SOTD by u/Priusaurus

July 18, 2023

• Brush: Stirling Soap Company – 24mm Synthetic
• Razor: Rockwell 6s
• Blade: Wilkinson Sword
• Lather: Southern Witchcrafts - Samhain
• Post Shave: 345 – Bana-O-Rama Splash
• Fragrance: Southern Witchcrafts – Boonana EDP
• Music: Hocus Pocus – I Put A Spell On You

It’s Spooky Season and in honor of that, I have history lesson that will eventually make sense for my shave today: The Salem Witch Trials were a series of false accusations and mass hysteria that occurred in 1692-1693 in Salem, Massachusetts. Accusations of witchcraft ran rampant across the town, and in total over 200 people were accused of witchcraft, 30 people were found guilty and 20 were executed, and another 5 died in prison. Of the 20 people executed, 19 were hanged and 1 man was pressed to death.

The man who was pressed to death was a dude named Giles Corey – an 81-year-old farmer who was accused of witchcraft, and refused to plead guilty or innocent. You see, at the time, if he entered a plea, he would stand trial and his estate would be forfeited to the government when he was found guilty. He knew he’d be found guilty, because, well, everyone was found guilty of witchcraft in those days. If he didn’t plea, there couldn’t be trial, and his estate would be passed down to his family. In order to FORCE him to enter a plea, the Sheriff (along with the people of Salem) stripped Giles naked, laid him down, put boards on top of him, and put heavy rocks and boulders on the boards. They were going to keep putting more rocks on top of him until he pled, so he could stand trial. Giles was a G and was steadfast in his refusal to plea. When the sheriff asked him to enter to plea, Giles only responded with: “More weight” - Like I said, Giles was a fucking G - and the sheriff complied and continued adding more weight. After 3 days of torture, he died under the weight of all the rocks and boulders.

According to local legends, the ghost of Giles Corey appears and walks in his graveyard when a disaster is about to strike the City of Salem. There were reports that his ghost was seen at the Howard Street Graveyard, where he was pressed to death, the night before a great fire in 1914. It was also said that he put a curse on the Sheriff the pressed Giles (who died of a heart attack at 30), as well as every Sheriff to take that position thereafter for the next 300 years. Every single sheriff, since the one that pressed him, had either died in office with heart problems or retired due to a blood disorder. This happened until they moved the Sheriff’s office OUT of Salem in 1991. Spooky shit.

So, Priusaurus: This is interesting, but what the hell does this have to do with your shave today? Well, today, I took a trip up to Salem today to shave with Giles Fucking Corey for Spooky Day.

First, I went to downtown Salem and said hello to their statue to Samantha from Bewitched and snapped my SOTD #photocontest for Urban/Architecture. Downtown in a densely populated city counts as Urban, right?

I then went to Giles Corey Memorial down the road a bit. It’s settled nicely on a small lake where a couple people were fishing. There’s a marker for our boy Giles and his wife, Martha (who was executed 3 days after he died), as well as a display for them. I plopped down right in front of Giles marker, took out my stuff, got a good face lather going and got to shaving. It was hot and humid, but quiet and peaceful. For my 2nd public shave of the Games, this one went a lot better. Loaded up right from the tub and had a relatively quick, two pass shave using one of my favorite soaps. I do miss not using a mirror with a public shave, but I like to travel light. No one kicked me out, but a couple dudes with fishing poles walked by and side-eyed me. Like two dudes fishing on a Tuesday afternoon have any business judging a guy shaving in front of a dead witch’s memorial.

Samhain is a perfect fall scent as far as I’m concerned. I have the trickhole, but since I’m #ridingwithitchy and not matching any scents all game, I got creative and used 345’s Bana-O-Rama Splash. To me, the Samhain smells like a baked good, kinda like a banana bread without the banana. Sooooo… I added the Banana with the splash! Boom! Tasty. Now with all that Banana, I had to finish everything off with Boonana by SW to complete this awesome #FOF. But not here. I went to the scene of the crime. Where Giles was pressed to death and said to be still haunting. I went to the Howard Street Graveyard in Salem, and sprayed my Boonana on there, and paid my respects to ensure no ghosts followed me home. Boonana is so, so, so much better and more complex than Bana-O-Rama. Bana-O-Rama is a fun, almost meme scent, wheresas Boonana is dark and sophisticated, while still having the sweetness of a banana that is just past it’s ripeness. Man, Boonana is so, so good.

For the challenge… Ummmm… WTF? Not sure which Djudge wanted this one, or which personal collection this is going in, but here you go. I didn’t use a sink today, thanks to the Spooky Giles Corey shave, but I dumped my whiskers on some paper towel for you weirdos.

Sadly, no interview to post today, which is why you got a history lesson and spoooooooky Giles Corey tribute shave today.

[**July 18, 2023**](https://imgur.com/a/b85pNRt)

* **Brush:** Stirling Soap Company – 24mm Synthetic
* **Razor:** Rockwell 6s
* **Blade:** Wilkinson Sword
* **Lather:** Southern Witchcrafts - Samhain
* **Post Shave:** 345 – Bana-O-Rama Splash
* **Fragrance:** Southern Witchcrafts – Boonana EDP
* **Music:** [Hocus Pocus – I Put A Spell On You](https://youtu.be/ffB5ZwJ41AM)

It’s Spooky Season and in honor of that, I have history lesson that will eventually make sense for my shave today: The Salem Witch Trials were a series of false accusations and mass hysteria that occurred in 1692-1693 in Salem, Massachusetts. Accusations of witchcraft ran rampant across the town, and in total over 200 people were accused of witchcraft, 30 people were found guilty and 20 were executed, and another 5 died in prison. Of the 20 people executed, 19 were hanged and 1 man was pressed to death.

The man who was pressed to death was a dude named [Giles Corey](https://factschology.com/mmm-podcast-articles/giles-corey-curse-salem-massachusetts) – an 81-year-old farmer who was accused of witchcraft, and refused to plead guilty or innocent. You see, at the time, if he entered a plea, he would stand trial and his estate would be forfeited to the government when he was found guilty. He knew he’d be found guilty, because, well, everyone was found guilty of witchcraft in those days. If he didn’t plea, there couldn’t be trial, and his estate would be passed down to his family. In order to FORCE him to enter a plea, the Sheriff (along with the people of Salem) stripped Giles naked, laid him down, put boards on top of him, and put heavy rocks and boulders on the boards. They were going to keep putting more rocks on top of him until he pled, so he could stand trial. Giles was a G and was steadfast in his refusal to plea. When the sheriff asked him to enter to plea, Giles only responded with: “More weight” - Like I said, Giles was a fucking G - and the sheriff complied and continued adding more weight. After 3 days of torture, he died under the weight of all the rocks and boulders.

According to local legends, the ghost of Giles Corey appears and walks in his graveyard when a disaster is about to strike the City of Salem. There were reports that his ghost was seen at the Howard Street Graveyard, where he was pressed to death, the night before a great fire in 1914. It was also said that he put a curse on the Sheriff the pressed Giles (who died of a heart attack at 30), as well as every Sheriff to take that position thereafter for the next 300 years. Every single sheriff, since the one that pressed him, had either died in office with heart problems or retired due to a blood disorder. This happened until they moved the Sheriff’s office OUT of Salem in 1991. Spooky shit.

So, Priusaurus: This is interesting, but what the hell does this have to do with your shave today? Well, today, I took a trip up to Salem today to shave with Giles Fucking Corey for Spooky Day.

First, I went to downtown Salem and said hello to their [statue to Samantha from Bewitched](https://imgur.com/a/VAm0DPu) and snapped my SOTD #photocontest for Urban/Architecture. Downtown in a densely populated city counts as Urban, right?

I then went to [Giles Corey Memorial](https://imgur.com/a/6ulTcb6) down the road a bit. It’s settled nicely on a small lake where a couple people were fishing. There’s a marker for our boy Giles and his wife, Martha (who was executed 3 days after he died), as well as a display for them. I plopped down right in front of Giles marker, took out [my stuff](https://imgur.com/a/E21TlzA), got a good [face lather going](https://imgur.com/a/cUovIA7) and got to [shaving](https://imgur.com/a/VV9KQWh). It was hot and humid, but quiet and peaceful. For my 2nd public shave of the Games, this one went a lot better. Loaded up right from the tub and had a relatively quick, two pass shave using one of my favorite soaps. I do miss not using a mirror with a public shave, but I like to travel light. No one kicked me out, but [a couple dudes with fishing poles walked by and side-eyed me](https://imgur.com/a/PpYisfW). Like two dudes fishing on a Tuesday afternoon have any business judging a guy shaving in front of a dead witch’s memorial.

Samhain is a perfect fall scent as far as I’m concerned. I have the trickhole, but since I’m [\#ridingwithitchy](https://www.reddit.com/r/Wetshaving/comments/dznry0/the_dickhole_theory_matching_sets_are_bad_sad_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and not matching any scents all game, I got creative and used 345’s Bana-O-Rama Splash. To me, the Samhain smells like a baked good, kinda like a banana bread without the banana. Sooooo… I added the Banana with the splash! Boom! Tasty. Now with all that Banana, I had to finish everything off with Boonana by SW to complete this awesome #FOF. But not here. I went to the scene of the crime. Where Giles was pressed to death and said to be still haunting. I went to the [Howard Street Graveyard](https://imgur.com/a/vZtnHE3) in Salem, and sprayed my Boonana on there, and paid my respects to ensure no ghosts followed me home. Boonana is so, so, so much better and more complex than Bana-O-Rama. Bana-O-Rama is a fun, almost meme scent, wheresas Boonana is dark and sophisticated, while still having the sweetness of a banana that is just past it’s ripeness. Man, Boonana is so, so good.

For the **challenge**… Ummmm… WTF? Not sure which Djudge wanted this one, or which personal collection this is going in, but [here you go](https://imgur.com/a/OUAnxS3). I didn’t use a sink today, thanks to the Spooky Giles Corey shave, but I dumped my whiskers on some paper towel for you weirdos.

Sadly, no interview to post today, which is why you got a history lesson and spoooooooky Giles Corey tribute shave today.