The legend of the witch who spoke the snake. Historical facts about witches. Myths, legends, persecution. What are the names of witches in our time

I will try to tell you this terrible story verbatim. I read it in a very old newspaper, which I found in the attic of an incomprehensibly preserved house. Now it’s hard to call it home, because its walls have collapsed long ago, leaving only the attic (it’s also difficult to call it an attic) and the roof. Newspaper in pure English. There is a date on it: December 2, 1792. The pages of the newspaper are barely preserved, it is very difficult to restore the information recorded on it. By the way, before you read the legend, I will tell you right away that there is a small cemetery not far from this house. On one of the tombstones, you can somehow read the name Rose.

In 1484, an old woman lived in a certain village. All the inhabitants appreciated her very much, because she healed the sick. Everyone who came to her house left it healthy and full of strength. No one knew the name of this woman, but everyone called her Rosa, after the flowers that grew in her garden. In the morning Rosa went to the forest and picked berries and herbs. She was a very kind woman. No one has ever seen her in a bad mood.

And then one day, on a rainy evening, a certain man in a hat came to the old woman.
He brought a little girl and said:
- My daughter Rumi is sick! Her whole body was covered with ulcers, and strange black spots went down her neck! Help!
The man in the hat left and never returned. The girl stayed with the old woman.
Rosa was unable to cure her. Herbs and medicines didn't help.

It's been a week now that my father hasn't come," Rumi said. - Where did she disappear to?
- He sailed on a big ship to the distant Northern lands, he helps the king, but this is an important matter, - the old woman was cunning. - He will return... And he left you with me.
- But why?
Rose was silent.

So they lived for several more weeks, and then years.
Rumi grew up, her ulcers eventually disappeared, but the black spots on her neck had to be hidden.
The old woman had fun living with a little girl.

Years passed. Rumi grew up and forgot about her father. She became the most beautiful in the village.
And the old woman was bedridden. All this time, since that rainy day, Rosa was getting worse. Her legs gave out, and then her whole body.

One fine day, the king's son came to the young beauty Rumi. He wanted to get married and offered her all the wealth that the royal family has.
- Can you heal Rosa?
- Certainly! Do not worry. I will send her to the East with my best troops! The most wonderful healers live in those parts.

Rumi agreed and was immediately taken away by ship, away from her native village to a beautiful castle. The king's son assured that the old woman would be sent on a golden carriage to the very desert, cured, and soon she would arrive healthy and full of strength.

Wealth and power poisoned Rumi's soul and she didn't even think about Rose. All this time, the girl hid black spots on her neck as best she could, and if she was asked about it, then Rumi said that she had a scar from childhood and she did not want to show it to anyone.

Many years passed and one rainy evening Rumi began to bleed those same spots.
She felt very bad. She saw that her blood had turned black.
In the morning, Rumi ran away from the castle and hid with her friends, saying that she had a fight with her husband.
The son of the king turned the whole castle in search of his lost wife.

The next day it started to rain again and Rumi's spots began to bleed again. Her friends saw this and told the king's son. He called her a witch and locked her in a dungeon. In this cold empty place, Rumi dreamed of Rose. The girl bribed all the guards, promising to give all her savings and fled on a merchant ship to her native village.

Entering the house, Rumi saw an old woman emaciated to the bones.
- The Rose! What are you doing here?!
The astonished girl sat down next to her.
- Ru... Rumi, is that you? The old woman spoke slowly, in a whisper.
- Yes. It's me. Why are you still here? You've been cured! I know. Why are you so thin? You are quite sick.
- They... deceived you... I went blind... Rumi. My dear Rumi. People came to me and asked where you were. They... tried to help... I told them that you would come back and everything would be fine. I... forbade... people to enter this house and said that I could return all diseases to them...
Rumi wept bitterly. Black tears flowed from his eyes.
The king's son broke into the house and grabbed Rumi, leaving Rose to live out the remaining days...

Word spread through the royal lands that the witch had been caught. People demanded to burn Rumi. And so it happened...
Residents of the surrounding villages made a big fire. They said that when the girl burned, black blood flowed from her.

Many years later...
The king's son grew old, but all this time he continued to commit violence and murder from that very day. Black Blood Day.
One rainy evening, the king's son disappeared. His head was found the next day in the royal bedroom. Black blood flowed from his eyes.

Every year, on one of the rainy evenings, someone from the royal family, all their relatives, friends or just acquaintances died under strange circumstances. I will tell you the most famous cases (I can only name their names!)

1534 - Patrick. His withered body was found in a local fountain. Most of the body was like a shapeless mass. It is said that he died from a long stay in hot water. Black blood flowed from his eyes.

1551 Harold. Found hanging from his favorite apple tree. Black blood flowed from his eyes.

1555 Richard. At one of the festive dinners, when big guests arrived at the castle (at that time, another king ruled the lands). It rained heavily that evening. Everyone was having dinner and having fun at the big table. And when the main course was served, some guests found human bones on their plate. And the king got Richard's head. Black blood flowed from his eyes. Everyone was very scared.

1666 On one of the rainy days, several people died at once in the castle. One was stuffed with his head into the fireplace and burned, another was thrown from a high tower, the third was found in a local well.

Since that day no one else has died.

For centuries, people have passed this story down from generation to generation. She became a myth, a legend. The castle has been turned into a museum. But many people who worked there said that sometimes on rainy evenings they see a girl in a black robe. They then called her the Black Witch. There were many more murders in the castle and the museum was closed.

Rumor has it that the Black Witch Rumi still roams the old castle in search of a new victim...

We all heard that in the XV-XVII centuries Western Europe experienced a terrible period in its history, called by historians the “Witch Hunt”. In the Catholic and Protestant states of Europe, as well as in the American colonies of England, women who were considered witches were massively persecuted and executed during this period.

During the Middle Ages, the clan of witches included women who possessed knowledge and skills that were incomprehensible to most of the inhabitants. Witches knew how to "harm", depriving livestock of the ability to produce milk, meat, lard, wool, and birds - to lay eggs. Witches, allegedly, took crops from peasants and poisoned food, sent terrible diseases to people, caused droughts or floods.

On the one hand, they were respected and feared. On the other hand, such women were considered to have conspired with the devil, participated in sabbaths and copulated with male demons.

It was for such “misconduct” that “advanced” women of that time were persecuted by the Inquisition on any denunciation and slander, and mercilessly destroyed, after being subjected to the most severe tortures.

Let us recall some of the most vividly imprinted in the history of medieval Europe trials of witches.

1. Bridget Bishop "The Witches of Salem"

This process took place in 1692 in New England. Then, as a result of the actions of the Inquisition, 19 people were hanged, one was crushed with stones, and about 200 more were imprisoned. The reason for the process was the illness of the daughter and niece of Pastor Salem. The local doctor diagnosed it as the influence of witches.

What to do? Look for witches! And they were found. First, an elderly woman, Bridget Bishop, the owner of several local taverns, was found guilty “without trial or investigation” and hanged. And then more than seventy "witches" were deprived of their lives.

2 Agnes Sampson

And these terrible events happened in Scotland. Allegedly, several female witches, who were friends with the devil himself and practiced black magic, tried to sink the royal ship with the help of witchcraft spells.

There was just a strong storm, common in those places, and the ship was “in the balance” from death, but miraculously escaped. And the king of Scotland, being a superstitious man, considered this the work of real witches. And the witch hunt began in Scotland...

Again, the "witnesses" of the terrible witch rituals, under terrible torture, testified against the witches, and the first to be captured was a very respected lady in the city, a midwife named Agnes Sampson. She was terribly tortured by wearing a "witch's bridle". In the end, she told everything, confessed everything and betrayed five more of her accomplices. Of course, Agnes was sentenced to death, strangled and burned at the stake.

3. Anna Coldings

Among the five accomplices named by Agnes Sampson, the first was Anna Koldings. She was also accused of witchcraft, used a series of terrible tortures, during which the woman confessed to her participation in the ritual to call a storm at sea, named five more accomplices and was burned alive at the stake. For some reason, history remembers Anna Koldings under the name of the Mother of the Devil.

4. Kael Merry

Somehow, in the Dutch town of Roermond, everything went “wrong”: children began to get sick and die en masse, livestock behaved strangely, cow’s milk stopped churning into butter, it quickly turned sour and disappeared. Of course, all this was attributed to the hands of a local witch - Dane Kael Merry.

The Spanish judges really wanted to torture Kael, but the local court took pity on Mary, leaving her alive, and simply ordered her extradition, in modern terms. Merry left Holland, but this did not save her. The Spaniards did not abandon their attempt to punish the witch, their mercenary tracked down Mary and drowned her in the Meuse River.

5. Entien Gillis

Midwife Antien Gillies, a resident of the Netherlands, was accused of witchcraft, of killing unborn children and newborn babies. She was terribly tortured. And she had to make confessions that she slept with the Devil, and killed unborn children, and hunted babies. In addition, Entienne pointed to several more sorceresses, sent a farewell curse to the entire city and accepted the execution in the form of hanging.

In all, 63 witches lost their lives in the process. They all had to confess their crimes led by the Devil himself. This process went down in history as the process in which the largest number of witches were killed.

IN EDMA - in the pre-Christian, pagan period - these are, most likely, female witches, "knowing" (after all - knowledge, know - know), who during their lifetime played the role of the coastline of the clan, village; women who knew herbs and their medicinal properties, who knew conspiracies and healed people, who communicated, as it was believed, with spirits. How the characters of pagan mythology were images with dominant positive features.

Witch - in Slavic beliefs - a woman endowed with witchcraft abilities by nature or who has learned to conjure. In essence, the very name of a witch characterizes her as “a person who knows, has special knowledge” (“to witch, to witch” means “to conjure, to tell fortunes”).

Christianity in the fight against paganism turned the witch into a witch, endowed with only negative features. She began to be depicted as an old, gray-haired, disheveled woman with a hooked nose, wild eyes, bony hands and a small ponytail, living with the devil or making a deal with him. Witchcraft was declared a crime.

Witch has properties. She can turn into a crow, an owl, a cat, a dog, a pig, or she can appear as a beautiful young woman. A witch flies on a broom, shovel, poker or on a goat, flying out of the chimney at home.

“They say about witches that they have a tail, they can fly through the air, turn into forty, turn into pigs and other animals, throwing themselves over twelve knives.”

“The king himself went out to the square and ordered all the witches to be covered with straw. When straw was brought in and surrounded, he ordered to set it on fire from all sides in order to destroy all witchcraft in Russia, before his own eyes. The frying pan of the witches engulfed them - and they raised a screech, scream and meow. A thick black column of smoke rose, and magpies flew out of it, one after another - apparently-invisibly ... So, all the witches-crossdressers turned into forty and flew away and deceived the king in the eyes.

With their witchcraft charms, witches send damage to plants, animals and people. If a witch in the field binds several bunches of cereal plants or cuts a narrow path of ears of corn, then the entire crop dies - she takes it to herself. She can spoil any cattle, she can milk cows, no matter how far away, she can deprive them of milk: if she only draws a circle on the ground and sticks a knife into its center with a conspiracy, then the milk from the cow she has conceived will flow by itself.

Witches are to blame for the illnesses of people, especially if it is not known what and why this or that person is ill. Droughts, hurricanes, heavy, damaging downpours, hail, epidemics, crop failures, etc. began to be explained by their insidiousness. But, knowing certain methods of action, the witch can be disarmed, made peaceful.

“They say, in order to frighten a witch and disarm her actions, you need to in the hut where she is, in the cross of the window frame, in the jamb of the door that serves as a crossbar, or in the garden under the table, stick a knife, and the sorceress will be submissive.”

“If a sorcerer or sorceress ties a doll in bread, then you need to remove it with a poker and take it out of the pen, looking around or burn it right away, do not pull it out. They also do this: they take an aspen peg, split it, grab the doll into the split and pull it out. From this remedy, they say, the culprit of the doll suffers greatly - he gets severe pain in the lower back.

Dying, the witch suffers terribly. Both the witch and the witcher cannot die without passing on their sorcerous knowledge to some kind of successor. This is strictly followed by evil spirits, but they want to lose their influence on people. If there are no people willing to voluntarily take on this burden, then sorcerers transfer their abilities by deceit. Dying, they can take someone by the hand, give him any thing, while saying "on you." That person, without knowing it, becomes a sorcerer. Or they can even throw a stick - the one who picks it up will be given unclean witchcraft power.

In order for the soul of a dying witch to leave her body faster, it was usually supposed to break the floorboard - apparently, it was believed that such and such a soul could only go straight underground. In other places, it was believed that it was necessary to raise the mother or make a hole in the roof - evil spirits could not come for the witch in the usual way.

Such a transformation of ideas, characteristic of many images of pagan mythology, is largely due to the desire of Christianity to establish its undivided dominance in the minds of people, for which all the deities that were previously worshiped had to be presented as servants of the Antichrist. In addition, the image of a witch embodied the Christian idea of ​​a woman as a vessel of sin.

In Slavic mythology, these are sorceresses who have entered into an alliance with the devil or other evil spirits in order to gain supernatural abilities. In different Slavic countries, witches were given different guises. In Russia, witches were represented as old women with disheveled gray hair, bony hands, and huge blue noses.
Peasant girls confided their secrets to village witches-witches, and they offered their services to them.

One girl, who served with a rich merchant, complained: "He promised to marry, but he deceived." “And you bring me only a piece of his shirt. I will give it to the church watchman to tie a rope on this tuft, then the merchant will not know where to go from longing, ”such was the witch’s recipe. Another girl wanted to marry a peasant who did not like her. “Get me the stockings off his legs. I will wash them, I will say water at night and I will give you three grains. Give him that water to drink, throw grain under his feet when he rides, and everything will be fulfilled.

Village witches were simply inexhaustible in inventing various recipes, especially in love affairs. There is also a mysterious talisman, which is extracted from a black cat or from frogs. From the first, boiled to the last degree, an “invisible bone” is obtained. A bone is equivalent to walking boots, a flying carpet, a hospitable bag and an invisibility cap. Two “lucky bones” are taken out of the frog, serving with equal success for both love spells and lapels, that is, causing love or disgust
In Moscow, according to researchers, in the 17th century, on different sides, there lived witches or sorceresses, to whom even boyar wives came to ask for help against the jealousy of their husbands and consult about their love affairs and about means of how to moderate someone else's anger or harass enemies. In 1635, one “golden” craftswoman dropped a scarf in the palace, in which the root was wrapped. On this occasion, a search was appointed. When asked where she took the root and why she went to the sovereign with it, the craftswoman answered that the root was not dashing, but carried it with her from “heart pain, that her heart was sick”, she complained to one wife that her husband was dashing before her, and she gave her a reversible root, and ordered to put it on a mirror and look into the glass: then her husband would be affectionate to her, and in the royal court she did not want to spoil anyone and did not know other homies. The defendant and the wife to whom she referred were exiled to distant cities.

According to popular beliefs, witches "born" are kinder than "scientists" and can even help people, correcting the harm caused by "scientific" witches. In the Oryol province, it was believed that a "born" witch was born the thirteenth girl out of twelve girls in a row of the same generation (or, respectively, the tenth out of nine). Such a witch has a small tail (from half an inch to five inches). Sometimes witch skills passed from mothers to daughters "by inheritance", and whole families of witches arose. According to popular beliefs, witches cannot die and suffer terribly until they pass it on to someone - either their knowledge; therefore, people endowed with witchcraft abilities, dying, could pass them on to unsuspecting relatives, acquaintances - through a cup, a broom, and other objects at hand. One of the residents of the Murmansk region told how an old sorcerer offered to “write off witchcraft from him” as a sign of his disposition, but she was frightened and refused. The witch could get witchcraft abilities even after concluding an agreement with evil spirits: the devils began to serve the witch, fulfilling all her orders, even those not related to witchcraft. For example, for the sorceress Kostikha, devils regularly worked in the hayfield (Murm.). Another witch was taught to conjure by the devil in the form of a cat, which she picked up in the forest, and he eventually tortured her (Tulsk.). According to beliefs, evil spirits could also move inside witches, who began to "live with an unclean spirit." Narratives about about how toads, snakes and other evil spirits crawl out of the body of a dead witch. In the Tula province they said: snakes, lizards, frogs gather on the chest of the deceased witch, and when her hut is burned “by the verdict of the rural community”, barking, screaming, voices are heard from there; in the ravine, where coal is poured, a pit with poisonous snakes is formed. However, the witch does not always resort to the help of devils, limiting herself to her own skills and powers.

In one village there could be several witches, sorceresses. On the Tersky Coast of the White Sea, until recently, residents called villages where there was traditionally "a lot of blackness", and, accordingly, there were many sorcerers and sorceresses. Sometimes witches were considered subordinates of an older, "strong" sorcerer. There are also references to the eldest, chief witch. From sorceresses (mostly grandmothers involved in healing), witches are distinguished by an unkind character and more diverse abilities and skills. The traditional appearance of a conjuring witch is a woman in a white shirt, with long flowing hair, sometimes with a kuban (pot) over her shoulders, with a pail or basket on the head, in the hands. She knows how to move quickly (fly) on a lutoshka (linden stick without bark), on a broomstick, a bread shovel, and other household utensils. All these magic tools of the witch indicate her special connection with the hearth, the stove - in the house the witch usually conjures at the stove. If you overturn the grip at the stove, then the witch will lose the ability to conjure (Vlad.), But if you turn the stove damper with the bow inward, then the witch will leave the house and will not be able to return to it (Vol.). The witch flies (flies out of the chimney) with smoke, a whirlwind, bird. In general, the chimney is a favorite way of witches from house to house, and the smoke, curling in especially bizarre rings, is one of the evidence of the presence of a witch in the hut: she has “the first smoke from the chimney never comes out calmly and quietly, but always twirls and twists it in clubs in all directions, whatever the weather” (Vol.).

The witch turns into a needle, a ball, a sack, a rolling barrel, a haystack. However, most often it takes the form birds (magpies), snakes, pigs, horses, cats, dogs, rolling wheels . In some regions of Russia, it was believed that there were twelve possible forms of a witch. The ability to quickly transform and the variety of forms taken on distinguish the witch from other mythological characters. Turning around, the witch somersaults on the stove hearth (or underground, on the threshing floor) through the fire, through knives and forks, through twelve knives, through a rope, etc. There are also more well-known (according to fairy tales) ways of wrapping - for example, rubbing with magic ointment. A witch casts spells, turns around and flies or runs in the form of animals most often at dusk, in the evening, at night. A witch, a sorceress is a creature and a real one (in everyday life she an ordinary peasant woman), and endowed with supernatural powers and abilities. According to Russian beliefs, a witch has power over various manifestations of the existence of nature and man. From witches and witchers "depends on harvest and crop failure, illness and recovery, the welfare of livestock, and often even a change in the weather."

In the records of the XIX-XX centuries. such a skill of the witch as damage and theft of the moon is also mentioned. In the Tomsk province, it was believed that witches first learn to “spoil” a radish and a month, and then a person. The month is "spoiled" as follows. Baba, becoming "okarach" (on all fours), looks at him through the bath trough and conjures. From this, the edge of the month should turn black as coal. In the Astrakhan province, a story is recorded about how a witch “stole” a month during a wedding, and the trainees (participants in the wedding) did not find the way. And in the archives of the Kursk Znamensky Monastery there is a record of the 18th century, which tells how a witch removed stars from the sky. The connection with the Moon, characteristic of the most ancient deities, supernatural beings, testifies to the antiquity of the origin of the image of a witch. However, in Russia XIX-XX centuries. such beliefs (and even more so stories about a witch flying, eating, sweeping the moon and stars with a broomstick) are not as common as, for example, in Ukraine, among Western and southern Slavs. In Russian materials, a witch, conjuring over the Moon and stars, usually retains her human appearance, although she can be compared with an eclipse, a cloud. This does not allow us to see in the image of a witch only animation, a personification of natural phenomena. The witch sometimes imitates the elements, then subordinates them to herself, then, as it were, dissolves in them, merging with the elements, acting through them.

The image of a witch arose at the crossroads of ideas about “living” elements, about a woman endowed with supernatural abilities, as well as about animals and birds with special properties and abilities. In order to fly, a witch turns into a bird, a horse or becomes a woman rider. The "occupations" of flying witches are varied. In the guise of a magpie, a witch-thing harms pregnant women (see, less often - flies to the Sabbath (Tulsk., Vyatsk.) Or steals the Moon (Tom.). In Russia of the 19th-20th centuries, stories about magical flights or trips of witches on a person are popular , wrapped by her in a horse (or, conversely, a person endowed with special powers on a witch-horse - Orel., Kaluga., Vyatsk.) The long-standing distribution of this plot is evidenced in the Nomocanon, which mentions the healing of the “wife turned into a mare” by Archbishop Macarius To wrap a sleeping or gaping person with a horse, it is enough for a witch to throw a bridle over him. The bridle and collar are traditionally one of the most "witchcraft" items. Russians believed so much in the transmission of witchcraft through everything "belonging to horse harness and in general to riding" that to for example, outsiders were categorically not allowed to royal horses, and in Eastern Siberia, damage by witches to people, livestock and objects is still called “putting on a collar”.

In the stories of the XIX-XX centuries. flights and trips of horse witches (witch riders) are aimless or end in the marriage (sometimes death) of a witch tamed in the form of a horse. Narratives about the flights and trips of witches to the Sabbath (as well as about the Sabbaths themselves) in the Great Russian provinces did not become widespread. In a story from the Vyatka province, for example, it is not so much about the Sabbath as about the fate of a person who accidentally fell on it: a magpie witch (and after her the witch's husband who turned into a magpie) arrives at a gathering of sorceresses. The husband is immediately forced to leave him (“until the witches have eaten him”) and flies away on a horse drawn and animated by his wife. Having jumped off his horse at the wrong time, he then gets home for half a year. Witches also have power over the weather, especially moisture and rain. In the Voronezh province, it was believed that a witch could drive away the clouds by waving her apron.

According to beliefs (albeit more characteristic of the southern and southwestern regions of Russia), a witch hides and stores rain, hail, and a storm in a bag or pot. into a river, a lake, and those who did not drown were considered witches (apparently suspected of being able to influence water). This custom can be regarded both as an execution, and as a purification, a sacrifice. During severe droughts, witches were usually sought out who had conjured a drought (perhaps even holding rain somewhere in or "in themselves") Belief that a witch can somehow attract (or "draw" into herself) moisture - to hold back the rain, to rake in the dew, to milk the cows - is especially common in Russia. One of the most traditional occupations of a witch is milking other people's cows. Usually at dusk, at night, turning into a snake, a pig, a cat and secretly sneaking up to a cow, the witch milks her, while she can do without a milker, pulling the udder with invisible hairs (Raven.).

In a story from the Tula province, a rich peasant's cows do not give milk. He is advised to guard with an ax, sitting under a chicken perch. At night, a cat comes into the yard and, turning into a simple-haired woman, milks a cow in a leather bag. A man cuts off a woman's hand with an ax, and she disappears. In the morning it is discovered that he cut off the hand of his mother, who turned out to be a witch. The gathering decides not to let her out of the yard. A cow milked by a witch dries up the udder, she withers and dies. They also talk about more complex methods of witch milking: without touching the cows, the witch milks them by sticking a knife into the plow (which causes milk to flow out of the knife), or calls, calls out to the cows, listing their names. According to the word of the witch, milk fills the dishes prepared by her at home.

The actions of witches are also connected with the annual cycle of nature. They are especially significant and dangerous in the middle of winter and on the days of the summer solstice. In the southern regions of Russia, there are stories that on January 16, hungry witches kill cows, and during the summer solstice (on Ivanov, Petrov days, July 7 and 12) they try to get into the stables and get close to the cattle. The days of the solstice and major calendar holidays (for example, Easter) are peculiar festivities of witches, accompanied, according to Russian beliefs, not so much by sabbaths, but by the activation of all the forces and creatures inhabiting the world: “witches and sorcerers fly out of their caves to guard treasures, spoil cattle, destroy spores in bread, make creases so that the reapers writhe, make gaps so that they are not threshed, ”etc. (Psk.). Fearing witches, on such days they tried to leave the cows together with the calves in the barn, so that the sucking calf would prevent the witch from taking milk, thistles were hung on the door of the barn, a young aspen tree was placed in the door of the barnyard, they propped up the door of the barn with aspen logs, sprinkled with flaxseed. Stinging nettles were placed on the windows of the hut, and in general they tried not to sleep on the night of The day of Ivan so as not to become a victim of witchcraft tricks. In the Smolensk province, before Ivan's Day, a Passion candle and an image were placed on the gates of the barnyard (a day later, the candle could turn out to be bitten by a witch, whom she prevented from entering the barnyard). In some regions of Russia (especially southern and southwestern), on the night of Ivanov's day, a symbolic burning of a horse's skull or an effigy depicting a witch took place. Calling cows driven out to the healing dew of Ivanovo, they simultaneously take away the dewy moisture that gives health, fertility, and milk.

According to customs, peasant women also "scoop dew" in the morning of Ivan's Day, "carrying a clean tablecloth over the grass and squeezing it into beetroot" (Volog.), or ride in the dew, trying to draw health and strength from it (Olon.). “Dew scooping” by peasant women is aimed at acquiring health and well-being; “raking in” the dew by a witch means “raking in milk” and spoiling health, spoiling a cow. Apparently, in some of their qualities, dew, milk, rain seemed to the peasants a single substance, the embodiment and guarantee of the fruitfulness of the land, livestock, people. Witches, on the other hand, had the ability to take away or “absorb” this fertility into themselves. The milk that is given out retains a connection with the witch who took it away: if such milk is boiled, then the witch will experience terrible torment (Perm., Sarat.) Or “everything inside will boil” ( South). If you stick a knife into the butter made from this milk, blood will come out (Novg.).

Milk seems to be inside the witch, in which there is some resemblance to a yard snake or noon snake ( cm. ) It is difficult to say whether the witch "imitates" a snake or the image of a supernatural snake is one of the components of the image of a witch. One way or another, but the idea that witches can keep fertility, harvest ("abundance") in themselves, was noted even in Ancient Russia.

During the famine in the Rostov land, the skin behind the shoulders of women suspected of witchcraft was cut, releasing the “abundance” drawn into them. In the beliefs of the XIX-XX centuries. a milking bowl, a pot, a basket on the head and behind the shoulders of the witch, obviously, are also considered as vessels intended for “taken away” milk, dew, rain, harvest. The witch, thus, turns out to be associated with the most diverse elements and forces of the world: she and the snake , and a bird, and a horse, and wind, and smoke; she and a woman endowed with supernatural abilities - perhaps once a servant of various snake-like, bird-like, and other deities, an intermediary between them and people.

In Eastern Siberia, there is still an idea that a witch can command snakes, frogs, evil spirits (devils). A witch, endowed with the ability to influence almost all essential aspects of life (especially moisture, water, fertility), may have been is also associated with the highest female deity of the East Slavic pantheon - (Old Russian “moksh” means “conjure”, and “mokosha” means “bewitching woman”). The role of a witch commanding diverse forces and creatures could be not only harmful, but also necessary. Many researchers of the customs of the Eastern Slavs note the special vocation of women in the matter of witchcraft, keeping witch secrets and ancient beliefs. E. Anichkov believed that in Russia (beginning from the 11th-12th centuries) “with the decline of the role of the Magi”, a “primordial bearer of secret knowledge” - a woman, was put forward, “witchcraft becomes family, domestic” [Anichkov, 1914].

Indeed, even in the XIX-XX centuries. in especially important or critical cases (during epidemics, deaths of livestock) they tell fortunes, conjure ordinary peasant women. At the same time, their appearance, actions often repeat the appearance and actions of witches: women in shirts, without belts, with loose hair, walk around on pokers and brooms, plow the village during epidemics, blocking the path of the disease; or they run around the house on Maundy Thursday, driving away evil spirits, trying to “protect”, keep prosperity and well-being in the house. Women’s divination (like the woman herself, especially connected with nature and elemental forces) primordially seemed as necessary as dangerous. In the village of the XIX-XX centuries. a witch is almost always a negative phenomenon, a source of various troubles: “Whatever happens in a peasant family, the witch turns out to be guilty.”

In addition to damage to the weather and livestock, damage to fields, health, people can be attributed to the witch. Usually the witch "spoils" the field, making "creases and twists": wringing and tying, twisting the stems, pressing the ears to the ground, she "binds fertility", prevents the ripening of cereals and destroys the harvest. According to popular beliefs, if a witch makes a hall or a gap in the field, a gap (lives through a strip), then the evil spirit begins to drag the grain from this field to the witch's bins (Yarosl., Tulsk., Orl.). In the hall, the twist cannot only be pulled out, but even touched without the risk of becoming fatally ill, therefore, in the Tula and Oryol provinces, for example, they were removed with a poker or a split aspen stake. The hall could be destroyed by a sorcerer who burned it or drowned it. For this purpose, they also invited priests who served in the prayer field. The antiquity of all these performances is evidenced by the monuments of ancient Russian and medieval literature. In the collection of the XV century. among confessional questions addressed to women we read: ... did you spoil the field with someone or something else, a person or cattle?

A witch can “spoil” people in many ways, chasing them in the form of animals (scaring, biting and even seizing, eating, “driving” in the form of a horse), slandering, spreading diseases through wind, water, various objects (and even through touch or glance ).The fear of witchcraft and witches, especially in medieval Russia, was strong; in many cases, even the clergy, like the highest secular authorities, "blindly believed in magic." The charter of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich mentions a sorceress woman who slandered about hops in order to bring a “plague plague” to Russia [Krainsky, 1900]. Witches were especially feared during weddings, to which they tried to invite a “strong” guardian sorcerer (see). Witches, witches, “blameless women” were tried and persecuted in Russia until the 19th century, also marked by litigation between “spoiled and spoiled”.

Numerous were extrajudicial reprisals against those suspected of witchcraft: when testing, witches were drowned, and wanting to neutralize them, they beat and maimed. It was believed that if you hit the witch with all your might, then she would lose her witchcraft abilities (or at least part of them). Less cruel methods: hit the witch with Trinity greenery or “nail” her shadow with nails, hit the shadow with an aspen stake, turn the damper at the stove, grip, etc. It was possible to find out who the witch was in the village mainly during big holidays. The peasants believed that by the beginning of the festive Easter service, witches would definitely come to church and even try to touch the priest (probably in order to receive sacred, magical powers emanating from him). Therefore, if during Easter matins you look at those present in the church through a piece of wood from the coffin of the dead, you can see witches with jugs of milk on their heads (South).

They looked out for witches at Easter and held a piece of cheese saved from Maundy Thursday behind their cheek. “When the priest says:“ Christ is Risen! ”, All witches (with milkers on their heads) will turn their backs to the icons” (Sarat.). Witches could also be seen in the house, in the yard: if on Thursdays of Great Lent you make a harrow from aspen, and on Good Saturday hide behind this harrow with a lit candle and wait, you will see a witch (South).

In the Surgut Territory, they knew this way to catch witches: it was necessary to leave the entire post on a log from the morning firebox, and during Easter morning, flood the stove with these logs. Witches will flock to ask for fire, and if a floorboard is pulled out between them and the door, they will not be able to get out of the hut. However, the peasants were still afraid to irritate the witches and tried not to do this unless absolutely necessary. Dangerous during life, witches are restless, harmful even after death, continuing to frighten fellow villagers and relatives with their visits, and also persecute the victims they have chosen. The deceased witch often “bites”, “bites” people, personifying death, destruction. The dead witches take revenge on the priests who tried to expose them during their lifetime, they persecute both the guys who inadvertently rejected their love, and their suitors: “One guy in a strange village had a fiancee who died, and she was a witch. So that she would not torture the guy, the people advised him to go to her cemetery and sit on the cross of her grave for three nights, then she would leave him alone and do nothing to him. The guy went to the witch's grave for three nights and every night he saw her until the first roosters. All three nights she came out of the grave and looked for him. On the first night, she was looking for him alone, on the second night with her friends, and on the third, in order to find him, on the advice of the old witch, they brought with them a baby with a tail, who showed them where the guy was sitting. But, fortunately, at the time when the baby with the tail pointed to the cross where the guy was, the roosters crowed - and the witches failed. The baby was left with outstretched hand, and his parents were found by him; and this is important, because these people are treated with caution and they are watched so that they don’t do anything bad to the Orthodox.”(Tulsk).

In order to get rid of the persecution of the dead witch once and for all, her coffin and grave were "guarded" with special precautions. If the witch continued to “get up” and cause harm, the grave was torn apart, and the body was pierced with an aspen stake - aspen was traditionally revered as a tree that protects against witches. In general, after death, witches do not “get up” as often as the deceased sorcerers, and mostly only the first time after the funeral. In Russian beliefs, stories about witches of the 20th century. sorcery transformations, flights, trips of witches are described less frequently than in the 19th century, but ideas about the ability of witches to spoil cattle and people are still widespread. Witch, sorceress in the village XIX-XX centuries. as if personifies the troubles, dangers and accidents that lie in wait and pursue the peasants. It is an almost universal explanation of misfortunes, and in this capacity it is even necessary for the life of the peasant community.

In a spiritual verse written (by A. V. Valov) in Poshekhonye, ​​Yaroslavl province, the soul of a witch, who has already completed her earthly existence, repents of her sins as follows:

“I gave milk from the cows, I lived a strip between the borders, I laundered the ergot from the bread.” This verse gives a full characterization of the witch's evil activities, since these three acts constitute the special occupations of women who have decided to sell their souls. However, if you carefully look at the appearance of a witch in the form in which it is drawn to the imagination of the inhabitants of the northern forest half of Russia, then a significant difference between the Great Russian witch and her ancestor, the Little Russian one, involuntarily catches the eye. In general, in the Little Russian steppes, young widows are very common among witches, and, moreover, in the words of our great poet, such that “it’s not a pity to give your soul for the look of a black-browed beauty,” then in harsh coniferous forests, which themselves sing only in a minor tone, playful and beautiful Little Russian witches turned into ugly old women. They were equated here with the fabulous Baba-Yagas living in huts on chicken legs, they, according to the Olonets legend, always spin a tow and at the same time “graze geese with their eyes in the field, and cook with a nomsom (instead of a poker and tongs) in the oven”, Great Russian witches are usually confused with sorceresses and are imagined only in the form of old, sometimes fat as a tub, women with disheveled gray hair, bony hands and huge blue noses. (Because of these fundamental features, in many places the very name of a witch has become a dirty word.)

Witches, according to the general opinion, differ from all other women in that they have a tail (small) and have the ability to fly through the air on broomsticks, pokers, mortars, etc. They go to dark deeds from their homes without fail through chimneys and , like all sorcerers, can turn into different animals, most often magpies, pigs, dogs and yellow cats. One such pig (in the Bryansk places) was beaten with anything, but the pokers and grips bounced off it like a ball until the roosters crowed. In cases of other Transformations, beatings are also considered a useful measure, only it is advised to beat with a cart axle and not otherwise than repeating the word “one” with each blow (saying “two” means ruining yourself, since the witch will break that person). This beating ritual, which determines how and with what to beat, shows that the massacres of witches are practiced quite widely. And it is true, they are beaten to this day, and the modern village does not cease to supply material for criminal chronicles. Most often, witches are tortured for milking other people's cows. Knowing the widespread village custom of naming cows according to the days of the week when they were born, as well as their habit of turning around at the call, witches easily use all this. Enticing "authors" and "subbotok", they milk them to the last drop, so that after that the cows come from the field as if they had completely lost their milk. Offended peasants console themselves with the opportunity to catch the villain at the scene of the crime and mutilate her by cutting off her ear, nose, or breaking her leg. (After that, a woman with a bandaged cheek, or limping on one or the other leg, usually does not take long to show up in the village.)

Numerous experiments of this kind are carried out everywhere, since the peasants still retain the confidence that their cows are not milked by hungry neighbors who do not know how to feed the children, but by witches. Moreover, the peasants, apparently, do not allow the thought that cows can lose milk from painful causes, or that this milk can be sucked out by alien-eating animals.
Witches have a lot in common with, and if you select outstanding features in the manner of action of both, you will have to repeat. They are also in constant communication and strike among themselves (it is for these meetings that “bald” mountains and noisy games of playful widows with cheerful and passionate ones were invented) - , in the same way, they die hard, tormented by terrible convulsions caused by the desire to pass on their science to someone, and in the same way, after death, their tongue sticks out of their mouths, unusually long and very similar to a horse's. But the similarity is not limited to this, since then restless night walks from fresh graves to the old ashes begin for the best case - to taste the pancakes put out of the window before the legal fortieth day, for the worst ~ to vent belated and uncooled malice and reduce the unfinished calculations during life with unloved neighbors). Finally, the aspen stake driven into the grave calms them in the same way. In a word, it is useless to look for sharp boundaries separating from sorcerers, as precisely as witches from sorceresses. Even the history of both has much in common: its bloody pages go back centuries, and it seems that they have lost their beginning - the custom of cruel reprisals against sorcerers and witches has taken root in the people to such an extent. True, even in the Middle Ages, the most enlightened church fathers opposed this custom, but in that harsh era, the preaching of meekness and gentleness had little success. So, in the first half of the 15th century, at the same time as in Pskov, during a pestilence, twelve witches were burned alive, in Suzdal, Bishop Serapion was already arming himself against the habit of attributing social disasters to witches and destroying them for this “You still cling to the filthy the custom of sorcery, said St. father, you believe and burn innocent people. In what books, in what scriptures have you heard that there are famines on earth from sorcery? If you believe this, then why do you burn the Magi? Do you beg, honor them, bring gifts to them, so that they don’t make pestilence, let down rain, bring heat, tell the earth to be fruitful? Sorcerers and sorceresses act with demonic power over those who are afraid of them, and whoever holds firm faith in God, they have no power over those. I mourn your madness, I beg you, step aside from the deeds of the filthy. Divine rules "order to condemn a person to death after listening to many witnesses, and you put water as witnesses, say:" If she starts to sink, she is innocent, if she swims, then she is a witch. "But can the devil, seeing your lack of faith, cannot support her, so as not to drown, and thereby lead you into murder?

However, this word of conviction sounded in the desert, filled with the highest feelings of Christian mercy: 200 years later, under Tsar Alexei, the old woman Olena was burned in a log house as a heretic, with magic papers and roots after she herself admitted that she spoiled people and some of taught them witchcraft. In Perm, the peasant Talev was burned with fire and, under torture, they gave him three shakes according to a slander that he was letting people hiccup. In Tot'ev 1674. the woman Fedosya was burned in a log house, with numerous witnesses, according to a slander "damage, etc. When (in 1632) news came from Lithuania that some woman was slandering about hops in order to bring pestilence, then immediately, under pain of death, those hops were forbidden to buy. A whole century later (in 1730), the Senate considered it necessary to recall by decree that the law defines burning as magic, and forty years after that (1779), the Bishop of Ustyug reports the appearance of sorcerers and wizards from male and female peasants who do not they only turn others away from orthodoxy, but also infect many with various diseases through worms. The sorcerers were sent to the senate as having confessed that they had renounced the faith and had an appointment with the devil who brought them worms. The same senate, having learned from the questions of the sorcerers that they had been beaten mercilessly more than once and forced by these beatings to blame for what they were not at all guilty of, ordered the voivode and his comrade to be dismissed from their posts, the alleged sorcerers to be released and released, and the bishops and others to forbid spiritual persons to enter into investigative cases on sorcery and sorcery, for these cases are considered subject to civil court.

And now, since the life-giving ray of light flashed for the first time in impenetrable darkness, on the eve of the 20th century, we receive the following news, all because of the sorcery question about witches:

“Recently (our correspondent writes from Orel), at the beginning of 1899, a woman (named Tatyana), whom everyone considers a witch, was almost killed. Tatyana had a fight with another woman and threatened her that she would spoil her. And this is what happened later because of the women's street squabble: when the peasants came together to shout and turned to Tatyana with a strict request, she promised them to turn everyone into dogs. One of the men approached her with a fist and said: “You are a witch, but speak my fist so that it does not hit you.” And hit her on the back of the head. Tatyana fell; as if on cue, the rest of the men attacked her and started beating her. It was decided to examine the woman, find her tail and tear it off. Baba screamed with a good obscenity and defended herself so desperately that many had their faces scratched, others had their hands bitten. The tail, however, was not found. Her husband ran to Tatyana's cry and began to defend, but the peasants began to beat him too. Finally, badly beaten, but not ceasing to threaten, the woman was tied up, taken to the volost (Ryabinsk) and put in a cold one. In the volost they were told that for such deeds all peasants would be punished by the zemstvo chief, since now they are not ordered to believe in sorcerers and witches. Returning home, the peasants announced to Tatyana's husband, Antipas, that they would probably decide to send his wife to Siberia, and that they would agree to give their sentence if he did not put out a bucket of vodka to the whole society. While drinking, Antip swore and swore that not only did he not see, but never even noticed any tail on Tatiana in his life. At the same time, however, he did not hide the fact that his wife threatened to turn him into a stallion whenever he wanted to beat her. The next day, Tatyana came from the volost, and all the peasants came to her to agree that she would not conjure in her village, spoil no one, and not steal milk from the cows. For yesterday's beatings, they generously asked for forgiveness. - She swore that she would fulfill the request, and a week later an order was received from the volost, in which it was said that such stupid things should not happen in the future, and if something like this happens again, then those responsible for this will be punished by law, and, moreover, about this will be brought to the attention of the zemstvo chief. The peasants listened to the order and decided by all means that the witch must have bewitched the authorities, and that therefore, henceforth, one should not reach him, but should deal with his own court.

Note - a story about a witch

In the village of Terebenevo (Zhizdrinsky district, Kaluga province), the seven-year-old girl Sasha told her mother that she and her aunt Marya, with whom she lived as a nanny, flew every night to the bald mountain.
- When everyone falls asleep, the lights go out, Aunt Marya will fly in as a magpie and chirp. I will jump out, and she will throw me a magpie skin, I will put it on - and we will fly. On the mountain we will throw off the skin, make fires, brew a potion to give people water. A lot of women flock: both old and young. Marya has fun - she whistles and dances with everyone, but I'm bored on the sidelines, because everyone is big, and I'm the only one small.
Sasha told the same thing to her father, and this one rushed straight to Marya:
- Atheist, why did you spoil my daughter? Marin's husband interceded: he pushed the fool out the threshold and closed the door behind him. But he did not let up - and to the headman.
The headman thought, thought, and said:
- No, I can't act here - go to the priest and the parish.
He thought, thought the father and decided to take his daughter to church, confess her, take communion and try to see if the priest would undertake to reprimand her. However, the girl herself refused confession.
- Witches do not pray and do not confess! And in the church she turned her back to the iconostasis. The priest refused to chastise and advised the girl to be thoroughly flogged.
- What kind of magpie did she throw off, where did she fly? And you, fool, believe the chatter of a child?
Meanwhile, at the hut of the alarmed father, the crowd of men and women does not disperse, and the girl continues to chatter her nonsense.
In the volost, the complainant was believed and Marya was recognized as a sorceress. The clerk rummaged through the laws and announced:
- No, brother, nothing can be done against the devil: I did not find any article against her.
Suspicion fell on Marya, and the fame of the witch began to grow. The neighbors began to follow her every step, remember and notice all sorts of little things. One told me that she saw Marya washing herself, leaning over the threshold into the street; the other - that Marya drew water for days, the third - that Marya collected herbs on the night of Ivan Kupala, etc. Every step of the unfortunate woman began to be interpreted in a bad way. The boys around the corner began to throw stones at her. Neither she nor her husband could show themselves on the street - they almost spit in the eyes.
“If only you, father, would stand up for us!” the priest’s husband begged Maryin. The priest tried to convince the crowd and calm Marya, but nothing helped, and, in the end, the innocent and meek Marya died in consumption.
15 years have passed since that time. Sasha has grown up a long time ago, she assures me for a long time; that her story was pure fiction, but now no one believes her anymore: the girl entered in full sense and realized that this should not be told. She is a good girl, but not a single suitor will marry her: no one wants to marry a witch.
She, too, will probably have to, sitting in the old girls, turn to the fortune-telling business, especially since such occupations are almost not dangerous and very profitable. Neither daring fellows, nor fair girls, nor deceived husbands, nor jealous wives will pass by the fortune tellers, because even now, as in the old days, faith in “dryness” lives in people. There is no need for bald mountains or roadside uprisings, there are enough village rubbles to, learning the innermost secrets, diligently engage in love spells and lapels of loving and cold hearts: both to your advantage and to help outsiders. In such cases, there is still a lot of room for clever people, no matter how this tricksters are called: witches or soothsayers, fortune-tellers or healers, grandmothers or whisperers.

Here are some examples from the practice of modern witches and fortune tellers

One peasant of the Oryol province seriously offended his newlywed wife and, in order to somehow rectify the matter, turned for advice to the vaunted old woman healer, who was rumored to be a notorious witch. The sorceress advised her patient to go into the meadows and find among the stakes (pegs on which haystacks are attached) three pieces of such that stood driven into the ground for at least three years; then scrape shavings from each hundred heat, brew them in a pot and drink.
And here is another case from the practice of soothsayers.
“I don’t have washed water from my neighbors,” one girl who served with a rich merchant also complained to the well-known Kaluga witch, “he promised to marry and cheated. Everyone laughs, even the little guys.
“Just bring me a piece of his shirt,” the witch reassured her, “I will give it to the church watchman, so that when he rings, he will tie this piece on the rope, then the merchant will not know where to go from longing, and he will come to you.” , and you laugh at him: I, they say, did not call you, why did you come? ..
Another poor girl also complained, wishing to marry a rich peasant who did not like her.
- You, if possible, get his stockings off his feet, - the witch advised. - I'll wash them and spit the water at night. And I will give you three grains: one you will throw in front of his house, and the other under his feet when he goes, the third when he comes ...
There are an infinite number of such cases in the practice of village witches, but it is remarkable that healers and witches are truly inexhaustible in the variety of their recipes. Here are a few more samples.
A man loves someone else's woman. The wife asks for advice.
“Look at the yard where the roosters are fighting,” the witch recommends, “take a handful of earth in that place and sprinkle it on the bed of your lovebird. She will quarrel with your husband - and again he will fall in love with his "law" (that is, his wife).
For dryness, girls are advised to carry bagels or gingerbread and apples under the left arm for several days, of course, primarily equipped with slander, in which lies the main, secretly acting force.
Only knowledgeable and chosen witches do not talk conspiracy words to the wind, but lay in the spoken things, exactly what will then heal, soothe and comfort, at will. It is as if the sick heart is filled with the most healing potion when they hear ears about the wish that the melancholy that has been pressing until now will go away “neither in singing, nor in roots, nor in trampling mud, nor in boiling springs”, namely in that person, who offended, fell out of love or deceived with promises, etc. For lovers, witches know such words that, it seems, are better and sweeter than them and no one can come up with. They send dryness “to zealous hearts, to a white body, to a black liver, to a hot chest, to a violent head, to the middle vein and to all 70 veins, to all 70 joints, to the very love bone. Let this very dryness set fire to a zealous heart and boil hot blood, so much so that it would be impossible to drink it down or eat it in food, not to fall asleep, not to wash it off with water, not to go on a spree, not to cry with tears, etc. .
Only proceeding from the mouths of witches, these words have the power to “print” someone else’s heart and lock it up, but even then only when there are slanderous roots in the hands, the hair of a loved one, a piece of his clothes, etc. They believe every promise and fulfill every order: they put a golik under the sled for young guys, if they wish that one of them would not marry this year, they burn his hair so that he walks like a lost one for a whole year. If you stain his undershirt or fur coat with sheep's blood, then no one will love him at all.
But the most real tool in love affairs is a mysterious talisman, which is obtained from a black cat or from frogs. From the first, boiled to the last degree, an “invisible bone” is obtained, making the person who owns it invisible. A bone is equivalent to self-propelled boots, a flying carpet, a hospitable bag and an invisibility cap. Two “lucky bones” are taken out of the frog, which serve with equal success for both love spells and lapels, arousing love or disgust. These cat and frog bones are also mentioned in fairy tales with complete faith in their sorcery. These bones are obtained very easily; it is worth boiling a completely black cat in a pot - and you get a “hook and fork”, or you should put two frogs in an anthill to get a “hook and spatula”. They hook the one they want to attract to themselves (or imperceptibly attach it to a scarf). With a fork or spatula, they push her away from themselves when she has time to eat up or is completely disgusted. Few rituals are required and the preparation is not particularly difficult. From the ant heap it is necessary to lead backwards so that he cannot catch up when he goes to look for traces; then both tracks will lead into the forest, and there will be no trace out of the forest. In other cases, it is advised to go to that anthill for 12 nights in a row and go around it silently three times, only on the thirteenth night such a treasure is given into the hands. However, you can do without these approaches. Failure occurs only when the marked girl does not carry the hook fastened to her dress for three weeks in a row, etc. According to all the data given, we can conclude that the once influential and terrible power of witches, aimed mainly at love affairs , now closes within the woman's kingdom. In this, of course, one must see great happiness and the undoubted success of enlightenment. Already from many places, and, moreover, famous for their superstition, one hears, for example, such encouraging news:
- In the old days there were a lot of witches, but now you don’t hear something.
- The current witch is most often a bawd. So. witches not only die, according to the old custom, on Sila and Siluyan (July 30), drunk on stolen milk from other people's cows, but, by many undoubted signs, under the new order, they completely prepared for real death.

Due to remoteness or directly due to the lack of “bald” mountains, closets and especially baths are recognized as quite convenient for dates, and there is a “witcher” to supervise them. Throughout the south of Great Russia, this is either, or, which, according to the belief common to all Slavic peoples, walks after death and kills people.

Of course, it cannot be said that there were no witches in the world and everyone was dragged to the fire indiscriminately. There were also real, not imaginary sorceresses among them, possessing supernatural power, which was not always for the benefit of man.

"O times, o manners!" - one can only exclaim when it comes to the gloomy Middle Ages. Suppose it was easier for a simple passer-by to point a finger at a beautiful girl and publicly declare her a witch, as if from the ground, harsh inquisitors in cassocks would immediately rise up and drag the poor creature into their dungeons. Sophisticated torture, bullying made the victim docile, and she confessed that she turned into a black cat at night in order to take revenge on decent people and inflict damage on them. If a woman or girl stood her ground and was not going to recognize herself as an evil spirit, the "witch's bridle" was used. A steel mask with a spiked gag was put on the face of the alleged witch. Bright beauty, red hair or, conversely, the ugliness of a woman became the subject of suspicion and persecution. Under this pretext, the representatives of the weaker sex were drowned, chopped off their heads, burned at the stake as witches, with whom, they say, the streets of medieval cities are literally teeming.

According to some estimates, the inquisitors brought to the grave several million girls and women. It would seem that in our enlightened age everything should be done away with superstitions, and science, figuratively speaking, stepped on the “tail” of any mystification associated with the other world. However, the facts indicate the opposite: for example, over the past two decades, about 5 thousand witches and sorcerers have been executed in India. They became victims of lynching by the inhabitants, who considered that they were guilty of crop failures and epidemics of diseases that claimed many human lives.

Mary Bateman

The “Yorkshire Witch” began her journey as a fortune teller (she never considered herself a witch!) With petty theft and fraud. She knew how to circle any victim around her finger. Moreover, Mary did not hesitate to talk about her connections with the other world, which gave her unprecedented abilities. She did not stop deceiving people even after marriage. In Leeds, Mary met John Bateman, who soon became her husband. She quickly got used to the city, and after a while the locals pronounced her name with slight fear and respect.

Declaring herself a soothsayer, Mary prepared potions supposedly saving sinful souls from any evil spirits and helping to cure diseases. And everything went like clockwork: money flowed in a generous stream into the pocket of Mary Bateman. Until a story happened that ended her business and her reputation as a consummate healer.

Once Mary took up the treatment of Rebecca Perigault, who complained of chest pains. The husband considered that someone's evil curse was to blame, and turned to Bateman for help. For several months, he fed his wife puddings, in which the "healing" potion of the soothsayer from Leeds was mixed. And only when Rebecca died, suspicion crept into the soul of the unfortunate husband. What he hastened to report to the police. The servants of the law immediately discovered the poison not only in the potion, but also in the personal belongings of the Perigo spouses. In March 1809 Mary Bateman was tried in York. A large audience gathered near the building shouted: "Witch!" and demanded severe punishment. Mary did not admit her guilt and even invented pregnancy in order to save herself from the gallows. But all her attempts were in vain. In memory of the "Yorkshire Witch", the British, correct in life, placed her skeleton in the Thackray Museum in Leeds. Also on public display was a Mary Bateman leather purse...

Angela de la Barte

The fate of this woman of noble birth has changed from the moment when one of the clergy of the Catholic Church looked askance at her. The unusual behavior of the noblewoman, her extravagance seemed to him extremely suspicious. He immediately snitched on the inquisitors, who did not know a single hour of rest in their hunt for witches, and they immediately grabbed the poor woman, dragged her to the basement, so that with the help of sophisticated tortures they would achieve a confession in evil witchcraft. And the unfortunate Angela confessed to all the mortal sins, which she had not suspected before! It is said that she was a mentally ill woman. And her only sin was that she preached Gnostic Christianity, which the Catholic Church treated with great distrust. Having pasted on Angela the label of a witch with demonic charms, she was also accused of having sexual relations with incubi, they attributed to the unfortunate woman the birth of a demonic wolf-serpent, the abduction of children. And Angela, who had completely lost her mind, was solemnly burned at the stake ...

Tasmin Blythe

In Cornwall (England), she was called the "Witch of the Hedge", who became famous in the 19th century for her art of a healer and sorceress. As a real representative of evil spirits, she lived with her husband, magician and magician James Thomas in seclusion. It cannot be said that the inhabitants of the local villages were satisfied with such a neighborhood. Separated from everyone by hedges, the witch inspired a slight horror in them. Tasmin, in a way known only to her, communicated with parallel worlds and, by the way, was able to accurately predict the future of a person. It wasn't the proverbial fortune-telling, because the witch rarely missed her predictions. In fact, Tasmin Blythe did no harm to anyone. But if someone tried to anger her, then he bitterly paid even for a careless word.

Once the curse of the “Hedge Witch” was experienced by a shoemaker in one of the villages. To some extent, he was right: the sorceress remained indebted to him for her previous work, but she did not want to fork out for any. The argument went so far that Tasmin promised the shoemaker that no one in the neighborhood would come to him with an order. No sooner said than done. And soon the magical vibes dispersed all the clients of the unlucky shoemaker. Maybe the witch's business would have flourished further: for her skill, she tore three skins from the poor villagers. However, the faithful spoiled everything: the desperate drunkard tarnished his wife's reputation with his scandalous behavior. And one day, people discovered that she was not so skilled if she could not cope with her husband and set him on the right path. And if you once sow doubt, then expect complete disappointment over time.

Lori Cabot

The Witch of Salem is not only known in Massachusetts. The fame of the most advanced sorceress spread throughout America, which the governor himself testified, showing her honor and respect. Already at the age of six, Lori heard voices that told the girl that there are strange worlds that the average person does not suspect. In the late 60s of the last century, Lori made a rather bold act: she declared herself a real witch. The pentacle, black robes and ritual ornaments - that's what began to distinguish her from the rest of the people. In Salem, Laurie Cabot opened a tarot card reading course. And in the interval between classes, she turned into "Miss Marple" - the famous character of Agatha Christie. The clairvoyant helped the police unravel the most difficult criminal cases. And seasoned criminals were amazed when they found out that they were figured out by the "witch of Salem." Lori was also able to diagnose illness by the human aura. Note that for the first time in the history of the existence of witches, she convinced the public of the need for the profession of a sorceress. By the way, no one even tried to ridicule the opinion of Laurie Cabot. And she continued her activities and soon founded the League of Public Recognition of Witches.

Anna Göldi

An ordinary maid in the house of Johann Jakob Chudi suddenly turned into a horror story for all respectable Switzerland. She was declared a witch, and she was intent on fleeing Glarus, whose authorities offered a large prize of money for her capture. The whole fault of the poor woman was that in October 1781, the youngest daughter of Johann Chudi, Anna-Maria, who fell ill, allegedly began to vomit pins out of herself. The owner of the house did not hesitate for a long time and immediately fired her. He quite seriously claimed that Anna Göldi regularly mixed pins into her daughter's food in order to bring her to the grave. Fortunately, Chudi's daughter did not die and was successfully healed from an unknown illness. According to some rumors, the owner of the house himself was involved in this rather murky story, who seduced the maid and, having learned about her pregnancy, decided to get rid of all subsequent problems. As a result, Anna was seized, shackled. The trial was short: the imaginary witch was sentenced to beheading. Anna was rehabilitated only in 2008: the Swiss Parliament recognized all the accusations as groundless and far-fetched...

Bridget Bishop

The small English town of Salem in 1692 was stirred up by terrible events that caused a massacre of local witches. It all started with a strange case: two girls - Betty and Abigail - seemed to be possessed by demons. They fell to the floor, fought in hysterics and shouted some gibberish. A frightened father, city pastor Sumuel Parris, tried to heal his daughters with the help of prayers. But they only writhed in convulsions and screamed so piercingly that they horrified the neighbors. And then, out of good intentions, the maid Tituba decided to try out the method used by her ancestors. She doused a piece of meat, roughly speaking, with the urine of girls, fried it and threw it to the dog. But it was all in vain. Moreover, in an unconscious state, one of the sisters called the name of the maid. And then off we go! In convulsions and writhing, the sisters read out a whole list of Salem's women.

Maria Lavoe

The "Snake Queen" was famous in New Orleans for establishing a voodoo cult there. The huge python Zombie, which she had instead of a domestic cat and dutifully obeyed her mistress, seemed to confirm with her presence the seriousness of Marie Lavoe's intentions. The local Catholic clergy were furious when the witch claimed that there were no contradictions between Christianity and the voodoo cult. And to bleed a rooster, to arrange a small sabbat, a bit like an orgy of African shamans, will not hurt anyone. The priests did not dare to enter into an open battle with the “Snake Queen”. They say that everything was decided by the witchcraft of Marie Lavoe: she once cured the daughter of the mayor of epilepsy. And the patronage of the authorities, as you know, is worth a lot. Marie Lavoe was especially famous for her ability to prepare a love potion. And it is not surprising that the numerous clients of the "Snake Queen" were girls and young women. By the way, Marie Laveau died at the age of 87 in honor and respect of the people of New Orleans.

Witch hunters are tired of putting suspects behind bars. After a short trial, Bridget Bishop was the first to ascend the scaffold. A wealthy woman - the owner of several taverns did not like the inhabitants of the town with her passion for red dresses, in which she flaunted the streets. She was immediately accused of causing damage to girls. Like, Bridget did all this with the help of dolls, setting fire to their heels and sticking needles, not forgetting to name the victims on whom her witchcraft was directed. Note that Bishop was bold in court, not admitting her guilt one iota. However, this did not save her from the gallows. Strangely, wax dolls were found in Bridget's house after her death.

Bell family witch

She was considered the most terrible and vicious ghost of the early 19th century. Her name has long been spoken in America with a sense of fear. And there was someone to be afraid of! In 1817, John Bell, a wealthy planter from Adams, Tennessee, had to experience the influence of otherworldly forces. Ghost dogs and huge phantom birds began to appear to him at every turn. Unable to bear these horrors, he was forced to shoot from a gun, hoping to hit one of the creatures. But John didn't hurt anyone. On the contrary, from that moment on, for a year, the ghost began to literally terrorize the farmer's large family. Not a single night passed without this creature not appearing and making noise. The evil spirit dragged children by the hair, handed out spankings to adults. The rumor of the family's anguish reached the President of America. And one day, Andrew Jackson himself came to the Bell farm, at the same time taking with him a specialist in demons. The master of the fight against evil spirits hurriedly fled from the farm after he tried to defeat the invisible witch with a silver bullet from a gun. She gave him a heavy slap in the face, not at all afraid of the presence of the president of the country. There is probably no point in talking about the subsequent misadventures of John Bell. The old witch nevertheless finished off the poor farmer and somehow replaced the vial of medicine with poison. But even after John's death, Bell continued to haunt his family. True, not with such zeal. This story could well look like a fictional horror story, if not for the eyewitness accounts of the tragic events, of which there were many.

In 2005, Hollywood filmed The Phantom of the Red River, based on the terrible events that happened to the Bell family.

The idea that a person can be harmed by witchcraft existed in many countries. In local cultures, there were beliefs associated with otherworldly ways of influencing people. Cases of magical interference in the lives of citizens were considered in European courts until the end of the 19th century. In an article published in the journal Midland History, historian Thomas Waters explains why the sinister legends of witches survived the dark times of the Middle Ages.

In the village of Long Compton, located on the border of the counties of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, the farm laborer James Haywood attacked his neighbor, the elderly Ann Tennant, who died from the wounds inflicted on her. In his defense, Haywood said that the old woman made him sick and called for misfortunes, because of which he could not work. As it turned out, other villagers also believed in these abilities of Mrs. Tennant.

The case of Ann Tennant turned out to be resonant, the newspapers actively wrote about it. Court reports have made an invaluable contribution to the study of local beliefs and forced experts to change their view of the attitude towards witchcraft in Victorian England.

They everywhere

During the Victorian era, newspapers in Oxfordshire and Warwickshire often reported on incidents and court hearings related to witchcraft. Most of them were devoted to what is happening in other regions of the country and abroad, but there were also local events.

Thus, in June 1863, the case of an elderly citizen, Thomas Draper, was considered in Warwick, who attacked a woman and hit her on the forehead to bleed her, in the hope that in this way he would “remove the curse from himself.” A similar incident occurred in the village of Taiso, where a certain Sarah Dixon, "being weakened by illness," believed that her neighbor Agnes Durham had brought damage to her. Together with her friend, Dixon broke into Durham's house and severely scratched her hand in the hope of causing the "witch" to bleed and remove the curse.

Other incidents of this kind were also reported. Many at that time were sure that in order to remove the damage imposed by a sorcerer or witch, it was enough to let out villainous blood. James Heywood's motivation for killing Ann Tennant was the same - he just miscalculated the force with which he plunged the pitchfork into her.

From the testimony of the caretaker of the local lunatic asylum in the Haywood case, it becomes clear that these were not isolated cases: "In south Warwickshire, the belief in witchcraft is extremely common." A local farmer who worked for a farmhand said, "A third of the people of Long Compton believe in witches and wizards, and name a few people they believe to be so." This was also confirmed by Haywood's daughter, who stated that she "often heard people talk about witches" (although she may have given such testimony out of a sense of family solidarity). Moreover, it became known that the farmhand often visited a "specialist" in witchcraft, who allegedly knew how to diagnose and remove spells.

Crazy or drunk?

As for the local press, Haywood's case was extraordinary for the court, because it was about a murder. During the hearing, the judge questioned nine witnesses who testified about what the laborer believed. These people were asked if they themselves believed in witches and were asked to evaluate Haywood's behavior. The court's interest in this information was not idle: on the basis of this, the actions of the defendant were assessed - whether he can be held responsible for the death of Ann Tennant under the law, whether he is sane.

Historians often associate the tendency of English courts to recognize belief in witchcraft as a mental disorder with the intellectual trends of the 19th century, and especially with the development of psychiatry. Belief in witches already in the 18th century could become a reason to recognize the defendant insane.

Following testimony from the caretaker of the lunatic asylum, Haywood was acquitted as insane. The court was finally convinced of this after the words of Ann Tennant's husband, who said that the defendant "did not have any oddities, except for constantly talking about witches." However, another witness, farmer James Taylor, spoke of such beliefs as "common in the country" and stressed that the locals did not consider Haywood an eccentric.

Perhaps the clearest evidence of the farmhand's insanity was that he did kill Tennant, because despite the fact that belief in witches was common, it was extremely rare to kill people suspected of witchcraft. At the same time, many witnesses testified that Haywood liked to drink and could commit a crime while intoxicated, but for some reason the court did not take this into account. Either way, his case was high-profile, well-documented in the press, and left folklorists with a lot to think about.

The Bible doesn't lie

Journalists and historians of the Victorian era considered the belief in witchcraft to be pagan, or "alternative" - ​​in conflict with Protestantism. People drew their information about the supernatural from the King James Bible - a translation of the Holy Scriptures, made under the patronage of the monarch.

Two witnesses in the Haywood case said he was impressed by the way witchcraft was described in the biblical text. (referring to Leviticus, the condemnation of witchcraft in the Book of Micah, and the description of Simon Magus in the Acts of the Apostles.) The defendant did indeed take the King James Bible with him when he sat in the prison cell awaiting trial.

Autobiographical and folklore sources of the region confirm that the locals drew information about witchcraft primarily from the Holy Scriptures. Even the illiterate learned thematic passages from the Bible by heart. In one of the descriptions of everyday life in the counties, there is a phrase that a mother says to her daughter's question about witchcraft: “Of course, witches exist. We have read about them in Scripture." That is, people who believed in witchcraft did not consider their views "alternative" or pagan: their religion clearly indicated to them that witches are a reality, that they really do what they are accused of.

Knowledgeable people

However, the knowledge about who is a witch and who is not, the locals received not from the Bible, but through rumors and gossip. They were usually bred by the so-called "knowledgeable people", who studied the Scriptures thoroughly and, from the point of view of society, have the right to identify malicious sorceresses. It was they who told the villagers about how to deal with magic and its consequences.

To one of these "knowledgeable people", Mr. Manning, Haywood also went. Mr. Manning was a "water doctor", that is, a person who identifies diseases by the urine of a sufferer. That is how he found out that the evil eye was to blame for the suffering of his patient, that is, the witch literally “looked badly” at him.

Together against the rest

There was a belief among the villagers that witches were inclined to join forces. So, they believed that there were sixteen witches living in Long Compton, communicating with each other. Young girls were strictly forbidden to approach such old women, so that they would not lure them into their witch networks.

The practices that Haywood, on the advice of Mr. Manning, applied to Ann Tennant (with the exception of attacking her) were directed against all the witches of the village. He told her husband that "they are all in his bottle." Haywood was referring to the so-called "witch's bottle", in which the urine, nails and hair of the damned were collected, and then roasted over a fire. This, in theory, was supposed to cause unbearable pain to all the witches who enchanted him.

Despite the fact that the incident that happened in the village was taken as an example, it was not only the villagers who believed in witches. There are many references in the press in Warwickshire and Oxfordshire about attacks on alleged witches in major cities. It seems that only in London the British at that time did not blame the evil old women who wielded black magic for their troubles.

The inhabitants of Long Compton continued to believe in witchcraft well into the 20th century, as evidenced by autobiographical records from the First World War. One of the villagers recalled: “In those days, people were very interested in witches. As soon as someone got sick, the pot fell and broke, or some other trouble happened, the witches were blamed for everything.

Mikhail Karpov