[Satan’s Invisible World Contents]
THe News of this witch-craft coming to the Kings Ear, his Majesty was pleased to appoint Commissioners some of the Clergy, and some of the Laity, to make a Journey to the Town aforesaid, and to examine the whole business; and accordingly the Examination was ordered to be on the 13. of August; and the Commissioners met on the 12. instant, in the said Village, at the Parsons House, to whom both the Minister, and several people of fashion complained, with tears in their Eyes, of the miserable condition they were in, and therefore begged of them to think of some way, whereby they might be delivered from that Calamity. They gave the Commissioners very strange instances of the Devils Tyranny among them; how by the help of Witches, he had drawn some hundreds of Children to him, and made them subject to his power, how he hath been seen to go in a visible shape through the Countrey, and appeared dayly to the People, how he had wrought upon the Poorer sort, by presenting them with Meat and Drink, and this way allured them to himself, with other circumstances to be mentioned hereafter. The Inhabitants of the Village added, with very great Lamentations, That though their Children had told all, and themselves sought GOD very earnestly by Prayer, yet they were carried away by him; and therefore begged of the Lords Commissioners, to root out this Hellish crew, that they might regain their former Rest and Quietnesse; and the rather, because the Children, which used to be carried away in the County or District of Elfdale, since some Witches had been burnt there, remained unmolested.
That day, i.e. the 13th. of August, being the last Humiliation-day instituted by Authority for the removing of this Judgement, the Commissioners went to Church, where there appeared a considerable Assembly both of Young and Old: the Children could read most of them, and sing Psalms, and so could the Women, though not with any great Zeal or Fervour. There were preached two Sermons that day, in which the miserable case of those people, that suffered themselves to be deluded by the Devil, was laid open; and these Sermons were at last concluded with very fervent Prayer.
The Publick Worship being over, all the people of the Town were called together in the Parsons House, near three thousand of them. Silence being commanded, the Kings Commission was read publickly in the hearing of them all, and they were charged under very great Penalties to conceal nothing of what they knew, and to say nothing but the truth; those especially, who were guilty, that the Children might be delivered from the Clutches of the Devil. They all promised obedience, the guilty feignedly, but the guiltless weeping and crying bitterly.
On the 14th. of August the Commissioners met again, consulting how they might withstand this dangerous flood, after long deliberation, an Order also coming from his Majesty, they did resolve to execute such, as the matter of Fact could be proven upon. Examination being made, there were discovered no lesse than threescore and ten in the Village aforesaid, three and twenty of which confessing their Crimes, were condemned to dye, the rest, one pretending she was with Child, and the other denying and pleading not guilty, were sent to Fahluna, where most of them were afterwards Executed.
Fifteen Children which likewise confessed that they were engaged in this Withery, died as the rest. Six and thirty of them between nine and sixteen years of age, who had been less guilty, were forced to run the Gantlet. Twenty more, who had no great inclination, yet had been seduced to those Hellish Enterprizes, because they were very young, were condemned to be lashed with Rods upon their hands, for three Sundays together, at the Church Door, and the aforesaid six and thirty were also doomed to be lashed this way once a Week for a whole Year together. The number of the seduced Children was about three hundred.
On the twenty fifth of August, execution was done upon the notoriously guilty, the day being bright, and Glorious, and the Sun shinning, and some thousands of People being present at the Spectacle. The order and Method observed in the examination was this.
First, the Commissioners and the Neighbouring Justices went to Prayer: this done, the Witches, who had most of them Children with them, which they had either seduced, or attempted to seduce, some seven years of age, (nay from four) to sixteen were set before them. Some of the Children complained lamentably of the Misery and Mischief they were forced sometime to suffer of the Devil and the Witches.
The Children being asked whether they were sure, that they were at any time carried away by the Devil? They all declared they were; begging of the Commissioners, that they might be freed from that intolerable slavery.
Hereupon the Witches themselves were asked, whether the Confessions of these Children were true, and admonished to confess the Truth, that they might turn away from the Devil unto the living GOD. At first, most of them did very stifly, and without the least sheding the least tear, deny it, though much against their will and inclination. After this, the Children were examined, every one by themselves, to see whether their Confessions did agree or no, and the Commissioners found that all of them, except some very little ones, who could not tell all the Circumstance, did punctually agree in the Confession of Particulars.
In the mean while the Commissioners, that were of the Clergy examined the Witches, but could not bring them to any Confession all continuing steadfast in their denials, till at last some of them burst out into Tears, and their Confession agreed with what the Children had said. And these expressed their abhorrency of the Fact, and begged Pardon. Adding that the Devil, whom they called Loeyta, had stopt the Mouths of some of them, so loath was he to part with his prey. And had stopt the ears of others: and being now gone from them they could no longer conceal it, for they had now perceived his Treachery.
The Confession which the Witches made in Elfdale, to the Judges there, agreed with the Confession they made at Mohra: and the Chief things they Confessed, consisted in these three Points. First, whether they used to go? Secondly, what kind of place it was they went to; called by them Blockula, where the Witches, and the Devil used to meet? Thirdly what evil and Mischief they had either done, or Designed there?
First, of their Journey to Blockula.
The Contents of their Confession.
We of the Province of Elfdale, do confess, that we used to go to a Gravel-Pit, which lays hard by a Cross-way, and there we put on a Vest over our heads, and then danced round, and after this ran to the Cross-way, and called the Devil thrice, first with a still Voice: the second time somewhat louder: and the third time very loud, with these words, Antecessor come and carry us to Blockula. Whereupon immediately he used to appear, but in different Habits: but for the most part, we saw him in a Gray-Coat, and red and blew Stockings. He had a red beard, a high crowned Hat, with Linnen of diverse colours, wrapt about it, and long Garters upon his Stockings. It is very remarkable, that the Devil never appears to the Witches, with a Sword at his side.
Then he asked us, whether we would serve him with Soul and Body? If we were content to do so, he set us on a Beast, which he had there ready, and carried us over Churches, and High Walls: and after all, we came to a Green Meadow, where Blockula lies. We must procure some scrapings of Altars and fillings of Church-Clocks: and then he gives us a horn with a Salve in it wherewith we do anoint our selves, and a Saddle, with a Hammer, and a Wooden Naile, thereby to fix the Saddle. Whereupon we call upon the Devil, and away we go.
Those that were of the Town of Mohra, made in a manner the same Declaration. Being asked, whether they were sure of a real Personal Transportation, and whether they were awake, when it was done, they all answered in the Affirmative, and that the Devil sometimes laid something down in the place, that was very like them. But one of them confessed, that he did only take away her Strength, and her Body lay still upon the Ground: Yet sometimes he took away her Body with him.
Being asked how they could go with their Bodies through Chimneys, and broken pans of Glass, they said, that the Devil did first remove all that might hinder them in their flight, and so they had Room enough to go.
Others were asked, how they were able to carry so many Children with them, They answered, that when the Children were asleep they came into the Chamber, and laid hold of the Children, which straightway did awake, and asked them, whether they would go to a Feast with them? To which some answered, yes. Others no, Yet they were all forced to go. They only gave the Children a Shirt, a Coat, and a Doublet, which was either Red or Blew, and so they did set them upon a Beast of the Devils providing, and then they rid away.
The Children confessed the same thing: and some added, that because, they had very fine Cloaths put upon them, they were very willing to go.
Some of the Children concealed it from their Parents, but others discovered it to them presently.
The Witches declared moreover, that till of late, they had never power to carry away Children, but only this year and the last, and that the Devil did at this time force them to it: that heretofore it was sufficient to carry but one of their Children, or a Strangers Child with them, which happened seldom, but now he did plague them, and whip them, if they did not procure him many Children, insomuch that they had no Peace, nor Quiet for him: And whereas that formerly one journey a week would serve turn, from their own Town to the place aforesaid, now they were forced to run to other towns and places for Children, and that they brought with them, some fifteen some sixteen Children every night.
For their journey, they said they made use of all sorts of Instruments, of Beasts, of Men of Spits and Posts, according as they had opportunity: if they do ride upon Goats, and have many Children with them, that all may have room, they stick a Spit into the Back-side of the Goat, and then are anointed with the aforesaid Ointment. What the manner of their journey is, GOD alone knows. This much was made out, that if the Children did at any time name the names of those, either Men or Women that had been with them, that had carried them away, they were again carried by force either to Blockula, or to the Cross-way and thereby beaten, in so much that some of them died of it. And this some of the Witches confessed, and added, That now they were exceedingly troubled and tortured in their minds for it.
The Children thus used lookt mighty Bleak Wan and Beaten. The Marks of the Whips the Judges could not perceive in them, except in one Boy, who had some wounds and holes in his Back, that were given him with Thorns. But the Witches said, they would quickly vanish.
After this usage, the Children are exceeding weak. And if any be carried over Night, they cannot recover themselves the next Day: and they often fall into Fits, the coming of which they knew by an extraordinary paleness, that seizes on the Children. And when a Fit comes upon them, they lean on their Mothers Arms, who sits up with them, sometimes all night. And when they observe the paleness coming, shake the Children, but to no purpose.
They observe further, that their Childrens Breasts grow cold at such times; and they take sometimes a burning candle, and stick it in their hair, which yet is not burned by it. They Swooun upon this paleness, which Swooun lasteth sometimes half an hour, sometimes an hour, sometimes two hours, and when the Children come to themselves again, they mourn and lament and groan most miserablie, and beg exceedinglie to be eased. This the old men declared upon Oath before the Judges, and called all the inhabitants in the Town to witness, as Persons that had most of them experience, of the strange Symptome of their Children.
A little Girle of Elfdale confessed, that naming the name of Jesus, as she was carried away, she fell suddenly upon the Ground, and got a great hole in her side, which the Devil presently healed up again, and away he carried her, and to this day the Girle confessed, she had exceeding great Pain in her side. Another Boy confessed too, That one day he was carried away with his Mistris; and to perform the Journey, he took his own Fathers horse out of the Meadow, where it was feeding, and upon his return, she let the horse go in her own Ground. The next morning the Boys Father sought for the horse, and not finding it gave it over for lost: but the Boy told him the whole Story, and so the Father fetcht the horse back again: and this one of the Witches confessed.
We come next to the Place, where they used to assemble called Blockula, and what they did there. They unanimously confessed, that Blockula is Situated in a large Meadow, like a Plain Sea, wherein you can see no end. The Place or House they met at, had before it a great Gate painted with many diverse colours on it; through this Gate they went into a little Meadow distant from the other, where the Beasts went, which they used to ride on. But the men whom they made use of in their Journey, stood in the House by the Gate in a Slumbering posture, Sleeping over against the Wall.
In a huge large Room of this House, they said, there stood a very large long Table at which the Witches did sit down. And that hard by this Room, was another Chamber, where there were some lovely and delicate Beds.
The first thing they said, they must do at Blockula was, That they must deny all, and devote themselves Body and Soul to the Devil, and promise to serve him Faithfully, and confirm it with an Oath. Hereupon they cut their Fingers, and writ their Name in his Book. They added, that he caused them to be Baptized too, by such Priests as he had there, and made them to Confirm their Baptism with dreadful Oaths and Imprecations. Hereupon the Devil gave them a Purse, wherein there were fyllings of Clocks with a big Stone tyed to it, which they threw into the Water, and then were forced to speak these words. As these fyllings of the Clock do never return to the Clock, from which they are taken, so may my Soul never return to Heaven. To which they add Blasphemy, and other Oaths and Curses.
The mark of their cut Fingers is not found in all of them. But a Girle who had been slashed over her Finger, declared, that because she would not stretch out her Finger, the Devil in anger had so cruely wounded it.
After this they sat down to Table, and those that the Devil esteemed most, were placed nearest to him; but the Children must stand at the Door, where he himself gives them meat and drink.
The Dyet they did use to have there, was, they said, Broth with Colworts and Bacon in it, Oat meal Bread spread with Butter, Milk and Cheese. And they added that sometimes it tasted very well, and sometimes very ill. After Meals, they went to dancing, and in the mean while swore and cursed most dreadfullie, and afterward went to fighting one with another. Those of Elfdale confessed, That the Devil used to play upon a Harp before them, and afterwards to go with them that he loved best into a Chamber, where he committed venereous acts with them. And this indeed all confessed, that he had carnal knowledge of them, and that the Devil had Sons and Daughters by them, which he did marry together, and they did couple, and brought forth Toads and Serpents.
One day the Devil seemed to be Dead, whereupon there were great Lamentations at Blockula: but he soon awaked again. If he hath a mind to be merry with them, he lets them all ride upon Spits before him; and he takes afterwards the Spits, and beats them black and blue, and then laughs at them. And he bids them believe that the day of Judgement will come speedilie, and therefore sets them a work to build a great house of Stone, promising that in the house he will preserve them from GODS fury; and cause them to enjoy the greatest delights and pleasures: but while they work exceeding hard at it, there falls a great part of the Wall down again, whereby some of the Witches are commonly hurt which makes him laugh, but presently he cures them again.
They said, they had seen sometimes a very great Devil like a Dragon, with Fire round about him, and bound with an Iron-Chain: and the Devil that converses with them tells, that if they confess any thing, he will set that great Devil loose upon them, whereby all Swedeland shall come unto great danger. They added, That the Devil had a Church there, such another as in the town of Mohra. When the Commissioners were coming, he told the Witches, they should not fear them, for he would certainly kill them all. And they confessed, that some of them had attempted to Murder the Commissioners, but had not been able to effect it.
Some of the Children talked much of a white Angel which used to forbid them what the Devil had bid them do: and told them that those things should not last long; what had been done, had been but permitted because of the Sin and wickedness of the People and their Parents, and that the carrying away of the Children should be made manifest. And they added, that this white Angel would place himself sometimes at the Door betwixt the witches and the Children: and that when they came to Blockula, he pulled the Children back, but the witches went in.
Wee come in the last place to shew the Mischief and evil, which the witches promised to do to Men and Beasts. They confessed, that they were to promise the Devil, that they would do all thats ill: and that the Devil taught them to Milk, which was after this manner. They used to stick a knife in the wall, and hang a kind of a Label on it, which they drew and stroaked, and as long as this lasted, the Persons they had power over were miserably plauged, and the Beasts were milked that way, till sometimes they died of it.
A Woman confessed, that the Devil gave her a wooden knife, where-with, going into houses, she had power to kill anything, she touched with it. Yet there were few, that would confess, that they had hurt any Man or Woman. Being asked whether they had murdered any Children. They confessed that they had indeed tormented many, but did not know, whether any of them died of those plagues.
And added that the Devil had shewed them several places, where he had power to do mischief.
The Minister of Elfdale declared, that one night these witches, were to his thinking, upon the Crown of his head, and that from thence, he had a long continued pain of the head.
One of the Witches confessed too, that the Devil had sent her to torment that Minister; and that she was ordered to use a Naile and strike it into his head, but it would not enter very deep; and hence came that Head-ach. The Minister said also, that one night he felt a pain, as if he were torn with an instrument, that they cleanse Flax with, or a Flax-comb, and when he awaked, he heard some body scratching and scraping at the Window, but could see no Body. And one of the Witches confessed, that she was the Person that did it, being sent by the Devil.
The Minister of Mohra declared also, that one Night one of these Witches came into his house, and did so violently take him by the Throat, that he thought, he should have been choaked, and awakeing, he saw the Person that did it, but could not know her, and that for some weeks, he was not able to speak, or perform Divine service.
An old Woman of Elfdale confessed, that the Devil had helped her to make a Naile, which she struck into a Boys knee, of which stroke the Boy remained lame a long time. And she added, that before she was Burnt, or executed by the hand of justice, the Boy would recover.
They confessed also, that the Devil gives them a Beast about the bigness and shape of a young Cat, which they call a Carrier, and he gives them a Bird too, as big as a Raven, but white. And these two Creatures, they can send any where, and where-ever they come they take away all sorts of Victuals they can get, as Butter, Cheese, Milk, Bacon, and all sorts of seeds, whatever they can find, and carry it to the Witch. What the Bird brings, they may keep for themselves; but what the Carrier brings, they must reserve for the Devil, and that’s brought to Blockula, where he doth give them of it so much, as he thinks fit.
They added likewise, that these Carriers fill themselves so full sometimes, that they are forced to spew by the way, which spewing is found in several Gardens, where Colworts grow, and not far from the houses of those Witches. It is of a yellow Colour like Gold, and is called the Butter of the Witches.
The Lords Commissioners were indeed very earnest, and took great Pains to perswade them to shew some of their Tricks, but to no purpose; for they did all unanimously confess, that since they had confessed all, they found that all their Witchcraft was gone, and the Devil at this time appeared to them very terrible, with claws on his hands and feet, and with horns on his head and a long tail behind, and shewed to them a Pit burning with a hand out: But the Devil did thrust the Person down again with an Iron-fork, and suggested to the witches, that if they continued in their confession, he would deale with them in the same Manner.
The above Relation is taken out of the publick Register, where all this is related with more circumstances. And at this time through all the Countrey there are prayers weekly in all Churches; to the end that Almighty GOD would pull down the Devils power, and deliver those poor Creatures, which have hitherto groaned under it.
The Lord Lyon bergh Envoy extraordinary for the King of Sweden confirmed this, at London March 8. 1682. And gave it under his hand, that the matter of Fact mentioned here, is true.
