An extension of my book project “O/ccult.” Here, witchcraft accusations made by 9 y/o “Afflicted” girls against their older female neighbors take the form of the cross-stitched sampler, which girls would have been learning to sew at around that age. Domestic instruments played a significant role in the trials: the Afflicted would regularly vomit pins and needles in the court house as proof that they were being tortured by witches. As young girls learn to sew, so they learn to accuse.
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