This year, I've decided to go as a Puritan woman, inspired by my love of movies like "ParaNorman" and "The Witch", and the play "The Crucible", and my fascination with the historical Salem Witch Trials. (Also, if I'm being honest, inspired by the fact that I had a budget of like $10 for this.)
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| I think I did pretty well with the money I had. |
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Young Goody Nym sat outside the meeting house in the chilly morning air before that Sunday's sermon reading her Bible like a good, Puritan woman.
There had been a devil's scourge sweeping through Salem as of late - tales of women signing their souls to the devil and sending out apparitions that tormented local children. A shiver went down Goody Nym's spine as she recalled those poor children - young Abigail Williams and Ann Putnam among them - writhing and sobbing in the meeting house. Why, just last Wednesday there had been pins discovered in the girl's scalp, placed by witches!
Truth be told, Goody Nym didn't know what to make of any of it. But these trials frightened her. If the Devil really was active in Salem, she feared becoming the next victim of His legion of evil witches.
That was when she heard it.
She slowly began to walk up the man-made path as she heard tiny, almost musical voices chanting:
"Come away, o human child! To the waters and the wild."
Something was not right. And she was determined to find out what.
She got to the top of the stairs, a tad disoriented. The voices continued, though they were faint. She couldn't tell which direction they were coming from! But still, they continued, sending a chill up her spine:
"With a faery, hand in hand, for the world's more full of weeping than you can understand!"
She shivered, and called out, "Who's there?!"
The voices were silent.
Goody Nym didn't like any of this one bit. She had heard stories when she was young, of her grandmother's sister back in England, who had been abducted by the Fair Folk. The ministers said such stories were really about agents of Satan, fallen angels who had sworn allegiance to that Black Prince.
She didn't know what she believed, truthfully. Yes, she read her Bible and went to church every Sunday without fail. In a town such as Salem, one could not afford to miss church. If the Devil was truly walking the streets of Salem, it was wise to stay out of His evil grasp. After all, it did not escape Goody Nym that many of the people accused - most of them women like herself - had missed church at least once, and often more than once.
But the Bible said nothing about the Fair Folk, nothing about strange voices in the woods or young girls mysteriously disappearing.
She continued to walk among the path, when she saw a young girl, seemingly entranced, walking towards a strange light.
"Where the wave of moonlight glosses the dim grey sands with light, far off by furthest Rosses we foot it all the night..."
There were those voices again, louder than ever as the lights danced around the young girl! Goody Nym gasped and ran forward to grab her.
"Betty! No!"
It was Betty Parris, the minister's daughter. The girl's trance was broken in an instant, and she struggled against Goody Nym's grasp. "Let me go! The angels are going to take me to a nice place, where I can eat all the sweets I want and pick all the beautiful flowers I see!"
"But they aren't angels, Betty!" Goody Nym sighed and turned the young girl around, bending to be closer to her height and placing her hands on her shoulders. The poor thing was only 9. "You must be vigilant - if you let the Fair Folk drag you away, your family will never see you again. They lie, Betty. They just want to tempt you so they can take you away."
"Like Satan, you mean?" The young girl, a minister's daughter through and through, used the only logical comparison she could think of.
Goody Nym nodded, not wanting to confuse the child even more with some philosophical debate on the nature of Fair Folk. Betty Parris paused, then sighed.
"I'm tired, Goody Nym."
"Come, Betty. Let's get you home." She escorted the young girl home, than began to walk to the other end of town where she lived, ready to turn in for the night.
The next morning, she was awoken by the sunbeams filtering through her bedroom window and hitting her in the face. Goody Nym squinted and frowned - normally she was up before sunrise. Sleeping in so late put her behind schedule for all she had to do today. Why, the bread she had been intending to bake for the sick neighbour girl would probably not be done until sundown!
Grumbling, she pulled herself out of bed and went to go check the sundial in her yard to see what time it was.
If only she'd woken up earlier.
"Goody Nym!" A voice surprised her. She jumped and looked up.
"Why, Goody Pendle," she frowned. She considered Prudence Pendle a friend, and the scared expression on her friend's face was not a welcome sight. "Whatever is the matter?"
"There was a meeting this morning. Goody Nym, you must flee town immediately!"
"What?! Whatever for?!"
Prudence looked around nervously, as if afraid men would burst from the bushes at any moment.
"More witch accusations, Goody Nym - and your name has been accused!"
Goody Nym bristled. "I am no witch! Who has accused me?!"
"Abigail Williams said that last night her cousin Betty came home rambling about faeries, and 'twas you who put such images into her head!"
Goody Nym's eyes widened. And when she heard the voices of angry men approaching, her heart began to pound.
"Run, Goody Nym!" Prudence pleaded. "I will hold them off as long as I can, but you must run!"
She fled into the forest. She could not believe they wanted to punish her for saving Betty Parris!
But then again... Sarah Osborne and Martha Corey had both been accused, though both had reputations as holy women who did good works for the Lord. Goody Corey's husband had been crushed to death for refusing to name any other supposed witches. They had all insisted upon their innocence. And what of little Dorcas Good? Surely a 4-year-old couldn't be an agent of Satan!
Were there any witches at all? Or were they all like her, wrongfully accused?
Goody Nym wasn't stupid - she knew if she was caught, she would be tried. She knew she could not confess at the trial to a crime she had not committed - that would be lying, and lying was a sin! But if she did not confess, she would be hung! So what could she do but run?!
"You can run," the crowd's voices called from behind her, "but you cannot hide!"
She looked back. They were gaining on her!
There was nowhere she could run. They were too fast. There was nowhere she could hide, either. There was nowhere to go but up.
Before she could talk herself out of what was possibly a phenomenally stupid plan, she began to climb.
And once she was in the trees she prayed:
"Oh please, please save me from these wretched accusations!"
As if on cue, out of the corner of her eye she saw a light. She turned to it, and it spoke to her:
"Come away, o human child," the musical voice spoke, and more lights began to surround her, "to the water and the wild..."
What choice did she have?
By the time the men got to the base of the tree, Goody Nym was nowhere to be seen.
As the months followed, the Witch Trials eventually faded out. By the end of it, twenty people had been executed. But they never saw Goody Nym again.
To this day, if you ever find yourself in Salem, look to the trees. You might just see the apparition of Goody Nym, with the Fair Folk, ready to save any children who need her help.
-fin-
This photoshoot would not have been possible without the help of my best friend Sarah, who took all the photos. The photoshoot was done in the Shakespeare Garden in New York City's Central Park. The poem quoted throughout this entry is "The Stolen Child" by W.B. Yeats. This poem is in the public domain, and it's really quite lovely, so give it a read!
And Happy Halloween! Watch out for angry Puritans and Fair Folk!
~Nym~
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