WBAI-NYC Upcoming Program

WBAI-FM Upcoming Program

Out-FM

Tue, Oct 27, 2026 8:00 PM

LAVENDER WITCHCRAFT, TITUBA, & THE QUEERING OF HALLOWE

An Out-FM Halloween Special: Halloween is arguably the queerest of all the holidays of the year. This October, Out-FM is queering Halloween still further with a consideration of the queer roots and contemporary queering of pagan spirituality. Pauline Park talks with Sam Wise (she/they), a Reclaiming witch and eclectic pagan, about their book, Lavender Witchcraft, and queer pagan practices.

Tituba, Black Witch in Salem

In keeping with the Halloween theme for our program, Stahimili’s contribution will be a reading from the 1986 novel by the Guadeloupean writer Maryse Condé, entitled I Tituba, Black Witch of Salem, which won the French Grand Prix award for women's literature.

Tituba was an enslaved woman of color who was accused of witchcraft during the Salem trials. She was caught up in the infamous witch trials in colonial Massachusetts, in which hundreds of individuals (mostly women) were tried for what were probably imaginary crimes. Many were tortured and executed in an episode in American history with lessons for the present day. Condé says there is little in the record describing what happened to Tituba and writes this fictional account of her life and fate.

Music:
Henry Purcell, "Destruction's Our Delight" (witches' chorus) from "Dido & Aeneas" (Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner conducting):
(0:00-2:02)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kc6k4w8hoTM&list=RDU7FDeSalmqo&index=2
Giuseppe Verdi: witches' chorus from "Macbeth" (ROH Covent Garden):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFy_r1es0Fo&list=RDMFy_r1es0Fo&start_radio=1
Giuseppe Verdi, "Sul fil d'un soffio etesio" from "Falstaff" (Lisette Oropesa & the Metropolitan Opera chorus):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wp9POXqRlvA&list=RDWp9POXqRlvA&start_radio=1