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The Realness of Witchcraft in America

A. Monroe, Jr. Aurand

Collection:

Notable marginalia:

No markings in this one, though the cover needs to be seen to be believed:

Librarian's note:

Who is this pamplhet for?

That's the question the rolled back and forth on every page. At first the answer feels quite simple: it's for Pennsylvanians.

That's not really an answer, is it? And yet, that's the only audience I'm quite sure of. Beyond that is only a theory: perhaps it's written for the educated, urban, protestant religious Pennsylvanians? (Non-protestants are always written about in the 3rd person.)

Because religion is really at the heart of this pamphlet.

From the cover, you might asume, as I and my family did on encountering this pamphlet in an antique store, that it's taking an anti-witchcraft stance. And technically, it does, but not in the way you would think, and not in a way I even fully understand due to a relative lack of context for what spurred this pamphlet's creation.

As far as I can tell, The Aurand Press generally created literature focused on the Pennsylvania Dutch. The Pennsylvania Dutch are indeed mentioned, but The Realness of Witchcraft in America would seem to break from their usual focus -- and breaks rhetoric at times. It is both a defense of folk traditions, insofar as they are just as superstitious as "enlightened" modern religious traditions, while also pointing fingers on sources for harmful, superstitious behavior in the WWII US (including said folk traditions). It is through this summersault of reasoning that he tries to universally shame people for their superstitions, whether it's playful fun around Halloween or Christian/Judaic charms to ward off evil.

In spite of the title, I don't think A. actually cares whether witchcraft exists, because the actions stoked by fear of witchcraft are far worse by his estimates; and he recounts instances of innocent people being killed as witches from Biblical times all the way to his modern era. The irony he points out is that people fight fire with fire -- or in this case, fight hexes and "black magic" with religious charms, prayers, and "white magic." Whether it's a special necklace, a marking on a barn, or a priest placing a plessing on the congregation, it's all a kind of "magic" to him that leads to more good than bad.

Other notes and quotes:

1. What makes a man superstitious; his religion, or a lack of it? (2)

2. Calls Pennsylvania one of the most enlightened states and sections of the country, yet fear of witchcraft still prevail (3)

3. He writes that, contrary to what the reader might expect even a young, attractive [woman], too, can bewitch, or be bewitching... This is a radical departure from the general belief that only old women, or sometimes old men, can 'bewitch' (4)

4. The flow of logic in this pamphlet is jarring and disjointed. It goes from witches, to fears of death, to fights between angels and demons, to generational churchgoing, and then mosaic influence, all in a few paragraphs. He manages to write in a way that feels like a collague of paragraphs from other pamphlets

5. 'Simple folk' are not always to be indicated as being persons who do not agree with the personal views of the reader, or the writer! There are many professional men and women whose manners and conduct in life suggest to the layman that there can be 'simpleness' among the learned too! (5)

6. Bolded words are as common as commas, such as, The Popes took cognizance of the practices to which the layman of the church, and outsiders, were resorting (6)

7. The old time conception, once held well-nigh universally among Christians, that hte Bible is the very Word of God, verbally dictated by the Lord himself and infallible in its every statement, has been responsible for more misuse of the Bible than all other influences put together, quote from Rev. P. Marion Simms, PhD, to explain how Exodus 22:18 (Thou shalt not suffer a watch to live) encouraged murder (7)

8. There can be no doubt that the settlers in New England were not only firm believers in every kind of witchcraft, but well primed in every malevolent superstition that could commend itself to their verjuiced and tortured minds.... The Devil, in fact, played a larger rol in their theology than God, a quote from Mantague Summers in The Geography of Witchcraft, page 256 (8). I have no idea why "verjuices" was thought an appropriate word to use.

9. In New England one person claimed that the Devil frequently had carnal knowledge of her body! (8)

10. Mary Baker Eddy... put a lot of faith in the powers of 'malicious animal magnetism'--just another term for witchcraft. (11)

11. Unsurprisingly, this pamphlet will include long quotes from other pamplhets created by this very same publisher, as if they're not written by the very same people (or even person). One of the page-long quotes that they include, for example, from "a book on the Jews" comes from their very own press ("Little Known Facts About the Ritual of the Jews and the Esoteric Folklore of the Pennsylvania-Germans").

12. If this backwoodsman's prayers are of no likely success, what impels you to think that you, or any other person speaking for you, can gain a favorable ear, where prayers are 'heard'? (13) In this part, he's trying to make the case that often, these people accused of witchcraft were taking on a similar role of priests in a pinch to ward off evil.

13. Under the section CHARMS AND TRINKETS ARE REVERED BY MANY OF OUR PEOPLE, he writes that these include a talisman, called a anhangsel, but also: there is the garlic sack; onions; stockings; the bag or sack with hot bacon and pepper; the crucifix; Metals which have been blessed; a parchment-containing prayers, Etc; bones, teeth, and many other items- all more or less" witch" charms. (14)

14. He recounts the trial of Margaret Mattson and Yeshro Hendrickson, which William Penn himself sat in judgment. The first mentioned pleated 'not guilty' to the charge that she bewitched, calves, geese Etc, but that while she could bewitch cattle, oxen were above her reach. (17)

15. In many cases, he says the news of his time liked the spiciness of a witchcraft murder trial, but rarely was witchcraft actually involved.

16. There was the case of Albert Shinsky, near Pottsville- notable for the fact that he claimed he killed a witch in self-defense- and, that nothing whatsoever happened in that affair to prove, or disprove, the theory regarding witches, other than that they are creatures of the Mind, and of that fact there is little, or no doubt. (20). According to this pamphlet, Shinsky was convinced the Bible condoned murder from stories such as Abraham being told to kill Isaac. The psychiatrist sent to examine this man in prison wrote, I had been talking with a mental and emotional infant and he was diagnosed as a schizophrenic. The author asks if the masses could not receive a similar diagnosis.

17. Religion and superstition walk hand in hand and these superstitions that people learn as children follow them into adulthood (21)

18. There's a sudden appeal from Clerence Darrow (writing in 1929) that capital punishment is itself a form of witchcraft, as he writes there's no proof that it's any deterent against crime; yet people believe in it as if it's so, like a spell. He writes that education and training of youth is far more effective. (22)

19. He includes a piece from a newspaper that claims in Harrisburg, fear of hexerei was banned from public schools. The pamphlet author seems dubious about this, not because he doesn't agree with the sentiment, but thinks the situation is too massive and complicated as it relates to religion. That they are treating rural superstitions as worse than the generally accepted religious superstitions that they're sourced from. Are they really going to convince people that holy water, for instance, is just a load of folly? When it's in the church it's good magic ("white art") but when practiced outside the church, it's a "black art" (24-5)

20. In the section titled "AND SO THEY CELEBRATE PAGAN DAYS IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS", he argues that schools celebrate the very holiday that encourages many of these superstitions (namely Halloween), as well as Easter and Christmas. That the make-believe so vital to these holidays can be taken seriously as children grow up (26)

21. About Halloween specifically, he writes, much property is damaged, some carted away to be found weeks later; men and women get drunk, and celebrate orgies not unlike the eve of Mayday in England and Scotland, a century ago, or festivals in ancient Rome. (27)

22. How many of our adult population pass through life with 'teenage minds'? If you want statistics on this, read the reports resulting from conscriptions for military service. (28)

23. Between 'hex' and 'sex' problems, we believe that the latter is the big job, and one they will have trouble to solve, if you gather what we mean. No, I don't (28)

24. A discourse dealing with the subject of witchcraft in Pennsylvania has been wanting for years. We find ourselves in a pathetic sort of state, being associated with mature men and women who are actually afraid to delve into a subject as important as this is, because of a personal fear that something might 'happen' to them! (29)

25. While we have not recorded the complete history of witchcraft in Pennsylvania by any means, the reader will surely have attained some new slants on this vague subject. We cannot prove the existence, or non-existence, of either angels, or witches- neither can you! (30)

26. The pamphlet ends with a story about a man who reached out to this publisher asking for a book that would stop him from being bewitched. After asking him some questions, the publisher determined that he was something of an incell, as we might think of it today. He had developed a friendship with a widower, and having never "been" with a woman, was hoping this was his chance. Unfortunately, she wasn't friendly to the idea and he was now angry. He also told them well, the old witch has me so fixed that I can't s--- on Sundays and holidays, [sic]. It's hard to know whether this was a joke being played on them or not. They took it very seriously, but admitted laughing. Their answer to this was that he probably couldn't poop because he wasn't getting out on weekends or holidays, and so prescribed him a glass of castor oil but under the guise of it being a spell.