CHAPTER FIVE

[1] Black was hated as the colors of the devil. In the same manner red was hated in Egypt as the color of Typhon.

[2] At what date then did the witch appear? In the age of despair, of that deep despair which the guilt of the church engendered. Unfalteringly I say, the witch is a crime of their own making.—_Michelet._

[3] “It is not a little remarkable, though perfectly natural, that the introduction of the cat gave a new impulse to tales and fears of ghosts and enchantments. The sly, creeping, nocturnal grimalkin took rank at once with owls and bats, and soon surpassed them both as an exponent of all that is weird and supernatural. Entirely new conceptions of witchcraft were gained for the world when the black cat appeared upon the scene with her swollen tail, glistening eyes and unearthy yell.”—_Ex._

[4] Steevens says it was permitted to a witch to take on a cattes body nine times.—_Brand_, 3, 89-90.

[5] Mr. E. F. Spicer, a taxidermist of Birmingham, whose great specialty is the artistic preparation of kittens for sale, will not purchase black ones, as he finds the superstition against black cats interferes with their sale.—“Pall Mall Gazette,” Nov. 13, 1886. But the United States, less superstitious, has recently witnessed the formation of a “Consolidated Cat Company” upon Puget Sound for the special propagation of black cats to be raised for their fur.

[6] _City of God_, Lib. XVIII. Charles F. Lummis, in a recent work, _Some Strange Corners of Our Country, the Wonderland of the Southwest_, refers to the power of the shamans to turn themselves at will into any animal shape, as a wolf, bear or dog.

[7] Italian women usually became cats. The Witch Hammer mentioned a belief in Lycanthropy and Metamorphosis. It gave the story of a countryman who was assaulted by three cats. He wounded them, after which three infamous witches were found wounded and bleeding.

[8] For a full account of this madness, and other forms that sometimes attacked whole communities during the middle Christian ages, see “Hecker.—_Epidemics of the Middle Ages._”

[9] The conventicle of witches was said to be held on Mt. Atlas, “to which they rode upon a goat, a night crow, or an enchanted staff, or bestriding a broom staff. Sundry speeches belonged to these witches, the words whereof were neither Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian, nor indeed deriving their Etymology from any known language.”

[10] _St. Gregory of Nyassa_, a canonized saint, the only theologian to whom the church (except St. John) has ever allowed the title of “The Divine,” was a member of that council, aiding in the preparation of the Nicene Creed. It is a significant fact that a great number of public women, “an immense number,” congregated at Nice during the sessions of this council.

[11] In Guernsey a mother and her two daughters were brought to the stake; one of the latter, a married woman with child, was delivered in the midst of her torments, and the infant, just rescued, was tossed back into the flames by a priest with the cry, “One heretic the less.”

[12] “Old writers declared that women have been more addicted to these devilish arts than men, was manifest by ‘many grave authors,’ among whom Diodorus, Sindas, Pliny and St. Augustine were mentioned. Quintillian declared theft more prevalent among men, but witchcraft especially a sin of women.”

[13] Lea.—_Superstition and Force._

[14] Certain forms of ordeal, such as the ordinary ones of fire and water, seem to have owed their origin to the trials passed by the candidate for admission into the ancient mysteries, as Lea has also conjectured. During the mysteries of Isis, the candidate was compelled to descend into dark dungeons of unknown depth, to cross bars of red-hot iron, to plunge into a rapid stream at seeming hazard of life, to hang suspended in mid-air while the entrance into other mysteries confronted the candidate with howling wild beasts and frightful serpents. All who passed the ancient ordeals in safety, were regarded as holy and acceptable to the Deity, but not so under Christian ordeal, its intention being conviction of the accused. Those who proved their innocence by carrying red-hot iron uninjured for three paces and the court was thus forced to acquit, or who passed through other forms of torture without confession were still regarded with suspicion as having been aided by Satan, and the sparing of their lives was to the scandal of the faithful.

[15] Woman was represented as the door of hell, as the mother of all human ill. She should be ashamed at the very thought she is a woman. She should live in continual penance on account of the curses she has brought upon the world. She should be especially ashamed of her beauty, for it is the most potent instrument of the demon.—_Hist. European Morals_, Vol. 2, p. 358.

[16] Witchcraft was supposed to have power of subverting religion.—_Montesquieu._

[17] The question why the immense majority of those who were accused should be women, early attracted attention; it was answered by the inherent wickedness of the sex, which had its influence in pre-disposing men to believe in witches, and also in producing the extreme callousness with which the sufferings of the victims were contemplated.—_Rationalism in Europe_ 1, 88.

[18] 18 mo. An unusually small size for that period.

[19] (_Witch Hammer._)

[20] The Court of Rome was fully apprized that power cannot be maintained without property, and thereupon its attention began very early to be riveted upon every method that promised pecuniary advantage. All the wealth of Christendom was gradually drawn by a thousand channels into the coffers of the Holy See. Blackstone.—_Commentaries_ 4, 106. “The church forfeited the wizard’s property to the judge and the prosecutor. Wherever the church law was enforced, the trials for witchcraft waxed numerous and brought much wealth to the clergy. Wherever the lay tribunal claimed the management of those trials, they grew scarce and disappeared.”

[21] Burning Place of the Cross.

[22] A _MS._ upholding the burning of witches as heretics, written in 1450 by the _Dominican Brother Hieronymes Visconti_, of Milan, is among the treasures of the _White Library_, recently presented to Cornell University.

[23] It shall not be amiss to insert among these what I have heard concerning a witch of Scotland: One of that countrie (as by report there are too many) being for no goodness of the judges of Assize, arrayed, convicted and condemned to be burnt, and the next day, according to her judgment, brought and tied to the stake, the reeds and fagots placed around about her, and the executioner ready to give fire (for by no persuasion of her ghostly fathers, nor importunities of the sheriff, she could be wrought to confess anything) she now at the last cast to take her farewell of the world, casting her eye at one side upon her only sonne, and calls to him, desiring him verie earnestly as his last dutie to her to bring her any water, or the least quantity of licuor (be it never so small), to comfort her, for she was so extremely athirst, at which he, shaking his head, said nothing; she still importuned him in these words: “Oh, my deere sonne help me to any drinke, be it never so little, for I am most extremely drie, oh drie, drie:” to which the young fellow answered, “by no means, deere mother will I do you that wrong; _for the drier you are (no doubt) you will burne the better_.” Heywoode—_History of Women_, Lib. 9, p. 406.

[24] Lenormant.—_Chaldean Magic and Sorcery_, 385.

[25] _Institutes of Scotland._

[26] At _Bamburg, Germany_, an original record of twenty-nine burnings in nineteen months, 162 persons in all, mentions the infant daughter of Dr. Schutz as a victim of the twenty-eighth burning. Hauber.—_Bibliotheca Magica._

[27] In those terrible trials presided over by Pierre de Lancre, it was asserted that hundreds of girls and boys flocked to the indescribable Sabbats of Labourd. The Venetians’ record the story of a little girl of nine years who raised a great tempest, and who like her mother was a witch. Signor Bernoni.—_Folk Lore._

[28] Some very strange stories of such power at the present time have become known to the author, one from the lips of a literary gentleman in New York City, this man of undoubted veracity declaring that he had seen his own father extend his hand under a cloudless sky and produce rain. A physician of prominence in a western city asserts that a most destructive cyclone, known to the Signal Service Bureau as “The Great Cyclone,” was brought about by means of magical formulae, made use of by a school girl in a spirit of ignorant bravado.

[29] These and similar powers known as magical, are given as pertaining to the Pueblo Indians, by Charles F. Lummis, in _Some Strange Corners of Our Country_, pub. 1892. A friend of the author witnessed rain thus produced by a very aged Iowa Indian a few years since.

[30] A _Hindoo Scripture_ whose name signifies knowledge.—Max Muller.

[31] _Isis Unveiled_, I, 354.

[32] Of which the tricks of Halloween may be a memento.

[33] _Anacalypsis_, Vol. I. p. 35.

[34] Bacchus was not originally the god of wine, but signified books. Instruction of old, when learning was a secret science, was given by means of leaves. “Bacchus Sabiesa” really signified “book wise” or learned, and the midsummer day festival was celebrated in honor of learning. In the Anacalypsis Higgins says: “From Celland I learn that in Celtic, Sab means wise, whence Saba and Sabasius, no doubt wise in the stars. From this comes the Sabbath day, or day dedicated to wisdom, and the Sabbat, a species of French masonry, an account of which may be seen in _Dulare’s History of Paris_. Sunday was the day of instruction of the Druids, whence it was called Sabs.—_Ibid_, I. 716.

[35] From the preachment of the Sabs, or Sages, or wise Segent Sarcedos.—_Ibid_, I, 716.

[36] The only physician of the people for a thousand years was the witch. The emperors, kings, popes and richer barons had indeed the doctors of Salermo, then Moors and Jews, but the bulk of the people in every state; the world, it might as well be called, consulted none but the _Sages_ or wise women. Michelet—_La Sorciere._

[37] I make no doubt that his (Paracelsus) admirable and masterly work on the Diseases of Women, the first written on this theme, so large, so deep, so tender, came forth from his special experience of those women to whom others went for aid, the witches, who acted as midwives, for never in those days was a male physician admitted to the women.—_Ibid._

[38] Within the past fifty years the death rate in childbirth was forty in a thousand, an enormous mortality, and although the advances in medical knowledge have somewhat lessened the rate, more women still lose their lives during childbirth than soldiers in battle.

[39] In childbirth a motherly hand instilled the gentle poison, casting the mother herself into a sleep, and soothing the infant’s passage, after the manner of modern chloroform, into the world.—_Michelet._

[40] _Poruchet Solenases._

[41] Alexander.—_History of Women._

[42] You will hardly believe it, but I saw a real witch’s skull, the other evening, at a supper party I had the pleasure of attending. It was at the house of Dr. Dow, a medical gentleman of culture and great skill in his profession here. You will admit that a skull is not a pleasant thing to exhibit in a parlor, and some of the ladies did not care about seeing it; but the majority did, and you know one cannot see a witch’s skull every day. So, after a little hesitation and persuasion on the part of the doctor, he produced the uncanny thing and gave us its history, or rather that of the witch. She lived at Terryburn, a little place near here. One day it came to the ears of the kirk session of the parish that she had had several interviews with his Satanic Majesty. Strange enough, when the woman was brought before that body—which seems to have been all-powerful in the several parishes in those days—and accused of it, she at once admitted the charge to be true. The poor soul, who could have been nothing else than an idiot, as the doctor pointed out from the very low forehead and small brain cavity, was sentenced to be prevented from going to sleep; or in other words, tortured to death, and the desired end was attained in about five days, her body being buried below high-water mark.

Her name was Lilias Adie, and there is no doubt that she was only a harmless imbecile. The skull, and also a piece of the coffin, were presented to the doctor by a friend who had read in the kirk session records an account of the trial, and went to the spot stated as being the place of burial. The remains were found by him exactly as indicated, although there was nothing to mark their resting place. One would have thought that after the lapse of so many years it would be exceedingly difficult to find them, but you know things do not undergo such radical changes in this country as they do in America.—From a traveler’s letter in the “Syracuse Journal,” August 22, 1881.

Almost indistinguished from the belief in witchcraft was the belief that persons subject to epilepsy, mania or any form of mental weakness, were possessed of a devil who could be expelled by certain religious ceremonies. Pike.—_History of Crime in England_, Vol. pp. 7-8.

[43] The mysteries of the human conscience and of human motives are well nigh inscrutable, and it may be shocking to assert that these customs of unmitigated wrong are indirectly traceable to that religion of which the two great commandments were that man should love his neighbor as himself. Lea.—_Superstition and Force_, 53.

[44] Fox’s _Book of Martyrs_, gives account of persons brought into court upon litters six months after having been subjected to the rack.

[45] In this case both men and women says Johannus Mergerus, author of a History of Flanders.

[46] Adrianus Ferrens.

[47] St. Bernard exorcised a demon Incubus, who for six years maintained commerce with a woman, who could not get rid of him. Lea.—_Studies in Church History._

[48] It was observed they (devils) had a peculiar attachment to women with beautiful hair, and it was an old Catholic belief that St. Paul alluded to this in that somewhat obscure passage in which he exhorts women to cover their heads because of the angels.—_Sprangler._

[49] The attention of scientific men and governments has recently been directed to what are now called “_The Accursed Sciences_,” under whose action certain crimes have been committed from “suggestion,” the hand which executed being only that of an irresponsible automaton, whose memory preserves no traces of it. The French Academy has just been debating the question—how far a hypnotized subject from a mere victim can become a regular tool of crime.—_Lucifer_, October 1887.

“Merck’s Bulletin,” New York medical journal, in an editorial entitled _Modern Witchcraft_, December, 1892, relates some astonishing experiments recently made at the _Hôpital de la Charité_, Paris, in which the power to “exteriorize sensibility” has been discovered, reproducible at will; suggestion through means of simulated pinching producing suffering; photographs sensitive to their originals even having been produced. Thus modern science stamps with truthfulness the power asserted as pertaining to black magicians, of causing suffering or death through means of a waxen image of a person. “_The Accursed Sciences_,” although brought to the bar of modern investigating knowledge, seem not yet to have yielded the secrets of the law under which they are rendered possible.

[50] In 1609 six hundred sorcerers were convicted in the Province of Bordeaux, France, most of whom were burned.—_Dr. Priestly._ Within the last year fourteen women have been tried in France for sorcery.

[51] The supreme end of magic is to conjure the spirits. The highest and most inscrutable of all the powers dwells in the divine and mysterious name, “The Supreme Name,” with which Hea alone is acquainted. Before this name everything bows in heaven and earth, and in hades, and it alone can conquer the Maskim and stop their ravages. The great name remained the secret of Hea; if any man succeeded in divining it, that alone would invest him with a power superior to the gods.—_Chaldean Magic and Sorcery._

[52] Venetians concluded not unreasonably that the latter ran no more risk from the taint of witchcraft attached to their inheritance than did the clergy or the church. Where profits were all spiritual their ardor soon cooled. Thus it happened as the inevitable result of the people’s attitude in religious matters, that while in Venice there were representatives of the vast sisterhood, which extended from the Blockula of Sweden to the walnut tree of Benevenuto, sorcery there never became the terrible scourge that it was in other lands where its victims at times threatened to outnumber those of the Black Death.—_The Witches of Venice._

[53] One of the most powerful features of the belief in witchcraft was the power that greed had in producing belief and causing persecution. The church had grown rich from such trials, and the state was now to take its turn. By the public offering of a reward for the finding of witches, their numbers greatly increased.

[54] The most exceptional conduct, the purest morals in constant practice of every day life, are not sufficient security against the suspicion of errors like these—_Montesquieu._

[55] For a number of years her celebrated son struggled amid his scientific studies for the preservation of her life.

[56] Michelet.—_La Sorcerie_ 151. See _Papers on the Bastile_.

[57] In its earliest phase the Black Mass seemed to betoken the redemption of Eve, so long accused by Christianity. The woman filled every place in the Sabbath. Following its celebration was the denial of Jesus, by whose authority the priests and barons robbed the serf of human hope—the paying of homage to the new master—the feudal kiss. To the closing ceremonies, “The Feast of Peace,” no man was admitted unaccompanied by a woman.—_La Sorcerie._

[58] “This word at different times clearly meant quite different things. In the 14th century, under the Avignon popes, during the great schism when the church with two heads seems no longer a church, the Sabbath took the horrible form of the Black Mass.”

[59] This important part of the woman being her own altar, is known to us by the trial of La Voisin, which M. Revanna _Sen._ published with other _Papers of the Bastile_.—_Ibid._

[60] That women have been more addicted to this devilish art than man, is manifest by the approbation of many grave authority. Diodorus, in his fifth book, speaks of Hecate. Heywood.—_History of Women_, London, 1624. St. Augustine, in his _City of God_, declared that women are more prone to these unlawful acts, for so we read of Medea, Cyrce and others. Suidas, speaking of witches, cites an old proverb, declaring witchcraft peculiar to woman and not to man. Quintillian, referring to this statement, says: Theft is more common with man, but witchcraft with woman.

[61] Idiots, the lame, the blind and the dumb, are men in whom devils have established themselves, and all the physicians who heal these infirmities as though they preceded from natural causes are ignorant blockheads, who know nothing about the power of demons.—_Tishreden_, p. 202.

[62] See _Reeves_ and _Hume_.

[63] _The Statute of Labourers_ (5 Eliz. C. 4) enacted that unmarried women between twelve and forty years old may be appointed by two justices to serve by the year, week, or day, for such wages and in such reasonable sort and manner as they shall think meet.—_Reeves_ 3, 591-8.

[64] Seen by _Dr. Gray_.

[65] James believing in their (witches) influence, and Bacon partly sharing in the belief. Macbeth appeared in this year mixed up with Bacon’s inquiries into witchcraft. Ignatius Donnelly.—_The Cryptogram._ From the accession of James I., witchcraft became the master superstition of the age. The woman accused of witchcraft was practically beyond the pale of the law; the mere fact of accusation was equal to condemnation.

[66] _Laws and Customs of Scotland_, 2; 56.

[67] _The Seeress of Prevorst._

[68] Iron collars, or Witches’ Bridles, are still preserved in various parts of Scotland, which had been used for such iniquitous purposes. These instruments were so constructed that by means of a loop which passed over the head, a piece of iron having four points or prongs, was forcibly thrust into the mouth, two of these being directed to the tongue and palate, the others pointing outward to each cheek. This infernal machine was secured by a padlock. At the back of the collar was fixed a ring, by which to attach the witch to a staple in the wall of her cell. Thus equipped, and day and night waked and watched by some skillful person appointed by her inquisitors, the unhappy creature, after a few days of such discipline, maddened by the misery of her forlorn and helpless state would be rendered fit for confessing anything in order to be rid of the dregs of her life. At intervals fresh examinations took place, and they were repeated from time to time until her “contumacy,” as it was termed, was subdued. The clergy and Kirk Sessions appear to have been the unwearied instruments of “purging the land of witchcraft,” and _to them, in the first instance, all the complaints and informations were made_.—_Pitcairn_, Vol. I., Part 2, p. 50.

“Who has not heard of the Langholm witches, and ‘the branks’ to subdue them? This was a simple instrument formed so as to fit firmly on the head, and to project into the mouth a sharp spike for subjugating the tongue. It was much preferred to the ducking-stool, ‘which not only endangered the health of the patient, but also gave the tongue liberty betwixt every dip!’ Scores of these ‘patients’ were burned alongside Langholm castle; and the spot is fully as interesting as our own reminder of the gentle days, Gallows Hill, at Salem.”

[69] By statute 33 of Henry VIII., C. 8, all witchcraft and sorcery was to be felony without benefit of clergy. This act continued in force till lately to the terror of all ancient females in the kingdom.—_Commentaries._ As bad as the Georges are depicted, thanks are due to two of them from women. By statute of George II., C. 5, no future prosecution was to be carried on against any person for conjuration, witchcraft, sorcery or enchantment.

[70] Towards the end of 1593 there was trouble in the family of the Earl of Orkney. His brother laid a plot to murder him, and was said to have sought the help of a notorious witch called “Allison Balfour.” No evidence could be found connecting her with this particular offense or with witchcraft in general, but it was enough in these matters to be a woman and to be accused. She swore she was innocent, but she was looked upon as a pagan who thus aggravated her guilt. She was tortured again and again, but being innocent she constantly declared her innocence. Her legs were put into the Casctulars—an iron which was gradually heated until it burned into the flesh, but no confession could be wrung from her. The Casctulars having utterly failed to make her tell a lie, “the powers that be,” whom Paul tells us “are of God,” tortured her husband, her son and her daughter, a little child of only seven years. The “powers” knew the tenderness and love of a wife and mother, so they first brought her husband into court and placed him by her side. He was placed in the “long irons,” some accursed instrument. She did not yield. Then her son was tortured; the poor boy’s legs were set in “the boot,” the iron boot, and wedges were driven in, which forced home crushed the very bone and marrow. Fifty-seven mallet strokes were delivered upon the wedges, yet this failed. This innocent tortured heroic woman would not confess to a lie. So last of all her baby daughter was brought in, the fair child of seven short years. There was a machine called the pinniwinkies, a kind of thumb screw which brought blood from under the finger nails with a pain terribly severe. These tortures were applied to the baby hands, and the mother’s fortitude broke down and she would admit any thing they wished. She confessed the witchcraft. So tired she would have confessed the seven deadly sins, but this suffering did not save her to her family. She was burned alive, with her last suffering breath protesting her innocence. This account is perfectly well authenticated and taken from the official report of the proceedings. Froude.—_Short Stories on Great Subjects._

[71] The same dark superstition shared the civil councils of Scotland as late as the beginning of the 18th century, and the convictions which then took place are chiefly to be ascribed to the ignorance and fanaticism of the clergy.

[72] Excommunication was both of temporal and spiritual effect, the person under ban not only being deprived of absolution, extreme unction, consecrated burial, etc., but all persons were forbidden to deal with the recalcitrant. Under the strictest protestantism in Scotland, the clergy held almost entire control. When a woman fell under suspicion of being a witch, the minister denounced her from the pulpit, forbade anyone harboring or sheltering her, and exhorted his parishoners to give evidence against her. To the clergy and Kirk Sessions were the first complaints made. It is scarcely more than 150 years since the last witch was burned in Scotland, having been accused of raising a thunder storm by pulling off her stockings.—_Witchcraft Under Protestantism._

[73] Many witches lost their lives in every part of England, without being brought to trial at all, from injuries received at the hands of the populace. Mackay.—_Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions._

[74] One of the most powerful incentives to confession was to systematically deprive the suspected witch of her natural sleep. It was said who but witches can be present and so witness of the doings of witches, since all their meetings and conspiracies are the habits of darkness. “The voluntarie confession of a witch doth exceede all other evidence. How long she has been a witch the devil and she knows best.”

[75] Among the Lancashire witches was Old Demedike, four score years old, who had been a witch fifty years, and confessed to possessing a demon which appeared to her in the form of a brown dog.—_Summer’s Trials._

[76] _Ibid._

[77] Which examination, although she was but very young, yet it was wonderful to the Court in so great a presence and audience.—_Ibid._ Ties of the tenderest nature did not restrain the inquisitors. Young girls were regarded as the best witnesses against their mothers, and the oaths of children of irresponsible age were received as evidence against a parent.—_Superstition and Force_, p. 93.

[78] When a reward was publicly offered there seemed to be no end of finding witches, and many kept with great care their note book of “Examination of Witches,” and were discovering “hellish kinds of them.”

[79] _Salem Witchcraft_ I, 393-4; 2, 373.

[80] I seemed to have stepped back to Puritan time, when an old gentleman said to me. “I am descended from that line of witches; my grandmother and 120 others were under condemnation of death at New Bedford, when an order came from the king prohibiting farther executions.”

[81] Salem, Mass., July 30, 1892.—The 200th anniversary of the hanging of Rebecca Nurse of Salem village for witchcraft, was commemorated in Danvers Centre, old Salem village, by the Nurse Monument Association. The distinct feature of the occasion was the dedication of a granite tablet to commemorate the courage of forty men and women, who at the risk of their lives gave written testimony in favor of Rebecca Nurse in 1692.

[82] Howes.—_Historical Collection of Virginia_, p. 438.

[83] _Collection Massachusetts Historical Society_ for the year 1800, p. 241.

[84] No prosecution, suit or proceedings shall be commenced or carried on in any court of this state against any person for conjuration or witchcraft, sorcery or enchantment or for charging another with such offense.

[85] Under the church theory that all members of the witch’s family are tainted, the husband of this unfortunate woman hid himself, fearing the same fate.—_Telegram._