It’s not Halloween, far from it, but interesting was a recent news item about witchcraft, of note because we long have considered (and probably still do) Salem, Massachusetts, as the epicenter for wicca in the U.S.

If not there, perhaps somewhere in California: San Francisco. L.A. Or points in between.

Maybe Colorado, New Orleans, Oregon? How about Asheville, North Carolina?

Yet when an organization calling itself BetMGM “crunched the numbers” — with factors such as number of metaphysical shops, psychics, broom shops, astrology groups, graveyards (you read that right), and cottages—it came up with Poughkeepsie, New York. Boasted the newspaper: “Officials from BetMGM reached out to Hudson Valley Post to let us know one hometown from the Hudson Valley is the best city in America to be a witch.”

Congratulations — not.

“For each city, we analyzed the availability of psychics and mediums who could help witches tap into spiritual realms. We also counted the metaphysical supply stores for potion ingredients and crystals. Then, we looked at the presence of astrology groups and Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans chapters in each city, and the state’s population self-identifying their religious beliefs as Wiccan or Pagan to measure community connection,” BetMGM told the Hudson Valley Post.

Turns out Salem and Asheville didn’t even make this list!

Maybe graveyards were the decisive factor. Poughkeepsie was well above the national average of 1.99.

As for the valley as a whole, which is commonly defined as extending from Albany south to Yonkers in Westchester County, there certainly are witchy places like Woodstock and Monroe. You have, in particular the Catskills and haunting old tales like the headless horseman (Sleepy Hollow) as well as Rip Van Winkle.

In 1984, the Valley was the center of a tremendous UFO “Flap” (with many hundreds of sightings and thousands of witnesses). The center of that was Pine Bush (in Orange County, New York, near the Shawangunk Mountains, 75 miles north of New York City), the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, and the Taconic Parkway.

Pine Bush is just twenty miles from Poughkeepsie as the crow flies (and crows seem an apt measurement here).

[The most amazing account of a witch we have yet seen is in My Confrontation With Hell, by exorcist Monsignor Stephen Rossetti. Pray always while reading such accounts. Keep Holy Water and an open Bible in  your home]