Late Witch Ducking in Bedfordshire October 26, 2015
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
Just to put the following events in perspective. The last witch certainly executed in England – there are some subsequent doubtful cases – dates to 1682: the last witch executed in Scotland dates to 1727. In 1735 witchcraft ceased to be a supernatural crime in England. Yet, 12 July 1737, The Monthly Chronologer reports the following ducking from Bedfordshire.
The people here [in Oakley Bedfordshire] are so prejudiced in the belief of witches, that you would think yourself in Lapland, was [sic] you to hear their ridiculous stories. There is not a village in the neighbourhood but has two or three [witches].
We often talk about the witch craze dying off in the seventeenth century, but what we really mean is that it had died off among the ruling classes. In the rural underworld belief in witches was as strong as ever, and here we are just outside London!
About a week ago I was present at the ceremony of ducking a witch; a particular account of which may not be disagreeable to you. An old woman of about 60 years of age had long lain under an imputation of witchcraft; who being willing (for her own sake and her children’s) to clear herself, consented to be duck’d; and the parish officers promised her a guinea if she should sink.
Interesting that the witch effectively volunteered. It is strange to read a dispassionate account of ducking in the mid eighteenth century: a bit like watching a twenty-first century video of cheese rolling. Time seems out of joint.
The place appointed for the operation was in the river Ouse by a mill. There were I believe, about 500 spectators.
Something that bears comparison with an execution. The exactness of the ceremony suggests that the local population and perhaps the ‘parish officers’ had not so distant experiences to draw upon.
About eleven o’clock the forenoon, the woman came, and was tied up in a wet sheet, all but her face and hands; her toes were tied close together, as were also her thumbs, and her hands tied to the small of her legs. They fastened a rope about her middle, and then pulled off her cap to search for pins for their notion is that they have but one pin about ’em they won’t sink). When all preliminaries were settled, she was thrown in. But unhappily for the poor creature, she floated, though her head was all the while under water. Upon this there was a confus’d cry. ‘A witch! A witch! Drown her! Hang her’. She was in the water about one minute and a half; and was then taken out half drowned. When she had recovered breath, the experiment was repeated twice more, but with the same success, for she floated each time, which was a plain demonstration of guilt to the ignorant multitude! For notwithstanding the poor creature was laid down upon the grass speechless, and almost dead, they were far from showing any pity or compassion, that they strove who should be the most forward in loading her with reproaches. Such is the dire effect of popular prejudice!
The author (who is anonymous) now emerges into the account: Beach imagines that he was the local squire. The bet must be a first in witch ducking.
As for my part I stood against the torrent, and when I had cut the strings which tied her, had her carried back to the Mill, and endeavoured to convince the people of the uncertainty of the experiment, and offered to lay five to one that any woman her age tied in a loose sheet, would float; but all to no purpose, for I was very near to being mobb’d. Some time after, the woman came round, and one of the company happened to mention another experiment to try a witch, which was to weigh her against the Church Bible, for a witch, it seems, could not outweigh it. I immediately seconded that motion (as thinking it might be of service to the poor woman) and made use of an argument which (though weak as King James’s, for their not sinking [witch’s do not enter the water because they have renounced baptism]) had some weight with the people; for I told them, if she was a witch, she certainly dealt with the devil, and as the Bible was undoubtedly the Word of God it must weigh more than all the works of the devil. This seemed reasonable to several, and those that did not think it so could not answer it. At last, the question was carried, and she was weighed against the Bible, which, weighing about twelve pound, she outweighed it. This convinced some, and staggered others; but the P___ n [a surname or an office, the article is strange?] who believed through thick and thin, went away assured that she was witch, and endeavoured to inculcate that belief into all others.’
Note that Beach does not have access to the Monthly Chronologer, but this was quoted in the Bedfordshire Times 17 July 1903, 6. Other late witch duckings: drbeachcombing AT yahoo DOT com
