit of walking in, taking pictures of several houses which played some role in the life of Nathaniel Hawthorne (he of the novels "The Scarlet Letter" and "The House of the Seven Gables", which was named after the home of some friends of his), including the school he attended, the house where his wife lived, and the site of the house where he was born (the house itself was moved next door to the House of the Seven Gables. And also the graveyard where his great-grandfather Judge John Hathorne is buried (if you know anything about the Salem Witch Trials, you might recognise his name: he was the judge who tried the alleged witches). Somehow, it did not surprise me that his gravestone has clearly been restored: there's a granite frame around the stone itself, which looks like it's been knocked down a few times, probably by fundamentalist fluffy-bunny witches of the kind who refer to the 1600s as "the Burning Times", the kind who can't put all that in the past and move on.
((Hope I didn't ruffle the feathers of any Wiccans reading this. I'm not above snarking at the fluffy-bunnies of all stripes, including the killer fluffy-bunnies with large teeth. The Salem Witch Trials can be chalked up to one thing: ignorance. I remember watching a PBS documentary which dealt with a forensic investigator who believes that the Witch Trials might have been precipitated by ergot poisoning, since a lot of the people who were apparantly accused of being witches or of being possessed by demons had eaten bread made from rye that had been contaminated by a fungus that forms on the crops if the growing season has been warm and rainy. People back then just didn't know what we know now about medicine, so they turned to whatever they believed in then. I can't help but feel bad for everyone on either side of that incident, not just the innocent victims, but also the perpetrators, for not knowing better, and not being able to see past their prejudices.))
Oh, and my mom has ancestors who lived in Salem around the time of the Witch Trials: that might explain why my mom and I are so drawn to that city. I've wondered how it affected them, if at all.
Constantine was riding in my headspace the whole time, which made it a little difficult, since he kept fronting, and I think he grated up against my dad: I'm of a mind to let this bond go, since I know someone better equipped to handle him. The question is, will this guest go of his own accord, since he pretty much came in uninvited. Needless to say, he was rather helpful: he picked up a vibe from Judge Hathorne's spirit, but he's a little unwilling to share those revelations. He did clue me in that there were a couple real witches, people who were messing around with "shit they shouldn't touch with tongs", who slipped through the witch-hunter's nets, as it were. Before we left, he bugged me to bring along the blessed salt and the St. Benedict medals, just in case anything wierd went down. Better safe than sorry.
I might go back later in October, during their "Haunted Happenings", the city's month-long Halloween festivities, to poke around and see what I can see. One of the spooky touristtraps attractions was hiring, and I was tempted to apply, since it was right up my alley.
And once we got back, my dad drove me up to the town library, so I could take care of some books we had due: I renewed "Seabiscuit" (the book) for my mom, since my dad wanted to read it (after we saw the movie based on it, a few weeks back). And I swapped copies of "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" again: I suspect I'm the only person trying to read it, and I can understand why, sinc the book is so bloody thick. I also took out a CD of spooky sound-effects for Halloween... only to discover it's from Martha Stewart's Stepfordian line of stuff. Ah well, it's not a bad spooky sounds CD: I'm of a mind to copy it and use it at Halloween, if I can't find it elsewhere.
((Hope I didn't ruffle the feathers of any Wiccans reading this. I'm not above snarking at the fluffy-bunnies of all stripes, including the killer fluffy-bunnies with large teeth. The Salem Witch Trials can be chalked up to one thing: ignorance. I remember watching a PBS documentary which dealt with a forensic investigator who believes that the Witch Trials might have been precipitated by ergot poisoning, since a lot of the people who were apparantly accused of being witches or of being possessed by demons had eaten bread made from rye that had been contaminated by a fungus that forms on the crops if the growing season has been warm and rainy. People back then just didn't know what we know now about medicine, so they turned to whatever they believed in then. I can't help but feel bad for everyone on either side of that incident, not just the innocent victims, but also the perpetrators, for not knowing better, and not being able to see past their prejudices.))
Oh, and my mom has ancestors who lived in Salem around the time of the Witch Trials: that might explain why my mom and I are so drawn to that city. I've wondered how it affected them, if at all.
Constantine was riding in my headspace the whole time, which made it a little difficult, since he kept fronting, and I think he grated up against my dad: I'm of a mind to let this bond go, since I know someone better equipped to handle him. The question is, will this guest go of his own accord, since he pretty much came in uninvited. Needless to say, he was rather helpful: he picked up a vibe from Judge Hathorne's spirit, but he's a little unwilling to share those revelations. He did clue me in that there were a couple real witches, people who were messing around with "shit they shouldn't touch with tongs", who slipped through the witch-hunter's nets, as it were. Before we left, he bugged me to bring along the blessed salt and the St. Benedict medals, just in case anything wierd went down. Better safe than sorry.
I might go back later in October, during their "Haunted Happenings", the city's month-long Halloween festivities, to poke around and see what I can see. One of the spooky tourist
And once we got back, my dad drove me up to the town library, so I could take care of some books we had due: I renewed "Seabiscuit" (the book) for my mom, since my dad wanted to read it (after we saw the movie based on it, a few weeks back). And I swapped copies of "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" again: I suspect I'm the only person trying to read it, and I can understand why, sinc the book is so bloody thick. I also took out a CD of spooky sound-effects for Halloween... only to discover it's from Martha Stewart's Stepfordian line of stuff. Ah well, it's not a bad spooky sounds CD: I'm of a mind to copy it and use it at Halloween, if I can't find it elsewhere.