Kaatscast: the Catskills Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

We sat down with historian Samantha Misa in the Frisbee family cemetery to uncover some witchy tales from our collective Catskills past.

Just in time for Halloween, Samantha shares some haunted encounters from Delaware County's Frisbee House and recounts tales from her book, Witches of the Catskills, including Molly Meyers, "witch cat," in Gilboa area's "Spook Woods."

Misa recounts the challenges of researching historical witchcraft, using old newspapers and archival records to reconstruct the tales.

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00:00 Introduction: Do You Believe in Witches?

00:20 Halloween Costumes and Modern Witches

00:56 Historical Witches in the Catskills

01:42 The Frisbee Family Legacy

03:45 Haunted Tales of the Frisbee House

04:55 Researching Witches of the Catskills

08:16 Challenges in Witchcraft Research

09:56 Witchcraft and Cats: A Historical Perspective

11:59 The Dark Mysteries of the Catskills

12:53 Chilling Tales and Skepticism

15:17 Molly Myers and Spook Woods

18:50 The Esperance Witch

19:48 Modern Beliefs and Halloween

20:46 Closing Remarks and Credits

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Thanks to this week's sponsors: Briars & Brambles Books and The Mountain Eagle.

This episode takes us to the Woodstock Film Festival's Youth Film Lab, a three-week intensive filmmaking program for teens in Kingston, NY.

Each summer, participants learn filmmaking from industry professionals like Gregg Bray, Megan Sperry, Saskia Madlener, and David Becker. The YFL provides a tuition-free launchpad for young filmmakers to produce documentaries and narrative films, which go on in the fall to be screened at the ⁠Woodstock Film Festival⁠.

00:00 Introduction to a Creative Journey

00:23 Youth Film Lab Overview

01:50 Inside the Filmmaking Process

04:03 Meet the Instructors

12:07 Student Experiences and Reflections

14:42 Program Impact and Future Prospects

18:37 Conclusion and Festival Information

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Thanks to this week's sponsors: ⁠Briars & Brambles Books⁠, Ulster Savings Bank⁠, and ⁠The Mountain Eagle⁠.

Please rate and review on the podcast app of your choice. Thank you!

(Photo courtesy of Megan Sperry)

Join us for our very first LIVE show, recorded at Emerson Resort & Spa as part of their weekend celebration of Ralph Waldo's birthday (born May 25, 1803).

Hear from Catskills scholars and writers Leslie T. Sharpe and Bill Birns, with music by Steve Koester! Q&A with the audience, and more!

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If you missed the live event, you can still play our trivia! Top three submissions win 2 drink tokens to the Catamount bar + a CD of Henry David Thoreau's Autumnal Tints! Contest is now closed. Congratulations to our winners!

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Thanks to this week's sponsors: Briars & Brambles Books, Hanford Mills Museum, and The Mountain Eagle.

Kaatscast is made possible through a grant from the Nicholas J. Juried Family Foundation, and through the support of listeners like you!

Happy New Year! This week's podcast is a celebration of our annual spin around the sun, and a book by local author Nina Shengold on her 365-day walk along the Ashokan Reservoir. On the eve of her 60th birthday, she decided to walk the reservoir every day for one year and to chronicle the journey. We produced an audiobook in collaboration with Syracuse University Press, and in this podcast, you'll hear excerpts from the book, along with reflections by some of the creative Catskillians -- narrator, musician, writer -- involved in the process. 

Thanks to the Catskills Visitor Center and the 52-mile Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway for their support.

For more on Nina's book:
https://ninashengold.com
https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/2980/reservoir-year/
For the audio edition:
https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9780815690016-reservoir-year
And for the locally orchestrated soundtrack:
https://www.twodarkbirds.com/reservoir

Each year, the Catskill Mountain Foundation's Orpheum Dance Program puts on a performance of The Nutcracker, directed by ballet pro Victoria Rinaldi. This year's pandemic brings this annual tradition online, using clips from the past five years of performances, plus new material featuring students like Lada Svechnikova, pictured here. Join us for an interview with Victoria and Lada in Hunter, NY.

Thanks to Cyndi and Paul LaPierre, and to the the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce for their support of this episode.

We spoke with Delaware County historian Bill Birns about the legacy of “Hobart’s greatest” (albeit largely forgotten) son, John Davenport Clarke: farmer, forester, and congressman.  

Catskill Historical Views is a collaboration between Catskill Tri-County Historical Views, the Zadock Pratt Museum, and Silver Hollow Audio. Thanks to Humanities New York for their support of this series.

This week, we highlight four segments from our original "Experience the Central Catskills" audio driving guide, for a westward drive from Olive to Andes on NYS Route 28. 

• DEC Natural Resources Supervisor Bill Rudge and an overview of the Catskill Park past and present
• Historian Diane Galusha on the Ashokan Reservoir and the New York City water supply
• Fly fishing the Esopus creek with Mark Loete
• Reminiscences of John Burroughs, with Bill Birns, Steve Koester, and Rolland Smith

Thanks to our sponsors, the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, the Emerson Resort & Spa, and listener support!

Photo courtesy of Tim Luby.

American essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century, a literary, philosophical and spiritual movement with a belief in humanity's fundamental goodness; and a reverence for self-reliance, non-conformity, and a deep, personal connection to the natural world. And while the title of his essay, "Uses of great Men," may come off as misogynistic, or at least "dated," transcendentalists like Emerson were outspoken advocates of civil rights and social justice.

This week, a reading of Emerson's "Uses of Great Men," by Rolland G. Smith.

If Rolland Smith was born a century earlier, he would likely seek fellowship in the Transcendental Club, to converse with the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, and Henry David Thoreau. A child of the 20th century, however, Rolland gravitated toward broadcast media, where he reported for outlets like WCBS, NBC, and WWOR. He's interviewed U.S. presidents, reported live from the front lines in Vietnam, and served as anchor of the historic "Live Aid" concert to an international audience of 2 billion. His journalistic integrity, contemplative storytelling, and abiding faith in humankind lie in stark contrast to today's media punditry, social media scrolling, and click bait. If Ralph Waldo Emerson was born a century later, he'd probably get his news from Rolland Smith.

Here's Rolland to introduce "Uses of Great Men," followed by his narration of the essay, recorded right here in the Catskills.

This week's show was made possible by the Emerson Resort & Spa and the 52-mile Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway.

The Delaware County Diggers is a group of metal detecting enthusiasts with a passion for history and preservation. We joined them at the John Burroughs' Woodchuck Lodge in Roxbury, NY, where they beeped and dug their way to an eclectic assortment of 19th- and 20th-century treasures. Come along with us for an archaeological treasure hunt just beneath the surface of John Burroughs' property at the historic Woodchuck Lodge! 

Thanks to the Delaware County Diggers, the John Burroughs' Woodchuck Lodge, and to our sponsors: the Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce, and the Catskill Center. 

It’s fall in the Catskills, with that too-brief splash of color that draws leaf peepers near and far. In 1862, as famed naturalist Henry David Thoreau lay dying from tuberculosis, he wrote an essay entitled "Autumnal Tints," an ode to autumn in New England. In 2008, we published an audio edition of that work, and this week … a selection from that essay, titled "Fallen Leaves."

Thank you to our sponsors: the 52-mile Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway, and the historic Phoenicia Playhouse.