The Cunning Folk and séance-related folk healing tradition

Record summary

British cunning folk traditions involved practitioners who claimed healing, divination, spirit negotiation or counter-magic, documented in trials, newspapers, folkloric collections and local histories. They form a long-duration precursor or parallel to later mediumship rather than a unified organization or experimental case. The material may help compare trance, spirit mediation and client testimony across changing religious contexts. Verification requires identifying specific practitioners and records, because “cunning folk” is a broad scholarly category rather than one continuous institution.