A Forgotten Cut

[Carlisle Cullen MD]

Forgotten Cut

(Title inspired from a Men's Journal magazine article title with the same title)

Time marches on as do we, though slower than most, we are not immune to time as most may think.
As we go through the paces, we lose sight of that which was sacred to us... humanity.
Some let it go completely. Perhaps they were misguided as humans and do not want to remember. Some try to hold onto it by keeping their stories written down. We do forget over time.
This is a fact.
But our memories are our testament, our witness of who we are and where we have been.

My journals are my my testament. I have written down the important and also the not so important. As I was skimming through an old journal I came across an entry that I had completely forgotten about:

September 1662
They were murdered. The town allowed it and I saw it. It's a memory that most would want to forget but one that I hope will never leave me.
Rose Cullender and Amy Denny of Lowestoft were accused of witchcraft by their neighbours. It was a time of suspicion, disease and hardships.
When something bad happened, it was almost always blamed on witchcraft and most of the time the town's outcasts were the accused.
They were tried at the Bury St. Edmunds Assize by Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Sir Matthew Hale. The jury found them guilty on thirteen charges of using malevolent witchcraft. They were sentenced to death, and were hanged a week later at the gallows in the middle of the town for all to witness.
I sit here writing this by candle light. My mind racing with a million questions. Why is this allowed? Surely someone knows better. Witchcraft did not cause the disease that killed their neighbours. It was not by these women's hands that death came but for their death it was by the hand of man.
My father would go along with this, calling it heresy and the work of the devil. Surely these educated people cannot truly believe this yet it appears that they do. For what reason? The only reason is to place blame where no blame can be placed. To give reason to things unexplained or which are misunderstood. Heresy is a scapegoat the church uses for it's own gain. That gain? Power
They were buried in a common grave. No marker, nothing to state who they were. This saddens me for these women were mothers, sisters, wives and daughters who died because of lies and deceit and nothing more."


My Journal entry brings back the vivid memory of me standing there, helpless, watching injustice, watching these innocents lose their lives as 100's of onlookers are lied to for the sole purpose of empowering the church.
Their story, a forgotten cut. One that should be opened and salted occasionally so we don't forget and repeat that dark spot in history.