• Headlines and advertisements Is Anyone Safe? is a headline from the magical newspaper The New York Ghost in 1926, referring to the dangerous criminal Gellert Grindelwald being on the loose in Europe (WFT). Read More
• Cities Famous for its seventeenth-century hysteria over witchcraft and witch trials, Salem is today a typical suburb of Boston, Massachusetts. There is still a witches’ institute in Salem, which Harry Potter saw when he walked by their tent at the Quidditch World Cup (GF7). Read More
• Symbols The 1920s No-Maj fanatical group known as the New Salem Philanthropic Society displayed a banner showing hands snapping a wizard’s wand in half over some red and yellow flames, invoking the memory of the Salem Witch Trials and witch-burnings of earlier centuries (WFT). Read More
• Churches and graveyards A “dingy” church in New York City where anti-magic fanatic Mary Lou Barebone held meetings of the New Salem Philanthropic Society in the 1920s (WFT). Barebone and her three adopted (and abused) children lived upstairs. The downstairs included a long table where orphans came to eat soup and receive pamphlets… Read More
• Organizations American No-Maj group seeking to expose and destroy witches and wizards in the 1920s led by the extremist Mary Lou Barebone, a descendant of Scourers, and her three adopted children. Their meeting place was the “dingy” New Salem Church in New York City where they ran a soup kitchen for… Read More
• Character Sam was a MACUSA Obliviator at the time of Newt Scamander’s visit to New York. Sam dated a fellow MACUSA worker named Ruby and was apparently involved with another witch, named Cecily, at the same time. Queenie’s knowledge of this secret (through Legilimency) allowed her to use blackmail to rescue Jacob… Read More
• Character The Scamanders are a notable wizarding family whose members have worked with magical creatures for generations. Read More
• Character Porpentina “Tina” Goldstein was a witch who worked as an Auror for the MACUSA in 1920s New York. Tina was temporarily removed from her position as an Auror after attacking a No-Maj who was beating her young adult son. After this incident she was assigned as a Federal Wand… Read More
• Character Newton “Newt” Scamander is a famous magizoologist and author of Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them (PS5) as well as a number of other books. Now retired, Scamander lives in Dorset with his wife Porpentina (FB). He received the Order of Merlin, second… Read More
• Character Theseus Scamander was the older brother of Newt Scamander, a well-known hero of World War One, and an Auror for the Ministry of Magic in the 1920s. When Newt Scamander appeared before MACUSA in 1926 after creatures escaped from his case, the British Envoy recognized his last name, as did… Read More
• Organizations 17th century – Rogue band of vengeful mercenary wizards who caused a huge problem between wizards and No-Majs in North America. During the early years of the European Wizarding community in America, there was no government or laws. As a result, unscrupulous bands of wizards formed mercenary bands to enforce… Read More
• Source The script for the film “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” written by J.K. Rowling and Steve Kloves… Read More
• Rules and laws A specific and very serious type of MACUSA law violation that risks exposure of the magical community. Tina Goldstein arrested Newt Scamander for a Section 3A when she learned that he had not wiped the memory of a No-Maj (Jacob Kowalski) who witnessed magic. Read More
• Occupations A Seer is a witch or wizard with the Inner Eye, that is, the ability to see into the future. Practitioners Cassandra Trelawney was a famous, talented Seer (FW, WW, OP15). Her great-great-granddaughter Sybill Trelawney also possesses the Inner Eye, but she has only… Read More
• Character Seraphina Picquery was a highly accomplished American witch who served as President of the Magical Congress of the United States of America from 1920 to 1928 (Pm). Piquery was already a gifted witch during her years at Ilvermorny. She was one of the few incoming students at that school which were chosen… Read More
• Event Picquery is an extremely competent and accomplished witch who guides the United States magical community through the difficult years of the rise of Grindelwald and the catastrophic attacks of the Obscurial in New York City in 1926. She leaves office in 1928 (WFT, Pm). Read More
• Glossary One of the threat levels on the giant dial in the Atrium at New York MACUSA Headquarters in 1926 (WFT). The event which triggered this status was the destruction of a brownstone building and a street by a mysterious”dark wind with eyes” which was unexplained until it turned out to… Read More
• Character Henry Shaw (Sr.) was a powerful 1920s media titan based in New York (WFT). Read More
• Character Henry Shaw Jr. was a United States senator from New York in the 1920s. He was killed by an Obscurus at a campaign event in 1926 (WFT). Read More
• Character Langdon Shaw was the younger son of newspaper magnate Henry Shaw Sr. Langdon was an excitable young man with a proclivity for wild ideas. He was frustrated by living in his elder brother’s shadow (WFT). Read More
• Buildings An impressive Art Deco building in New York City, Shaw Tower is the headquarters of Henry Shaw Sr.’s massive media business. It includes a busy newsroom, elevators, and and Shaw Sr.’s large penthouse office, which offers an excellent view of the city (FB). Read More
• Magical objects Gellert Grindelwald would inhale vapor from a skull-hookah and exhale smoke that displayed illustrative images while he spoke (CG). Read More
• Character In 1927, Auror Rudolph Spielman arrived at MACUSA Headquarters in New York City to take charge of prisoner Gellert Grindelwald so he could be brought back to Europe to answer for his crimes there. As Spielman and other Aurors were escorting the prisoner in a Thestral-drawn carriage across… Read More
• Magical identities A Squib is a non-magical person born to at least one magical parent (Pm). They are much rarer than Muggle-born witches and wizards (CS9). Read More
• Buildings Squire’s is a large building of which Newt, Tina, Jacob, and Queenie stand on the rooftop when viewing the chaos of New York below. The groups stands underneath a large sign that says “Squire’s”… Read More
• Character A young witch who developed an obscurus from trying to suppress her magic. She died at the age of eight (WFT). Read More
• Spells The Summoning Charm causes an object to fly to the caster, even over quite some distance; the target object is said to have been Summoned. It would seem that the caster must know at least the general location of the object Summoned. Read More
• Creature The Swooping Evil is a blue and green reptilian flying creature about the size of a parrot but with bat-like wings that can expand almost like a huge butterfly. It rests in a small cocoon until released, when it flies around majestically. It is intelligent and strong, capable of supporting… Read More
• Thing A small spiny cocoon houses the large flying creature known as a Swooping Evil, and contains a “luminous venom” which can be squeezed out and used to remove unpleasant memories (WFT). The cocoon unravels to release the creature, and closes up again when the Swooping Evil returns. Read More