Emerson W. Baker of the Salem State University History Department will talk about why folk magic was far more common in colonial New England than most of us realize. Daisy wheel marks, witch bottles, well-worn shoes by fireplaces or a horseshoe over a doorway are examples of the counter-magic employed to protect homes and families from evil. They are also evidence that New Englanders dabbled in magic, and feared witches and supernatural forces long after the Salem witch trials ended.

The lecture will be followed by a book signing with Dr. Baker and his work, A Storm of Witchcraft.

This lecture is $10.00 for the general public and free for members of The Gables. Advance tickets will go on sale for this lecture mid-July, 2018.

For more information, email jarrison@7gables.org, or call 978-744-0991 ext. 152.

Emerson “Tad” Baker is interim dean of Graduate and Professional Studies and a professor of History at Salem State University. He is the award-winning author of many works on the history of and archaeology of early New England, including A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience. He has served as an advisor for PBS-TV’s American Experience and Colonial House. Baker is a member of the Gallows Hill Project team who recently confirmed the witch trials execution site, and he has co-authored an iPhone app on the witchcraft crisis.