She Reveals The SIN She Witnessed As A Girl. Warning: This Story Will Haunt You.

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4 жыл бұрын

I have posted clips from my documentary before on KZfaq and have been asked many questions in the comments about it. So I decided to tell the background story. My video presents the entire interview.
It is a strange and sad story and my doc details the efforts that my team over a nine-month period to investigate it. We concluded that, even with the minor errors that Nettie Mitchell may have made in telling it, the basic story was true.
I took the interview that you are watching here to the executive producer of PBS American Experience series and she gave us the funds to make a one-hour documentary that both investigated the story and dramatized it titled Sins Of Our Mothers.
Some of the people that you see in this film clip corroborated what Nettie told my cameraman back in the 1975 when he recorded this interview. And I complement PBS for running a story like this involved with the Oedipus complex, Puritan sin (really sin in any culture), the sex abuse difficulties young women endured when they went to work in the mills of Massachusetts back in the mid-1800s.
Sin was a central concept in Puritan theology and was taken very seriously in New England during the 1800s. The Puritans believed that human beings were born sinful and that salvation could only be attained through faith in Jesus Christ.
In Puritan New England, sin was not just a personal failing but a crime against God and society. Puritan communities were tightly controlled with strict rules to prevent sinful behavior. Puritan ministers preached about sin regularly and sin was viewed as a very real danger to the community. Punishments for sin were severe and included public shaming, fines, imprisonment and even banishment.
Puritans were particularly concerned with sexual sins such as adultery and fornication which they believed threatened the sanctity of marriage. They were also deeply opposed to gambling, drinking and other forms of "worldly" pleasure, which they saw as distractions from the pursuit of godliness.
Life for rural Maine farmers in 1850 was difficult and marked by hardship and isolation. Most farmers lived on small, family-owned farms. Farmers typically had to contend with a challenging climate, as the winters were long and harsh, and the growing season was short. The soil in Maine was also rocky and infertile, making it difficult to grow crops.
Farmers worked long hours, often starting before dawn and continuing until well after sunset, in order to tend to their crops and livestock. They relied heavily on manual labor, with most tasks performed by hand or with the help of draft animals such as horses or oxen.
In addition to the challenges of farming, rural Maine farmers also faced social and economic isolation. Many lived far from towns or cities and had limited access to markets or goods and services. They also had limited access to education and cultural amenities.
This may be why a rural Maine farmer family trusted that when they sent their daughter Emmeline to work in the Lowell woolen Mills, she would be safe and protected as the broadsides hosted around the state of Maine for all to read claimed.
But it is also true that throughout New England and maybe throughout the country at that time, shunning was an active part of community life. Shunning was a form of social ostracism where individuals who were seen as violating community norms or religious beliefs were publicly condemned and excluded from social interactions. Shunning was often used as a way to enforce moral standards in the community. Those who were accused of violating these standards, such as engaging in extramarital affairs or consuming alcohol, would be publicly shamed and excluded from social events, including church services. Those who were shunned would be denied access to critical resources, such as food and supplies, and would be excluded from the support and assistance of their community.
Individuals who were shunned experienced significant social and economic hardship. They might lose their livelihoods or be forced to move away from their communities in order to avoid the stigma of being shunned. Despite its harshness, shunning was seen as an important way to maintain the moral fabric of the community. It was used as a way to enforce social norms and to discourage behaviors that were seen as immoral or sinful.
All of the above helps to understand how & why what happened to Emmeline according to Nettie Mitchell, could have happened. For me Nettie Mitchell was a courageous journalist/storyteller. She held it inside for so long and was pleased when we made the documentary (titled Sins Of Our Mothers), & provoked Judith Rosner to write the book Emmeline. The money she received helped her live the rest of her life in some level of comfort.
I want to thank the advertisers who post on my video. They include Portland to Bar Harbor and Rome, Maine.
David Hoffman filmmaker

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@DavidHoffmanFilmmaker 2 жыл бұрын

Here is the complete story of how and why this occurred. It will help you to understand. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/qbaHkrd41Z6xonk.html And this 98-year-old lady who I interviewed back in 1979 was just amazing. She lived a life that is completely gone now. -kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oNlpZKtm3KiVYYU.html David Hoffman filmmaker

@owainjohns2815 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for looking after Nettie in her old age. She reminds me very much of my great auntie Annie. She reached 96 years old and had worked as a 'lady in waiting' ie a house servant, and she told me stories of the cruelty of the rich towards the poor. Aunty Annie always looked out for those in need and when we would walk through the lanes and woods, she knew every plant and its use. I still miss her.

@Mzepesisfre 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you for this

@jenynz5334 2 жыл бұрын

I saw the video for this story before. I think it was the first video I saw of yours. I especially liked the Vietnam soldier story but was sad it was cut off. I wonder what happened after that. I like to think he was okay after that and was loved.

@winterwords8804 2 жыл бұрын

I’m sure Nettie says she’s 89 not 98.

@soulcandy6320 2 жыл бұрын

A friend of mine has a very similar story about his mother. She lived in the northeast as a child, and was sent far away to work for a doctor. I don't know much detail, except that after she came back home she had severe anxiety the rest of her life. Her own immediate family suspected she had been sexually abused during her time working for this doctor. Very sad.

@margaretlouise6200 2 жыл бұрын

In the very early 1950's when I was about six we lived near a sweet old lady who used to make us cookies after school. My sister and I used to go to see her everyday after school. My parents didn't know her, she was just our friend. Things were very different and far safer in those days. Thinking about it now, she lived alone, didn't seem to have a car or to leave the house. We had to cross a railroad track to get to her little house. One day, I was by myself and went to cross the railroad track on the way home. A train was coming and I was hesitating to cross but I didn't want to wait for a long train. The engineer was honking wildly and I could see him looking freaked because there was nothing he could do to stop the train. I saw my mother across the street, yelling don't cross, stay back! But I leapt across right at the last moment. The train was probably no more than 20 feet from me. I got a switching when my mother got hold of me. She said I could never go to see the old lady again. I guess as a kid it didn't strike me that my sister and I may have been the only company that old lady had in a day, but as I've gotten older and company gets scarcer, I have thought about it. No one phoned her and I don't know if she even had a phone. So I guess she made her cookies and no one came until she gave up. It must have been a shock and a great sadness to her for us to just stop coming. A while back, I searched for our old address. The neighborhood had hardly changed, I suppose because rail yards had grown up over time and no one really wanted to live there. Our house was pretty much as it had been. Believe it or not as I looked around the neighborhood I saw what must have been her old house still standing. Of course the old lady died long ago. It was very sad for me to realize what two little girls never returning without explanation might have meant to a lonely old soul. Wherever she is now, I hope she could hear me explaining to her what happened.

@rogerramjet6429 2 жыл бұрын

I've had few similar situations in life when I was younger. It was a nice kind old lady that got me to keep going to school, when I was being picked on. She got my bullies a d gave them a serve, and after that, she would leave me a little at of sweets to pick up on the way home. I've always found old people to be very interesting and a great source of information. Now I'm old I STILL find old-er people fascinating and I m left in a different time where people don't care nor the time to consider other's well being. When I'm dead, nobody is going to know till the smell can't be ignored any longer. I've never been married and never had kids, plus I left my immediate family behind in 2010, in the interests of self preservation. Mother spent many years trying to end my life and the family have done nothing but lie and gaslight me about the abuse for decades. Youngest brother is the most normal. Next brother and father are narcisists and my mother is a bipolar psychopath, while I'm high functioning autistic. Always been the outcast and society really isn't any different. I won't let illness get me because I'll do it before I end up having to rely on the help of others, while losing my dignity and self respect. Ftw

@michaeladamo7220 2 жыл бұрын

Ouch!!

@caseysauer1713 2 жыл бұрын

Such a beautiful story!

@marlissfern2710 2 жыл бұрын

Great story. Think of all the company and happiness you and your sister brought. Mustn’t think of when you stopped going. I’m sure you impacted her world very fondly. Thank you for sharing.

@clockworkNate 2 жыл бұрын

Was the house made out of gingerbread? 😂

@joolst1149 Жыл бұрын

I once heard this saying from someone: “when an old person dies, a library burns down”. This story was *riveting*. A 🌹for Emmaline.

@TheLadyStone007 Жыл бұрын

African proverbs 👑♥️🙏🏿

@amaravos Жыл бұрын

So true

@kennethsee6262 Жыл бұрын

Very well said

@MsStealYourDadAndMom 11 ай бұрын

Never heard this saying, but I love it ❤️

@fsully3379 11 ай бұрын

That's why we have souls

@cloudtowerphotography815 8 ай бұрын

This story has played out countless times in Ireland where I live. The things that were done to young women and girls who, through no fault of their own, were perceived to be "fallen women" sickens me.