Bridgeton pioneer., 1885-09-17
THE WIT(H'S ROCK.



in the midst of u deep wood, not far
from this beautifulvillagc in western
Rhode Island, write, Hopkins Hill
correspondent to the New York San,
is an enchanted rotk. 1t is common
bowdcr. about for feet across the
top, and not more han two feet high.
Around it is singular shallow furrow.
Tall trees bend above it, and it is only
in midsummer that the vertical sun
picrccs the intcrlaeing boughs. The
whole wood bears an uncanny rcputa-
ton in local tradition, add within the
memory of the older inhabitants witch
es are said to have been seen fitting
about the outskirts Of the forest. The
neighborhood of the rock is especially
Stunned, and belated children return
ing from berrying trip on the hills
hasten their footsteps as they pass the
dreaded bowldcr. More than two
hundred years ago the regicdes Golle
and Whalley fled from Point Judith to
this place, and since that time the
stone has been known rs Witch rock.
An aged Rhode Jslander related its le-
gend the other day:
"A couple of hundred years ago.
he said, "when settlers had begun to
break the ground in the ncighborhood
of Hopkins Hill, Il witch made her
home in cabin that had been aban-
doned by pioneer close to Witch
rock. Everything within 4 hundred
yards of the rock became enchanted
and she caused the settlers many an
noyances by her pranks. Tools that
were left out over night mysteriously
disappeared, cattle were afflicted with
singular diseases, stones were hurled
through window panes by unseen
hands, and whenever a hail-storm or
a hurricane swept over the hills, de-
stroying the crops, people saw her fly
ing through the air, driving her storm
onward with her broom. At last she
was driven out of the settlement, but
the rock and all the ground about it
remained enchanted to this day.
81 can recollect when the wood was
cleared land, but it was never possible
to plow within hundred yards of the
bewitched stone. As soon as the
went the plow chip, which is now call
ed the landslide, and which at that
time was made of wood. You might
fasten the chip on again, if you could
find it, but off it would 90 as soon as
the team was started. The last at
tempt to plow near the rock was made
by an old man named Reynolds about
eighty or ninety years ago He said
that he could put on plow chip so
it would stay, and many neighbors
gathered to sec the trial
''Reynolds started into the field and
the plow ran smooth enough till he
crossed the witch's line, and then all
of a sudden the chip flew off. The
plow edged away, and there were u
good many white faces, for nobody
knew what might happen next. But
the old plowman was not at all dis
heartened. He soon found the chip
in the furrow, under a turf, and he
picked it up and clapped it on the
framework. Again the team was
started, but in a jiffy away flew the
chip again, and vanished in the air,
and the oxen were found to be un-
yoked. Mr.. Reynolds hunted the fur
row over but could not find the miss
ing piece. After this the crowd edged
away, slowly at first, but rs soon as
they were out of the old mans sight
away they sped home.
Reynolds said that as soon as the
people ran away a crow came from the
north, perched itself on q dead oak
near by, and began to cry: Cav!
cav! cav! At this, John Hopkins,
who owned the magical piece of land,
and who had been attracted from his
home to the spot after the fright of the
people, cried back:
'Squawk! you - old Pat Jen-
kinsn
'When the crow came flying over,
the plow-chip came down out of the
air, and the crow changed into an old
woman, with cooked hat on. She
was pursued by the men to the rock,
when she turned into a cat and disap.
peared into its mysterious underground
recesses. Shovels were fetched, and
willing hands dug around and under
the rock, but no trace was found of the
cat. After that the lot was left to
grow up to weeds, wild grass, and
bushes; the cabin fell to pieces about
the enchanted rock, and finally the
thick woods that you know see covered
the tract, hiding the witch's stone
from the world"
Witch's rock is rarely visited, except
by hunters, and others who have
heard of its reputation.
The furrow about the bowlder, which
is still distinctly traceable, is pointed
out as the trench excavated by the
farmers shovels, nearly one hundred
years ago, in the effort to unearth the
black witch cat that had eluded them.