One Stephen Cooper, of Ditchet, a yeoman of honest reputation, good
wealth, and well beloved by his neighbours, being sick and weak, sent his
wife Margaret to a farm of his at Rockington, Gloucestershire, where she
remained a few days--not finding all to her liking, she said. When she
returned she found her husband somewhat better, but she herself was
strange and wild, using much idle talk to him concerning an old groat
which her little son had found and which she wanted to see, and raving
about the farm in Gloucestershire, as if she had been bewitched, and knew
not what she said. Then she began to change in very face, and to look on
her husband with "a sad and staring countenance;" and, one night, things
came to a climax, for she got very wild and bad, and shook so frightfully
that they could scarce keep her down in the bed; and then she began
talking of a headless bear, which, she said, she had been into the town to
beat away during the time of her fit, and which had followed her from
Rockington: as the sequel proved was true. Her friends and husband
exhorted her to prayer and patience, but she still continued marvellously
holden, the Devil getting quite the better of her until Sunday night, when
she seemed to come to her worst. Suddenly the candle, which they had not
been noticing, went out, and she set up a lamentable cry; they lighted
another, but it burnt so dim it was almost useless, and the friends and
neighbours themselves began to be disquieted. Wildly and hurriedly cried
Margaret, "Look! do you not see the Devil?" herself all terrified and
disturbed. They bade her be still and pray. Then said Margaret, "Well, if
you see nothing now, you shall see something by and bye;" and "forthwith
they heard a noise in the streete, as it had been the coming of two or
three carts, and presently they in the chamber cried out, 'Lord helpe us,
what manner of thing is this that commeth here!'" For up to the bedside
where the woman lay with heaving breasts and dilated eyes, came a thing
like a bear, only that it had no head and no tail; a thing "half a yard in
height and half a yard in length" (no bigger, Margaret? not so big as a
well-trussed man on all-fours?) which, when her husband saw, he took a
joyn'd stool, and "stroke" at it, and the blow sounded as though it had
fallen on a feather bed. But the creature took no notice of the man: it
wanted only Margaret. Slowly it paddled round the bed, then smote her
thrice on the feet, took her out of bed, and rolled her to and fro in the
chamber, round about the floor and under the bed; the husband and friends,
sore amazed and affrighted, only calling on God to assist them, not daring
to lift a hand for themselves or her. And all the while the candle grew
dimmer and dimmer, so that they could scarce see each other: which was
what Margaret and the headless bear, no doubt, desired. Then the creature
took her in its arms, thrust her head between her legs so that he made her
into a round ball, and "so roulled her in a rounde compasse like an Hoope
through three other Chambers, downe an highe paire of staires, in the
Hall, where he kept her for the space of a quarter of an hour." The people
above durst not come down, but remained above, weeping pitifully and
praying with loud and fervent prayer. And there was such a terrible stench
in the hall, and such fiery flames darting hither and thither, that they
were fain to stop their noses with clothes and napkins, expecting every
moment to find that hell was opening beneath their feet, and that they
would be no longer able to keep out of harm's way and the Devil's. Then
Margaret cried out, "He is gone. Now he is gone!" and her husband joyfully
bade her come up to him again; which she did, but so quickly that they
greatly marvelled at it, and thought to be sure the Devil had helped her.
Yet she proved to be none the worse for the encounter: which was singular,
as times went. They then put her in bed, and four of them kept down the
clothes, praying fervently. Suddenly the woman was got out of bed: she did
not move herself by nerves, muscles, or will, of course; but she was
carried out by a supernatural power, and taken to the window at the head
of the bed. But whether the devil or she opened the window, the pamphlet
does not determine. Then her legs were thrust out of the window, and the
people heard a thing knock at her feet as if it had been upon a tub; and
they saw a great fire, and they smelt a grievous smell; and then, by the
help of their prayers, they pulled Margaret into the room again, and set
her upon her feet. After a few moments she cried out, "O Lord, methinks I
see a little childe!" But they paid no heed to her. Twice or thrice she
said this, and ever more earnestly; and at last they all looked out at the
window, for they thought to be sure she must have some meaning for her
raving. And "loe, they espied a thing like unto a little child, with a
bright shining countenaunce casting a greate light in the chamber." And
then the candle, which had hitherto burnt blue and dim, gave out its
natural light so that they could all see each other. Whereupon they fell
to joyful prayer, and gave thanks to God for the deliverance. And Margaret
Cooper was laid in her bed again, calm, smiling, and collected, never more
to be troubled by a Headless Bear which rolled her about like a ball, or
by a bright shining child looking out from the chinks of a rude magic
lantern. As for the bear, I confess I think he was nearer akin to man than
devil; that he was known about Rockington in Gloucestershire; and that
Margaret Cooper understood the conduct of the plot from first to last. But
then this is the sceptical nineteenth century, wherein the wiles of human
cunning are more believed in than the power of the devil, or the miracles
of supernaturalism. Yet this was a case which, in spite of all its fraud
and folly so patently displayed, was cited as one of the most notorious
and striking instances of the power of Satan over the bodies as well as
the souls of those who gave themselves up to the things of the world.