Hag-riding in Nineteenth-Century West Country England and Modern Newfoundland : An Examination of an Experience-Centred Witchcraft Tradition
Up until the early twentieth century, in parts of western and southern England, the dialect terms ‘hag-riding’ and ‘hagging’ were popularly used to describe a terrifying nocturnal assault by a witch. In Somerset and Dorset between 1852 and 1875, at least six court cases resulted from assaults upon s...
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| Other Authors: | , , , |
| Language: | English |
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1996
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2299/12989 http://www.maneyonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/043087796798254443?queryID=54%2F67594 |
| Summary: | Up until the early twentieth century, in parts of western and southern England, the dialect terms ‘hag-riding’ and ‘hagging’ were popularly used to describe a terrifying nocturnal assault by a witch. In Somerset and Dorset between 1852 and 1875, at least six court cases resulted from assaults upon suspected witches accused of hag-riding, and the testimonies given in court provide a fascinating insight into the way a sleep disturbance phenomenon was interpreted as a physical manifestation of witchcraft. For those suffering from hag-riding the experience was incontrovertible proof of the reality of witchcraft: it was maleficium in its most personal form, a direct physical assault on the body of the victim Peer reviewed |
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