A CAPE FEAR UNEARTHED HALLOWEEN, EP. 3 

Witches have become icons of Halloween, but in colonial America, they were something to be feared.

With the dawn of America and in the generations that followed, North Carolina protected itself against the perceived threat of witchcraft by establishing laws to try cases and accusations. But more telling was how the concern over witches embedded itself in the state's folklore, where stories of rituals and markings illustrate just how much the minions of the dark were feared.

In this episode, we will look at how one Cape Fear resident was granted the power to try witch cases, what folklore exists regarding witchcraft and how there were laws against witchcraft-like practices on the books in the state until more recently than you might think.

Cape Fear Unearthed is written, edited and hosted by Hunter Ingram. Additional editing by Adam Fish.

The show is sponsored by Northchase Family Dentistry and Tidewater Heating & Air Conditioning.

Sources:

-- "Witchcraft in North Carolina," by Tom Peete Cross

-- Louis T. Moore research, New Hanover County Library

-- "Bewitched from the Start," N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

-- North Carolina Folklore Society Journals

-- "Witches and Demons in History and Folklore," by F. Roy Johnson