The Pendle Witches

Come listen to a tale of murder, revenge and witchcraft that occurred in the year 1612.  Ten men and women were eventually hanged for the crime of witchcraft at Lancaster goal which was located in the county of Lancashire, England.   The Pendle Witches or Lancashire  Witches are the most notorious witches in English history.   These witches were beleived to have contributed to the murder of seventeen people by the use of witchcraft in the locality of the Forest of pendle.  Hence the Pendle Witches.

So much is known about the Pendle Witches because the proceedings of the Lancashire trial where recorded by the clerk of the court Thomas Potts and published in the book: The Wonderful Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster

With the ascension of James VI of Scotland to the English throne as King James I, came a new wave of persecution against those who practised witchcraft. Although many in Britain believed in witches, they were more often or not indifferent to them, believing them to be neither good or bad. However, James was a great believer in witchcraft, believing all those who practised it were evil, and he vowed to destroy the practice

There were thirteen Witches in Pendle: Alizon Device, Elizabeth Device, James Device, Anne Whittle, alias Chattox, Anne Redferne, Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, John Bulcock, Jane Bulcock & Isobel Robey were the ten hanged at Lancaster gaol.  These witches were accused of selling their souls to the devil that appeared to them in either human or animal form.  These witches were believed to ahve received the power to kill or maime others.  An important meeting took place at Malkin Tower on Good Friday 1612.  It was believed to have been a witches sabbat which James Device told to the authorities.  Many of those who attended this meeting were later hanged. One by one accused incriminated each other.  They also gave remarkable accounts of their own deeds. 

Some of the convicted witches proclaimed their innocense until their deaths. 

Alizon Device  told of how Elizabeth Southerns, alias Demdike, bewitched to death the cow of John Nutter.    Elizabeth Southerns, Demdike, died in Lancaster Gaol (Jail) awaiting trial, but was nevertheless considered to be a witch on the basis of evidence already given.   Alizon also told how  Anne Whittle, alias Chattox,  bewitched to death her friend Ann Nutter after she laughed at Chattox.  She told how two years before at the home of Anthony Nutter of Pendle,  Anne Nutter, his daughter  was laughing at her.  That the said Chattox swore that she would be rid of her.  Alice then went on to relate how Anne Nutter became sick the next day and died within 3 weeks afterwards. 

Alizon then went on to claim that Chattox had been accused by John Moore of turning his milk sour, and as a result, she had bewitched his son to death by making a clay image of the child. She also accused her of killing the daughter of Anthony Nutter by witchcraft.

The Pendle Witches were accused of selling their souls to familiar spirits or devils who appeared to them in human and animal form. In return for their souls, it was believed that the witches received the power to kill or lame who they pleased.

The usual method of murder, described in Demdike's confession, was to make an ethigy of the intented victim, known as a 'picture of clay'. The image was then crumbled or burned over a period of time, causing the victim to fall ill and die

Alizon tells how Chattox bewitched to death her friend Anne Nutter after she laughed at Chattox And she also saith, that about two yeares agone, this examinate being in the house of Anthony Nutter of Pendle aforesaid, and being then in company with Anne Nutter, daughter of the said Anthony: the said Anne Whittle, alias Chattox, came into the said Anthony Nutters house, and seeing this examinate, and the said Anne Nutter laughing, and saying, that they laughed at her the said Chattox: well said then (sayes anne chattox) I will be meet with the one of you. And upon the next day after, she the said Anne Nutter fell sicke, and within three weeks after died.

As recorded by Thomas Potts, the clerk of the court at the trial of the Pendle Witches

Chattox, whose real name was Anne Whittle, was hanged for withcraft at Lancaster goal. She was believed to have been responsible for the murder of five people and confessed to bewitching to death Robert Nutter.

Chattox lived with her daughter Anne Redferne on land belonged to the Nutter family in the Forest of Pendle. Anne Redferne was also found guilty of witchcraft and hanged.

Living in todays world, we can often wonder how people hundreds of years earlier could have been so supersticious to let themselves get worked into such a  frenzy to actually execute people on the basis of heresay and fear.  Witches have existed in human histories dating back to mans earliest generations.  The local authorities who convicted these men and women actually felt that they were serving justice.  Even when the convicted confessed their innocense even at deaths door.  The men who meted out justice at these trials beleived in the battle of good versus evil, and that it was their duty to defeat wickness wherever it was found.