HBM108: Witch of Saratoga

Here Be Monsters

Here Be Monsters Podcast

Science, Society & Culture, Social Sciences, Personal Journals, Documentary

4.6 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 19 December 2018

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Angeline Tubbs may have been as old as 104 when she died alone in the woods, in a hut she made with her own hands. She came to America with a British officer who fought in the Battle of Saratoga (see HBM074: Benedict Arnold Makes People Nervous).

Content Note:
Language

It’s uncertain what happened to the officer, but soon after the battle, Angeline began living a hermit’s life, on the outskirts of society, alone in the forest with her cats. She foraged and hunted her food. Only rarely did she venture into the newly forming town of Saratoga Springs, where she made money by telling fortunes.

On this episode, producer Alessandra Canario walks into the woods near where Angeline Tubbs lived and died. She builds her own shelter, makes a fire, and cooks her own food. Alessandra wonders if she too might be a “witch,” due to a kinship she formed with trees as a child. But she also hears echoes of her mother’s warnings against being outside without a man for protection.

Producer: Alessandra Canario
Editor: Jeff Emtman
Music: The Black Spot, Serocell

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Transcript

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0:00.0	From KCRW, this is Here Be Monsters. And we have a book now. It's called Beautiful
0:11.0	Stories about Dead Animals. It's a written adaptation of our recent two-part series that was also called
0:17.5	Beautiful Stories About Dead Animals. It's for sale right now on our website,
0:23.0	HBM Podcast.com slash store.
0:27.3	Okay, here's the show.
0:32.4	This podcast isn't meant to scare you. This is my homage to a great survivalist whose story isn't well spoken of and definitely not well
0:51.6	spoken of as a story of greed, strength, and survival,
0:59.0	but rather warped into a scary campfire story.
1:06.7	This is my homage. Today's pretty moist. It's rather foggy out. It's a beautiful day.
1:27.0	So I have my backpacking backpack on. On my backpacking backpack on.
1:41.0	so I can hold all the gear to build a shelter and you know my sleeping bag. I do have to say it feels really funny they used to walk out
1:48.6	with you know nothing on me just wear a long dress bare feet no phone new wallet. I know here I am. I know, here I am,
2:05.0	bugging all this shit around.
2:08.0	I hate it, makes me so, so clumsy.
2:56.0	Can't get as far. Oh, I should probably introduce myself. My name's Aletondra Canario. I graduated Skidmore College this past spring which means I lived in Saratoga Springs, New York for the past four years.
3:03.0	I was an American Studies major. So my last semester, I spent a lot of time
3:07.0	looking at local history of Saratoga.
3:11.0	And I came across the story of Angeline Tubs or the witch of Saratoga.
3:22.1	And I just, I kind of became obsessed with it.
3:29.0	When you think about the history of witches,
3:38.8	the term was dubbed on women whose society was often afraid of.
3:54.8	I don't know if I would go around telling people then I'm a witch, but when I'm asked, I say yes. So, inspired by Angeline Tubb's story,
	...

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