They're Burning All the Witches
New AP Taylor Swift podcast episode alert! Show & Tell - Witches available now
We’ve been promising a witches episode for ages, and it’s finally here! This episode was so much fun as we got to all be wildly on brand with some history, some Harry Potter, and lots of Taylor (of course). Throw on this episode as you put up the finishing decorations for trick-or-treaters or make Taylor’s famous chai cookies. It’s time for some spooky season self-care!
Click above to tune in to our full conversation, and keep scrolling for this week’s extra credit from Jenn reflecting on the relationship between religion and witchcraft.
🎥 Sneak Peek
Catch excerpts from the podcast and behind-the-scenes content on YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram!
Tiktok failed to load.Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser
🛍️ Shop With Us! Active Discount Codes
As we grow, we are so excited to announce new partnerships! Here you’ll find active discount codes available to our listeners.
📚 Bookshop.org Check out all our book recommendations by episode
🔉Libro.fm Support your local bookstore while listening to great audiobooks
Code: APTS
Offer: Get a free audiobook when you start a new membership (you must use this link!)
Receive 2 audiobook credits for $14.99 USD with your first month of membership.Code: APTS30
Offer: 30% off specific audiobooks in the AP Taylor Swift playlist.
✨ Krowned Krystals Make the whole place shimmer with the best rhinestones
Code: APTS
Offer: 10% off your order when you use the link above
🎒This Week’s Extra Credit - Brought to You by Jenn
If you’ve listened to the pod, you know that I am a born and raised Christian midwesterner, so I’ve seen some STRONG opinions on witchcraft. I remember in fifth grade at my Christian school seeing a classmate with a Harry Potter book, and everyone was truly shocked. I can’t recall if the Harry Potter books were outright banned at the school, or if it was just obviously common courtesy not to flaunt the fact that you were a sinner who was reading about witchcraft. Now that memory is extra hilarious because my current pastor has fully referenced Harry Potter during sermon illustrations on many occasions.
In no world can I go through the whole history of religion and witchcraft in one Substack, but I wanted to look at a couple of key moments. Partially because it is fun, and partially because unpacking why we believe what we believe is a pretty powerful exercise.
Young Goodman Brown
I don’t recall if I read this in high school or later in my education career, but this allegorical short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a great glimpse into the Puritan view on witchcraft. Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts to a family that had been in the town for generations. It’s unsurprising, then, that he was interested in writing about witches and witchcraft!
The Story of “Young Goodman Brown”
“Young Goodman Brown” is about a man, Goodman Brown, and his wife, Faith (allegories aren’t known for their subtlety). In the story, Goodman Brown goes into the woods and runs into a mysterious man who kind of looks like him. Goodman Brown finds out that this man is the devil, and throughout the story, he sees the religious leaders of the town also enter the woods to go to the devil’s ceremony. Goodman Brown holds to his morals until he realizes that his wife, Faith, is also there to join the group.
"My Faith is gone!" cried he, after one stupefied moment. "There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given."
The story concludes with Goodman Brown returning to town and living the rest of his life suspicious of everyone, including his formerly beloved wife.
Diving into the Allegory
A couple of interesting things to note about this story. First, it presents the idea that everyone is capable of evil. The devil looks a bit like Goodman Brown himself, so Goodman Brown has to reconcile with his own evil potential.
Second, the story is wildly isolating to Goodman Brown. At the time, the didactic nature of the allegory would have communicated that it is wise to guard one’s own soul and be weary of the potential evil in others. Weirdly enough, my modern interpretation is how sad it is for Goodman Brown to be so isolated while everyone else in the town gets to hang out together.
Finally, building on what Maansi said in this week’s episode when she discussed “willow,” note that the town is where everyone behaves morally and as an upright citizen. The woods are where everyone went to be evil.
There is plenty more to analyze with this story, but I think this alone sets the stage well for American thoughts on witchcraft. So let’s move on to another moment in history.
The Satanic Panic
If you are under the age of 30, you probably have no idea what the satanic panic is. High-level summary (read more here if you’d like!) — in 1980, a book came out all about one woman’s recovered childhood memories of being given to a Satanic cult. This book launched the idea of recovered-memory therapy (now debunked) and caused panic throughout Canada and the United States.
It led to things like Dungeons and Dragons being banned and considered a dangerous game. If you watched the most recent season of Stranger Things, you see the impact of this in how Eddie, the leader of their D&D game, is treated by the town as a murder suspect the moment something goes down. He’s “weird” and “dangerous,” so he’s probably a satanic cult murderer.
It also led to performing memory-recovery therapy on children who then had false memories and accused their daycare caregivers of horrible acts. Many people faced charges despite no real evidence and lives were ruined.
Who Gets Accused?
I’m going to paint with a broad brush here for a moment, but Dungeons and Dragons was originally primarily adopted by the less-cool kids. The original creators certainly made some problematic decisions there for a while (this podcast has a great history on it), but in many ways, it was a safe place for kids who didn’t really fit in.
Now if we look at daycare workers, we are looking at primarily women and members of the LGBTQA+ community. Daycare workers are also often not paid a high salary, so they are also likely to be financially a bit more vulnerable.
So what does that mean? The people who suffered from the satanic panic were mostly kids who didn’t fit in, women, and members of the LGBTQA+ community. Hmmmm… almost like there is a trend there.
The Power of Fear
I wanted to revisit these two moments in history alongside our conversation on the pod, because I think the running theme through all of these moments is the way that those in power were able to harness fear. Historically, women and others have died because of this misplaced fear. Forty years ago, people were being ostracized or imprisoned due to misplaced fear. Regardless of your personal religious beliefs, it is clear that fear (and in many ways, religion as it relates to that fear) has been weaponized for violence and cruelty.
I am aware this is maybe a more intense Substack than usual, but because of my personal religious beliefs, I wanted to acknowledge the history behind this conversation. In writing this, I’ve also been reminded of a story about some Christian college kids who made a “confession booth” at a campus party, but they used that booth to confess the historical sins of Christians (excerpt here). I fully believe there is evil in the world, and misusing religion (any religion) to perpetuate violence, target specific groups of people, or cause harm is a peak example of that.
I would tie all of this more into Taylor, but this is already long enough. So I’ll just say tune in to next week when we will do a deep dive on “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me,” and keep everything I said here in mind. I’m pretty sure you’ll see some connections!
This is amazing. Wrote about Taylor Swift this week, and I teach a class where we review how satanic panic led to the incarceration of folks like the “West Memphis Three.” So clearly this is the Substack for me! Love seeing these deep dives. Swift’s work deserves this level of literary seriousness, so glad you’re doing it!