Judge Fines Man Who Called Woman Witch: John Says He Did it Because Kraut He Ate on Her Advice Made Him Sick

Detroit Free Press, February 8, 1917

I've long collected articles on the occult and paranormal that pertain to Detroit but have refrained from posting them in hopes that I could compile more information and publish a proper article concerning the matter. Time constraints and other pursuits have thwarted that endeavor. Thus, my recent spate of article posting.

This is no barn-burner but it ties into a previously posted article concerning the apparently erroneous charges against Celia Wrobleski [sic] of being a witch. Similarly, Rose Veres was called such a creature for years before time proved that she was indeed such a monster though psychological defects were likely more to blame than the occult. Miss Wrobleski seems to have been nothing of the sort.

Ancillary research into Miss Wrobleski's (I believe that is the proper spelling) origins in Detroit lead to several possibilities: a one-year-old and six-year old girl, a few teenagers and one older woman who would have been around 26 at the time of the article.

Curiously, this last young woman was born in East Tawas in the 1890s. The same town where Detroit's most famous witch Gundella was born in 1930. Gundella, aka Marion Kuclo (née Clark), said that she descended from a long line of green witches originating in Scotland. Might there be a connection? Probably not but now the notion is out there for any curiosity seeker with the wherewithal to find out whether there was or wasn't.

As for John Burchacki he ate some tainted slaw recommended by Mary Biskupa and became violently ill. He could have just as easily blamed food poisoning or his already sour stomach but instead went the witchcraft route espousing that Mrs. Biskupa was a practitioner of the ancient art. His slanderous accusation earned a $15 fine in Justice Sellers' courtroom.

The tie-in to the Wrobleski story was the MacGuffin in this article:

"We bring this case only to prevent repetition of such an outrage as that perpetrated upon Miss Celia Wroblewski, the girl the superstitious believe turns into a lion and a bear." remarked Charles Turie, the woman's lawyer.

Police Guard Girl Said To Be Witch: Five Bluecoats Needed to Keep Curious Crowd Back From Her House

The Detroit Free Press, January 25, 1917

Five policemen from the Vinewood avenue police station stood guard Wednesday night at the home of Miss Celia Wrobleski, at 260 Twenty-eighth street, to protect her from the curioisty of more than 500 persons who had been drawn there by a report that the young girl was a witch and of late had been transforming herself into lions, bears and so on down the zoo.

Practically all of the curious who gathered in front of Celia's home Wednesday night were foreigners. Many had been there the night before, and, not seeing the rumored witchery then, they returned last night, bringing credulous friends.

The girl, much embarrassed by the report circulated widely in the west side foreign colony that she was endowed with extraordinary powers, remained in her home, with the blinds closely drawn, and would see no one.

Celia's parents blame spiteful relatives for her trouble. They say that they "started the talk" among people who did not know her.