Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1886-05-14
CHAPTER XVIII.
WITCHCRlFT.

WITCHCRIFT.
| shall not be lengthy on TINS
subject. The belief in witchcrait
was prevalent amongst the early
settlers of the western country. To
the witch was ascribed the tremen-
dous power Of infictlng strange
and incurable diseases, particular
ly on children-of destroying cat
tie by shooting them with hair
balls, and a great varity of other
means of destruction-of inflict-
ing spells and curses on guns and
other things-and lastly, of chang
ing men into horses, and after brl-
ding and saddling them, riding
them in full speed over hill and
dale to their frolics and other
places of rendezvous. More ample
powers of mischief than these can
not be imagined.
Wizards were men supposed to
be possessed of the same mis-
chievous power as the witches; but
it was seldom exercised for bad
purposes. The power Of the Wiz
ards was exercised almost exclu-
sively for the purpose of counter
acting the malevolent influence OF
the witches of the other sex. l
have known several of those witch
masters, as they we're called, who
made a public profession of curlng
the diseases inflicted by the inhu-
ence of witches and l have known
respectable physicians, who had no
greater portion of business in the
line of their profession, than many
of those witeh.masters had in
theirs.
The means by which the witch
was supposed to infict diseases,
curses, and spells, / neIer could
learn. They we're occult sciences,
which no one was supposed to I'M
derstand excepting the witch her
self. and no wonder, as no such
arts ever existed in any country.
The diseases Of children, sup
posed to be inflicted by witchcraft,
were those Of the internal drOpsy
of the brain, and the rickts. The
symptoms and cure of these de-
structive diseases were utterly un.
known in former times in this
country, Diseases which could
neither be accounted for nor cured,
were usually ascribed to some
supernatural agency Of malignant
kind.
For cure of diseases inflicted by
witchcraft, the picture of the sup
posed witch was drawn on stump
or piece of board, and shot at with
a bullet containing a little bit Of
silver. This bullet transferred a
painful and sometimes a mortal
spell on that part of the witch
corresponding with the part of the
portrait struck by the bullet. An
other method of cure was that OF
getting some OF the child's water,
which was closely corked up in a
vial and hung up in a chimney.
This complimented the witch with
a stranguary, which lasted as long
as the vial remained in the chimney.
The witch had but one way of re-
lieving herself from any spell in
flicted on her in any way, which
was that of borrowing something,
no matter what, of the family to
which the subject of the exercise of
her witchcraft belonged.
have known several poor old
women much surprised at being
refused requests which had usually
been granted without hesitation,
and almost heart broken when in
formed of the cause Of the refusal.
When cattle or dogs were sup
posed to be under the influence OF
witchcraft, they were burnt in the
forehead by q branding iron, OF
when dead, burned wholly to ashes
This inflicted a spell upon the
witch which could only be removed
by borrowing, as above stated.
Witches were often said to milk
the COWS of their neighbOrs. This
they did by fxing a new pin IN a
new towel for each COW intended tC
be MIXED. This towel was hung
over her own, n,door and by means o.
certain incantations, the milk was
extracted from the fringes of the
towel after the manner OF milking
a COW. This happened when the
cows were too poor to give much
milk.
The first German glass.bloweri
in this country drove the witches
out OF their furnaces by throwing
living puppies into them.
The greater or less amount o.
belief in witcbcraft, necrOmancy
and astrology, serves to show the
relative amount of philosophical
science in any country. Ignorance
is always associated with super
stition, which, presenting an end
less variety of sources of hope and
fear, with regard to the good OF
bad fortunes of life, keep the
benighted mind continually harass
ed with groundless and delusiye
r., 1oa,I., IL.