NOT SO ‘ORRIBLE ‘ISTORIES: The trial and error of T.O.W.I.E [Tons of Witches in Essex

An armed man with an earpiece then arrived and spoke to the guide and then they both looked at me. He smiled at me and then took the two phials. I had no idea what was going on. A little later he returned with the two phials filled with water.

“This is from the Popes private font.

Take it with you and use it wisely,” the guide smiled.

I couldn’t believe it! I took the phials and thanked him and the armed guard with so much zest they must have thought that I was a nutter! How lucky was I?

I have asked sceptics, very well-known ones in fact, about my story. They have said that they can’t explain it but it’s not supernatural(?) or I fell asleep in front of a history programme! What bullsh*t!

Since this experience I have seen three other previous lives that I have led. I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that we are reincarnated time after time. The only thing I would say is, be the best version of yourself that you can be in this life as if you are not, you’ll be back to perfect it until you get it right! Nicky x

Psychic Medium, Tutor & Magazine Columnist

Author of M.E Myself & I: Diary of a

Psychic

Twitter @NickyAlan07 Instagram @nickyalan333 Penny Griffiths-Morgan investigates

The Witch Trials of Chelmsford

Charles Dickens wrote in a letter to his friend Thomas Beard on January 11th 1835 saying that “If any one were to ask me what in my opinion was the dullest and most stupid spot on the face of the Earth, I should decidedly say Chelmsford” Unsurprisingly (well, I do live here) I would vehemently disagree with him, as Chelmsford in Essex (UK) actually has a lot of fascinating bits of history which it can lay claim to, even if all Dickens found of interest was attending public hangings at nearby Springfield Prison (true story).

Whilst I could go over around four hundred years of intriguing Chelmsford and Essex based history, I am going to focus on one element that may interest readers, that of witchcraft.

Agnes Waterhouse is frequently written about as the first woman to be executed for the felony of witchcraft, but this is not actually true, she was actually the first for whom her trial and subsequent hanging was a media frenzy (as much as it could have been in 1566). She was in her mid-sixties and came from a small village on the outskirts of Chelmsford called Hatfield Peverel. What many do not realise about Essex is that during the Tudor period, it could have been seen as Witch central, in fact over a period of just twenty three years, ten different people – nine women and one man - from the same village as Agnes were tried and found guilty of that crime. Astonishingly one of the charges levied against Agnes was that she had been heard saying her prayers in Latin, and this was expressly forbidden in now Protestant England. Less than one hundred years later we have the appearance of the infamous Matthew Hopkins, self-proclaimed witch finder general (or misogynistic murdering conman, whichever job description you think fits). Here was a man born in Suffolk, who is said to have bought an Inn/Hotel in Mistley in Essex, settled in nearby Manningtree and began in 1644 with his witch hunting all over East Anglia, but unsurprisingly, Essex took the brunt – remember, it was associated with witchcraft already, if the cap fits and all that. They were not looking for those practicing maleficium so much, but to prove that an individual had made a deal with the devil, it was then they could be seen as heretics, and that was a crime deemed so heinous that normal legal procedure ceased to apply.

One of the reasons I despise Hopkins and his partner John Stearne so much (could you not tell?) could be that it is quite obvious that they were not looking to rid the world of witchcraft, more so saw an opportunity for money and notoriety. They would charge each town for the amount of witches that they were being expected to interview, with many having to heavily tax their inhabitants to pay for it. To give you an idea as to how exorbitant their costs were, in one small Suffolk village the cost was around £28…when the average wage was nearer sixpence.

You can also look at their methods of torture, swimming being one, now this was not a new way of finding out if someone was deemed in league with Satan, it was advocated in King James I book Daemonologie, and had been mentioned in the Northampton trials in 1612. Merely operating a type of reverse baptism was not going to be enough for the cruel fame hungry pair, they came up with their own method where the individual was bent double, their arms crossed in front of their legs, and their thumbs tied to their big toe. A rope was looped around the person’s waist, and they were then placed into the water to sink and raised three times, if the men controlling the rope were not quick enough, it would be very easy for the individual to drown, and many did lose their lives this way.

In July 1645, thirty-eight individuals were accused of the crime at an emergency assizes held in Chelmsford, a subsequent twenty nine were charged and a total of seventeen hanged…ten of those in the town itself. It was this huge show trial and totally excessive display of arrogance in being the saviour of the country from the demonic influence of witches that caused Hopkins to coin the term he is now best known for, the Witch Finder General. The site of the gallows in the city is known to most as being on the corner of Waterhouse Lane and Primrose Hill, there are many who wonder if the name of the first road is linked to poor Agnes but with the fear of witches still having been prevalent well into the 19th century it is very doubtful. In 1863, an eighty-year-old man from Sible Hedingham nicknamed as “Old Dummy” (yes, it makes me uncomfortable writing that) because he was unable to hear or speak, was accused of being a witch, the village decided to dispense their own brand of justice and employed the swimming torture, and whilst they watched this poor terrified old man struggling in the water, they pelted him with stones. What is so horrific in that story, especially as it happened only one hundred and seventy years ago was how it all started. The woman who ended up being arrested for his death was one Emma Smith, the wife of an inn keeper in nearby Ridgewell. Nobody ever knew the old man’s name, and many supposed he was French (why, I have no idea) but he would earn a livelihood by telling fortunes, especially for young couples in love. The story goes that one day he is said to have indicated to Mrs Smith that he wanted to spend the night at her beer house, and when she refused, he started to stroke her walking stick which was said to be how he would indicate displeasure. Shortly after this, Mrs Smith fell ill, and believing she had been bewitched by the old man, told many of her patrons that she needed him to remove the curse. On the 3rd August 1863, she found him outside the Swan Public House in Sible Hedingham, and offered him three sovereigns if he was to come back with her to Ridgewell, but did not tell him that she blamed him for her illness. Despite him being known as Old Dummy, he was no fool as he drew his finger across his throat – signing that he feared she would do him harm. A crowd had gathered as it was well known that Smith felt the old man was responsible for her ailments, and her and a carpenter by the name of Samuel Stammers threw him into the river that passed close to the pub.

It was actually Stammers who pulled him from the water, and on the 4th August 1863, the victim was taken to the Workhouse at Halstead, not because of his age or state of living, but because the Union was the only place for those without money to receive medical care. He sadly passed away a month later, the post mortem confirming it was due to his immersion in the water and then sleeping in his wet clothes.

What of Smith and Stammers? The former was heard to have said before forcing the old man into the water “You old devil, you served me out and now I’ll serve you out”, but even still, many of the spectators denied anything had happened, and it was the testimony of a young girl that ensured the judge at the Chelmsford Assizes found them guilty and sentenced them to six months hard labour each. It could be said that it was too lenient considering what they did, but it was a sentence nevertheless and showed how some parts of society were not going to condone witch hunts.

That is just a small overview of why I think Dickens was wrong about my home town, and also why if you ever mention Hopkins or Stearne to me, you will see my face screw up

into a look of disgust. Penny x

HISTORY-FINDER GENERAL For more information on Witch Trials click here

http://www.witchtrials.co.uk/

*when we say not so ‘orrible, it might actually be ‘orrible, it’s just a tag line.

Where do you want Penny to investigate, she has a knack of discovering the undiscovered, turning half truths into non truths or full on truths. Email her at pennyinvestigates@ hauntedmagazine.co.uk note: If there’s a drink involved she’ll get to the bottom of it (quick), if there’s a hole involved she’ll definitely look into it.