Bewitched’ statue in Salem vandalized with red paint

Bewitched

SALEM, Mass. (AP) — In the wiggle of a nose, a man covered the “Bewitched” statue in Salem, Massachusetts with red paint, police said.

Witnesses called police at about 5 p.m. Monday to report someone spray painting the bronze statue, Capt. John Burke said Tuesday. The statue depicts actor Elizabeth Montgomery — as lead character Samantha Stephens in the 1960s sitcom — sitting on a broomstick in front of a crescent moon.

An officer in the area spotted a man fitting witness descriptions of the vandal and after a brief chase arrested a 32-year-old city resident on charges of defacing property, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, Burke said.

His motivation remains unclear.

What the..

BTW, hijacked from the AP news feed...

First thought was WTF is wrong with people.  Then I looked at the article and now think with a bit of care it could have been cool.  Just paint the exposed skin red, leaving the hair, clothes, broom etc. in the original bronze and it could look really cool!

The assault on American history continues!

So do we think this is a random act of violence?  A stand against other statues being removed? A belief that the statue is evil as it promotes witchcraft and isn't christian?  Board kids?

Lil young to remember if Samantha's family was from Salem or not, but is it a bit much to erect a statue of a sitcom witch in the town where they executed 19 people for witchcraft?

Anyways, this feels like the guy saw the article on the cake smearer at the Louvre and thought "I wish I could do that, but I don't have any money."

You may not realize this, but the people executed for witchcraft had a similar level of skill in witchcraft as did Elizabeth Montgomery. 

Also of note, I have only been to Salem for a short period of time, and it is pretty much Disneyland.  So yes, putting a cheesy statue of a TV character up there is entirely reasonable.

I'm guessing the perpetrator either thought she was wearing fur, or was an adulteress.

YouTube "Elizabeth Montgomery Dancing"

you're welcome

In reply to Mr_Asa :

Salem makes a big thing of the witch trials.  The whole community knows it was all effed up.  Most of the accusations were about land grabs and petty squabbles leading to eliminating people you didn't like.  Forget the orginal 'reason', Ergot poinsoning or whatever, even the surrounding communities knew it was all BS which is how it was stopped in end.  They live it up and say look how stupid we were back than.  I think a statue of Samatha is the perfect thing for Salem lauching at their own past.  I'm sad I missed it when I visited.  

It doesn't look like how statues are typically defaced, where they just splash paint on them - in this case it appears they at least tried to paint in between the lines, with just a little runover at her waistline.

I wonder if this statue is like the one of Mary Tyler Moore in Minneapolis.  There are probably statues of other stars of iconic TV shows in other cities too.

stuart in mn said:

It doesn't look like how statues are typically defaced, where they just splash paint on them - in this case it appears they at least tried to paint in between the lines, with just a little runover at her waistline.

I wonder if this statue is like the one of Mary Tyler Moore in Minneapolis.  There are probably statues of other stars of iconic TV shows in other cities too.

Pretty solid Blues Brothers statue in Dunnellon, Fl (if you are asking "where" then all I have to say is "exactly")

Rollins College (his alma mater) put up a statue of Mr Rogers 

In reply to RX Reven' :

I thought it would be hard to top this but it did

Mr_Asa said:

stuart in mn said:

I wonder if this statue is like the one of Mary Tyler Moore in Minneapolis.  There are probably statues of other stars of iconic TV shows in other cities too.

Rollins College (his alma mater) put up a statue of Mr Rogers 

Damn.  I was hoping they put up a statue of Rollins.  You know, the Rollins.

Mr_Asa said:

stuart in mn said:

It doesn't look like how statues are typically defaced, where they just splash paint on them - in this case it appears they at least tried to paint in between the lines, with just a little runover at her waistline.

I wonder if this statue is like the one of Mary Tyler Moore in Minneapolis.  There are probably statues of other stars of iconic TV shows in other cities too.

Pretty solid Blues Brothers statue in Dunnellon, Fl (if you are asking "where" then all I have to say is "exactly")

Rollins College (his alma mater) put up a statue of Mr Rogers 

I've been to Dunnellon to autocross so I know where it is, but hearing they had a Blue's Brothers statue was just odd. lol

Duke said:

Mr_Asa said:

stuart in mn said:

I wonder if this statue is like the one of Mary Tyler Moore in Minneapolis.  There are probably statues of other stars of iconic TV shows in other cities too.

Rollins College (his alma mater) put up a statue of Mr Rogers 

Damn.  I was hoping they put up a statue of Rollins.  You know, the Rollins.

 

That is at Rogers University.

Mr_Asa said:

Lil young to remember if Samantha's family was from Salem or not, but is it a bit much to erect a statue of a sitcom witch in the town where they executed 19 people for witchcraft?

This is pretty much the working theory.  There are those who feel the statue is disrespectful to the victims of the so called trials.  The statue was donated to the town by “TV Land” in the last 10-15 years and it’s not the first time it’s been vandalized.  This time was in the middle of the day though so that’s a bit different.  

Mr_Asa said:

stuart in mn said:

It doesn't look like how statues are typically defaced, where they just splash paint on them - in this case it appears they at least tried to paint in between the lines, with just a little runover at her waistline.

I wonder if this statue is like the one of Mary Tyler Moore in Minneapolis.  There are probably statues of other stars of iconic TV shows in other cities too.

Pretty solid Blues Brothers statue in Dunnellon, Fl (if you are asking "where" then all I have to say is "exactly")

Rollins College (his alma mater) put up a statue of Mr Rogers 

So, I remember them being a better statue...  oh well.  Nice diversion on my drive back home.

RX Reven' said:

YouTube "Elizabeth Montgomery Dancing"

you're welcome

I don't get it

yupididit said:

RX Reven' said:

YouTube "Elizabeth Montgomery Dancing"

you're welcome

I don't get it

Nothing mysterious...she was just a good dancer and had a great figure.

yupididit said:

RX Reven' said:

YouTube "Elizabeth Montgomery Dancing"

you're welcome

I don't get it

Personally I always preferred Vera-Ellen.  Made me enjoy Christmas all the more when my sister would put White Christmas on.

Nowadays I think she is a bit too skinny, but still.  Rowr.

Duke said:

Mr_Asa said:

stuart in mn said:

I wonder if this statue is like the one of Mary Tyler Moore in Minneapolis.  There are probably statues of other stars of iconic TV shows in other cities too.

Rollins College (his alma mater) put up a statue of Mr Rogers 

Damn.  I was hoping they put up a statue of Rollins.  You know, the Rollins.

...Henry?

RX Reven' said:

Nothing mysterious...she was just a good dancer and had a great figure.

And it seems so out of character if you only know her as the wholesome housewife in Bewitched

Honestly my first thoughts on the motivation were that some nut was upset that Bewitched re-runs were giving him impure thoughts