My novel, Spectral Evidence, weaves together my interests in the history of witchcraft and reproductive rights, colonial New England and the modern media landscape, and the female lived experience past and present. The novel begins when a fledgling female journalist is assigned to travel to a Massachusetts town where a number of high school girls have allegedly conspired to get pregnant at the same time. Although the journalist tries her best to disregard implications of the occult that surface with every lead she chases down, the explanation for this contemporary happening is ultimately out of her hands, originating in a forgotten chapter in the town’s history in which a midwife who was illegally helping young unmarried servants terminate their pregnancies gets swept up in the witchcraft outbreak of 1692.
","abstract_html":"<p>My novel, <em>Spectral Evidence</em>, weaves together my interests in the history of witchcraft and reproductive rights, colonial New England and the modern media landscape, and the female lived experience past and present. The novel begins when a fledgling female journalist is assigned to travel to a Massachusetts town where a number of high school girls have allegedly conspired to get pregnant at the same time. Although the journalist tries her best to disregard implications of the occult that surface with every lead she chases down, the explanation for this contemporary happening is ultimately out of her hands, originating in a forgotten chapter in the town’s history in which a midwife who was illegally helping young unmarried servants terminate their pregnancies gets swept up in the witchcraft outbreak of 1692.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Schrafft, Gretchen D."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Dissertation","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Joanna Howard"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022-11-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2022-11-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:03:35Z","subjects":["Creative writing","Fiction","Arts and Humanities"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. Permanently suppressed.
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