# I: The Witch of Coös explained — New Hampshire > Chapter companion for New Hampshire by Robert Frost. ## What happens A mother and son, two old-believers, recount the story of a skeleton that emerged from the cellar of their farmhouse forty years ago. The mother describes how she confronted the bones, struck off a hand, and with her husband Toffile trapped the skeleton in the attic. The son reveals that the bones belonged to a man his father killed for the mother, a secret they have kept until now. ## Themes in this chapter ### Isolation and Community The mother and son live in a remote farmhouse behind a mountain, isolated from the outside world, and the secret of the bones binds them together. ### Mortality and Loss The skeleton represents death and the unresolved past; the mother's confession reveals a murder and the haunting consequences. ### Perception and Truth The mother's narrative blurs the line between supernatural belief and reality, culminating in the revelation of a long-hidden truth. ## Character check-ins ### Mother The narrator and protagonist of the story; she recounts the haunting and confesses the secret of the bones. ### Son The mother's son, who prompts her to tell the story and reveals the family secret. ### Toffile The mother's deceased husband; he helped trap the skeleton in the attic and was involved in the murder. ## Key lines > Folks think a witch who has familiar spirits / She could call up to pass a winter evening, / But won’t, should be burned at the stake or something. People believe a witch who can summon spirits but refuses to do so deserves to be executed. _The mother defends her refusal to perform séances, challenging societal expectations of witchcraft._ > The only fault my husband found with me⁠— / I went to sleep before I went to bed, / Especially in winter when the bed / Might just as well be ice and the clothes snow. My husband's only complaint was that I fell asleep before getting into bed, especially in winter when the bed was freezing. _The mother explains her habit of falling asleep prematurely, which led to her being alone when the skeleton appeared._ > They were a man’s his father killed for me. / I mean a man he killed instead of me. / The least I could do was to help dig their grave. The bones belonged to a man that Toffile killed for me—or rather, a man he killed in my place. The least I could do was help bury him. _The mother finally confesses the truth: the skeleton is the remains of a man murdered by her husband, and she helped bury it in the cellar._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters/i-the-witch-of-co-s - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/new_hampshire_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/new_hampshire_se/chapters