It has been a fretful opening week for the East Booth in Hartford, CT. After a lovely reception hosted by local public radio station WNPR, facilitators Mitra Bonshahi and Ryan Murdock were both tried for witchcraft.

The booth’s site, Connecticut’s beautifully restored Old State House, was also the site of the Hartford Witch Trials, the lesser known precursors of the Salem Witch Trials. Lucky for us, the stocks are no longer in use; her true wickedness discovered, Mitra was only sent home to Brooklyn, to work in the New York booths. Ryan, pure of heart, was spared.