The Witch, The Weird and The Wonderful has moved! This blog will no longer be updated; instead, you can find new content plus all of the existing posts over at willow.winsham.com Looking forward to seeing you there ..read more

In a week where the phrase "you couldn't make it up" has been uttered more often than we could have ever imagined, it seems a fitting time to write up my recent reading on the improbable topic of "animated horse hairs."  Yes, you read that right: there once existed a belief that horsehairs were capable of coming to life and moving of their own volition. When the horse drank from a body of water, hair would fall from its mane or tail, and, after entering the water, would, by some undiscovered force, become animated.  I admit I assumed this was a randomly regional belief until a bit of fur ..read more

While flicking through my old favourite local history tome, The History of Ilkeston by Edwin Trueman, I came across yet another fascinating snippet that had me intrigued enough to go looking for more.  "A body was drowned in the canal near Ilkeston, the means taken to discover it was as follows: a loaf of bread, scooped out and filled with quicksilver, was put into the water and allowed to float down with the current. When it came to the place where the body was, it was expected to stop." The source quoted was The Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells of England, by Robert Charles Hope, publish ..read more

Name: Alice Nokes or Noakes Location: Lambourne, Essex Accusations: When a servant of Thomas Spycer snatched and refused to return a glove from the pocket of Alice's twenty-eight year old daughter, Alice vowed revenge on the man. Although he insisted it was only a bit of fun, as she declared "I will bounce him well enough," the servant found himself suddenly unable to move his limbs, and, despite returning the glove, he was wheeled home in a wheelbarrow, remaining bedridden for just over a week. Alice was also said to have accused her husband of sleeping with the wife of a man named Tail ..read more

Name: Anne Cade, alias Maidenhead Location: Great Holland, Essex Date: 1645 Accusations: According to her confession, around 1623, Anne had been initiated into witchcraft when she received four imps or familiars from her mother. Three of these were like mice, and called James, Prickeare and Robin. The fourth, in the form of a sparrow, was, fittingly, named Sparrow.  At this time, Anne agreed to deny God and Christ to seal the deal. She then set out to torment those she disliked. One mouse was sent to Robert Freeman of Little Clapton – it nipped his knee and drove him lame, the man dyin ..read more

According to the pamphlet,  A True Account of a Strange and Wonderful Relation of One John Tonken, of Penzance in Cornwall, a youth of fifteen or sixteen years of age by the name of John Tonken or Tomkins found himself “strangely taken with sudden fits” in May, 1686. As he lay suffering in his bed, a woman appeared before him; this woman  was: “in a blue jerkin and red petticoat, with yellow and green patches, and told him, that he would not be well before he had brought up nutshells, pins, and nails.” John told several people of his vision, but no one but himself saw or heard the woman ..read more

Name: Elizabeth Lightbone or Lightbound Location:  Christleton, Cheshire Date: 1613 Accusations:  Elizabeth, wife of yeoman William Lightbone, was accused of several counts of witchcraft against her Christleton neighbours. On 30 May, 1613, she was believed to have bewitched Richard Rider so that he became lame until 20 September of that year. Prior to that, on 8 August, 1606, she had bewitched Richard Burrowes, causing him to languish until December. Finally, Elizabeth was accused of bewitching Mary Cotgreave on 20 May, 1611, causing her to become lame, a condition that continued until t ..read more

I've written many, many words on Anne Wagg, the Derbyshire woman accused of witchcraft by her fellow residents of Ilkeston in 1650. She is, after all, both my "local" witch, and responsible for the journey that led me to write my first book on the subject of accused British witches.  My initial research suggested strongly that Anne Wagg had met the - practically unheard of for English witches - fate of burning for her crimes. This fact was readily attested to by several Victorian annalists, such as John Charles Cox who declared that: "... there is little doubt that Anne Wagg was burnt to d ..read more

Name: Elizabeth Kennit/Kennet, alias Smith Location: Stepney,  Middlesex Date: 1659 Accusations: Elizabeth was accused of bewitching Sarah Rose on 1st April 1659. Sarah was “wasted,  consumed,  pained and lamed”, and was still in the same lamentable condition in June of that year when Elizabeth was before the courts. Interestingly,  it appears that the widowed Elizabeth married Lawrence Kennet less than a month after the death of his first wife,  Rhoda, which might have contributed towards the accusations against her.  Outcome: Luckily for Elizabeth,  perhaps largely due to the wane ..read more

Name: Rebecca Jones Location: St.  Osyth, Essex Date: 1645 Accusations: In the midst of the fresh surge of witchcraft accusations during the Civil War period,  Rebecca was accused of causing the deaths of Thomas Bumpstead and his wife Katherine through witchcraft.  After her apprehension she confessed that nearly a quarter of a century beforehand,  she had been in service to a man named John Bishop. A “handsome young man” knocked at the door, and,  after asking how she was,  he took a pin from her own sleeve pricked her left wrist twice.  After this startling behaviour,  the visitor wiped o ..read more