Taking a break from the travelogue because I’ve got a busy week:
Welcome to the Witch Capital of Norway: Vardø never capitalized on its bloody history in the manner of Salem MA, but it does have some stark monuments to the 1621 burnings. The article also includes some beautiful but bleak photos of the town as it is today.
Murder in the Mountains—AT Murderer left creepy occult clues at cache site: Randall Lee Smith, the “Appalachian Trail Murderer”, spent fifteen years in jail for killing two hikers in 1981 and upon release lived quietly…until he attempted another double killing in 2008. After Smith died authorities found his eerie outdoor cache of women’s underwear, glasses…and audio tapes of supposed magical rituals (stolen from the movie “The Craft”?). I can’t link directly to the “My Favorite Murder” podcast episode about Smith but if you want to know more that seems a good place to start.
In the 1600s Hester Pulter wondered, ‘Why must I forever be confined?’ – now her poems are online for all to see: I love it when old documents find new life online and Pulter’s work sounds like astute observations from a trying time (the English Civil war).
