Moments that People Who Lived Through the 1970s Will Never Forget

1. A 1970s Witch Trial

Ann Stewart wanted to increase her students’ interest in literature, so she suggested in 1970 that they find out what astrology is all about. That further enhanced the rumors about her involvement with the occult. Later that year, a junior high school teacher invited her to speak before her eighth graders about folklore and witchcraft. Mrs. Stewart dressed up and played the part of a witch in order to jazz up the presentation. When those eighth graders arrived in Flowing Wells High School that fall, many of them fueled the rumors that Mrs. Stewart really was a witch. The English teacher thought it was all good fun. Flowing Wells, however, was a particularly conservative community, and many students, their parents, and faculty members at the high school did not get the joke.

Mrs. Stewart was suspended on November 20^th, 1970, for: “teaching about witchcraft, having stated that you are a witch in a way that affects students psychologically“. She was also accused of insubordination, discussing subjects beyond the curriculum, being a bad influence on students, and aggravating other teachers. The suspension of a teacher in 1970 for witchcraft became international news. In conservative Flowing Wells, Stewart became a pariah, shunned by neighbors and former friends. She appealed to the school board, but it confirmed the decision to fire her. So she sued in court, and there won on grounds that the board had violated the legal procedures for the dismissal of a tenured teacher like Stewart. The court ordered her reinstatement, but as if February, 1972, she had not returned to her job. It is unclear if she ever taught at Flowing Wells again.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

ABC News – The Pet Rock Captured a Moment, and Made its Creator a Millionaire

Balance Careers – The Truth Behind the Infamous Fish Tank Platform Shoes

Beadle, Jeremy, and Harrison, Ian – Firsts, Lasts, and Only’s: Crime (2007)

Best Life – 50 Things Only People Who Lived in the 1970s Will Remember

Biography – Nicky Barnes

Bleacher Report – Cleveland Indians’ Ten Cent Beer Night: The Worst Idea Ever

Cleveland dot Com – Fans Riot on 10 Cent Beer Night: On This Day in Cleveland Indians History

Cleveland Magazine, May 24^th, 2007 – The Experience: Swiping Jeff Borroughs’ Cap on 10-Cent Beer Night

Crime and Investigation – Charles Sobhraj: The Serpent

Daily Beast, December 28^th, 2017 – The Long Rise and Fast Fall of New York’s Black Mafia