Monday, March 10, 2014

The Dreaming: Walks Through Mist, a guest essay by Kim Murphy

Today I'm pleased to welcome my friend Kim Murphy, who has an essay about a fascinating but little-known aspect of early American history which forms the background to her latest fiction release, The Dreaming: Walks Through Mist.  I was absorbed by the novel when I read it several years ago; the research is sound, and I can highly recommend it to readers of time-slips (one of my favorites) and anyone interested in colonial America or Native American cultures.

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The Dreaming: Walks Through Mist
by Kim Murphy

Witch trials in Virginia?

Except for some people who live in the tidewater region of the state, few realize that Virginia was the first to hold witch trials on the North American continent. Not only are the Virginia trials overshadowed by Salem, but the records that have survived to modern times are sparse. Thanks to the Civil War, many of the 17th century records were burned during the 19th century (another area of history that I know very well!).

Unlike in Salem, only one woman was known to have been executed. But how many records were lost? No one will ever know. The journey of writing my story led me to read more about England, where the colonists originated from. I discovered Emma Wilby's wonderful book Cunning Folk and Familiar Spirits: Shamanistic Visionary Traditions in Early Modern British Witchcraft and Magic. With an anthropology degree, I have always been intrigued by shamans, and I was off and running.

Even though historians disagree whether the cunning folk (English shamans) ever reached the American shores, I uncovered two Virginia witch trials that sounded very much like cunning women. Yet, something was missing.

When the colonists first arrived on Virginia's shores, the land was already inhabited. Besides the John Smith/Pocahontas myth, I knew nothing about the Algonquian-speaking people, commonly referred to as the Powhatan. In my pursuit to learn more, not only did I read books, but I visited the historic sites. Jamestown is the original site where the colonists made the first permanent English settlement in North America, and Jamestown Settlement is a living history park where the 17th century comes alive. The Citie of Henricus is also a living history park portraying the second English settlement. Like Jamestown Settlement, it includes exhibits and demonstrations of how the Indians of the time lived, but unlike Jamestown, Henricus did not survive Opechancanough's organized attacks in 1622.

Also on my stops, I included visits to the Pamunkey and Mattaponi museums.The paramount chief Powhatan was a member of the Pamunkey tribe, and his daughter, Pocahontas, was Mattaponi (the Algonquian-speaking tribes of Virginia traced their lineage through the women). These two tribes were part of the Powhatan chiefdom and still live on reservations in Virginia to this day. I also spoke with modern descendants and was drawn into a world that I could have never imagined.

In my story, The Dreaming: Walks Through Mist I have blended modern times with romance, fantasy, paranormal, and the 17th century.

I will be continuing the story with The Dreaming: Wind Talker, which will hopefully be a fall release. My most recent release, however, is my first nonfiction title, I Had Rather Die: Rape in the Civil War, the first book dedicated to the topic.

Thank you for letting me stop by. For further information, please visit my website www.KimMurphy.Net.

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Kim Murphy's The Dreaming: Walks Through Mist was published by Coachlight Press in 2011 ($15.95 trade pb / $3.99 ebook).  I Had Rather Die: Rape in the Civil War, also from Coachlight Press, was published in January 2014 ($14.95 trade pb / $21.95 hardcover).

9 comments:

  1. Thanks for having me stop by, Sarah!

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  2. It sounds fascinating, but Jamestown was not the first English settlement in North America. That was my former place of residence, St. John's, Newfoundland, which is known to have been in existence in 1527, 81 years before the founding of Jamestown, when the oldest surviving letter from North America was sent from there on 3rd August by Captain John Rut to King Henry VIII. To put that in historical context, Henry VIII was still married to Catherine of Aragon.

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. I'll try again because Blogger is acting strange, but I meant to say permanent settlement. The English had other colonies, of course, because they were sailing up and down the coast for quite sometime.

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  5. Kim, I find this fascinating since I grew up in Virginia Beach, VA with the Witch of Pungo, Grace Sherwood, stories. Folks travel down Witchduck Road every day and have no idea it was named for Grace's trial by river ducking! In 2006, Gov. Tim Kaine officially stated her case was a miscarriage of justice (300 years too late!)

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  6. Thanks, Kathryn. Grace Sherwood is one of those who I think may have been a cunning woman. There is so much about her in folklore though. I haven't examined the records myself, so I can't say with any certainty that she really was. And I agree, justice for her came too late, but at least she was finally pardoned!

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  7. Interesting how important "cunning" has been to the survival of our gender.

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  8. Fascinating topic. History is so continuously full of new and exciting stories.

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  9. So true, Shelley and Trisha. Thanks for stopping by!

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