They shriek and cackle in popular imagination, and they’re always casting nasty spells on those who get on their bad side. Puritans persecute them. And then there’s that movie where one meets her demise by melting ...


Linda Kerlin wants to set the record straight. Yes, witches might be misunderstood creatures of mystery. But their craft — make that witchcraft — has more meaning than mere Halloween high jinks.


From Friday, Oct. 27 through Tuesday, Oct. 31 (yes, that’s Halloween), Kerlin will host “The Folk Lore of Witches Feast,” a fun, educational, yet reflective evening of what is what and which is which when it comes to all things witches. Cost is $38; seating is limited.


“There’s nothing evil that occurs here,” said Kerlin of the 6:30 p.m. event, to be held each of those five dates at the Olde Log Cabin Homestead, 2084 Mount Gretna Road, just outside Elizabethtown. In fact, Kerlin, who goes by “Good Witch Sadie,” likes to cite the translation of the word “witch” from the old Anglo-Saxon language: “wise one.”


“If I believed in reincarnation, I was a ‘wise old woman’ in the 1800s,” said Kerlin, who refused to admit her age (“witches don’t divulge such stuff”).


In the 19th century — it’s that period of witch folklore that Kerlin pays homage to — what we call witches were “wise old women who dealt with herbs.” Part of the evening feast, which is limited to 12 ­— not 13; “I have enough dishes for 12,” she said — will have guests “learning about the different herbs” that would have been made use of by a wise woman. Kerlin called such herbs “simplings ... which were your medicines. You didn’t go to the pharmacy.


“Yarrow is a good witch’s favorite herb,” said Kerlin, citing an old saying “where yarrow grows, love grows.” Elder flowers are “a symbol of consistency and freshness,” she said. Parsley “aids in digestion.” And basil “was buried with the dead to ensure safe passage.”


The dead will be very much a presence at the feast, held in a 1790 log cabin that is believed to have once been a fur trapping post.


Participants will “see a graveyard; they’ll see a skeleton,” said Kerlin. Also present will be “dead bread,” a heavy “dead weight” bread which Kerlin sometimes shapes into skull faces. The idea is to salute, not to scare; rather, Kerlin said; it will be a night “to honor the dead.”


The Folk Lore of Witches Feast will be preceded by a separate event, a “Fall Harvest” to be held at the Homestead from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 13, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 14.


Craft items and country foods, such as herbed olives, rosemary cookies, red beet jelly and homemade bread, will be available; a $16.95 prepaid fee entitles patrons to a five-course “Autumn Food Sampler Luncheon,” featuring a soup, salad, entree, dessert and drink course. In the past, Kerlin has served her Squash & Apple Soup, a hearty, fragrant autumnal blend of chicken stock, squash and apples (see recipe below).


The menu for the Witches Feast, however, will be a surprise for guests, which is how Kerlin designs it. Her dining room is furnished in the manner of taverns of old, where travelers “were not told what you were going to eat.


“You’re not going to a restaurant. If you did not eat the food that was put in front of thee, you were not welcome to come back,” she said, slipping into period-speak.


“You needed to keep the cook happy.”


Some of the fare will be prepared over an open fire. Guests will make an “amulet bag” and learn, for instance, just when witches started wearing those trademark black cone hats. Fees to both events do not include tax and gratuity. Below is Linda Kerlin’s recipe for Squash & Apple Soup. Note the ingredients call for goat’s milk; then again, Kerlin has at least one goat on her property (along with, yes, a large black cat).


SQUASH & APPLE SOUP


10 cups chicken stock


1 large butternut squash, peeled, cubed and de-seeded.


3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cubed


Pinch of salt


Pinch of pepper


1 tablespoon raw sugar


1 teaspoon curry powder


Put all in a pot and bring to a boil, then cover and simmer until soft. Mash all to a fine pulp. When reheating, add 14 ounces of goat milk.