Stone-Throwing Devils

The Trickster Spirits of Early New England

The early New England colonies were, in large part, intended as a utopian experiment to establish a model Christian society in preparation for Judgment Day. To guide this lofty vision the founding patriarchs cobbled together a social blueprint based on archaic Old Testament precedents and stern Calvinist church-state doctrine. The resulting “biblical commonwealths” of their design were, in stifled reality, highly regimented settlements ruled by a strict religious order and moral code. Enforced church orthodoxy dominated civic life. Neighbors regularly turned on neighbors in righteous condemnation, with even minor infractions inviting swift and often cruel punishments by authorities. And those who transgressed the established order could expect no less than to be banished, tortured or hanged.

The rigid demands of Puritan life made for a fairly bleak existence that centered around one's predestined relationship with a cold, demanding and, at times, highly erratic God. It also fostered a psychological culture of repressed volatility. For the faithful devout, it was only by the fortified sanctity and purity of their godly settlements that the dark forces of the land were kept at bay. Sacred space was safe space; a symbolic means to ward off the unknown, unpleasant and unacceptable – and when cracks appeared in this fragile edifice it triggered sudden and unpredictable outbursts, including the seemingly paranormal...

Rites of Desecration

Suicide, Sacrilege and the Crossroads Burial

Although suicide has always been considered to be the most personal of acts, it has a complex social and cultural history in the Western world – one that has been shaped by three-thousand years of shifting moralities, public opinions, popular superstitions, religious beliefs, medical interpretations and philosophical debates.

In ancient Greek and Roman societies, “self-death” was generally treated with a sense of ambivalence. Philosophers pondered the subject with an open mind, balancing notions of morality and free will, and ultimately believing it better to depart in peace rather than live a life of misery. Elite soldiers were expected to follow a hero's code, where death by one's own hand was embraced over surrender and battlefield disgrace. Medical practitioners routinely assisted in mercy killings, providing poisons to patients who wished to end prolonged sickness or suffering. Even members of the nobility, when faced with criminal charges and public shame, considered suicide to be a dignified means for salvaging one's personal legacy from total disgrace.

This relatively tolerant attitude would change dramatically with the rise of Christianity. The early Christian sects themselves gave little value to life in this world. Following the example of their executed messiah, they celebrated the acts of martyrs who embraced death rather than renounce their faith. But as the religion became institutionalized by the fifth-century this outlook would change. Suicide was unequivocally declared a moral abomination, a sinful act of violence against God directed by the Devil himself, “which shall not be forgiven... neither in this world, neither in the world to come.”¹

Haunted Trees of New England

New England is steeped in ghostly legends and folklore, with an exceptionally high number of haunted sites reported throughout the region. There are houses, bars or inns that played host to tragic events where tortured souls still reside. Desolate roads or old cemeteries where lonely spirits walk the night. And whole areas where cursed villages were abandoned or great battles were fought, charged with the residual energy of the past. There are also haunted trees.

The belief in haunted trees goes back through history and across cultural boundaries. For the ancient Celts, sacred trees were considered to be a link with the supernatural world. It's a English folk belief that carried through the ages. The various native tribes indigenous to the area had their own, remarkably similar, beliefs regarding the spirits and divinities that occupied the untamed forest spaces. And the superstitious Puritans who settled these lands lived in constant fear of the dark forces that lurked just beyond their village borders...

The land remembers.