The Society of Friends was and is a major force in Pennsylvania, and have their own music, culture, and folkways, which adhered fairly strictly to their religious ideals--However Pennsylvania was conceived as a haven for persecuted religious groups, and the Quakers did not impose their own culture or values on them, and encouraged them to live and believe as they wished.

Though the Quakers are very progressive in their ideas and beliefs, there are numbers in other groups, particularly among the Pennsylvania Dutch, who are not, and folk beliefs in the supernatural persist, accompanied by superstitions, legends, and all the sort of things that folklorists savor.

In living memory, there was the murder trial of Albert Shinsky, who maintained that his victim was a witch who had hexed him, and, to this day, barns are decorated with signs that are thought to have magical powers, and there are still Pow-wows and hex doctors who practice their arts.