I LAST week received a letter from a learned friend, the minister of
Barnstable in Devon, which I think worthy your perusal. It was dated
May 3, 1683, and is as follows. (He was of my time in Queen's
College, Cambridge.)
There having been many prodigious things performed lately in a parish
adjoining to that which Bishop Sparrow presented me to, called
Cheriton-Bishop, by some discontented daemon, I can easily remember,
that I owe you an account thereof, in lieu of that which you desired
of me, and which I could not serve you in.
About November last, in the parish of Spreyton in the county of Devon,
there appeared in a field near the dwelling house of Philip Furze, to
his servant Francis Pry, being of the age of twenty-one, next
August, an aged gentleman with a pole in his hand, and like that he
was wont to carry about with him when living, to kill moles withal,
who told the young man he should not be afraid of him; but should tell
his master, i. e. his son, that several legacies that he had
bequeathed were unpaid, naming ten shillings to one, ten shillings to
another, &c. Pry replied, that the party he last named was dead. The
Spectrum replied, he knew that, but said it must be paid to (and
named) the next relation. These things being performed, he promised he
would trouble him no further. These small legacies were paid
accordingly. But the young man having carried twenty shillings ordered
by the Spectrum to his sister Mrs. Furze, of the parish of Staverton
near Totness, which money the gentlewoman refused to receive, being
sent her, as she said, from the Devil. The same night Fry lodging
there, the Spectrum appeared to him again, whereupon Fry challenged
his promise not to trouble him, and said he had done all he desired
him; but that Mrs. Furze would not receive the money. The Spectrum
replied, that is true indeed; but bid him ride to Totness and buy a
ring of that value, and that she would take. Which was provided for
her and received by her. Then Fry rode homewards attended by a servant
of Mrs. Furze. But being come into Spreyton parish, or rather a little
before, he seemed to carry an old gentlewoman behind him, that often
threw him off his horse, and hurried him with such violence, as
astonished all that saw him, or heard how horridly the ground was
beaten; and being come into his master's yard, Pry's horse (a mean
beast) sprung at once twenty-five feet. The trouble from the man-
spectre ceased from this time. But the old gentlewoman, Mrs. Furze,
Mr. Furze's second wife, whom the Spectre at his first appearance to
Fry, called, that wicked woman my wife, (though I knew her, and took
her for a very good woman) presently after appears to several in the
house, viz. to Fry, Mrs. Thomasin Gidley, Anne Langdon, born in my
parish, and to a little child which was forced to be removed from the
house; sometimes in her own shape, sometimes in shapes more horrid, as
of a dog belching fire, and of a horse, and seeming to ride out of the
window, carrying only one pane of glass away, and a little piece of
iron. After this Fry's head was thrust into a narrow space, where a
man's fist could not enter, between a bed and a wall; and forced to be
taken thence by the strength of men, all bruised and bloody; upon this
it was thought fit to bleed him; and after that was done, the binder
was removed from his arm, and conveyed about his middle and presently
was drawn so very straight, it had almost killed him, and was cut
asunder, making an ugly uncouth noise. Several other times with
handkerchiefs, cravats and other things he was near strangled, they
were drawn so close upon his throat. He lay one night in his periwig
(in his master's chamber, for the more safety) which was torn all to
pieces. His best periwig he inclosed in a little box on the inside
with a joined-stool, and other weight upon it; the box was snapped
asunder, and the wig torn all to flitters. His master saw his buckles
fall all to pieces on his feet. But first I should have told you the
fate of his shoe strings, one of which a gentlewoman greater than all
exception, assured me, that she saw it come out of his shoe, without
any visible hand, and fling itself to the farther end of the room; the
other was coming out too, but that a maid prevented and helped it out,
which crisped and curled about her hand like a living eel. The cloaths
worn by Anne Langdon and Fry, (if their own) were torn to pieces on
their backs. The same gentlewoman, being the daughter of the minister
of the parish, Mr. Roger Specott, showed me one of Fry's gloves, which
was torn in his pocket while she was by. I did view it near and
narrowly, and do seriously confess that it was torn so very accurately
in all the seams and in other places, and laid abroad so artificially,
and it is so dexterously tattered, (and all done in the pocket in a
minute's time) as nothing human could have done it; no cutler could
have made an engine to do it so. Other fantastical freeks have been
very frequent, as the marching of a great barrel full of salt out of
one room into another; an andiron laying itself over a pan of milk
that was scalding on the fire, and two flitches of bacon descending
from the chimney where they hung, and laid themselves over that
andiron. The appearing of the Spectrum (when in her own shape) in the
same cloaths, to seeming, which Mrs. Furze her daughter-in-law has on.
The intangling of Fry's face and legs, about his neck, and about the
frame of the chairs, so as they have been with great difficulty
disengaged.
But the most remarkable of all happened in that day that I passed by
the door in my return hither, which was Easter-eve, when Fry returning
from work (that little he can do) he was caught by the woman spectre
by the skirts of his doublet, and carried into the air; he was quickly
missed by his master and the workmen, and a great enquiry was made for
Francis Fry, but no hearing of him; but about half-an-hour after Fry
was heard whistling and singing in a kind of a quagmire. He was now
affected as he was wont to be in his fits, so that none regarded what
he said; but coming to himself an hour after, he solemnly protested,
that the daemon carried him so high that he saw his master's house
underneath him no bigger than a hay-cock, that he was in perfect
sense, and prayed God not to suffer the Devil to destroy him;
that he was suddenly set down in that quagmire. The workmen found one
shoe on one side of the house, and the other shoe on the other side;
his periwig was espied next morning hanging on the top of a tall
tree. It was soon observed, that Fry's part of his body that had laid
in the mud, was much benumed, and therefore the next Saturday, which
was the eve of Low-Sunday, they carried him to Crediton to be let
blood; which being done, and the company having left him for a little
while, returning they found him in a fit, with his forehead all
bruised and swoln to a great bigness, none able to guess how it came,
till he recovered himself, and then he told them, that a bird flew in
at the window with a great force, and with a stone in its mouth flew
directly against his forehead. The people looked for it, and found on
the ground just under where he sat, not a stone, but a weight of brass
or copper, which the people were breaking, and parting it among
themselves. He was so very ill, that he could ride but one mile or
little more that night, since which time I have not heard of him, save
that he was ill handled the next day, being Sunday. Indeed Sir, you
may wonder that I have not visited that house, and the poor afflicted
people; especially, since I was so near, and passed by the very door:
but besides that, they have called to their assistance none but
nonconforming ministers. I was not qualified to be welcome there,
having given Mr. Furze a great deal of trouble the last year about a
conventicle in his house, where one of this parish was the preacher.
But I am very well assured of the truth of what I have written, and
(as more appears) you shall hear from me again.
I had forgot to tell you that Fry's mother came to me, grievously
bewailing the miserable condition of her son. She told me, that the
day before he had five pins thrust into his side. She asked; and I
gave her the best advice I could. Particularly, that her son should
declare all that the spectre, especially the woman gave him in charge,
for I suspect, there is "aliquid latens"; and that she should remove him
thence by all means. But I fear that she will not do it. For I hear
that Anne Langdon is come into my parish to her mother, and that she
is grievously troubled there. I might have written as much of her, as
of Fry, for she had been as ill treated, saving the aerial journey.
Her fits and obsessions seem to be greater, for she screeches in a
most hellish tone. Thomasin Gidley (though removed) is in trouble I
hear.
Sir, this is all my friend wrote. This letter came inclosed in
another from a clergyman, my friend, who lives in those parts. He
tells me all the relations he receives from divers persons living in
Spreyton and the neighbouring parishes, agree with this. He spake
with a gentleman of good fashion, that was at Crediton when Fry was
blooded, and saw the stone that bruised his forehead; but he did not
call it copper or brass, but said it was a strange mineral. That
gentleman promised to make a strict inquiry on the place into all
particulars, and to give him the result: which my friend also promises
me; with hopes that he shall procure for me a piece of that mineral
substance, which hurt his forehead.
The occasion of my friend's sending me this narrative, was my
entreating him sometime since, to inquire into a thing of this nature,
that happened in Barnstable, where he lives. An account was given to
me long since, it fills a sheet or two, which I have by me: and to
gratify Mr. Glanvil who is collecting histories for his "Sadducismus
Triumphatus". I desired to have it well attested, it being full of very
memorable things; but it seems he could meet only a general consent as
to the truth of the things; the reports varying in the circumstances.
Sir, Yours.
**A Copy of a Letter from a learned Friend of mine in SCOTLAND, dated
March 25, 1695.