Lancashire Folk-lore: Illustrative of the Superstitious Beliefs and Practices, Local Customs and Usages of the People of the County PalatineHarland, John
History
Lancashire Folk-lore: Illustrative of the Superstitious Beliefs and Practices, Local Customs and Usages of the People of the County Palatine
Harland, John
Folklore -- England -- Lancashire; Lancashire (England) -- Social life and customs
Elizabeth Device [probably Davies], _alias_ "Young
Demdike," her daughter; 3. James Device, son of No. 2; 4. Alizon Device,
daughter of No. 2; 5. Anne Whittle, widow, _alias_ "Chattox," _alias_
Chatterbox [more probably Chadwicks], the rival witch of "Old Demdike"
(and, like her, eighty or more years of age); 6. Anne Redferne, daughter
of No. 5; 7. Alice Nutter; 8. Katherine Hewytt, _alias_ "Mould-heels;"
9. Jane Bulcock, of the Moss End; 10. John Bulcock, her son; 11. Isabel
Robey; and 12. Margaret Pearson, of Padiham. No. 12 was tried first for
murder by witchcraft; 2nd for bewitching a neighbour; 3rd for bewitching
a horse; and, being acquitted of the two former charges, was sentenced
for the last to stand upon the pillory in the markets of Clitheroe,
Padiham, Colne, and Lancaster for four successive market days, with a
printed paper upon her head, stating her offence. The twelve persons
already named were styled "Witches of Pendle Forest." The following
eight were called "Witches of Samlesbury:"--13. Jennet Bierley; 14.
Ellen Bierley; 15. Jane Southworth; 16. John Ramsden; 17. Elizabeth
Astley; 18. Alice Gray; 19. Isabel Sidegraves; and 20. Lawrence Haye.
The last four were all discharged without trial. The sensation produced
by these trials was immense, not only in this, but throughout
neighbouring counties, and Thomas Potts, Esq., the clerk of the court,
was directed by the judges of assize, Sir Edward Bromley, Knt., and Sir
James Altham, Knt., to collect and publish the evidence and other
documents connected with the trial, under the revision of the judges
themselves; and Potts's "Discovery of Witches," originally published in
1613, has been reprinted by the Chetham Society (vol. vi.), under the
editorship of its president, Mr. James Crossley, F.S.A. According to
Potts, Old Mother Demdike, the principal actress in the tragedy, was a
general agent for the devil in all these parts; no man escaping her or
her furies that ever gave them occasion of offence, or denied them
anything they stood in need of. The justices of the peace in this part
of the country, Roger Nowell and Nicholas Bannister, having learned that
Malkin Tower [Malkin is a north-country name for a hare], in the Forest
of Pendle, the residence of Old Demdike and her daughter, was the resort
of the witches, ventured to arrest their head and another of her
followers, and to commit them to Lancaster Castle. Amongst the rest of
the voluntary confessions made by the witches, that of Dame Demdike is
preserved. She confessed that, about twenty years ago, as she was coming
home from begging, she was met near Gould's Hey, in the forest of
Pendle, by a spirit or devil in the shape of a boy, the one half of his
coat black and the other brown, who told her to stop, and said that if
she would give him her soul, she should have anything she wished for.
She asked his name, and was told _Tib_. She consented, from the hope of
gain, to give him her soul. For several years she had no occasion to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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