Hex

by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

People desperately resisted the idea of their own death by looking away for as long as they could and avoiding the subject.

“Now, you have to understand that superstition was embedded deep in the human psyche,” Pete continued. “We’re talking about folks who had to manage in a completely strange world, at a time when there was absolutely no security. In Europe, they had had their share of plague epidemics, failed harvests, famine, and outlaws, and the New World was full of unknown wild beasts, savages, and demons. No one knew what kind of supernatural forces haunted the wilderness to the west of the settlements. A pretty unpleasant situation. Without science, people had to rely on old wives’ tales and omens. They feared Almighty God and were scared to death of the Devil.

During the Boston Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1693, mass graves were often reopened to bury the new dead, and sometimes the gravediggers came across swollen corpses that had blood running out of their mouths, with the shrouds eaten away from around the faces. It was as if the dead person had gnawed his way out of his shroud and had come back to life in order to drink blood. Today we know that decomposing bodies swell up because of gases. Rotting organs force fluids out of the mouth and the shroud is eaten away by the bacteria they contain. But back then it was presented as scientific fact that the ‘shroud eaters’ were the undead who fed on the living and spread curses along with the fever, so that more dead would come to life. Church ministers would shove bricks into their mouths so they would starve.”

What terrible thing awaits us? That’s the breeding ground where the fear of Katherine van Wyler took root.”

Every last grain of idealism would be sacrificed on the altar of safety.

Wow

And besides, if hypothermia had played a role, under what conditions were you keeping him prisoner beneath the house of God?