On this episode, Aíne Norris (Old Dominion University), guides us through one story of an age-old accusation levied against women throughout colonial and early American history: witchcraft.
In 1891, newspapers across America printed a story about known witches in the Appalachian Mountains and their supernatural powers. “Sally Friddly” of Potts Creek, Alleghany County, Virginia, was among those named, accused of enchanting a milk pail to steal cream from her neighbors. The blurb and alleged incantation were picked up and re-printed in papers across the country for the next five years, but Fridley’s name was not otherwise associated with witchcraft within public records. Today, the allegation remains, forever naming Fridley, and others, as Virginia witches. Researching their footsteps for over a year led Norris through the mountain roads of Alleghany County and to the doorsteps of descendants, all in a larger discussion of power, lore, and legacy. Production support by Crystal Donkor (Southern Methodist University). Transcript available at bit.ly/S09E04Transcript Resources: bit.ly/S09E04Resources
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On this episode, Aíne Norris (Old Dominion University), guides us through one story of an age-old accusation levied against women throughout colonial and early American history: witchcraft.
In 1891, newspapers across America printed a story about known witches in the Appalachian Mountains and their supernatural powers. “Sally Friddly” of Potts Creek, Alleghany County, Virginia, was among those named, accused of enchanting a milk pail to steal cream from her neighbors. The blurb and alleged incantation were picked up and re-printed in papers across the country for the next five years, but Fridley’s name was not otherwise associated with witchcraft within public records. Today, the allegation remains, forever naming Fridley, and others, as Virginia witches. Researching their footsteps for over a year led Norris through the mountain roads of Alleghany County and to the doorsteps of descendants, all in a larger discussion of power, lore, and legacy. Production support by Crystal Donkor (Southern Methodist University). Transcript available at bit.ly/S09E04Transcript Resources: bit.ly/S09E04Resources
S06E02 | Did You Hear?: Eavesdropping on 19th Century Women
C19: America in the 19th Century
46 minutes 1 second
2 years ago
S06E02 | Did You Hear?: Eavesdropping on 19th Century Women
In this episode, Susannah Sharpless (Cornell University) and Charline Jao (Cornell University) propose gossip as a scholarly approach and indulge their desire to talk about other people. Our hosts connect juicy tidbits from the lives of nineteenth-century women writers to questions about the role of biography, identification, and inference in scholarship more broadly. Jao explores the life of Rose Terry Cooke, whose short stories about tyrannical husbands and spinster life seem – at first glance – inconsistent with her own belief systems and later marriage. Sharpless takes us through the story of how interpersonal dislikes emerging from deep-seated political disagreements tore apart the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society at one fateful meeting in 1840. Engaging with the delightfully comedic aspects of these stories, the two also insist on deep historicist commitments as they present full pictures of the dynamic, messy nineteenth-century literary sphere, populated by narcissists, social climbers, and debauchées, and as well as dreamers and thinkers with a genuine faith in the power of language to create real change. Post-production support was provided by Julia W. Bernier (Washington & Jefferson College). Transcript available at https://bit.ly/S06S02Transcript
C19: America in the 19th Century
On this episode, Aíne Norris (Old Dominion University), guides us through one story of an age-old accusation levied against women throughout colonial and early American history: witchcraft.
In 1891, newspapers across America printed a story about known witches in the Appalachian Mountains and their supernatural powers. “Sally Friddly” of Potts Creek, Alleghany County, Virginia, was among those named, accused of enchanting a milk pail to steal cream from her neighbors. The blurb and alleged incantation were picked up and re-printed in papers across the country for the next five years, but Fridley’s name was not otherwise associated with witchcraft within public records. Today, the allegation remains, forever naming Fridley, and others, as Virginia witches. Researching their footsteps for over a year led Norris through the mountain roads of Alleghany County and to the doorsteps of descendants, all in a larger discussion of power, lore, and legacy. Production support by Crystal Donkor (Southern Methodist University). Transcript available at bit.ly/S09E04Transcript Resources: bit.ly/S09E04Resources
