Thanks for this comment about the possible affliction of some of the women accused as being witches. From what I read in Wikipedia about Huntington's Disease, I am skeptical that it is what afflicted Elizabeth Knapp as a teenager. She went on to marry, have children and live to 65, which doesn't fit with the prognosis for those with this disease. And I am not aware of other distant family members with this disease.
One of my 7x great grandmothers, Elizabeth Knapp (1655-1720) at age 16 while working as a servant for the Harvard-trained local minister became "possessed" and spoke in a strange voice as if she were the devil. She accused the minister of lying and became known as the Groton Witch. Within about 10 weeks her ailment ended, and in 1674 she married Samuel Scripture. That her behavior was tolerated in Groton is key to my existence. Her acting out led to stories being written about her by the minister. In my vast lineage from the 1600s, she is one of the few women I know something about other than their birth and death dates, their husband's name, and the number and names of their children. I celebrate her witchiness and am glad that she didn't grow up in Salem.
This post speaks to me in ways I can hardly describe. I am currently curating a show entitled “BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE: Women and Art in an Uncertain World,” which launches at Brickbottom Gallery in January and then proceeds on to other New England venues. We are five established Boston-area artists (Kathryn Geismar, Tira Khan, Virginia Mahoney, Lorraine Sullivan, and myself) who have lived long enough to remember what was before -- all of us with work relating to women’s ongoing struggle for dignity, visibility, independence, equality, and the power to make our own personal, sexual, and health decisions. In the midst of this historic backward slide, we look forward to showing the world what we are at risk of losing. Thank you so much for this brilliant piece.
very thorough and thoughtful piece. judith herman wrote in 'trauma and recovery' that if individuals try to move faster than the culture is ready for, they are vilified. she mentioned the 19th century psychiatrist who believed women reporting incest were telling the truth. but freud's views on female hysteria prevailed and the psychiatrist who saw the truth was shamed.
Thanks for this comment about the possible affliction of some of the women accused as being witches. From what I read in Wikipedia about Huntington's Disease, I am skeptical that it is what afflicted Elizabeth Knapp as a teenager. She went on to marry, have children and live to 65, which doesn't fit with the prognosis for those with this disease. And I am not aware of other distant family members with this disease.
One of my 7x great grandmothers, Elizabeth Knapp (1655-1720) at age 16 while working as a servant for the Harvard-trained local minister became "possessed" and spoke in a strange voice as if she were the devil. She accused the minister of lying and became known as the Groton Witch. Within about 10 weeks her ailment ended, and in 1674 she married Samuel Scripture. That her behavior was tolerated in Groton is key to my existence. Her acting out led to stories being written about her by the minister. In my vast lineage from the 1600s, she is one of the few women I know something about other than their birth and death dates, their husband's name, and the number and names of their children. I celebrate her witchiness and am glad that she didn't grow up in Salem.
This post speaks to me in ways I can hardly describe. I am currently curating a show entitled “BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE: Women and Art in an Uncertain World,” which launches at Brickbottom Gallery in January and then proceeds on to other New England venues. We are five established Boston-area artists (Kathryn Geismar, Tira Khan, Virginia Mahoney, Lorraine Sullivan, and myself) who have lived long enough to remember what was before -- all of us with work relating to women’s ongoing struggle for dignity, visibility, independence, equality, and the power to make our own personal, sexual, and health decisions. In the midst of this historic backward slide, we look forward to showing the world what we are at risk of losing. Thank you so much for this brilliant piece.
very thorough and thoughtful piece. judith herman wrote in 'trauma and recovery' that if individuals try to move faster than the culture is ready for, they are vilified. she mentioned the 19th century psychiatrist who believed women reporting incest were telling the truth. but freud's views on female hysteria prevailed and the psychiatrist who saw the truth was shamed.