About Rosemary Chaulk:

 www.rosemarychaulk.com 

I was born under the sign of the bull, forever connected to the earth. As far back as I can remember I have spent as much time as possible outside.

When I was younger I played outdoors, later in life I worked outdoors. Up until the last few winters I have worked outside year round doing land survey. Hiking in the White Mountains, canoeing in the Alagash. It is this constant contact with the earth which drew me to North Village.

Can land be cursed or is it just the tortured souls who roam it who are cursed? If man disappeared would the land still be cursed? North Village caught my attention because of the curse of the witch. In doing my research I found that North Village was doomed long before the witches ever came.

Nissistissit Witch

My book, Nissitissit Witch suggests that the original curse on the valley was from the Indians who were slaughtered when the invading white settlers took the Nissitissit. We as victors wrote the history, but what about the history of those who came before us, what about the troubled Indian spirits?

While telling tales of Indian Spirits and witches I use this platform for my true message, which is pollution. We took America from the natives and the first thing we did was to decimate the woods, pollute the rivers and torture the land for anything we could take for profit. We dammed the rivers and killed the salmon.

During the Eighteen hundreds the Nissitissit was no different than any

other river. During that time our rivers were the recipient of every waste product and poison produced. North village is located in a narrow valley that concentrates the flow from about forty thousand aces of land upstream.

There were many little villages along the Nissitissit and any toxins they wanted to dispose of was dumped into the river.

Right in North Village I found that they made felt and had a velvet shop.

The process of making felt uses mercurous oxide. Velvet cloths use felt in the collars and the colors in the velvets were also very toxic. Long-term exposure to mercury causes death by fits of insanity and people died in 'an unusual way'.

Nissitissit Witch takes all of these factors and spins a fictional

An entertaining yarn that has lots of history of the area spun into a tall tale.

Review

A book you can't put down, one minute you are sitting on the edge of your seat then you fall off, rest and before you know it, you are still reading and its the next day. The characters are so real, and the eerie feeling . . . is so real. --Barbara

The mystery, history and the story of Sarah, which comes to life, you can actually see it play out before your eyes and (it) leaves you craving . . . more. --Cheryl

Description

The Nissitissit Witch captures the essence of a bygone era and exemplifies how narrow-mindedness and ignorance can lead to tragedy and regret. Following rumors of witchcraft, curses, and the work of the Devil, panic and hysteria force a community to retreat and ultimately vanish. Set in the town of North Village (which is now Pepperell, Massachusetts) the story begins in the late nineteenth century and, with the author's clever use of flashbacks, takes the reader further back in time. Ailing, old-timer Ebb recounts painful memoriesfrom both the Civil War, and his childhood, trying to make sense of the trauma in his life. His return home is bittersweet, as he is controlled by an undeniable desire to enter the river's mist and embark upon a remarkable, spiritual journey.

Post A Comment