Gundella's Ann Arbor Coven and Others in Michigan in the 1970s

The historically secretive religion of witchcraft bid its time within the equally hidden coven in lieu of persecution, prosecution and as a matter of self-preservation. As such its secrets were more of a personal memoir to its specific group than the larger religion. Thus, one must assume, as with churches, cults and any covenant of creatures great and small, they had their idiosyncrasies. 

Gundella spoke of her coven on numerous occasions to the chagrin of its members. In fact, much of her public persona was frowned upon by the group but since she hadn't betrayed any of its secrets she remained in good standing.

Since this topic has come up numerous times in recent searches I figured that I might as well lay the groundwork for the three Michigan covens which Gundella identified during her public career. This is by no means an exhaustive study but a brief outline according to her own words. It is also a work in progress since I don't have unlimited time to research.

Ellen Allardyce, in her July 4, 1973 piece on Gundella entitled Gundella: Meet modern witch with sense of humor, stated that "Gundella belongs to the Ann Arbor coven, one of the three traditional covens in the state of Michigan. The other two covens are located in the Sandusky area and the Oscoda area." Thus, my starting point.

The Ann Arbor Coven

While it's likely impossible to give even a remotely accurate accounting of any of the aforementioned covens, very brief sketches of periods of time within the sects are possible. Gundella believed in the traditional tenets of witchcraft and thus only those partaking in a coven in earnest pursuit of the religion with the belief in a God and reincarnation could be real witches. Thus, the three known covens followed such tenements. While others existed, as stated in a 1992 review of her book Michigan Haunts and Hauntings, "Before I met her, I wondered if she were into devil worship. Never! Although she tells me there are such covens in the wealthiest section of Oakland County." she likely considered them Satanists and run-of-the-mill occultists.

According to a 1970 article in the Bay City Times, in 1948 Gundella joined the Au Sable coven - to which her mother also belonged - but soon moved to the Ann Arbor sect after a class trip to Detroit convinced her that she wanted to live in the area.

In the 1970 article A brief survey of Ann Arbor occult as told by a witch to a novice it is stated that Gundella's coven consisted of the traditional 13 members, of which 8 were teachers and, of the aggregate, 5 held masters degrees, both aspects applicable to her. One was an associate professor at a university and held a Ph. D. Another was a nurse. She mentioned a second college professor in an earlier article and a member who came all the way from Butler, New Jersey for coven meetings. A secretary and three housewives rounded out the membership.

Being as they identified as so-called green witches they were interested in agriculture, herbs and potions and this is why Gundella often made appearances with her face dyed in green hues.

The group was scattered across the area and only met on the Sabbaths (February 2nd, May 1st, August 1st and October 31st). Their sessions generally went from approximately 10 PM until 2 AM and consisted of a ritual. Although she couldn't reveal what that ritual consisted of, it was "for the purpose of raising a cone of power. We sing, dance and work up a high emotion - a blissful state. It's a renewing, a rejuvenation of the spirit, like a Catholic taking communion."

The group's winter rite was also summed up in a 1973 article by Tim Richard:

"She and the other 12 witches of the Ann Arbor coven will hold their winter rite. 'Each witch writes down all the things she has done in the past three seasons she thought were not right - nasty, unkind, uncharitable. Then these papers are burned in a ceremonial fire. It's an occasion of repentance,' she said."

It was also noted in the article that The Boy Scouts' Order of the Arrow have a similar ceremony where they wear a stick about their neck and notch it for every ill-offense committed.

"Then she steps forward and places her folded paper in the ritual fire with much moaning, sighing, and expressions of grief and penance. This gets to be quite a noisy scene as, one by one, her sister witches each follow suit.

"Then when the weeping and wailing becomes almost unbearable, the leader calls for silence, and demands of us that we spend no more time mourning over the past failures, but instead, look ahead and plan to do better in the seasons to come, and reminds us that there is no better time to start mending our ways than right now.

 "The ritual continues with each witch vowing to use the winter as a time to regain her strength, and rectify her past mistakes, so that she may enter into the coming new year a better and more worthwhile person.

"Like all the other sabbat rituals, this one ends with song and dance. But the circle moves slowly, and the song is one of a very serious nature. 

"It's titled The Sleeping Song and the words are printed here."

Gundella's daughter Madilynne (known by her witch name of Lydamie) became a part of the Ann Arbor coven in 1971, as she served as her mother's secretary for her numerous correspondences.

The Oscoda/Au Sable Coven

Not much is known about the covens outside of the Ann Arbor enclave for the simple reason that they didn't have prominent media figures such as Gundella among their numbers and the groups frown upon such attention. Gundella did mention that her mother Violet Clark was a member of the Au Sable coven. Which makes sense since the elder woman lived most of her life in the East Tawas area.

A 1987 article in the Detroit Free Press entitled Happy Hunting Grounds describes Oscoda in this seemingly telling manner:

"This modern, bustling little city is deceiving. While jets from Wurtsmith Air Force Bay fly overhead, members of an authentic witch coven stage dances on the riverbanks just outside the city limits, and the ghosts of Iosco County's oldest settlement rise up from the ashes of the village of Au Sable, which was totally destroyed by fire in 1911."

While Gundella stated that witches do not get involved as a group with social issues, she noted that her mother's coven "do things for each other - like catching a man."

In a 1985 article, Oscoda resident, 71-year-old Fritz Lockhart, remembered gatherings of a more romantic past. He claimed to have seen the witches going to their meeting near a cemetery where one of the host witch's resided and that they flew a lit jack-o-lantern on the tail of a kite over the graveyard.

The Sandusky Coven

Geographically, Sandusky (in the thumb area) lies roughly halfway - though further east - between Ann Arbor and Oscoda and would be the perfect center point for the three known covens.

Gundella, who claimed to be descended from Scottish green witches, stated numerous times that her mother, grandmother and previous matriarchs were also witches. Although she didn't outright claim that her grandmother Thornton was a witch in her Witch Watch column from May 15, 1975 entitled Grandma Thornton's valentine forecasted landing on moon she lays out the groundwork of prophecy and green witchery in her persona. 

Also mentioned is a grandma Patterson. While Elizabeth A. Patterson was definitely her great grandmother - being the grandmother of Violet (Mrs. Wilfred) Clark. One would assume that Marion likely got her middle name Elizabeth from grandma Thornton. Anyway, through the tangle of Thorntons and Pattersons mentioned in the obituary below (confused further by the fact that Gundella referred to Violet as her grandmother) who lived in the Port Huron and Tawas areas along Lake Huron we can surmise with some certainty that they were forebears to the Sandusky coven since Mrs. Patterson was buried in the Carsonville area.

The Times Herald, February 27, 1937

Recalling that I have a book called Tales of the Thumb by Charles Louis Severance, an Akron businessman who was born in the region, I had hoped that there would be some tales of witchcraft or ghosts but the lone story with a supernatural twist is concerning a magic pumpkin seed and a wishing ring procured by a tween and teen brother and sister at the local fair. Considering that the art depicted on the cover is that of a house-sized pumpkin you can surmise the rest of the story. It is printed below in e-book form.

(to be continued)