A Good Witch or a Bad Witch?
We will begin our travels less than an hour south of HGTV Urban Oasis 2020 at the historic town of York. As one of the oldest English settlements in America, you might imagine it's a likely spot for a haunting. Witnesses over the years report numerous manifestations: a lonely woman walking along the street, cold spots, doors opening on their own.
Children maintain that a friendly ghost plays with them during recess. The real difficulty is establishing exactly who the spirit is. Perhaps it is Patience Boston, a young woman who was imprisoned and sentenced to death in 1735 for drowning her employer's child in a well. Boston converted to Christianity in prison but had led a very wicked life and the priests who published her story after the execution were certainly haunted by her. Or the spirit might be that of Mary Nasson, an expert in herbalism and an accomplished exorcist. Born in 1745, Nasson was only 29 when she died and was honored with a beautiful headstone bearing her likeness. But as much as her community appreciated her skills, they must not have trusted her powers completely because hers is the only grave in the cemetery that has an additional slab of granite over the length of it to keep her spirit in situ. With consistent sightings of this ethereal presence, one has to wonder if the technique is effective.