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Toothakers & The Salem Witch Trial

In my story, Gold ‘n Silver, I have my own run-in with a teen/young adult who claims she is a Putnam. I, unlike most of the other people I knew, had no knowledge about my family or their history. However, in researching my history, my family was not necessarily on the side of the Putnam’s or the Porters. Both the Putnams and Porters were wealthy. My human-facing family had not come to this country with their obvious wealth or power.

She stood there, after I had been shown a noose, hovering over my face and threatening to hang me if I ever practiced witchcraft again. She sneered that I had “better learn my history.” And then says that none of them are witches but are actually Christian. That, as in the past, was a lie and they used Christianity to hide what they were really doing.

My theory in Gold ‘n Silver is that this was actually a witch war of sorts and that the Putnam line (“impure” or “without virtue”) was hunting the “pure” descendants of a supernatural class of witches. This was only further aggravated by interpersonal animosities and politics.

And, strangely, it is a novel about Ann Putnam that brings us back to the Mormons.