"A witch should be an old woman with a wrinkled face, a furred brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint eye,…
- Date of account
- Published 1921
- Source
- The Problems of Psychical Research Experiments and Theories in the Realm of the Supernormal
- Reference
- The Problems of Psychical Research Experiments and Theories in the Realm of the Supernormal · selected passage 206
- Rights
- public_domain
- Language
- English
- Record updated
- 2026-08-24
Record summary
"A witch should be an old woman with a wrinkled face, a furred brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint eye, a squeaky voice, a scolding tongue, having a ragged coat on her back, a skull cap on her head, a spindle in her hand, a dog or cat by her side
Published source text
Read the available text below. Archive transcriptions may contain OCR errors; later context is labelled separately. A recorded claim is not a finding that it happened.
Source passage
Source text · mention only"A witch should be an old woman with a wrinkled face, a furred brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint eye, a squeaky voice, a scolding tongue, having a ragged coat on her back, a skull cap on her head, a spindle in her hand, a dog or cat by her side. There are three classes or divisions of devils--black, grey, and white. The first are omnipotent for evil, but powerless for good. The white have power to help, but not to hurt. The grey are efficient for both good and evil.... The modes of bewitching are: by casting an evil eye (fascinating); by making representations of a person to be acted upon in wax or clay, roasting this image before a fire; by mixing magical ointments, or other compositions or ingredients; or sometimes merely by uttering an imprecation.... Witches can ride in sieves on the sea, on brooms, or spits, magically prepared. The meeting of the witches is held every Friday night--between Friday and Saturday.... They steal children from the grave, boil them with lime till all the flesh is loosed from the bones, and is reduced to one mass. They make of the firm part an ointment, and fill a bottle with the fluid; and whosoever drinks this with due ceremony belongs to the league, and is capable of bewitching....
Historical context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThis comes from historical psychical research. Methods, witness handling and standards of evidence differ from present-day research and should be assessed from the cited passage and edition.
Modern context
Contextual commentary · mention onlyThe passage can support a history of claims and recurring descriptions. It does not establish a paranormal mechanism, and competing psychological, social and physical explanations remain relevant.
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