Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Legends -- England -- Yorkshire; Yorkshire (England) -- Miscellanea
"You must begin to eat pudding on the 11th of May, and you must put
one of the powders in every day as they are marked, for six days;
and you must see it put in yourself every day, or else it will not
do. If you find yourself sickly at any time, you must not have no
doctor, for it will not do, and you must not let the boy that used
to eat with you eat of that pudding for six days; and you must
make only just as much as you can eat yourselves; if there is any
left it will not do. You must keep the door fast as much as
possible, or you will be overcome by some enemy. Now think on and
take my directions, or else it will kill us all. About the 25th of
May I will come to Leeds, and send for your wife to Mary Bateman's.
Your wife will take me by the hand, and say, 'God bless you that I
ever found you out.' It has pleased God to send me into the world
that I might destroy the works of darkness. I call them the works
of darkness because they are dark to you. Now, mind what I say,
whatever you do. This letter must be burnt in straw on the hearth
by your wife."
The witness proceeded to state that in consequence of these directions,
on the 11th of May (Monday) they began to eat of the pudding, a powder
being put in each day as marked on the paper, and that they found no
particular taste in the pudding for five days. And that on Saturday the
witness was coming to Leeds without seeing the powder put in, when his
wife reminded him that it was necessary he should see it put in. Witness
said his wife had made the pudding earlier than usual for that purpose.
Witness saw the powder put in, which was four or five times larger than
any of the other powders. On his return from Leeds, about twenty minutes
after twelve o'clock, his wife had prepared a small cake from some of
the dough which was left after making the pudding; this she broke in two
pieces, and he ate one of them. Witness said the cake tasted very keen,
and observed to his wife if the pudding tasted as bad he would not eat
it. When the pudding was ready he ate a single mouthful, but it was so
nauseous that he could eat no more of it; his wife, however, swallowed
three or four mouthfuls, but was unable to eat more, and she carried the
pudding into the cellar, and was there seized with the most violent
vomitings. His wife said this was the illness predicted by Miss Blythe,
and they should take the honey. Witness took two spoonfuls of it, and
his wife took six or seven. This made them worse than before. The
vomiting continued incessantly for twenty-four hours. His wife would not
hear of a doctor being sent for, as that was contrary to Miss Blythe's
directions, who had assured them that their sickness should not be unto
death, and though they might seem to be dead, yet should they live, for
that she was sent to destroy the works of darkness. Witness said a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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