It was autumn, 1969, and a social studies teacher at Flowing Wells High School in Tucson, Arizona, had invited a University of Arizona expert on witchcraft and folklore to give a speech to upperclassmen. The speaker, Dr. Byrd Granger, gave a presentation about the common traits of witches. According to Dr. Granger, witches like to wear devil’s green, have green or blue eyes, blond hair, a pointed left ear with a node, and a widow’s peak – a V-shaped point in the hairline in the center of a forehead. As it so happened, there was somebody at the presentation who fit the description – a teacher, who ended up accused of witchcraft. As seen below, she lost her job as a result.
A Teacher Who Fit the Description of a Witch
As Dr. Granger described the traits of witches, heads began to swivel Ann Stewart, a Flowing Wells English teacher who had all of those attributes. Few could have predicted the brouhaha that would ensue from that speech. After the witchcraft presentation, Flowing Wells High School students began to tease English teacher Ann Stewart about whether or not she was a witch.
In the kids’ interest in the spooky stuff, Mrs. Stewart saw an opportunity to enhance their interest in literature and folklore. As seen below, that did not go well. As Ann Stewart described it later: “I like to get kids involved. I teach American literature, among other things. Although I’ve never had a unit in the occult, we do delve into early American folklore and witchcraft. It was good fun and it stimulated them”.
Stewart played along with the banter. She never said she was a witch, but whenever students asked if she was one, she did not deny it. Instead, she replied with a variant of “Well, I have all the signs. What do you think?” What they – and the school administration – thought got her fired. In 1970, to heighten her students’ interest in literature, Ann Stewart had suggested 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. As part of the presentation, Mrs. Stewart dressed up and played the part of a witch. When those eighth graders arrived in Flowing Wells High School that fall, many of them fueled the rumors that Mrs. Stewart really was a spooky witch.
Flowing Wells Did Not Have a Sense of Humor About Witchcraft
The students’ whispers that their English teacher was a witch did not bother Ann Stewart, who dismissed it as all in good fun. In hindsight, she might have been better off had she tried to nip the rumors in the bud. Flowing Wells was a conservative community, and many students, their parents, and Flowing Wells High School faculty members did not get the joke.
On November 27th, 1970, Stewart was suspended for: “teaching about witchcraft, having stated that you are a witch in a way that affects students psychologically”. She was also alleged to have been insubordinate, discussed subjects beyond the curriculum, been a bad influence on students, and aggravated other teachers.
Unsurprisingly, the suspension of an American 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 dismissing a tenured teacher like Stewart. The court ordered her reinstatement, but as of February, 1972, she had not returned to her job, and it is unclear if she ever taught at Flowing Wells again.
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Some Sources & Further Reading
History Halls – Hoaxes: Piltdown Man, One of History’s Most Devastating Science Pranks
Tuscaloosa News, March 31st, 1971 – ‘Teacher-Witch’ Loses Her Job
Tuscaloosa News, February 15th, 1972 – ‘Witch’ Tag Clings to Fired Teacher
