Spooky Season Post #10, October 10, 2026: Portrait of a Victim of the Salem Witch trials

From the Vampa Museum, a portrait of a young woman, Alice Parker, a victim of the Salem Witch Trials executions in 1692, one of the most shameful and tragic periods of early America. Twenty-five people died: twenty were executed, and five perished in prison; over 200 were accused of being witches, losing their property, civil rights, and livelihoods. This tragedy inspired me to write my novel "The Bedfordshire Warlock," a horror story about a real warlock executed in the fictitious town of Bedfordshire, MA, in 1692. Donated by her direct descendants, the sign warns that the painting has a spiritual infestation: "Some spirits refuse to be forgotten."