Witch Stories


A collection of stories in England, Scotland and thereabout based off court records for the charge of witchcraft during the witch delusion of the fifteenth and sixteenth century. (summary by a LibriVox Volunteer)

From the author: "I do not profess to have exhausted the subject, or to have made so complete a summary as I might have done, had I been admitted into certain private libraries, which contain, I believe, many concealed riches. But I had no means of introduction to them, and was obliged to be content with such authorities as I found in the British Museum, and the other public libraries to which I had access. I do not think that I have left much untold; but there must be, scattered about England, old MSS. and unique copies of records concerning which I can find only meagre allusions, or the mere names of the victims, without a distinctive fact to mark their special history. Should this book come to a second edition, any help from the possessors of these hitherto unpublished documents would be a gain to the public." (14 hr 39 min)

Chapters

Preface 2:48
The Witches of Scotland 10:39
The Story of Lady Glammis 3:27
Bessie Dunlop and Thom Reid 7:19
Alison Pearson and the Fairy Folk 5:54
The Crimes of Lady Fowlis 10:40
Bessie Roy 3:19
The Devil's Secretary 9:38
The Grace Wife of Keith and Her Cummers 16:31
The Two Alisons 3:46
The Troubles of Aberdeen 17:51
White Witches 9:16
The Misdeeds of Isobel Grierson 3:41
Bartie Paterson's Charm 2:14
Beigis Tod and Her Compeers 7:10
The Pitiful Fate of Margaret Barclay 7:22
Margaret Wallace and Her Dear Burd 4:39
Thom Reid Again 4:21
Bessie Smith 1:38
Thomas Grieves Enchantments (1623) 3:24
Katherine Grant and Her Stoup 2:01
The Misdeeds of Marion Richart 2:55
Lady Lee's Penny and the Witches of 1629 4:29
Elspeth Cursetter and Her Friends 7:14
Sandie and the Devil 6:11
The Midwife's Double Sin 1:55
Katherine Grieve and John Sinclair 2:24
Bessie Bathgates Nips 3:45
Bessie Skebister 1:36
The Trial of Spirits 3:07
Sixteen Hundred and Forty-Three 9:51
Sinclair's Stories 15:06
Manie Haliburton 2:03
The Devil of Glenluce 19:01
Jonet Watson and the Devil in Green 4:15
The Lanthorne and the Bahr-Recht 4:46
The Papists and Calvinists 4:07
Miscellaneous 5:57
Clowts and the Serpent 3:45
The Witches of Auldearne 17:33
The Secret Sins of Major Weir 7:51
The Dumb Girl of Pollok 11:20
Lizzie Mudie and Her Victims 3:10
Brave Old Katherine Liddell 5:28
The Devil in His Cups 3:35
The Ghost of the Black-Browed Maid 7:14
The Succubus 3:27
The Island Witches 8:41
The Renfrewshire Witches 17:43
Miscellaneous 5:22
The Stirk's Foot 4:01
The Horrible Murder of Janet Cornfoot 7:10
The Spell of the Slap 2:23
The Plague of Cats 6:25
The Young Honourable's Deceits 3:39
The Last of the Witches 5:43
The Witches of England 12:21
The Witch of Berkeley 4:43
Early Historic Trials 19:18
The Afflictions of Alexander Nyndge 3:26
Ade Davie's Mourning 3:30
The Possession of Mildred Norrington 6:09
Miscellaneous 6:26
The Witches of S. Osees 40:25
The Woman and the Bear 6:49
The Witches of Warbois 33:40
The Man of Hope and the Devil 21:38
Giffard's Anecdotes 12:14
The Possessed Maid of Thames Street 7:19
Sweet Father Foreman 2:53
The Witches of Northamptonshire 12:37
The Witches of Lancashire 21:33
Grace Sowerbuts and the Priests 5:03
Mary and Her Cats 5:06
Rutterkin 12:20
The Boy of Bilston 7:01
Mr. Fairfax's Folly 1:37
The Countess 4:56
The Two Voices 4:39
The Second Curse of Pendle 13:07
The Witch on a Plank 4:43
The Witch-Finding of Hopkins 8:45
The Manningtree Witches 31:16
The Huntingdon Imps 22:39
Mr. Clark's Examples 4:01
The Newcastle Prickers 6:48
The Witch in the Brake 2:14
The Tewkesbury Witch That Sucked the Sow 2:16
The Devil's Delusion 3:13
The Witch of Wapping 3:20
The Geological Bewitchment 2:59
The Burning Bewitchment 3:14
The Stringy Meat 4:19
The Lost Wife 3:34
Dr. Lamb and his Darling 16:00
The Sprightly Lad of Somersetshire 7:43
The Witches of the Restoration 1:53
The Witch-Finder Found 2:08
Doll Bilby and Her Compeer 5:30
The Astral Spirit's Assault 4:12
Julian's Toads 7:27
The Youghal Witch 4:10
The Witches of Styles's Knot 11:11
Robin and his Servants 5:17
Sir Matthew Hale's Judgment 13:38
The Waiting-Maid and the Pin 3:46
Jane Stretton and the Cunning Woman 6:57
The Bideford Troubles 9:01
Sir John Holt's Judgments 16:41
The Surrey Demoniac 8:37
The Grocer's Young Man 3:41
The Witch of Walkerne 8:33
Our Latest 9:41