Rebekah Harkness, Taylor Swift, and WandaVision... : Connected?!

In this article we will lay out the strange connections I have found between Rebekah Harkness, a socialite, Taylor Swift, and the upcoming Marvel TV series, WandaVision (mostly because the trailer is so awesome it makes me want to come up with conspiracy theories).

So this all starts with the upcoming Marvel show WandaVision, a show that will follow Wanda (Scarlet Witch) after the events of Avengers Endgame (if you're lost already then this article isn't for you). After reviewing the trailers and doing some deeper research on the Easter Eggs and leaked information, we already have a pretty clear picture of what the show will look like.

The idea is Wanda, who is still reeling after the death of her love, Vision (killed by Thanos in Endgame) becomes so distraught she uses her powers to create another sort of dimension in which Vision exists. The worlds shift in the trailers through the years and mimicking different sitcoms like I Love Lucy and Full House, for example. However, I will be explaining here the storyline that makes the most sense based off of the trailers, easter eggs, and hints. I also feel one other strange thing to note is the constantly pushed back release dates (however this could just be attributed to the coronavirus), as a code embedded in the November Disney+ trailer displayed WandaVision as releasing then, and when it didn't Marvel announced a December 2020 date before finally canceling that and setting the new date for January 15th, 2020, which we will talk about a little later.

The WandaVision speculated storyline goes a little something like this: A distraught Wanda makes a deal with the demon Mephisto (who was canonized in Captain America: The First Avenger in a S.H.I.E.L.D. folder in small print at the bottom), who rules over a pocket dimension called "Hell". This is not actual hell, but it is supposed to represent a hellish sort of place. The deal Wanda is thought to have made is living in this "Hell" pocket dimension but with Vision alive again so they are able to have the perfect life they'd always dreamed of. The trailer already shows many interesting characters including Monica Rambeau (whom we saw as a child in the Captain Marvel movie), Jimmy Woo (an agent of S.W.O.R.D.), and Darcy Lewis, from Thor. However, the one character that caught the eyes of many is the character labeled "Agnes" in the subtitles of the trailer, played by Kathryn Hahn:

This character is an important part of this theory. As many fans have already guessed, it is thought that Agnes is an abbreviation of Agatha Harkness, a character in the MCU known as one of the original witches from the Salem Witch Trials.* Immediately, two things caught my attention. 1. Her last name, which reminded me of another person in history, which I'll get to in a minute and 2. The Salem Witch Trials, which I found and interesting thing to include in a demonic themed TV series. But first, I'm going to address her last name, Harkness.

When I first heard about the name, I immediately connected it with Taylor Swift. As many may know, Swift released a surprise album five months ago titled folklore. There were many different stories woven into song but one that many were intrigued by was one titled, the last great american dynasty. After extensive research completed by Swifties (Taylor's fan base), we learned that the song was telling the story of Rebekah Harkness, a socialite who had a crazy life and once lived in the house now owned by Taylor. Now, I won't go into too much detail about the song itself, but when I heard the name Harkness, I immediately thought of Rebekah. She was a crazy socialite, who's antics included dying her neighbor's cat green and cleaning her swimming pool with expensive champagne. I wondered if it was possible for her to have a connection with Agatha, possibly as a descendant or if Marvel was attempting a subtle reference after Swift's highly talked about album and highly investigated song. Immediately, I began to research more about Rebekah.

When I first started looking into Rebekah, it was only to find a connection between either her and Agatha Harkness or her and the Salem Witch Trials. What I found was pretty interesting. Rebekah was born on April 17, 1915 and died on June 17, 1982. Already we can notice that she was born on and died on the same number: 17. Interestingly enough, 17 is considered the number of the Holy Spirit and an "angel number". However, I was more interested in her ancestry and descendants. Rebekah had four husbands: Dickson W. Pierce, a descendant of former President Franklin Pierce, William Hale Harkness, a Standard Oil heir, Ben Kean, and Niels H. Lauersen. More importantly, Rebekah had three children: two with Dickson and one with William. Another really interesting thing to note, specifically about her children, is that all of them either died (for strange reasons) or their children did. Let's take a look:

-Her first child, Allen Pierce, born in 1940, shot and killed a man in a brawl and was charged with second-degree murder before his sentence was reduced to manslaughter. He served eight years in Florida.

-Her second child, Anne Terry Pierce, born in 1944 married Anthony McBride and their child was unfortunately severely brain-damaged and died at the age of ten.

-Finally, her third child Edith Hale Harkness, was the most messed up of all of them. She was in and out of mental institutions for years before constantly attempting suicide. A quote from the New York Times describes Edith as: "Her daughter Edith jumped off roofs, swallowed pills and managed not to kill herself. ''How should she do it?'' Rebekah Harkness asked. ''Is there a chic way to go?'' She lived on champagne and injections - Vitamin B, testosterone, painkillers - as a result of which her bathrooms were splattered with blood and her muscles calcified. (''She walked,'' an acquaintance said, ''like Frankenstein.'') One could almost feel sorry for her." Frightening indeed. We also know that the only thing she took from her mother after she died of cancer were "only her mother's pills: Seconal, Nembutal, Valium, Haldol, Librium and various painkillers - 40 vials in all.". She succeeded in committing suicide soon after.

As strange as her family life was, I could not come up with any links to Agatha Harkness or the Salem Witch Trials for now. One other thing I did think was weird was what happened to websites whenever I searched for "rebekah harkness salem witch trials". Many of the websites redirected me to another page or insisted that the article was lost. Take a look:

Either way, as I couldn't find anything concrete, I decided to shift my focus to location. In WandaVision, fans quickly discovered the town was called Westview based on a newspaper and an obscure city welcome sign. A quick search revealed the Westviews in America. There's one in Florida, which I thought was good to note as Rebekah's son was imprisoned there for his murder. Then, there are Westviews in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, and Virginia. I found it extremely interesting to see that there was one in Atlanta, as that was exactly where WandaVision was filmed. The town Westview in Atlanta also has a cemetery named after it, to make matters even more interesting. Next, I took an interest in Maryland, since it was closest to the Witch Trials and had its own witch incidents. Upon further research, I discovered the Maryland town of Leonardtown, where an incident with a witch had happened in 1697 according to legend. Now, when you look at Leonardtown and Westview on a map, they are actually very close to each other and directly across the river:

Next, I couldn't quite find anything else extremely linked or obvious, so I decided to take a look at the newest release date for WandaVision: January 15th. This is two days before the 17th, Rebekah's special number. Now both 17 and 15 are listed on the "evil number" list however, 17, as mentioned above, is also said to be an "angel number" while 15, as it turns out, is a number that represents the Devil. This could be a nod to Mephisto, since he is a demon. I also searched past historic events on January 15th in history and found some significant dates:

-In 1831, the first U.S. railroad honeymoon trip was taken in South Carolina by a Mr. and Mrs. Pierson. More on this later.

-In 1870 on this day, the donkey was first used as the Democratic symbol, which could be a slight indication of Marvel's political position cleverly disguised in history.

-In 1927 the teacher involved in the Scopes Monkey Trial (convicted for the teaching of evolution) had his case overturned. This could reference the evolution of Wanda and mutants, a concept rumored to also be explored in the series, but it's a longshot.

Back to the first point in 1831. I thought this pertained to Wanda and Vision since it's the first time they are finally living their dream life and going on a "honeymoon". After a quick search for the South Carolina Witch Trials. One of the most interesting stories I found was about a woman named Mary Ingleman, who was an accused witch after using herbs as a remedy and allegedly used her magic to levitate a cow. Here's where things get really interesting: On a web page that lists all the shows directed by Joss Whedon (who directed Avengers: Age of Ultron which first featured the Scarlet Witch!) I did a search for the word "Ingleman" and found none other than Kyle Ingleman, an actor known for his role in the movie titled Angel (also directed by Joss Whedon!). So there you have it folks. That is my not-really-a-conspiracy-theory-conspiracy-theory about WandaVision!

I hope you enjoyed my brain's adventures of attempting to link a bunch of random things together! I guess I just couldn't contain my excitement for the release of WandaVision! Anyway, thank you for waiting so long for this article, and don't worry as I will have more time to update during Christmas break. Thank you so much!

*After researching for a while, I finally realized that Agatha Harkness is a fictional character, so whoops. But it did still draw some interesting connections so I guess it doesn't matter too much.

Loreleixx