It was a little less than three weeks ago that New Jersey Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon uttered, “We need to sage this place or something!” in response to the slew of injuries the team was facing.
Related: Arseny Gritsyuk Has Been Exactly What the Devils Need
Since then, they’ve gained some teammates back but also lost some more — most notably superstar forward Jack Hughes, who needed surgery after a bizarre mishap involving glass at a team dinner. As if that wasn’t strange enough, it’s now come to the surface that in 2005, forensic archaeologist Scott Warnasch and his team found over 2,000 bodies buried at the then-future site of Prudential Center — the current Devils’ home — including two 19th century cast-iron coffins which contained 150-year-old mummies.
“If you’re gonna name yourselves the Devils, then you might as well have some corpses go with it,” Warnasch told NJ.com’s Ryan Novozinsky.
When All Else Fails, Hire an Etsy Witch!
All this wackiness has led some Devils fans to question: Is the team truly cursed!?
While pondering this exact question, one 41-year-old female Devils fan from New York, who goes by the initials “MC”, wasn’t taking chances. Early on Wednesday morning, she posted to a Devils group on Reddit to let the fanbase know she had hired a Witch from global online marketplace ‘Etsy‘ to cast a spell.
The outcome of the spell, asked the witch? Of course, that was for MC’s beloved Devils to overcome the curse of the mummies, get back to full strength, and win the Stanley Cup this season.
It wouldn’t be the first time an Etsy Witch “saved” a professional sports season. In September, Major League Baseball’s Seattle Mariners turned to one during a late season slump, sparking a remarkable 17 wins in their next 18 games and a run to the American League Championship Series — their first since 2001. “I was aware of the Mariners and their Etsy Witch adventure and I loved it, which is why I felt comfortable ‘hiring’ one of my own for the Devils,” MC told The Hockey Writers.
$35.13 of MC’s U.S. dollars later, the Witch who goes by the alias of “PaigeLovesMagic” — and promises to “Remove Curses, Reverse Hexes, and Banish Negative Attachments” — delivered proof of completion, but gave some further instructions:
“Think of a spell like planting a seed: when you place it in the soil, you don’t dig it up every day to check if it’s growing—you water it, give it sunlight, and trust the process. Spells work in a similar way. The energy is set into motion, but it needs 1–6 weeks to take root and flourish, depending on the situation and energy around it.“
In just over four years on Etsy, Paige has conducted over 24,700 spells and customers have a 96% satisfaction rate. Considering that Moneypuck has the Devils’ current Stanley Cup odds at 3.7%, most fans will take those odds instead.
“I mean, the Devils still have an incredible record this year and we just have to roll with the punches when it comes to injuries,” MC said. “When it comes to lifting the curse, I hired the Etsy Witch for that specific part in the spirit of fun and lightheartedness, and because it worked pretty well for the Mariners.”
MC grew up in a hockey household, and while her father was a New York Islanders fan, the easy commute to Devils games was all it took for her to become a fan. She fell in love with “all three Scotts” — Gomez, Niedermayer and Stevens — but these days has a “soft spot” for Brett Pesce and of course, Arseny Gritsyuk and his Telegram updates. She also has two dogs: one by the name of ‘Emrick’, named after the great announcer Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick, and ‘Chico’, named after former Devils netminder Glenn ‘Chico’ Resch.
While paying for the spell to be cast was lighthearted in nature, MC previously studied to be a death doula and has special interests in Irish mythology, folklore, and spirituality:
“I believe in the concept of the Otherworld. I believe our ancestors and loved ones who have died aren’t necessarily above or below us, but that they walk alongside us in the Otherworld. To me, it does no harm to acknowledge [those still buried down there in Newark], maybe light a candle for them, put their picture up on a mantle or altar, so long as they weren’t completely awful, irredeemable people, of course…I don’t think they’re cursing us necessarily, but I also think it’s just a nice thing to maybe light a candle or two for them every once in a while.”
-MC
MC also pointed out that a fellow Devils fan said they’ll be “raising their pregame beer to the mummies” at their next game. “That kind of thing is no different than any other superstition or ritual someone might have around sports,” she added.
To build on that, she proposed a fun idea: “It could be fun to have a ‘Newark Mummies’ night at the Rock…we should change the team name for a night — like they do in Minor League Baseball — and have Mummies jerseys made up for the event.”
As the spell’s one-to-six-week window begins, Devils fans are rallying behind MC’s bold move. “Thank you for your service,” said one commenter. Another said, “Well done!”
One more added, “The goal of spells like these is to take the positive energy and put them towards results…for fans, it can be very good to just create a positive atmosphere around the team and cause us to reframe things in a more positive light…There’s interesting psychology around things like this. Maybe B.S., maybe not, but not something that hurts anyone…”
Time will tell if the story of the Etsy Witch turns into a legendary tale or fizzles out quickly à la the 2024-25 “Mrs. Fields” Devils.
