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Irish Witch Hunt Trials

by Jayge 8^J

Ireland, the Emerald Isle, called Éire by its people and Scotia by the Romans, traces its earliest human presence to 10,500 B.C.E. Anglo-Saxon, English, and Norman conquests came in waves, but subsided by 1500. Irish Parliament passed the Statutes of Kilkenny in 1367 to prevent further Norman assimilation and preserve Irish Celtic heritage. An Irish Church loyal to Rome, but modeled after the English, was well-established. The Irish have long prided themselves on a magical worldview of druids and fairies. Children all know about leprechauns and Catholics learn the myth of British Saint Patrick driving out snakes, quite a feat, as in Hawaii and New Zealand, "scientists say that snakes have never existed in Ireland", at least since the Ice Age. Éire is renown for its rolling green hills, Blarney Stone, poets, writers, and lovable drunks.

Europe's Medieval Era ended with the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period, of which our course focuses on the Renaissance Era 1350 to 1750 C.E. Before then was arguably Europe's darkest time. The Crusades to the Holy Land ended in defeat to Muslim forces and the rise of the Turkic Ottoman Empire. A Mongol Golden Horde invaded Eastern Europe and a Black Death epidemic of bubonic plague swept across the continent killing a third of Europeans in 5 years, for which Jews were blamed and persecuted. England and France's Hundred Years War began and Scotland won independence until the unification of Great Britain.

England's King Henry VIII revived his King of Ireland title in 1542, dissolved monasteries, established Irish Protestant Ascendancy, and extended English rule of law in Éire through conflicts until about 1700, making its 17th century likely Éire's bloodiest and the only time England fully conquered it. Historic roots of modern Ireland's 'troubles' between Catholics and Protestants date back to British 'gifts' of Irish land to Scottish and English 'planters' along with Protestant immigration to Antrim and Down in Ulster. Famine tragically struck Éire often, once due to a freak climactic shock called the 'Great Frost' in 1740 that resulted in a 38% population loss. Fiercely independent Irish clashed frequently with English and Scottish nationals over oppressive civil and religious issues. Compared to Western Europe's budding prosperity in that era, Éire was mostly rural and poor, yet better off vis-à-vis Eastern Europe sans Russia. An article in The Witchcraft Reader, "Urbanization and the Decline of Witchcraft" by Owen Davies, cited on page 363 Penn historian Lynn Hollen Lees' suggestion that migrant Irish belief in witches and fairies declined in urban environments.

By 1350, witch hunts had claimed their first Irish victim, Petronilla Meath, maid for Alice Kyteler (Ketyll or Kettle) of Kilkenny, an innkeeper. Meath was torched, but her employer fled to England. As late as 1865, Biddy Early was tried for witchcraft but acquitted. Only 4 witch trials took place in Ireland, all apparently against women, far less than elsewhere in Europe, especially in Scotland, where some 3,800 were tried and about 3,000 executed, and the Holy Roman Empire countries, where well over half of all witch trials and executions occurred. Less than 20 years after 7 innocent lives were lost in Salem Massachusetts, the best-known Irish witch trial took place in Carrickfergus in March 1711 over an incident in Islandmagee of County Antrim near Belfast, a case appearing in The Malleus Maleficarum on page XV of its 1928 Introduction.

Newcomer 18-year-old Mary Dunbar exhibited symptoms of possession and claimed to see 8 phantom witches. Likely informed or coached on witchcraft trial theatrics, her lone eyewitness testimony dominated the proceedings, local lore was given undue merit, and 8 poor souls in all were tried and convicted of practicing witchcraft, demonic possession of the woman, then sentenced to public stoning, pelting with rotten produce, from which one woman lost an eye, and a year in prison. Despite being in Northern Ireland, it was before 1920's partition, but no less under English civil law and Irish Church authority.

"The circumstances sworn on the trial were as follow:--

"The afflicted person being, in the month of February, 1711, in the house of James Hattridge, Island Magee, (which had been for some time believed to be haunted by evil spirits) found an apron on the parlour floor, that had been missing some time, tied with five strange knots, which she loosened. On the following day she was suddenly seized with a violent pain in her thigh, and afterwards fell into fits and ravings; and on recovering, said she was tormented by several women, whose dress and personal appearance she minutely described. Shortly after, she was again seized with the like fits; and on recovering, she accused five other women of tormenting her, describing them also. The accused persons being brought from different parts of the country, she appeared to suffer extreme fear and additional torture, as they approached the house.""

"It was also deposed, that strange noises, as of whistling, scratching, &c. were heard in the house, and that a sulphurous smell was observed in the rooms; that stones, turf, and the like, were thrown about the house, and the coverlets, &c. frequently taken off the beds, and made up in the shape of a corpse; and that a bolster once walked out of a room into the kitchen, with a night gown about it! It likewise appeared in evidence, that in some of her fits, three strong men were scarcely able to hold her in the bed; that at times she vomited feathers, cotton yarn, pins, and buttons; and that on one occasion she slid off the bed, and was laid on the floor, as if supported and drawn by an invisible power. The afflicted person was unable to give any evidence on the trial, being during that time dumb...but had no violent fit during its continuance."

"1711. March 31st, Janet Mean, of Braid-island; Janet Latimer, Irish-quarter, Carrickfergus; Janet Millar, Scotch-quarter, Carrickfergus; Margaret Mitchel, Kilroot; Catharine M'Calmond, Janet Liston, alias Seller, Elizabeth Seller, and Janet Carson, the four last from Island Magee, were tried here, in the County of Antrim court, for witchcraft."

"The evidence sworn upon this trial were, Rev. ---- Skevington, Rev. William Ogilvie, William Fenton, John Smith, John Blair, James Blythe, William Hartley, Charles Lennon, John Wilson, Hugh Wilson, Hugh Donaldson, James Hill, James Hattridge, Mrs. Hattridge, Rev. Patrick Adair, Rev. James Cobham, Patrick Ferguson, James Edmonston, and ---- Jamison."

"In defence of the accused, it appeared that they were mostly sober, industrious people, who attended public worship, could repeat the Lord's prayer, and had been known to pray both in public and private; and that some of them had lately received the communion."

"Judge Upton charged the jury, and observed on the regular attendance of the accused on public worship; remarking, that he thought it improbable that real witches could so far retain the form of religion, as to frequent the religious worship of God, both publicly and privately, which had been proved in favour of the accused. He concluded by giving his opinion, `that the jury could not bring them in guilty, upon the sole testimony of the afflicted person's visionary images.' He was followed by Justice Macartney, who differed from him in opinion, `and thought the jury might, from the evidence, bring them in guilty;' which they accordingly did."

"This trial lasted from six o'clock in the morning till two in the afternoon; and the prisoners were sentenced to be imprisoned twelve months, and to stand four times in the pillory in Carrickfergus."

Research by University of Ulster's Andrew Sneddon indicated that Mary Dunbar made up her claims. He said, "Like a lot of demoniacs in England and Scotland, I think Mary Dunbar learned and followed a script." She caused 8 innocent women to endure terrifying accusations and trial for witchcraft, spend an irretrievable year of each of their lives in prison, and suffer possibly irreparable damage to their reputations. For that, Mary Dunbar merited equal treatment, but she was not the main culprit here. Any 'king or kirk' powers that be, public officials or clergymen who condoned or led this farce deserved public defrocking and flogging as an example to others of their ilk, showing them miscarriage of justice and value of mercy. According to Wikipedia, Irishwoman Laurien Magee (1689-1710) was "Burnt at the stake as part of the Islandmagee witch trial." From the same list came Irishwoman Petronilla de Meath (ca. 1300-1324) "Burned to death." Official records of the trial were lost in a fire at the Public Records Office during the Irish Civil War of 1922-23.

"One of the main witch-hunters involved in the infamous Islandmagee Witch Trial is an ancestor of the American author and humourist, Mark Twain, according to University of Ulster historian, Dr Andrew Sneddon. Dr Sneddon says he unearthed evidence of the family connection between Edward Clements of Clements Hill, Straid, the man who led the Islandmagee witch-hunt in his role as Mayor of Carrickfergus and the writer Samuel Langhorne Clemens who used the pseudonym Mark Twain, while carrying out research for his latest book."

Mark Twain was clearly bewitched for life: "No alien land in all the world has any deep, strong charm for me but that one; no other land could so longingly and beseechingly haunt me, sleeping and waking, through half a lifetime, as that one has done. Other things leave me, but it abides; other things change, but it remains the same. For me its balmy airs are always blowing, its summer seas flashing in the sun; the pulsing of its surf-beat in my ear; I can see its garlanded crags, its leaping cascades, its plumy palms drowsing by the shore; its remote summits floating like islands above the cloud rack; I can feel the spirit of its wooded solitudes; I can hear the splash of its brooks; in my nostrils still lives the breath of flowers that perished twenty years ago...The loveliest fleet of islands that lies anchored in any ocean." - Samuel Longhorn Clemens (Mark Twain).

When English puritans in Youghal, County Cork charged destitute old Florence Newton of bewitching young Mary Longdon, Newton implicated "Goody Halfpenny and Goody Dod", but recanted when faced with a 'water test'. Mayor Myre committed her to gaol 24th March 1661 and held a trial that 11th September for witchcraft. Longdon then testified against her, claiming she "vomited up needles, pins, horse-nails, stubbs, wool and straw". Valentine Greatrakes, a 'witchcraft expert', examined Newton, but she failed to recite the Lord's Prayer hurting her case, saying her 'victim' was 'down' just as Longdon collapsed in violent fits of shrieking, biting her own arms, and foaming at the mouth, as well as the sudden death of her jailer, David Jones. No official record remains of the verdict, but Florence Newton was likely found guilty and hanged.

A century later another incident occurred, also in Carrickfergus, inspiring this ballad:

"In Carrick town a wife did dwell Who does pretend to conjure witches.

Auld Barbara Goats, or Lucky Bell, Ye'll no lang to come through her clutches,

A waeful trick this wife did play On simple Sawney, our poor tailor.

She's mittimiss'd the other day To lie in limbo with the jailor.

This simple Sawney had a cow, Was aye as sleekit as an otter;

It happened for a month or two Aye when they churn'd they got nae butter,

Rown-tree tied in the cow's tail, And vervain glean'd about the ditches;

These freets and charms did not prevail, They could not banish the auld witches.

The neighbour wives a' gathered in In number near about a dozen;

Elspie Dough, and Mary Linn, An' Kate M'Cart, the tailor's cousin.

Aye they churn'd and aye they swat, Their aprons loos'd, and coost their mutches

But yet nae butter they could get, They blessed the cow but curst the witches.

Had Sawney summoned all his wits And sent awa for Huie Mertin,

He could have gall'd the witches' guts, An' cur't the kye to Nannie Barton.

But he may shew the farmer's wab, An' lang wade through Carnmoney gutters;

Alas! it was a sore mis-jab When he employ'd auld Mary Butters.

The sorcerest open'd the scene With magic words of her invention,

To make the foolish people keen Who did not know her base intention,

She drew a circle round the churn, And washed the staff in south-run water,

And swore the witches she would burn, But she would have the tailor's butter.

When sable Night her curtain spread Then she got on a flaming fire;

The tailor stood at the cow's head With his turn'd waistcoats in the byre.

The chimney covered with a scraw An' every crevice where it smoak'd,

But long before the cock did craw The people in the house were choak'd.

The muckle pot hung on all night, As Mary Butters had been brewing

In hopes to fetch some witch or wight, Whas entrails by her art were stewing.

In this her magic a' did fail; Nae witch nor wizard was detected.

Now Mary Butters lies in jail For the base part that she has acted.

The tailor lost his son and wife, For Mary Butters did them smother;

But as he hates a single life In four weeks' time he got another.

He is a crouse auld canty chiel, An' cares nae what the witches mutter

He'll never mair employ the Deil, Nor his auld agent Mary Butters.

At day the tailor left his post Though he had seen no apparition,

Nae wizard grim, nae witch, nor ghost, Though still he had a stray suspicion

That some auld wizard wrinkled wife Had cast her cantrips o'er poor brawny

Cause she and he did live in strife, An' whar's the man can blame poor Sawney.

Wae sucks for our young lasses now, For who can read their mystic matters,

Or tell if their sweethearts be true, The folks a' run to Mary Butters.

To tell what thief a horse did steal, In this she was a mere pretender,

An' has nae art to raise the Deil Like that auld wife, the Witch of Endor.

If Mary Butters be a witch Why but the people all should know it,

An' if she can the muses touch I'm sure she'll soon descry the poet.

Her ain familiar aff she'll sen' Or paughlet wi' a tu' commission

To pour her vengeance on the man That tantalizes her condition."

Officials with a duty to uphold justice ought to know better than believe in Satanic witchcraft and clergy entrusted with a community's spiritual well-being had best avoid the temptation to succumb to fear and respond with terror, but sadly they do not. Catholic papal decree and Protestant biblical authority gave demonologists legitimacy. One is fraught with scandal and corruption throughout most of its existence, while the other relies on word weasels to wrangle justification from a book that is often cited in support of notions like 900-year-old humans, worldwide flooding, a zoo afloat, fantasy beasts, gods mating with people producing giants, an angry and jealous God smiting folks, fire and brimstone destroying cities, God appearing as a cloud pillar, a fire pillar, or a burning bush, manna from heaven, UFO wheels-within-wheels, a hand writing on a wall, holy ghosts, 3-personed-beings, virgin birth, birthplace marked by a star, tetragrammaton, transubstantiation, consubstantiation, extreme unction, changing water into wine, raising the dead to life, and other dubious miracles. Is that not enough biblical nonsense opprobrium for one sentence?

What about the magical world view of august theologians imagining nonexistent spiritual entities like god(s), angels, demons, and women cavorting with demons? The Malleus Maleficarum is a testament to religious fantasy turned insanity. There never were Satanic witches. The 1950s' H.U.A.C. hearings proved witch frenzy can happen anytime. For real witchcraft, behold godlike Wall Street bank wizards and their 'Federal Reserve' create money 'ex nihilo'. See how they duped us all into believing inept super-Muslims destroyed 7 World Trade Center buildings with no real evidence or investigation so Larry Silverstein and Frank Lowy could net insurance payout $billions. Vast funding for new weapons flooded to the Pentagon, despite losing $2 trillion as DoD head Rumsfeld announced on 9/10/2001, yet no money to ensure peace. The C.I.A., which thrives on opium and coca trade, managed poppy crops in Afghanistan, oil companies laid Asian pipelines, and Bonesman George Bush wreaked havoc in Iraq with no WMD found, while $billions went to Halliburton in 'no-bid contracts'. Reagan envoy Rumsfeld helped Iraq get WMD. "They included viruses such as anthrax and bubonic plague, according to the Washington Post." The once oxymoronic 'military intelligence' with its technological edge has honed torture to a fine art and propaganda to a science. Witness the Muslim 'martyrs' it has spawned and the 'Zombie Apocalypse' Hollywood portends.

An evanescent veneer of respectability barely shrouds globalist society's malevolent heart. Cable TV news reminds us daily for 16 years now of that awful day so perhaps 9/11/2001 marked the start of a new Dark Age. It is said, "For the love of money is the root of all evil..." Evil is far more profitable than good. Is that why Christmas is Jews' favorite holiday? God did it for the prophets and nuns do it out of habit.

Bibliography:

Irish Witchcraft and Demonology by St. John D. Seymour, 1973. V'ger: BF1581 .S4 1973

Servants of Satan : The Age of the Witch Hunts by Joseph Klaits, 1985. HSPLS: 133.4 K

The Templars, the Witch, and the Wild Irish by Maeve Brigid Callan, 2017.

Witch Hunts: A Graphic History of the Burning Times by Rocky Wood, Lisa Morton, Greg Chapman, 2012.

The Witch Hunts : A History of the Witch Persecutions in Europe and North America by Robert W. Thurston, 2001.

Witch Hunts in Europe and America : an Encyclopedia by William E. Burns, 2003. V'ger: BF1584.E9 B87 2003

Witch Hunts in the Western World : Persecution and Punishment from the Inquisition Through the Salem Trials by Brian A. Pavlac, 2009.

The Witch-hunt in Early Modern Europe by Brian Levack, 2006. V'ger: BF1571 .L48 2006

The Witch Mania by Charles MacKay, 2010.

Witchcraft and Magic in Ireland, 1586-1946 by Dr. Andrew Sneddon, 2015.

Witchcraze : A New History of the European Witch Hunts by Anne Barstow, 1994. HSPLS: 133.43 B V'ger: BF1584.E9 B27 1994