Late (Pregnant) Witch in Devon August 8, 2011
Posted by Beachcombing in : Modern
Beachcombing has often tried in this column to date the death of traditional beliefs: be that the death of fairy belief in Ilkley or the death of the werewolf faith in Strasbourg. These things are almost impossible to measure of course. Sources are fragmentary and these kinds of beliefs are in the private world of [...]
Last Human Sacrifice in Europe? August 2, 2011
Posted by Beachcombing in : Ancient, Contemporary, Medieval, Modern
***This post is dedicated to Sword-and-Beast and Ostrich*** Beachcombing has often set a Guinness-Book-of-Records-style competition for the last cavalry charge, the last head hunters or the last execution by blade in the west. And recently an email from the Sword and the Beast got him thinking about the last human sacrifice. SandB who has travelled [...]
Nineteenth-century Witchcraft July 2, 2010
Posted by Beachcombing in : Modern
The British town of Hebden Bridge is to be found deep in the South Pennines. The town itself is merely quaint – it has, Beachcombing seems to remember, cobbles. But the countryside thereabouts is the stuff of Xanadu. Indeed, over-travelled Beachcombing is of the opinion that Hebden Bridge’s wooded valleys are Masada at dawn, the Taj Mahal at sunset, the top of [...]
