*Ø* Blogmanac April 7, 1593 | Sad Tale of the Witches of Warbois
On this day in 1593, the entire Samuel family of Warbois, Huntingdon, England, was executed on charges of witchcraft.
It was during the reign of Elizabeth I and witch mania was rife. The most important form of evidence in many of the witch trials was attained by 'ordeal'. These efforts included torture of the most horrific nature including hot pincers, the thumbscrew, the iron maiden, and many other such methods. These torture methods varied by region and the person carrying out the ordeal.
In Warbois, an imaginative and depressive girl named Joan Throgmorton, whose head was filled with stories of ghosts and witches, happened to pass the cottage of a physically unattractive and mentally backward old woman known as Mother Samuel. The old woman was sitting at her door, with a black cap upon her head, and, looking up from her knitting, she looked intently at Joan. The impressionable girl immediately fancied that she felt sudden pains in her arms and legs, and from that day on told her family and friends that Mother Samuel had bewitched her. Her sisters took up the cry, and actually frightened themselves into fits whenever they passed within sight of the unfortunate old woman.
Mr and Mrs Throgmorton, just as ignorant as their children, believed all the absurd tales they had been told; and Lady Cromwell, who used to gossip with Mrs Throgmorton determined to denounce the 'witch'. Lady Cromwell's husband Sir Samuel soon joined in the plot. Encouraged by adult complicity, the children gave loose reins to their imaginations and soon invented a whole host of evil spirits, which, they said, were sent by Mother Samuel to torment them continually. 'First Smack', 'Second Smack', 'Third Smack', 'Blue', 'Catch', 'Hardname' and 'Pluck' were the imaginative names of the worst of the spirits which, the girls alleged, were raised from hell by wicked Mother Samuel to throw them into fits; and as the children were actually subject to fits, the adults gave the more credit to the story.
The adults marched to the old woman's home and dragged her back into the Throgmorton's yard where Lady Cromwell tore the old woman's cap off her head, and plucking out a handful of her grey hair, gave it to Mrs Throgmorton to burn, as a charm which would preserve them all from her future wicked doings. Unsurprisingly, poor old Mrs Samuel let loose an involuntary curse upon her persecutors, and her curse was never forgotten. For more than a year, the families of Cromwell and Throgmorton continued to persecute her, alleging that her evil spirits afflicted them with pains and fits, turned the milk sour in their pans, and prevented their cows and ewes from bearing. Then, when Lady Cromwell was taken ill and died, it was remembered that her death had taken place exactly a year and a quarter since she was cursed by Mother Samuel, and that on several occasions she had dreamed of the witch and a black cat.
By now the whole neighbourhood had taken up the cry of witchcraft against Mother Samuel; her personal appearance, unfortunately for her, was the very ideal of what a witch ought to be, and increased the local fears and hatred ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
On this day in 1593, the entire Samuel family of Warbois, Huntingdon, England, was executed on charges of witchcraft.
It was during the reign of Elizabeth I and witch mania was rife. The most important form of evidence in many of the witch trials was attained by 'ordeal'. These efforts included torture of the most horrific nature including hot pincers, the thumbscrew, the iron maiden, and many other such methods. These torture methods varied by region and the person carrying out the ordeal.
In Warbois, an imaginative and depressive girl named Joan Throgmorton, whose head was filled with stories of ghosts and witches, happened to pass the cottage of a physically unattractive and mentally backward old woman known as Mother Samuel. The old woman was sitting at her door, with a black cap upon her head, and, looking up from her knitting, she looked intently at Joan. The impressionable girl immediately fancied that she felt sudden pains in her arms and legs, and from that day on told her family and friends that Mother Samuel had bewitched her. Her sisters took up the cry, and actually frightened themselves into fits whenever they passed within sight of the unfortunate old woman.
Mr and Mrs Throgmorton, just as ignorant as their children, believed all the absurd tales they had been told; and Lady Cromwell, who used to gossip with Mrs Throgmorton determined to denounce the 'witch'. Lady Cromwell's husband Sir Samuel soon joined in the plot. Encouraged by adult complicity, the children gave loose reins to their imaginations and soon invented a whole host of evil spirits, which, they said, were sent by Mother Samuel to torment them continually. 'First Smack', 'Second Smack', 'Third Smack', 'Blue', 'Catch', 'Hardname' and 'Pluck' were the imaginative names of the worst of the spirits which, the girls alleged, were raised from hell by wicked Mother Samuel to throw them into fits; and as the children were actually subject to fits, the adults gave the more credit to the story.
The adults marched to the old woman's home and dragged her back into the Throgmorton's yard where Lady Cromwell tore the old woman's cap off her head, and plucking out a handful of her grey hair, gave it to Mrs Throgmorton to burn, as a charm which would preserve them all from her future wicked doings. Unsurprisingly, poor old Mrs Samuel let loose an involuntary curse upon her persecutors, and her curse was never forgotten. For more than a year, the families of Cromwell and Throgmorton continued to persecute her, alleging that her evil spirits afflicted them with pains and fits, turned the milk sour in their pans, and prevented their cows and ewes from bearing. Then, when Lady Cromwell was taken ill and died, it was remembered that her death had taken place exactly a year and a quarter since she was cursed by Mother Samuel, and that on several occasions she had dreamed of the witch and a black cat.
By now the whole neighbourhood had taken up the cry of witchcraft against Mother Samuel; her personal appearance, unfortunately for her, was the very ideal of what a witch ought to be, and increased the local fears and hatred ...
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
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