Crossbody Phone Case & Wallet — The Witches’ Dance

The Witches’ Dance Collection Fusing Robert Burns’s Poetry, Lizzie Doten’s Trance Poetry & Charles Winter’s Rare Painting

This design is inspired by a rare nineteenth-century American oil painting held in the Mayflower Descendants Museum (MDM), founded by American Tapestry’s creative director and founder. Painted in 1851 by American artist Charles Winter (born ca. 1825), The Witches’ Dance in Tam o’ Shanter is an exceptionally uncommon surviving work by an artist for whom the museum’s research has thus far identified only four documented paintings and very limited biographical records. The Smithsonian notes that the Brooklyn Museum holds three works associated with Winter, including surviving portraiture, while this dramatic narrative scene represents an especially unusual departure from the portrait painting principally associated with his known work.

Winter’s painting traces its artistic lineage to an 1839 steel engraving designed after John Masey Wright and engraved by Samuel S. Smith for Virtue & Co., illustrating Scottish poet Robert Burns’s famous 1790 poem Tam o’ Shanter.

This painting is part of a supernatural thread explored by the Mayflower Descendants Museum involving Mayflower descendant and trance poet Lizzie Doten, who claimed that famous deceased poets—including Robert Burns—dictated poetry through her. To learn more about this fascinating connection between art, poetry, and the supernatural, watch the museum’s video found on the social media accounts listed below.

Swipe to see the painting.

Meet the New American Art Museum Bringing History into Public View Through Art and Artifacts

The Mayflower Descendants Museum is an American art museum whose holdings bring together a wide range of artists and stories—from talented and emerging artists, some of whom may not yet have been represented in museum collections, to artists whose work was overlooked or little known during their lifetimes, to artists represented in some of the world’s most significant institutional and royal collections.

In the latter category, artists represented in the Museum’s collection can also be found in institutions including the Louvre in Paris; the British Royal Collection; the Victoria and Albert Museum; the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Picture Gallery in Stratford-upon-Avon; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Smithsonian; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, among others.

The Museum’s holdings also include works that have never before been on public view, created by both American and international artists whose art, objects, and stories intersect with the broader American story connected to Mayflower descendants—a diverse global population estimated to number more than 35 million.

The Literary Voyeur — Tam’s Forbidden Glimpse of the Witches’ Dance

In Burns’s poem, Tam rides home late at night on his mare, Maggie, passing the ruined Alloway Kirk, where he discovers witches and warlocks dancing wildly while the Devil provides the music. As the dance grows increasingly frenzied, one young witch, Nannie, stands out from the rest. Dressed in a very short shift, she leaps and dances with such energy that Tam becomes bewitched.

Unable to contain his enthusiasm, he cries:

“Weel done, Cutty‑sark!”

In Scots, he is essentially saying “Well done, short skirt!”

• cutty = short

• sark = a light shift or undergarment

Burns is referring to Nannie’s short garment, with Tam effectively cheering her on as she dances.

His shout immediately gives him away. The gathering turns on him, the witches give chase, and Tam races toward the Brig o’ Doon, where he knows they cannot pursue him across running water. He escapes over the bridge, but Nannie reaches Maggie just in time to tear away the mare’s tail.

Lizzie Doten: The Trance Poet Who Claimed Burns as Her Guide

An unexpected American thread connects the story to nineteenth‑century Spiritualism through Lizzie Doten (1827–1913), born in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Doten became known as a Spiritualist lecturer and trance poet. She described periods in which ordinary sensory awareness diminished and she believed herself capable of receiving communications from what she called “disembodied spirits.”

In her Poems from the Inner Life, held by MDM, Doten published poems she believed had been communicated through her by deceased writers, including Edgar Allan Poe, William Shakespeare, and Robert Burns. The museum’s copy contains two poems identified as having been “given under the inspiration of Robert Burns.”

Doten described Burns’s presence herself:

“The influence of Burns was pleasant, easy, and exhilarating.”

For Doten, “inspiration” meant far more than literary influence; she believed Burns’s spirit was communicating through her as a medium.

One of the two Burns‑attributed poems in the volume, “Words O’ Cheer,” is particularly intriguing beside Tam o’ Shanter. Its darker language and supernatural atmosphere invite comparison with the eerie world Burns created in the witches’ dance. The similarity does not establish that Tam o’ Shanter directly inspired the poem, but it creates a remarkable literary connection between Doten’s claimed communications with Burns and the scene depicted in Winter’s painting. This design carries forward a historical narrative shaped by art, literature, and the supernatural.

About American Tapestry
American Tapestry, founded by Cherie Behrens, is a heritage-driven lifestyle house inspired by historic art and artifacts connected to the American story—often more than a century old—translated into handbags, travel accessories, home décor, jewelry, glassware, games, furniture, textiles, and more. Every design is created by Cherie Behrens and draws inspiration exclusively from works and objects held by the Mayflower Descendants Museum, which she also founded. 

American Tapestry follows the unexpected threads that connect the Museum’s holdings to American art, artifacts, literature, and cultural history. Not every work that inspires a collection was created by an American artist; some enter the American story through research that reveals their ties to American people, objects, and narratives.

To discover the threads behind each collection, visit the Museum at www.mayflowerdescendantsmuseum.org

Through these holdings, we trace the stitches of America’s past—uncovering connections among people, places, objects, art, literature, and history that together reveal an interwoven American tapestry.

Our mission is simple: to bring historic art, design, artifacts, and the stories that intersect with them forward into the present and into everyday life—bringing often‑invisible history into view.

Connect with American Tapestry

Website: www.thehouseofamericantapestry.com
Instagram: @americantapestryofficial
Facebook: American Tapestry
YouTube: @thehouseofamericantapestry
TikTok: @americantapestry
X: @americantapestr

Connect with the Mayflower Descendants Museum
Website: www.mayflowerdescendantsmuseum.org
Instagram: @mayflowerdescendantsmuseum
Facebook: Mayflower Descendants Museum
YouTube: @mayflowerdescendantsmuseum
TikTok: @mayflowermuseum
X: @MayflowerMuseum

Product features
- 100% high-grade microfiber faux leather for a leather-like look and feel
- Vibrant, museum-quality printed front with black microfiber leather back
- Lightweight, compact size: 7.5" × 4.9" × 1"
- Two main flip-up compartments plus 1 pocket and 3 hidden card slots
- Detachable, adjustable faux-leather strap (75–130 cm) with smooth black zipper

Care instructions
- Before cleaning the bag, remove all the items from the bag. Suggested to pretreat visible stains with stain remover. Mix warm water with laundry detergent and clean the bag with terry washcloth or soft bristle brush. Let the bag air dry.