The Pendle Witches

Pendle Hill is located in the east of Lancashire, England and stands 557 metres above sea level. It is often claimed as being one of the most haunted locations in the UK and with a bronze age burial site at its summit, and all of the local history regarding witches, its not surprising. In this blog, I will discuss the pendle witches and one of a few slight variations of the story surrounding them. 

The main witches accused were Elizabeth Southerns (aka Demdike), Elizabeth Device (the daughter of Demdike), James Device and Alizon Device (the grandchildren of Demdike), Anne Whittle (aka Chattox), and Anne Redferne (the daughter of Chattox). Others accused were Jane Bulcock, her son John Bulcock,  Alice Nutter, Katherine Hewitt, Alice Grey, and Jennet Preston. 

The events all began on the 18th March 1612 during the reign of King James I. Kind James was extremely paranoid about witches and thought they were out to get him. He even wrote the book Daemonologie which discussed such things and it can still be bought and read today. Alizon Device left the Divice home of Malkin Tower, a small cottage in the forest which surrounded Pendle Hill, and came across a man called John Law who was a salesman from Halifax. One story goes that Alizon asked the salesman for some money and when he refused a large black dog emerged from the forest and asked Alizon if she wanted it to attack the man, to which she said yes, and John suddenly felt a pain in his left arm and left leg and fell to the ground staying there until the people from the town of Cone brought him to the greyhound Inn where upon awaking he told the people what had happened to him, and to send a letter to his son Abraham who was still in Halifax. Some versions of the story leave out the talking dog and say Alizon cursed John and after their meeting he fell ill with a stroke. Either way, he fell ill, blamed Alizon, and accused her of being a witch. 

Once Abraham reached the area, he spoke with his father and was informed of the girl, who was only roughly 14 years of age, that cursed him and that he had to bring the girl to the Inn to reverse the curse. Abraham followed his father's wishes and retrieved Alizon Device from Malkin Tower and once she saw the salesman, she broke down in tears and apologised. John was on the verge of forgiving Alizon, but Abraham wasn't so forgiving, especially not as this apology was also a confession, so he then fetched the local magistrate Roger Nowell. 

Roger Nowell, with his book of daemonologie, was very pleased to hear about the witches he could arrest as he knew that would put him in favour with the king and he was delighted when he interrogated Alizon and she not only confessed to being a witch but also claimed Demdike, Chattox, and Anne Redferne to be witches too. She said they all had familiars, big black dogs which appeared to them at different times in their life, which told them that in exchange for their souls and suckling from their flesh they would be granted special powers. The names of the dogs were Ball, Tibb, Dandy, and Fancy, and they belonged to Elizabeth Device, James Device, Elizabeth Southerns, and Chattox. Alizon also confessed for them to take hair and teeth from corpses in Newchurch Cemetery and that they used these to make clay dolls which they would crumble over fire and as a result someone of their choosing would die. 

In response, Noel gave the order to arrest Demdike, Chattox, and Anne Redferne. All immediately blamed one another due to the two families being rivals for years, and its suspected that Alizon mentioned Chattox and her daughter to Noel as an act of revenge. As they blamed one another, this was as good as a confession to witchcraft and all were sent to Lancaster and chained to the floor of the Lancaster City Castle dungeon where they waited trial for four months. 

Elizabeth Device, Demdikes daughter, organised a meeting known as the Good Friday meeting at Malkin Tower where it is said a flame was lit under a cauldron, and clay dolls were added to the mixture, all to create a potion capable of freeing the captives in the castle. It didn't work and when word spread of this meeting, Roger Noel ordered for all who attended the meeting to be arrested. Jennet Preston, Alice Grey, Anne Folds, James Device, Jennet Device, Elizabeth Device, Alice Nutter, and both John and Jane Bulcock were arrested. As Jennet Device was only nine years of age, she was sent to live a life of luxury with the magistrate. Jennet Preston was sent to York where she was found guilty of witchcraft and hung. All the others arrested were sent to the castle.

The king was very glad to hear of witches being arrested and so sent judges and Thomas Potts who wrote a book about the events which can still be bought today. Demdike died before her trial began. The average life expectancy at the time was 35, and she lived to around 80 years of age. It is thought bother herself and Chattox lived exceptionally long lives due to their knowledge of herbs to make medicines. Before Demdike died however, she did admit to owning one of the dogs and that it gave her powers. She also admitted to making the clay dolls which the dog told her to make. 

Chattox was found guilty of murdering five local people which included John Device, and she admitted to this. Chattox's daughter, Anne Redferne, was found guilty of murdering Robert Nutter. James Device admitted to the murder of three people and openly admitted to having powers. Alizon Device admitted to injuring the salesman and also admitted to being a witch. In the case of Elizabeth Device, her daughter Jennet Device was called to testify and she testified that her mother, her grandmother, and her siblings were all witches. They were all found guilty. 

John and Jane Bulcock, along with Alice Nutter, were not as simple as the other cases as they all pleaded not guilty. John and Jane, a mother a son, both owned a farm and Alice Nutter was a wealthy land owner who lived in Roughlee Old Hall, a house still standing to this day. Again, young Jennet Device was called to testify and she said all three of these people were at the Good Friday meeting, and she claimed Alice Nutter to have helped Demdike and Elizabeth Device with the murder of Henry Mitton because he wouldn't give her any money; an unlikely claim due to how wealthy Alice Nutter was. A more likely reason is that Alice Nutter had previously had some land disputes with Roger Noel which he wouldn't address, so she went over his head to settle them. He wasn't pleased with this action and could have seen this as an opportunity for revenge. The Bulcocks were also found guilty of murdering a young girl through witchcraft by making her insane. 

All who were found guilty were hung and Roger Noel abandoned Jennet Device as she had served her purpose and she returned to Malkin Tower. She was arrested a few years later on the charge of witchcraft and was moved around the country before her accuser confessed to making up the accusations.

Conclusion

The story of the pendle witches is one of the most well known regarding witchcraft and led to the deaths of many people, whether that be the alleged murders or the deaths of the accused. I would suspect the core of this to be that two rival families accused each other out of spite and that they may not have expected the repercussions to reach the point they did.  We don't know for sure how accurate any of the stories are, just that these people existed and that the trials and accusations all occured. As for the confessions, we will never know for certain as it could have been written they confessed in order to please the king. I do think there is something more to witchcraft though, the kings paranoia, along with multiple stories such as the chained oak tree which stands near the village of Alton (a blog for another time), leads me to think that there is something more to it than just random paranoia and people trying to get revenge on one another.