Irish Witchcraft and DemonologySeymour, St. John D. (St. John Drelincourt)
History
Irish Witchcraft and Demonology
Seymour, St. John D. (St. John Drelincourt)
Demonology; Witchcraft -- Ireland
In one of the earliest of the depositions, that sworn by James Hill on the
5th of March, we find an extraordinary incident recorded, which seems to
show that at least one of the accused was a victim of religious mania. He
states that on the 1st of March, "he being in the house of William Sellar
of Island Magee, one Mary Twmain (_sic!_) came to the said house and
called out Janet Liston to speak to her, and that after the said Janet
came in again she fell a-trembling, and told this Deponent that the said
Mary had been desiring her to go to Mr. Haltridge's to see Mary Dunbar,
but she declared she would not go for all Island Magee, except Mr.
Sinclair would come for her, and said: If the plague of God was on her
(Mary Dunbar), the plague of God be on them altogether; the Devil be with
them if he was among them. If God had taken her health from her, God give
her health: if the Devil had taken it from her, the Devil give it her. And
then added: O misbelieving ones, eating and drinking damnation to
themselves, crucifying Christ afresh, and taking all out of the hands of
the Devil!"
Finally the accused were brought up for trial at Carrigfergus before
Judges Upton and Macartney[55] on 31st March 1711. Amongst the witnesses
examined were Mr. Skeffington, curate of Larne; Mr. Ogilvie, Presbyterian
minister of Larne; Mr. Adair, Presbyterian minister of Carrigfergus; Mr.
Cobham, Presbyterian minister of Broad Island; Mr. Edmonstone, of Red
Hall, and others. The proceedings commenced at six o'clock in the morning,
and lasted until two in the afternoon. An abstract of the evidence was
made by Dr. Tisdall, who was present in Court during the trial, and from
whose letter we extract the following passages--many of the foregoing
facts(!) being also adduced.
"It was sworn to by most of the evidences that in some of her fits three
strong men were scarce able to hold her down, that she would mutter to
herself, and speak some words distinctly, and tell everything she had said
in her conversation with the witches, and how she came to say such things,
which she spoke when in her fits."
"In her fits she often had her tongue thrust into her windpipe in such a
manner that she was like to choak, and the root seemed pulled up into her
mouth. Upon her recovery she complained extremely of one Mean, who had
twisted her tongue; and told the Court that she had tore her throat, and
tortured her violently by reason of her crooked fingers and swelled
knuckles. The woman was called to the Bar upon this evidence, and ordered
to show her hand; it was really amazing to see the exact agreement betwixt
the description of the Afflicted and the hand of the supposed tormentor;
all the joints were distorted and the tendons shrivelled up, as she had
described."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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