Dummy, the Witch of Sible Hedingham

Dummy, the Witch of Sible Hedingham

Dummy, the Witch of Sible Hedingham (c. 1788 – September 4, 1863) was the pseudonym of an unidentified elderly man who was one of the last people to be charged with witchcraft in England in the 19th century.

A longtime resident of Sible Hedingham, Essex, a small farming village in the English countryside, he was a deaf-mute who earned a living as a local fortune teller. In September 1863, Dummy was accused by a local girl of bewitching her house in Ridgewell and dragged from The Swan tavern by a drunken mob. Thrown into a nearby brook as an "ordeal by water", he was also severely beaten with sticks before eventually taken to a workhouse in Halstead where he died of pneumonia. Following an investigation by authorities, Emma Smith and Samuel Stammers were charged with his death and tried at Chelmsford Assizes where they were sentenced to six months imprisonment on March 8, 1864.

See also

Further reading

  • Davies, Owen. Witchcraft, Magic and Culture, 1736–1951. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-7190-5656-X
  • Hutton, Ronald. The Triumph of the Moon: A History of Modern Pagan Witchcraft. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-19-285449-6
  • Pickering, David. Cassell's Dictionary of Witchcraft. New York: Sterling Publishing Company, 2002. ISBN 0-304-36562-9
  • Summers, Montague. Geography of Witchcraft. Kessinger Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0766145360

External links


[dead link]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Witch trials in the Early Modern period — Punishments for witchcraft in 16th century Germany. Woodcut from Tengler s Laienspiegel, Mainz, 1508. The Witch trials in the Early Modern period were a period of witch hunts between the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries,[1] when across Early… …   Wikipedia

  • Robert Cochrane (witch) — Robert Cochrane Born 26 January 1931 London, England Died 3 July 1966(1966 07 03) (aged 35) …   Wikipedia

  • Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn — This article is about the historical organization of the late 19th century. For similar later organizations, see Golden Dawn (disambiguation). Part of a series of articles on Hermeticism Hermetic Religion Hermeticism Mythology Hermes Trismegistus …   Wikipedia

  • Cunning folk in Britain — A model of a nineteenth century cunning woman in her house, at the Museum of Witchcraft, Boscastle in England. The cunning folk in Britain were professional or semi professional practitioners of magic active from the Medieval period through to… …   Wikipedia

  • Aleister Crowley — Crowley in 1906 Born Edward Alexander Crowley 12 October 1875(1875 10 12) Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, England …   Wikipedia

  • Ordo Templi Orientis — Thelema Category:Thelema Core topics The Book of the Law Aleister Crowley True Will · …   Wikipedia

  • Anna Klemens — Anna Klemens, (1718 1800), was an alleged Danish witch. She was lynched accused of sorcery in Brigsted at Horsens in Denmark, a lynching called the last witch lynching in her country and, most likely, in Scandinavia. Anna Klemens was consulting a …   Wikipedia

  • Dorte Jensdatter — (1672–1722), was a Danish murder victim. She was lynched by being burned alive by her neighbors, after being accused of witchcraft. Dorte Jensdatter was unmarried and supported herself by spinning in the village Øster Grønning in Salling. She was …   Wikipedia

  • Krystyna Ceynowa — or Cejnowa, (d. 1836), was an alleged Polish witch. She was subjected to the ordeal of water and drowned in Chałupy accused of sorcery. She was likely among the last people in Europe to be subjected to lynchning on the grounds of sorcery and… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”