_WITCHCRAFT, SECOND-SIGHT, AND THE BLACK ART._
That the devil gave to certain persons supernatural power, which they
might exercise at their pleasure, was a belief prevalent throughout all
Scotland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. But at the same
time this compacting with the devil was reprobated, nay more, was a
capital offence, both in civil and ecclesiastical law, and during these
two centuries thousands of persons were convicted and executed for this
crime. But during the latter part of the seventeenth century the civil
courts refused to convict upon the usual evidence, to the great alarm
and displeasure of the ecclesiastical authorities, who considered this
refusal a great national sin--a direct violation of the law of God,
which said--"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." To arrest the
punishment which this direct violation of God's written law was supposed
to incur, prayers were offered, and fasts were appointed.
As samples of the kind of evidence on which reputed witches were
convicted and executed, I extract the following from the Records of
Lanark Presbytery, 1650:--"Likewise he reported that the Commissioners
and brethren did find these poynts delated against Janet M'Birnie, one
of the suspected women, to wit:
"1st. That on a time the said Janet M'Birnie followed Wm. Brown,
sclater, to Robert Williamson's house in Water Meetings, to crave
somewhat, and fell in evil words. After which time, and within four and
twenty hours, he fell off ane house and brake his neck.
"2nd. After some outcast between Bessie Achison's house and Janet
M'Birnie's house, the said Janet M'Birnie prayed that there might be
bloody beds and a light house, and after that the said Bessie Achison
her daughter took sickness, and the lassie said there is fyre in my bed,
and died. And the said Bessie Achison her gudeman dwyned.
"3rd. It was alleged that the said Janet M'Birnie was the cause of the
dispute between Newton and his wife, and that she and others were the
death of William Geddese. And also that they fand against Marian
Laidlaw, another suspected, these particulars: that the said Marian and
Jean Blacklaw differed in words for the said Marian's hay; and after
that the said Jean her kye died."
They were remitted for trial. In these same Records there is in 1697 the
following entry:--"Upon the recommendation of the Synod, the Presbytery
appoynts a Fast to be keeped upon the 28th instant, in regard to the
great prevalence of witchcraft which abounds at several places at this
time within the bounds of the Synod."
At this time the laws against witchcraft had become practically a dead
letter, but it was not till 1735 that they were repealed. Still, the
abolition of the legal penalty did not kill the popular belief in the
power and reality of witchcraft; and even now, at this present day, we
find proof every now and again in newspaper reports that this belief
still lingers among certain classes. Within these fifty years, in a
village a little to the west of Glasgow, lived an old woman, who was not
poor, but had a very irritable temper, and was unsocial in her habits. A
little boy having called her names and otherwise annoyed her, she
scolded him, and, in the heat of her rage, prophesied that before a
twelvemonth elapsed the devil would get his own. A few months after this
the boy sickened and died, and the villagers had no hesitation in
ascribing the cause of death to this old woman. Again, a farmer in the
neighbourhood had bought a horse, and in the evening a servant was
leading it to the water to drink, when this same old woman, who was
sitting near at hand, remarked upon the beauty of the horse, and asked
for a few hairs from the tail, which the servant with some roughness
refused. When the stable was entered next morning the horse was found
dead. On the above circumstance of the old woman's request being related
to the farmer, he regretted the servant's refusal of the hairs, and said
that, if the same woman had asked him, he would have given every hair in
the tail rather than offend her, showing thereby his undoubted belief in
the woman's power. Fortunately for her, she lived in a storeyed
building--in local vernacular, a _land_--or in all probability her house
would have been set on fire in order to burn her. At the same time,
while she was hated and dreaded, everybody for their own safety paid her
the most marked respect. Had she lived a century earlier, such evidence
would have brought her to the stake. In 1666, before the Lanark
Presbytery, a woman was tried for bewitching cattle:--
"The said William Smith said that she was the death of twa meires, and
Elizabeth Johnstone, his wife, reported that she saw her sitting on
their black meire's tether, and that she ran over the dyke in the
likeness of a hare."
This belief in the ability of witches to convert themselves into the
appearance of animals at pleasure was prevalent even during this
century. In 1828, or there-about, there died an old woman, who when
alive had gone about with a crutch, and it was reported of her, and
generally believed, that in her younger days she had the power of
witchcraft, and that one morning as she was out about some of her
unhallowed sports, disporting herself in the shape of a hare, that a man
who was out with a gun saw, as he thought, in the moonlight, a hare, and
fired at it, breaking its leg; but it took shelter behind a stone, and
when he went to get the hare, he found instead a young woman sitting
bandaging with a handkerchief her leg, which was bleeding. He knew her,
and upon her entreaty promised never to disclose her secret, and ever
after she went with a crutch. I have heard similar stories told of other
women in other localities, showing the prevalence of this form of
belief. As those who had dealings with the devil were believed to have
renounced their baptism or their allegiance to Christ, they never went
to church, and hated the Bible. Therefore, all who did not follow the
custom of believers were not only considered infidels, but as having
enlisted in the devil's corps, and such people in small localities were
kept at an outside, and suspected, being regarded as capable of any
wickedness, and untrustworthy. I remember several persons, both men and
women, against intercourse with whom we were earnestly warned, and were
instructed that it was not even safe to play with their children.
There were other supernatural powers thought to be possessed by certain
persons, which differed from witchcraft in this, that they were not
regarded as the result of a compact with the devil, but in some cases
were thought to be rather a gift from God. For example, there was
second-sight, a gift bestowed upon certain persons without any previous
compact or solicitation. Sometimes the seer fell into a trance, in which
state he saw visions; at other times the visions were seen without the
trance condition. Should the seer see in a vision a certain person
dressed in a shroud, this betokened that the death of that person would
surely take place within a year. Should such a vision be seen in the
morning, the person seen would die before that evening; should such a
vision be seen in the afternoon, the person seen would die before next
night; but if the vision were seen late in the evening, there was no
particular time of death intimated, further than that it would take
place within the year. Again, if the shroud did not cover the whole
body, the fulfilment of the vision was at a great distance. If the
vision were that of a man with a woman standing at his left hand, then
that woman will be that man's wife, although they may both at the time
of the vision be married to others. It was reported that one having
second-sight saw in vision a young man with three women standing at his
left side, and in course of time each became his wife in the order in
which they were seen standing. These seers could often foretell coming
visitors to a family months before they came, and even point out places
where houses would be built years before the buildings were erected. The
seer could not communicate the gift to any other person, not even to
those of his own family, as he possessed it without any conscious act on
his part; but if any person were near him at the time he was having a
vision, and he were consciously to touch the person with his left foot,
the person touched would see that particular vision. I had a
conversation with a woman who when young was in company with one who had
the gift of second-sight. They went out together one Sabbath evening,
and while sitting on the banks of the Kelvin the seer had a vision, and
touched my informant with her left foot, and she also saw it. It rose
from the water like the full moon, and was transparent; and in it she
saw a young man whom she did not know, and her own likeness standing at
his left side. Before many weeks were passed, a new servant-man came to
the farm where my informant was then serving, and whom she recognised as
the person whose image she had seen in the vision, and in little more
than a year after the two were married.
Deaf and dumb persons were considered to possess something like
second-sight, by which they were enabled to foretell events which happen
to certain persons. This is a very old belief. I extract the following
from _Memorials of the Rev. R. Law_:--
"Anno 1676.--A daughter of the laird of Bardowie, in Badenoch parish,
intending to go fra that to Hamilton to see her sister-in-law, there is
at the same time a woman come into the house born deaf and dumb. She
makes many signs to her not to go, and takes her down to the yaird and
cutts at the root of a tree, making signs that it would fall and kill
her. That not being understood by her or any of them, she takes the
journey--the dumb lass holding her to stay. When the young gentlewoman
is there at Hamilton, a few days after, her sister and she goes forth to
walk in the park, and in their walking they both come under a tree. In
that very instant they come under it, they hear it shaking and coming
down. The sister-in-law flees to the right, and she herself flees to the
left hand, that way that the tree fell, so it crushed her and wounded
her sore, so that she dies in two or three days' sickness."
Until about 30 years ago, a deaf and dumb man was in the habit of
visiting my native village, who was believed to possess wonderful gifts
of foresight. This _dummy_ carried with him a slate, a pencil, and a
piece of chalk, by use of which he gave his answers, and often he
volunteered to give certain information concerning the future; he would
often write down occurrences which he averred would happen to parties in
the village, or to persons then present. He did not beg nor ask alms,
but only visited certain houses as a sort of friend, and information of
his presence in the village was quickly conveyed to the neighbours, so
that he generally had a large gathering of women who were all friendly
to him, and he was never allowed to go away without reward. When any
stranger was present he would point them out, and write down the
initials of their name, and sometimes their names in full, without being
asked. He would also, at times, write down the names of relatives of
those present who lived at a distance, and tell them when they would
receive letters from them, and whether these letters would contain good
or bad news. He disclosed the whereabouts of sailor lads and absent
lovers, detected thefts, foretold deaths and marriages, and the names of
the parties on both sides who were to be married. He wrote of a young
woman, a stranger in the village, but who was present on one of his
visits, and was on the eve of being married to a tradesman, that she
would not be married to him, but would marry one who would keep her
counting money; which came to pass. The tradesman and she fell out, and
afterwards she married a haberdasher, and for a long time was in the
shop as cashier. This woman still lives, and firmly believes in the
prophetic gift of _dummy_. Another woman, a stranger also, asked him
some questions relative to herself; he shook his head, and for a long
time refused to answer, desiring her not to insist. This made her the
more anxious, and at last he drew upon the slate the figure of a coffin.
This was all the length he would go. In less than twelve months the
woman was in her grave. During one of his visits the husband of one of
the women who attended him was seriously ill, and the wife, a stout
healthy woman, was anxious to hear from _dummy_ the result of her
husband's illness. He wrote that the husband would recover, and that she
would die before him; and she did die not long after. In short, this
_dummy_ was a regular prophet, and his predictions were implicitly
believed by all who attended upon him. In his case there was no
pretension to visions, the form which he allowed his gift to assume was
that of intuition. Some few men in the village suspected the _dummy's_
honesty, and thought that he heard and assiduously and cunningly picked
up knowledge of the parties; but such doubts were regarded as bordering
upon blasphemy by the believers in _dummy_. I was never present at any
of these gatherings, but my information is gathered from those who were
present. Some months ago I was talking to an ordinarily intelligent
person on this subject, and he gave it as his opinion that dumb persons
had their loss of the faculties of hearing and speech recompensed to
them in the gift of supernatural knowledge, and he related how a certain
widow lady of his acquaintance had been informed of the death of her
son. This son was abroad, and she had with her in the house a mute, who
one day made signs to her that she would never see her son again, and a
few weeks after she received word of his death.
There was another phase of supernatural power, different from
witchcraft, and which the devil granted to certain parties: this was
called the _Black Airt_. The possession of this power was mostly
confined to Highlanders, and probably at this present day there are
still those who believe in it. The effects produced by this power did
not, however, differ much from those produced by witchcraft. A farmer in
the north-west of Glasgow engaged a Highland lad as herd, and my
informant also served with this farmer at the time. It was observed by
the family that, after the lad came to them, everything went well with
the farmer. During the winter, however, the _kye_ became _yell_, and the
family were consequently short of milk. The cows of a neighbouring
farmer were at the same time giving plenty of milk. Under these
circumstances, the Highland lad proposed to his mistress that he would
bring milk from their neighbour's cows, which she understood to be by
aid of the _black airt_, through the process known as _milking the
tether_. The tether is the rope halter, and by going through the form
of milking this, repeating certain incantations, the magic transference
was supposed capable of being effected. This proposal to exercise the
_black airt_ becoming known among the servants, they were greatly
alarmed, and showed their terror by all at once becoming very kind to
the lad, and very watchful of what he did. He was known to have in his
possession a pack of cards; and during family worship he displayed great
restlessness, generally falling asleep before these services were
concluded, and he was averse to reading the Bible. One night, for a few
pence, he offered to tell the names of the sweethearts of the two
servant-men, and they having agreed to the bargain, he shuffled the
cards and said certain words which they did not understand, and then
named two girls the lads were then courting. They refused to give him
the promised reward, and he told them they would be glad to pay him
before they slept. When the two men were going to their bed, which was
over the stable, they were surprised to find two women draped in black
closing up the stable door. As they stepped back, the women disappeared;
but every time they tried to get in, the door was blocked up as before.
The men then remembered what the lad had said to them, and going to
where he slept, found him in bed, and gave him the promised reward. He
then told them to go back, and they would not be further disturbed. Next
morning, the servant-men told what had taken place, and refused to
remain at the farm any longer with the lad; and the farmer had thus to
part with him, but he and the servants gave him little gifts that they
might part good friends. My informant believed himself above
superstition, yet he related this as evidence of the truth of the _black
airt_.
It is a very old belief that those who had made compacts with the devil
could afflict those they disliked with certain diseases, and even cause
their death, by making images in clay or wax of the persons they wished
to injure, and then, by baptizing these images with mock ceremony, the
persons represented were brought under their influence, so that whatever
was then done to the image was felt by the living original. This
superstition is referred to by Allan Ramsay in his _Gentle Shepherd_:--
"Pictures oft she makes
Of folk she hates, and gaur expire
Wi' slow and racking pain before the fire.
Stuck fu' o' preens, the devilish picture melt,
The pain by folk they represent is felt."
This belief survived in great force in this century, and probably in
country places is not yet extinct. Several persons have been named to me
who suffered long from diseases the doctor could not understand, nor do
anything to remove, and therefore these obscure diseases could only be
ascribed to the devil-aided practices of malicious persons. In some
cases, cures were said to have been effected through making friends of
the supposed originators of the disease. The custom not yet extinct of
burning persons in effigy is doubtless a survival of this old
superstition.
A newly-married woman with whom I was acquainted took a sudden fit of
mental derangement, and screamed and talked violently to herself. Her
friends and neighbours concluded that she was under the spell of the
evil one. The late Dr. Mitchell was sent for to pray for her, but when
he began to pray she set up such hideous screams that he was obliged to
stop. He advised her friends to call in medical aid. But this conduct
on the part of the woman made it all the more evident to her relations
and neighbours that her affliction was the work of the devil, brought
about through the agency of some evil-disposed person. Several such
persons were suspected, and sent for to visit the afflicted woman; and,
while they were in the house, a relation of the sufferer's secretly cut
out a small portion of the visitor's dress and threw it into the fire,
by which means it was believed that the influence of the _ill e'e_ would
be destroyed. At all events, the woman suddenly got well again, and as a
consequence the superstitious belief of those who were in the secret was
strengthened.