Posts Tagged ‘witchcraft’

Posted on January 15, 2010 - by Andrew

King of all Witches bids to become a member of the British Parliament

Magus Lynius Shadee has announced his plans to open an occult centre in Cambridge have been paused while he bids to become elected as the city’s MP.

He told press;

“I have withheld the opening of my occult centres and am focusing on the general election,”

“I shall hope to stand as an independent. My manifesto will be very forward, and if accepted, will change many directions for the better – for the human race.”

Shadee, who calls himself the King of all Witches, made the news in October 2009 when he claimed to have summoned a demon to haunt the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs on Hills Road in Cambridge.

It is said he conducted the ritual in the Catholic Church and told press that he did not speak to the priest but conducted an incantation to bring an ‘element’ to dwell within the building.

He described the element as a hunter, something that would attach itself to an individual, drive them insane, make them depressed or end their physical life. Shadee told press that he hoped to convert the local priest.

Police, at the time, said a potential Public Order crime could have been committed and would investigate.

In Pure Spirit

What do you make of Magus Lynius Shadee and his claims? His he doing well – trying to set up an occult centre and run for politics? Or does he cast a shadow over alternative religions with high publicity demon summoning claims in the heart of Catholic churches?

Posted on January 14, 2010 - by Andrew

Police on pagan watch after horse mane weaving incidents

Police in the UK are suggesting that white witches are responsible for a number of incidents which have resulted in horse’s manes been woven together. At first police suspected the practise was being used by organised crime to mark the horses prior to stealing them but none of the marked horses were then stolen.

It is now believed that witches may be engaging in knot magick and are using the closeness of horses to certain Pagan deities to boost the strength of their spells. None of the horses have been harmed by any of the weaving incidents but stables and farmers are becoming bemused and a little unsettled.

The Taunton Vale Harriers Hunt have set up a local horse watch scheme to keep an eye on the animals. The Hunt had used social networking sites to discover that a small group of people had been talking about the use of horses in pagan rituals.

The Telegraph published a story on knot magic yesterday and the Guardian covered it at the start of December in 2009.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Are white witches likely to be responsible for this? Should they be doing it – even if neither horse nor person is being harmed?

Posted on January 13, 2010 - by Andrew

Calls in South Africa to make witchcraft illegal

In response to the horrible murder of an 81-woman believed by her neighbour to be a witch the South African authorities are being urged to ban witchcraft.

To be clear; the non-witch murdered the suspect-witch and now papers like The Richmark Sentinel are calling on witchcraft to be made illegal. The claim is that this is the ban will make life safer for the witches.

The murderer escaped before the police arrived.

The South African province of Mpumalanga has already to introduce the “Witchcraft Suppression Bill,” but met resistance. The bill attempted to define witchcraft as;

“The secret use of muti, zombies, spells, spirits, magic powders, water, mixtures, etc, by any person with the purpose of causing harm, damage, sickness to others or their property.”

This would technically mean the secret use of a water pistol to soak some curtains could have been classified as witchcraft.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think about this news? Fairly shocking that people still think like this. How would you address the problem of violence against people who are believed to be witches?

Posted on December 6, 2009 - by Andrew

Devout Christian jailed for torturing his own ‘witch’ daughter

A father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced in Coventry Crown Court, was jailed for 8 years for torturing his own daughter. His partner, who watched the torture, was sentenced for 4 years.

Why did this legally protected man torture his own daughter? He believed she was a witch. She would sometimes talk to herself and he felt he couldn’t always ‘get through to her’.

The girl, who also can’t be named but who is under 16 years old, was beaten with a wooden stick. Her father would stuff cloth into her mouth to prevent her from screaming. Her hands and feet were burned with candle wax and drippings from a melting plastic bag.

The regular churchgoer forced his daughter to drink olive oil, whacked her legs with a cable and stamped on her head before banging it against the wall in an effort to rid of her evil spirits.

The man told the court that he believed his daughter had the power to send him to sleep. The judge refused requests to have the man sent for psychiatric testing.

In Pure Spirit

Isn’t this another horrible story – is religion to blame for this one? Is there something about religion-gone-wrong that can bring out the worst in human nature or will mankind use any handy focus?

Posted on October 31, 2009 - by Andrew

Gallows Hill – where the Pendle witches died

Gallows Hill is part of Lancaster, next to the Ashton Memorial and Williamson Park, and was the favoured execution site of the Hanging Judges until 1800.

The infamous Pendle witches were executed on Gallows Hill. They died in the traditional manner of executions on the hill; first made to stand on a cart, wait while a rope was fastened around their neck and then die as the cart was moved away.

A hanging, done well, kills when the drop instantly breaks the neck of the unfortunate. A bad or deliberately slow hanging leaves the victim twisting on the end of the rope while they are slowly strangled. The death sentence “hanged, drawn and quartered” begins with a slow hanging from which the victim is ‘saved’ before they’re next drawn through the streets and finally quartered.

Ten Pendle witches died on Gallows Hill on the 20th August 1612. Members of both the Demdike and Chattox families where hanged on the hill. Owd Demdike (Elizabeth Southerns), leader of the Demdike family, escaped the executioner by dying in her cell in Lancaster.

Therefore, the names of the Pendle witches who were hanged on Gallows Hill are: Anne Chattox (Anne Whittle), Anne Redfern, Elizabeth Device, James Device, Alizon Device, Jane Bullock, John Bullock, Katherine Hewitt (Mouldheels), Alice Nutter and Isobel Robey.

Jennet Preston, who lived in Yorkshire, was hanged in York.

There’s no record of what happened to the bodies of the Pendle witches after Gallows Hill.

Is Gallows Hill haunted?

On October 29th in 2009 the TV program Most Haunted Live visited Gallows Hill. While the cameras were recording they gave the impression of the presence of some spiritual entities and perhaps the Pendle witches.

Despite some of the Pendle witches actually admitting to witchcraft it is now widely believed that none of them were. Alice Nutter, in particular, was a soft spoken and well off lady and probably guilty of practising the (at the time) unpopular Catholic faith. The Most Haunted crew, however, have allegedly been harassed by entities claiming to be or giving the impression of the Pendle witches before.

It is rumoured that Most Haunted Live may return to Gallows Hill for a live broadcast on Halloween 2009.

 

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Is this site more or likely to be haunted by the ghosts of the witches than Pendle Hill itself?

Did you watch Most Haunted Live? What did you think of the team’s encounter with apparent spirits?

Posted on October 28, 2009 - by Andrew

The ghost at Lancaster’s Three Mariners

The Three Mariners Inn is a popular and historic pub. It’s notable for having a gravity-fed cellar. In the Three Mariners the cellar is above the pub, this means the casks need to be hefted upstairs but it means the beer and ale flows naturally downwards.

The pub is old, perhaps one of the oldest in the city. Before the name Three Mariners it was known as the Carpenter’s Arms; both names likely derive from the pub’s proximity’s to the River Lune and the ship’s carpenters or mariners who may have visited the building since the 13th century.

The pub stands on the cobbled remains of Bridge Lane – a road that would have been very busy until the New Bridge was built in 1788. Even today the pub enjoys a pleasant spot in Lancaster and is near popular tourist attractions such as Maritime Museum, the Priory, Lancaster Castle and the Judges’ Lodgings.

In its 600 year history the pub would have seen Henry VIII close the priory, the trial of the Pendle witches, the burning of Penny Street in 1643 during the civil war, the imprisonment of George Fox – founder of the Quakers – in the nearby castle, the construction of Penny’s hospital, Dalton Square, the Corvell Cross, the Buck Ruxton murders and so much more.

Unfortunately for the pub, the name Three Mariners made the news in 2006 after a vicious murder in the nearby underpass.

Hauntings

It is said that the Three Mariners is haunted. The popular story is that the ghost is in the toilets but people have reported sudden drops in temperatures and strange noises in the cellar as well.

In Pure Spirit

Have you been inside the Three Mariners? Love to hear what you thought of the pub. Do you think it’s haunted?

Posted on October 27, 2009 - by Andrew

The Judges’ Lodgings: home of witch-hunter Thomas Covell

The Judges’ Lodgings take their name from the courts of Lancaster Castle. The current castle and priory were founded by Roger de Poitou in 1086 (the same man responsible for the founding of Ashton Hall).

The Castle hosted the Assize Courts and was responsible for many trials. These courts became infamous for handing out more death sentences than any other Court in England outside of London. The Assize Courts only happened twice a year, prisoners would be stuck in tiny cells for months, sharing with others, but between 1776 and 1975 the judges would stay in the building now known as the Judges’ Lodgings.

It is said that the Judges Lodgings are the oldest town house in Lancaster and is a Grade 1 listed building. It is currently a museum and has a fantastic collection of gorgeous Gillow furniture as well as a Museum of Childhood which has toys and games dating back to the 1700s.

It wasn’t always the Assize Judges who stayed in the building, though. Perhaps the most famous lodger was none other than the feared witch-hunter Thomas Covell who played a key roll in the Pendle Witch affair.

Thomas Covell stayed in the Judges’ Lodgings between 1590 and 1638. He had many responsibilities; Keeper of the Lancaster Castle, Country Magistrate and Coroner. It was his role as Keeper of Lancaster Castle that meant he was responsible for the interrogation, imprisonment and execution of anyone sentenced to death during his time. The Assize Courts did not reserve the death sentence just for murderers. Forgers were also commonly sentenced to death. Little wonder that they became known as The Hanging Judges of Lancaster.

 

 

In 1612 the Pendle Witches were arrested and it was Thomas Covell who held them until their trial began. The judges at the trial were Sir James Altham and Sir Edward Bromley. The prosecutor was a local magistrate called Roger Nowell and it was Nowell who had collected a number of the statements and confessions from the accused witches.

Thomas Covell was not well liked. Records indicate that one of his contemporaries described him as “a beastly man”.

In Pure Spirit

The Judges’ Lodges are open to the public. Have you been inside? Would you recommend it?

What about ghost or psychic phenomena? There’s so much associated with the Pendle Witches that it is surprised there are so few tales of haunting and ghosts?

Posted on September 14, 2009 - by Andrew

Albino body part witch trail fails

Authorities is Tanzania have suspended trials of the witches accused of killing albinos in order to harvest their body parts for good luck charms.

Locals, however, feel that the suspended trials are a sign that the government is complict or actually supportive in the killings.

The murders began in 2007 but only reached the Kahama and Shinyanga high courts a few weeks ago. In just those few weeks the courts are citing a lack of funds.

Albino killing is similar problem in neighbouring Burundi where dozens have been kidnapped and then dismembered. Body parts are believed to reach several thousand dollars in gruesome black markets run by witch doctors.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Have the courts really run out of money? Is the Tanzanian government really supporting the witch doctors here?

Posted on June 17, 2009 - by Andrew

Witchcraft blamed for poverty on the Kenyan Coast

Speaking at the Kenya Investment Authority strategy meeting the Provincial Commissioner Ernest Munyi blamed the lack of investment on witchcraft killings.

The Commissioner highlighted the problem of the murder of elderly people suspected of practising witchcraft as sending bad signals which scared investors away.

Charities have reported that the killing of elderly people in Kenya is sometimes an economic crime. Families are unable to support their elderly dependants and adopt excuses to facilitate their murder.

According to Munyi more than 900,000 people in the Coast province face starvation despite a flourishing touristic sector.  The Kenyan government has invested in services to de-silt local water supplies but hundreds of thousands still struggle for clean water.

In Pure Spirit

How much of a serious problem is this for Kenya? Do you the Commissioner was blaming the locals and their backwards way for the lack of successful investment in the region?

Posted on June 17, 2009 - by Andrew

Crystal Cauldron witches thrown out of the Our Lady’s Social Club

Witches coven, the Crystal Cauldron, had booked the Our Lady’S Social Club in the Dioceses of Shrewsbury to host their annual ball but where blocked by the Catholic church at the last minute.

Reverend John Joyce, told press: “Parish centres under our auspices let their premises on the understanding users and their organisations are compatible with the ethos and teachings of the Catholic church. In this instance, we aren’t satisfied such requirements are met.”

High Priestess Sandra Davis, of the Crystal Cauldron, only discovered the Church’s decision when she phoned to complete the £175 payment for the booking. She had already printed tickets for the event.

Davis, 61, was also able to communicate to the press; “I’m appalled. My congregation is shocked that in this day and age there can be such religious discrimination. We’re normal people who follow an earth-based religion and want to enjoy ourselves.

“We thought we were bridging the gap with other religions but misconceptions still exist, like we sacrifice animals. Does the church check everyone’s beliefs before allowing them in the club?”

Sandra aspires to turn the Crystal Cauldron from a pagan meeting place into a temple.

In Pure Spirit

What do you think? Should the Catholic Church not be able to regulate who uses their resources as they see fit?

Did they just handle this booking in a very bad way or is this simply religious discrimination?