As the birch and spruce forests of Newfoundland’s southern coast begin to speckle and sparkle with bright yellow, a familiar and frightening figure returns to the autumn woods of the Miawpukek First Nation community in Conne River. For those on a local walking trail, it emerges from the forest like a specter: a human-like figure who appears to be bound, their torso and limbs contorted into the trunk of a large birch tree—a variety that locals call “witch hazel.” Bark and wood take the place of skin and flesh. The…
