Witcherature

There I was in my family’s half-finished basement, surrounded by my friends. It was the mid-1970s at the end of October, in a small town in Ohio and my mom was throwing me an epic Halloween party.

We had just finished a game where we sat in a circle on the old rug that barely protected our bottoms from the cold linoleum basement floor. My mom started telling us a scary story that involved body parts and, as the story went along, she would pass the ‘body parts” around the circle. It was pitch dark in the room and we could only use our hands, not our eyes. Ice cold hands (water that had been frozen in rubber gloves, a heart (peeled tomato), and eyes (peeled grapes) were solemnly passed around. My friends and I were around eight years old at the time, so we tried to laugh off our fear, tried to remind ourselves it wasn’t really body parts that were being passed around, but I think we were all relieved when the story was over, the lights turned on, and cupcakes started getting passed around instead of body parts.

My mom turned up the lights a bit, but it was still dark and gloomy and our Chilling Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House record was crackling through its haunted house noises. About halfway through my cupcake, I began to realize there was a sound that wasn’t coming from where the record player was. It was coming from the basement stairwell.

“Here kitty, kitty.” a decidedly scratchy voice called.

I tried to rationalize with myself, tried to stay cool in front of my friends as I came to the slow realization that I was positive that there was no witch calling her cat on my Halloween album. I was sure of it. I looked around at my friends and realized many had their own heads cocked listening too. We giggled nervously as the voice came closer.

“Here kitty, kitty.”

We were all looking towards the other room, where the staircase was when, as if by magic, she appeared. A witch! Long dark hair, green skin, a tall black hat, and a broom. We jumped as she leapt into the room.

As the witch began walking around the circle, asking who had taken her black cat, I squinted into her face, trying to see which of my parents’ friends it was. My blood ran cold as I realized it wasn’t anyone I knew.

The witch was only there for a little while. She cackled and left. The party was over. My parents sent my friends home, filled with candy and terror. (can you imagine doing that in today’s world?) and my mom eventually fessed up that the witch was a woman who worked for my father who agreed to come to our house and scare the living daylights out of his children (again, can you imagine that being okay today?).

It was probably the most memorable Halloween party I have ever been to.

What to Read In October: Witch Cozies

I love to read “witcherature” (a genre of books that feature, you guessed it, witches!). It’s one of my guilty pleasures and, since October is sneaking up us on like a witch going down basement stairs, I thought I would share my favorites.

The witches in these books might own cats but they don’t wear black hats or carry brooms. In fact, my favorite witch books feature creative woman who are domestic goddesses-they always live in gorgeous, old houses, in small towns where it is perpetually fall. They cook with herbs and make everyone in town swoon over both their recipes, if something is ailing you, they usually have an herb to cure you-including being love sick. The witch books I love are COZY.

The Practical Magic Series by Alice Hoffman

You’ve probably seen the movie, but the books are worth reading. Hoffman traced the entire line of her witches to their origins in the series. I love Practical Magic because it’s all about sisters and aunts-something close to my heart. There’s also Tipsy Chocolate Cake being eaten. Who could ask for anything more?

I love the first two books in the series best, Practical Magic and The Rules of Magic best-I think because they are set in the modern age, but the last two are good too. You can read the series in the order they were written or in chronological order (basically the reverse of when they were written).

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen

I’ll read just about anything by Sarah Addison Allen but Garden Spells is by far, my absolute favorite. I love that the house is a character, slamming and locking it’s own doors, that the tree in the backyard throws it’s apples, and that the main character (Claire) is caterer who makes food that is magical. (Click here for some of Claire’s recipes.)

There’s a second book in this ‘Waverly Sisters’ series, First Frost, but I love Garden Spells most of all.

Midnight at the Blackbird Café by Heather Webber

This one takes place in a small, southern town and Anna Kate has just returned to bury her grandmother and get her own life on track as the new owner of her grandmother’s café. Are you seeing a theme? It’s a sweet book-in so many ways.

Now, tell me about your favorite 'witchy' books.

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