Salem Witches Settle Beef With Raccoon Bits

Have the local witches lost their powers or something? They used to be hardcore. They withstood trials and hangings. But now they have to rely on flinging around raccoon carcasses to get their points across.

In Salem, two witches allegedly performed a rite of intimidation on a budget by cutting up a dead raccoon and leaving the parts on the doorsteps of their enemies back in May. Sharon Graham, 46, and Frederick Purtz, her 22-year-old roommate (make of that what you will), are accused of decorating psychic establishments with entrails. They topped off the mess with the poor raccoon's head.

News reports indicate that the incident is merely your everyday work-related dispute, done up Wicca-style. Graham, whom WBZ described as a "self-proclaimed high priestess" was angry at the owner of a psychic business who fired her at some point, so she tried to frame him by leaving the guts in front of Angelica of the Angels and Goddess' Treasure Chest. The lawyer for Purtz summed up the whole mess as "internal issues within the Wiccan community."

Graham and Purtz were arrested on Monday were charged Wednesday with littering and malicious destruction of property. They pled not guilty. Police also searched Graham's house and found even more animal parts, including a totem pole with a coyote head. The totem pole with a coyote head seems no different from mounting a moose head on a wall, but it still seems like an odd object to leave around the house.

All charges alleged until proven under law. Image of Kirstie Alley in the miniseries "Salem Witch Trials" (Kirstie Alley? A witch? Huh?) from eBay.