Mysterious Britain & Ireland

Category: Witchcraft

Buried Treasure / Demons / English Folktales / Folklore / Folktales / Legends / Occult / Occult Traditions / Witchcraft

Bearnshaw Tower and Lady Sybil

The 17th century Bearnshaw Tower (or Bernshaw Tower) is said to have collapsed in the 1860’s when its foundations were dug away by people hunting for hidden treasure. This pele tower though is best known for its association with a witch, Lady Sybil, who’s story below appeared in ‘Lancashire Legends’ (1873) by John Harland & T T Wilkinson.

Fairies / Folklore / Folktales / Mabinogion / Occult / Occult Traditions / Welsh Fairies / Welsh Folktales / Witchcraft

Llyn Cowlyd

On the edge of the Carneddau range of mountains in Snowdonia lays the deepest lake in North Wales, Llyn Cowlyd. The lake has been dammed so it is unnaturally deep, but it has given soundings of 229 feet, and has a mean depth of 109 feet. The lake is almost 2 miles long, and a third of a mile wide, with the adjacent hills dropping steeply to the lakes edges.

Devil / Legends / Occult / Occult Traditions / Witchcraft

Long Compton

About a mile from the Rollright Stones, it was once it was said that ‘There are enough witches in Long Compton to draw a load of hay up Long Compton Hill.’ Roy Palmer in his ‘The Folklore Of Warwickshire’ gives the following brief account of account of someone contacting the D

Black Dogs / Legends / Occult / Witchcraft

The Wise Woman Of Littondale

The following legend of ‘The Wise Woman Of Littondale’ appeared in ‘The Table Book’ (1827) by William Hone (Born 3 June 1780 – Died 8 November 1842) and partially reprinted in ‘Yorkshire Legends and Traditions’ by Rev Thomas Parkinson (1888).

Occult / Occult Traditions / Witchcraft

Witch’s Cottage, Barley

In December 2011 a 17th century cottage complete with an entombed mummified cat was unearthed in Barley, near Pendle Hill, an area which is of course famous for the Pendle Witches.

Folklore / Legends / Occult / Witchcraft

Byard’s Leap

Black Meg was a man-eating ogress who lived in a cave on the wild and lonely expanse of Ancaster Heath. She terrorised the countryside for miles around, devouring anyone she came across. Her foul, evil spells made the land barren and she used her long iron claws to maul and kill livestock.

Occult / Occult Traditions / Witchcraft

Ursula Kemp and the St Osyth’s Witches

In Chelmsford, 1582, fourteen women from St Osyth were put on trial. The charge was witchcraft. Ten of those women faced charges of ‘bewitching to death’. Seperate skeletons found in St Osyth during 1921 were thought to belong to two of these women, executed as witches.