Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Category: Witchcraft

English Folktales / Folklore / Folktales / Witchcraft

Bewitched Child, Wearmouth Colliery

The following account of the story is extracted from‘Legends Superstitions of the County of Durham’ by William Brockie (1886). ‘It is far from uncommon, in Sunderland, Shields, Durham, Hartlepool, and other towns and villages, for mothers whose children are not thriving to think them bewitched.

Folklore / Witchcraft

Black Willie of Hartlepool

The following account of the story is extracted from ‘Legends Superstitions of the County of Durham’ by William Brockie (1886). ‘The Rev. H. B.

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English Fairies / Fairies / Folklore / Irish Fairies / Manx Fairies / Occult / Occult Traditions / Scottish Fairies / Welsh Fairies / Witchcraft

When Witches Communed With Fairies

Our modern conventions tend to view the realms of fairies and witches separately. Witches have been viewed as evil, while fairies are seen as benevolent, cute, and kind. As scholars reevaluate witch trials and the confessions of those accused, we are coming to new conclusions on accused witches.

English Folktales / Folklore / Folktales / Witchcraft

Betty Chidley The Witch

Below is the story of Betty Chidley, originally published in Miss C. S. Burne’s ‘Shropshire Folk-Lore’ and then again in ‘English Fairy and Other Folk Tales’ by Edwin Sidney Hartland [1890].

Folklore / Folktales / Scottish Folktales / Witchcraft

The Witch Of Laggan

A hero celebrated for his hatred of witchcraft, was warming himself in his hunting hut, in the forest of Gaick, in Badenoch. His faithful hounds, fatigued with the morning chase, lay stretched on the turf by his side,–his gun, that would not miss, reclined in the neuk of the bothy,–the skian dhu of the sharp edge hung by his side, and these alone constituted his company.