Tone and Witch Court Reporter

screen capture of @witchcourt

I assumed the microblog (and Twitter feed) Witch Court Reporter dealt with the Salem Witch Trials but soon realized this blogger, ("poet & forager" Richard Osmond), was from Yorkshire, England and probably spoofing quotes about the England trials, not the New England trials. Immediately I was struck by the tone of project, as evidenced in the About statement: 'Live' tweeting historical witch trials. Modern English, period sources." The character as blogger is a reporter 'on the scene' and yet ' supposedly using historical accounts. The project began in 2016 so there must be a treasure trove of possible tweets. 

But the tone is not grave and reporterly, as you would assume the historical coverage was, but instead comes across as gossipy with a touch of surrealism as young girls report alleged fantastical transformations. The platform itself transforms and bewitches its tweets, giving them a teen-girl gossip quality using words like "bewitched," and talking about so many cats, bedsides, and mentions of girls with their fathers and witch-like mother figures.

screen capture of @witchcourt tweet

Osmond's own website mentions that he "curates" these tweets with the sensational tagline, "all the accusations, all the time" again inserting a backward glance of satire and undercutting the melodramatic, historical reporting that once existed. This may be to say that if such an event were to occur today, the press would take a much more sensational tone with their coverage.

Works cited:

@witchcourt. Twitter, https://twitter.com/witchcourt. Accessed 24 January 2019.  

@witchcourt. "A cat put something in a girl's ears and made her deaf. She also forgot what day of the week it was. This angered the cat." Twitter, 11 January 2019. https://twitter.com/witchcourt/status/1083898905400668160.

Richard Osmond. http://www.richardosmond.com/witches/. Accessed 24 January 2019.