Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/495

 CORRESPONDENCE.

Eggs in Witchcraft.

(Vol. xiii., p. 431.)

The following story, abridged from the newspaper report of an inquest held at Scarborough, on the 24th of September last, ought, I think, to be preserved in Folk-Lore. The body which formed the subject of the inquiry was that of a child of seventeen months, and was in a dreadfully emaciated condition. The mother being asked how she accounted for this, said, " I think the child is bewitched " ; and on further questioning stated that she knew the woman who did it, one who had lived next-door to her up to August, 1903.

The examination continued as follows :

" The Coroner : She bewitched the child before she went ? — Witness : Yes, Sir, I think she did. It has never done any good since.

Was she in your house when she bewitched it ? — No ; but she was once in the back yard. I have heard the woman in the house ever since she went away. The child was a lovely one when it was born.

How did she bewitch the child ? — By the witchcraft she prac- tised. I know what she said.

What was that? — She said she w'ould bewitch it by boiling eggs and mashing them.

Did she give the child the eggs ? — No ; she never saw it.

How could she bewitch it then ? — I don't know. The talking continues when she is not in the house.

You say that she frequently appears in your house ? — I don't know whether she appears or not, but there are queer shadows.

Then you mean to say the house is haunted ? — Yes, Sir. There are queer shadows, and noises that nearly frighten me to death sometimes.

We must have a look at it. — It would not start when you were there. It is only when I am alone.