October Events at Webb Deane Stevens Museum

October Events at Webb Deane Stevens Museum to Explore Connecticut Witch Panic, Evolution of Folk Magic, the Witch of Blackbird Pond House, and More

WETHERSFIELD, CT – September 1, 2023 — The Webb Deane Stevens Museum will explore the spookier side of Wethersfield's rich history this October with two lectures diving into the history of the Connecticut Witch Panic, a one-woman play about five accused witches, and the evolution of folk magic, "potions," and protection practices from Colonial times to the present. The Museum's popular Witches & Tombstones Tour, which features the 17th century Buttolph-Williams House - the inspiration for Elizabeth George Speare's Newbery Medal-winning book The Witch of Blackbird Pond - will return for two weekends.

Tickets for all October events are available on the museum's website at wdsmuseum.org/upcoming-events. The Webb Deane Stevens Museum is located at 211 Main Street in Wethersfield, Connecticut.

The Witch in Old Connecticut: Righting a Troublesome Legacy / Presented by Dr. Richard S. Ross III
Thursday, October 5, 2023
Reception: 6 p.m. Program: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Members: $10 / General Public: $15
Holcombe Education Center

The Witch in Old Connecticut: Righting a Troublesome Legacy will touch upon Dr. Richard S. Ross III’s book Before Salem: Witch Hunting in the Connecticut River Valley 1647-1663. Dr. Ross will also discuss his additional research and the contemporary events affecting the historical legacy of the witch panic in the Connecticut and New Haven colonies. Dr. Ross is Professor Emeritus and former College Librarian at Trinity College, Hartford Connecticut. He holds an MA from Northeastern University, an MLS from Simmons College, and a PhD from Boston College. He has taught at Boston College, Northeastern University, the University of New Hampshire, and Trinity College.

Potions, Divination, and Protection Practices Through the Ages
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Reception: 6 p.m. Program: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Members: $25 / General Public: $30
Holcombe Education Center

Learn how ‘potions,” divination, and cleansing/protection practices have evolved through the ages and how they are still being used today. Discover how plants such as those found in the Webb Deane Stevens Colonial Revival Garden could be made into healing elixirs, how the role of folk magic, divination through celestial and earthly events, dream interpretation, and indigenous influences shaped Colonial New England, and the importance of the balance with the cleansing and protection of our energy and light essence.

This program is presented by Mystic Reiki Healing, Moonlit Path Healing, and The Replanted Witch in collaboration with The Blackbird House Holistic Healing Center and Gift Shop of Wethersfield.

Potions: Rachel Star Koladis, The Replanted Witch
As early as the 15th century, the word “potion” was understood to be a magical consumable liquid. They might be concoctions used to heal, bewitch, or poison people, made by a witch or other magical practitioner. Popular examples included preparations for attracting love or inducing a deep sleep. Witches and potions have become intertwined within the popular imagination, but why did the two become associated? There are hints in historical images of women wearing pointy hats, over a bubbling cauldron dating back to Medieval times, and in Greek mythology we find the story of Circe teaching herself how to use powerful herbs prepared as drinks or stews. Women have enjoyed a long association with potion making through the ages, as healers, alewives, and witches. Learn more about this fascinating history, as well as some of the plants found in the Webb Deane Stevens gardens that could have been used now and then for traditional healing and potions.

The Role of Folk Magic and Divination in Colonial New England: Erin Touponse, Mystic Reiki Healing
In Colonial New England, nothing was certain; at any given time, death could strike, the earth could tremble, and crops could fail. Early settlers depended on ancient folk magic, astrology, divination, and dreams/visions to assist in bringing order and sense to a time when personal and collective security was not prevalent. Learn how the role of folk magic, divination through celestial and earthly events, dream interpretation, and indigenous influences shaped Colonial New England.

Cleansing & Protection Practices: Victoria Selden, Moonlit Path Healing
No matter the walk of life you come from, magick can be found in even the smallest mundane aspects of life. Throughout the ages, we have found a variety of ways to relish the magick in our lives, but not without polarity. Light and dark, positive, and negative, yin and yang. Come and learn the importance of the balance with the cleansing and protection of our energy and light essence.

Panic in Connecticut: Accused Witches Have Their Say: A performance by Virginia Wolf of Herstory Theater
Thursday, October 19, 2023
Reception: 6:00 p.m. Performance: 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Members: $20 / General Public: $25
Webb Barn

Between 1642 and 1693, at least 40 people in the colony of Connecticut were tried as witches, and at least 10 of them were hanged. Most of them were women. Who were these women? How did they come to be accused of witchcraft? What was life like for them? Did they truly practice witchcraft? Travel back to the 17th century and hear what 5 women accused of witchcraft have to say. Actress Virginia Wolf brings them to life, fully costumed, fully incensed, fully frightened. Painstakingly researched, Panic in Connecticut: Accused Witches Have Their Say is a one woman show that sheds light on the Puritan society that condemned so-called witches to their death 30 years before the hysterics of Salem, Massachusetts. Virginia is founder of Herstory Theater, generally dedicated to bringing to life the unsung heroines of history, as well as producing a host of additional projects that both celebrate women and history, and a simple love of theater and performing.

Witches & Tombstones Tour
Saturday, October 21 and 28, 2023
Tour times: 10:30am, 11:30am, 12:30pm, 1:30pm, and 2:30pm (limited to groups of 16)
Members: $ 25 / General Public: $30

An up close and creep examination of all things funereal, the popular Witches & Tombstones Tour begins at The Isaac Stevens House with the wake of young Henry Stevens, who died at the age of three. Guests will learn about 19th-century mourning practices, how illnesses were treated, and how the living dealt with fears of being buried alive. Next, guests will visit the Wethersfield Ancient Burying Ground. See the graves and hear stories of those who met their end during Connecticut’s first mass murder and learn how gravestones warned the living of their own impending peril. The final stop on the Tour is The Buttolph-Williams House (c 1711), the setting for the award-winning children’s novel, The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare. Hear stories about the notorious Wethersfield Witch Trials, which preceded the Salem Witch Trials by 30 years. The Buttolph-Williams House is a Connecticut Landmarks property.

*Please note: The Witches & Tombstones Tour includes climbing stairs and walking on uneven ground. This tour is not recommended for youth under age 12.

The Alchemy of Justice: John Winthrop, Jr., and New England’s Other Witch: Presented by Walt Woodward
Thursday, October 26, 2023
Reception: 6 p.m. Program: 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Members: $10 / General Public: $15
Holcombe Education Center

Before Salem, the Connecticut colony was New England’s most aggressive prosecutor of witches. That was before John Winthrop Jr., renowned alchemist, and himself an occult practitioner, became involved in the colony’s witchcraft cases. His careful – but forceful – intervention in the case of Wethersfield’s Katherine Harrison transformed Connecticut from New England’s most aggressive killer of witches to a colony that ended witchcraft executions a generation before Salem. Walt Woodward is the Connecticut State Historian Emeritus and an Associate Professor of Early American History at the University of Connecticut. He teaches American Environmental History, Public History, and an honors American Studies course focused on the Connecticut River, as well as courses in Connecticut history.