I Put a Spell on You by Kris and Julie Andrews

Kris and Julie Alberts honoring the movie "Hocus Pocus 20th Anniversary" and Halloween coming up, decided to feature this video to a medley of "Come Little Children" and 

"I Put A Spell On you."

We think the video is great, hope you enjoy it.

I PUT A SPELL ON YOU

" Hocus Pocus " Medley

Performed by Kris and Julie Alberts

Music Arranged and Produced by their dad Albert Asriyan.

350 Year Old Scottish Witch Trials Book

The pages of a 350-year-old book used to record the names of those accused of witchcraft in Scotland have been published.

The Names of Witches in Scotland, 1658 collection, was drawn up during a time when the persecution of supposed witches was fever pitched.

The book also lists the towns where the accused lived and includes the confession.

It is believed many were healers, practicing traditional folk medicine. 

Some of the notes give small insights into the lives of those accused. 

A majority of those accused of witchcraft were women although the records reveal that some men were also persecuted. 

Folk medicine was Witchcraft 

The passing of the Scottish Witchcraft Act in 1563 made witchcraft, or consulting with witches, capital crimes in Scotland.

It is estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 women were publicly accused of being witches in 16th and 17th Century Scotland.

The outbreak of witch-hunting in the years 1658-1662, the period in which the list of names was created, is generally seen to be the height of persecution against witches in Scotland.

In many cases, the victims were healers, part of a tradition of folk medicine. Their treatments sometimes helped poor communities but accusations of witchcraft could crop up if they did not work.

Miriam Silverman, Ancestry senior content manager, said: "In the 17th century, people believed that the unholy forces of witchcraft were lurking in their communities, and those accused of being witches were persecuted on the basis of these dark suspicions."

"This might mean charms and spells, or the use of healing herbs and other types of folk medicine, or both. We'll probably never know the combinations of events that saw each of these individuals accused of witchcraft.

"It's a mysterious document: "It gives us a fleeting view of a world beyond orthodox medicine and expensively trained physicians, in which people in small towns and villages looked for their own routes to understanding the world and came into conflict with the state for doing it."

Halloween Jack Skellington Cookies

Halloween Jack Skellington Cookies 

The season is upon us, it’s going to be here before you know it.

For the cookies:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/4 cups butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the icing:

• 2 egg whites
• 3 cups confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• Black food coloring paste

For the cookies:

1. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl and whisk until combined. Set aside.

2. Combine butter and sugar in bowl of electric mixer and beat until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour mixture in three parts. Once dough comes together, cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 400°F.

4. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Using round cookie cutter or an overturned cup, cut dough into circles about 3 1/4 inches in diameter. 

Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden brown. 

Cool completely before icing.

For the icing:

1. Place egg whites in bowl of electric mixer; whisk until frothy. Add confectioners’ sugar a little at a time, until thick but still spreadable.

2. Place 1/3 of icing in a separate bowl. Add black food coloring paste to reserved icing and stir until color is uniform.

To decorate:

1. Decorate cooled cookies by covering with white icing and letting it dry (placing cookies in the refrigerator will speed up this process).

2. Place black icing in pastry bag or a plastic resealable bag and cut off a tiny bit of the corner to create a very small hole. Use black icing to draw eyes, nostrils, and stitched mouth on each cookie.

This Jack Skellington cookie recipe is a festive addition to your Halloween celebration.

This is Halloween by Broken Peach