The Burslem Witch
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- Margaret Leigh, or Molly Leigh as she was known, was born in the village of Burslem, which is now one of the Six Towns of the Potteries, in about 1685.
The Potteries is an area in Staffordshire where they historically made all of the fine China and Earthenware, such as Wedgewood etc.
Sadly, Margaret was considered too be ugly, very ugly, disfigured, possibly due to Smallpox.
In those days, this led to her being shunned, alone, and then becoming notorious as the Witch of Burslem.
She never married.
There were allegations from the start about her strangeness.
It is said Molly had an adult mind and abilities from birth.
"Evidence" for this came from the story that she was able to eat a hard crust of bread just a few hours after being born; and that she refused her mother's milk, to suckle farm animals instead.
Ostracised because of her physical deformities, she was also known as being friendless too and she seemed to have developed a vicious temper as she grew older.
And was it the need for a friend that also made her train a blackbird (though some say it was a jackdaw) ... which became her companion, being tame to her call.
As Molly was growing up, she was faced with ever more difficulties.
Her parents died when she was young, and she had to earn her living quickly - which she did by taking milk into the town and shouting out her wares.
She became a well-known, if unliked figure - and she was constantly accused of watering down the milk.
Her cottage was some distance from the town, at Hamil Grange (then known as the Jack-field) in the middle of the forest then in that part of the area.
So, shunned there by others, strange rumours emerged, especially of the hawthorn bush outside the cottage on which her pet blackbird was to be found - a bush they said, which never produced a blossom!
Parson Spencer, Rector of Saint John's Church in Burslem accused her of rarely attending church.
In those days, everyone went and he declared Molly’s refusal to attend Church, was because she was a witch.
The Rector was known to spend some time at The Turk's Head, and the blackbird appeared there one day.
Apparently, immediately the beer in the pub turned sour and gave all the customers rheumatism!
In fury, Parson Spencer shot at the bird, which simply flew off - unhurt.
Poor Parson Spencer then claimed an attack of stomach pains - which kept him to his bed for the next few weeks.
It's not clear how things developed now., perhaps in such a small community, the strength of either side in this dispute was recognised and a grudging stalemate came about.
But the final irony came when Molly died in April 1748 (some say 1746).
It was the same Parson Spencer who laid her to rest in St John's churchyard.
But the good townsfolk had concerns - was this witch really dead?
Their concerns were even greater when the blackbird started to make a nuisance of itself in the town.
Apparently, with a little drink inside them, they paid a visit to Molly's cottage in the woods and what they saw astonished them.
Afterwards, witnesses swore blind (or blind drunk!) that Molly had been sitting there by the fire - knitting, with her bird - as in real life, unsurprisingly, they did not stop to talk to her.
Parson Spencer decided that her spirit must be quieted, and chose a strange way to do it.
In the dead of night, the reverend returned to the churchyard with colleagues to perform the rite to silence her ghost.
This was done by opening up the grave, where the now-captured bird was placed in with her - still alive.
Then her body was moved. Instead of lying in an east-west direction, normal for Christian burial, it was turned, into a north-south direction.
Some historians claim a stake was driven through her heart - but this is more likely to be a product of a modern writer influenced too much by horror films!
Why did Parson Spencer turn her body?
The rite of laying-the-spirit should have been enough. So why did he not trust his judgement?
It is very unusual to see a body turned like this in any other churchyard.
Second, even today, in St John's churchyard, Molly's grave can be seen, and it is easy to spot. It's the large tomb (it's some four feet high) lying in the different axis to all the others.
But who paid for such an expensive tomb? Molly herself would not have had money to speak of.
Interestingly, the Pagan Association offered to pay for a railing round the grave - an offer that the Church of England didn't know how to react to!
The 20th-century witch and Associate of Satanist Aleister Crowley, Sybil Leek claimed to be a descendant of Leigh's, and took to keeping a jackdaw, named Mr Hotfoot Jackson, around with her, as Leigh had done.
But, although Sybil claimed to have born in Staffordshire, and therefore could have been a descendant, it's been very hard to trace her birth records, so what is the truth?
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Really enjoyed the video ,thank youJohno
Thank u 💓
I very much enjoyed this Johnno
Thank u sir 🙏 ☺️
Great Video Brother! We enjoyed watching very much. God Bless
Thank u 💓
@johnosgraveyardjaunts2235 Your Very Welcome!
Great video. Thank you
Thank u kindly
Awesome voice over sir, well it always is in it,
Great video/upload 🤘
Thank u...I really appreciate your kind words 🙏 😊
Great video Johno. Thank you for sharing. It definitely waa a sad time then to live in.
Thank u 4 watching 👀
@@johnosgraveyardjaunts2235 very welcome. 😊
Top video Johno. I was wondering where you were.
Thanks Kev...hope it was interesting and too detailed and long winded !
@@johnosgraveyardjaunts2235 it was spot on mate.
It's so sad to think that just because she was considered "ugly," they assumed she was a witch. Thank God I wasn't born then. Who knows what they would think about me. 😅This did answer my question, and thank you so very much. 😊😊
Yes, invisible very sad, poor thing 😢
its always interesting to know about witchcraft, sometimes people are ignorant and blame others for being "different". I hope her ghost is still disturbing the ones who judged her
Oh this is so so sad. I am glad society has moved on from this. It would have been very scary to live in that time period. Really enjoyed this.
Molly was persecuted for sure...poor woman 👩
@@johnosgraveyardjaunts2235 oh my goodness that's so sad :(
what a terribly sad story , poor Mollie what a hard life she had i wonder if she was autistic 😢 great video Johno hope your well
Great to hear from you...I uploaded about 6 Short Videos of some really old graves in Lichfield, Staffordshire, 2 of which are listed as ancient Scheduled monuments...take a look I think you would enjoy.. really sad story about Molly...who was clearly not a witch and persecuted for being one 😢
@@johnosgraveyardjaunts2235 I will definatley take a look xx we were away on a holiday a cruise ship for 2 weeks and now we are moving house so have been away from YT ( again ) this year for me has had more twists and turns than a TV series lol , I still have 2 vids to edit pre holiday and one I just released a week ago no real.story just an explore , things will go to normal soon I hope
@cemeteriesdownunder9247 good for u both...a well deserved break. ..the trials and tribulations of life eh! I bet the cruise ship was amazing I sincerely hope u both got to indulge yourselves 😊😊😊 look forward to watching your video's..stay safe...much love to u both 😊😊😊
All those poor women and men that were branded ‘witch’ just because they thought or looked differently. So sad, I’m glad times have changed
Completely Agree 👍
Love the Thumbnail,
Interesting story, sad, but back then if one was a easy target (a loner, or deformed or acted in a way not considered the norm) people had to rip on them to make themselves feel superior I guess and of course someone looking to be center of attention would add stuff from time to time “I saw her floating over the trees on a moonlit night” or “I seen a hundred crows surrounding her house”
I think that is a spot on analysis Jim...hope u r well my friend...sincerely missing your presence on TH-cam...look forward to seeing ur next video 📹 soon my friend
Smallpox didn't help her,
Just read your description sir,
Well hello sir,
Hello there