A centuries-old Pendle Witches mystery could finally be over

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Ribble Valley News

Pendle

Malkin Tower was the home of Elizabeth Southerns and her granddaughter Alizon Device, two of the chief protagonists of the Pendle Witch Trials

For something so synonymous with Pendle , so much of what led to the 1612 witch trials remains shrouded in mystery.

It was claimed that she had put a curse on him and he soon collapsed, and was paralysed and unable to speak. From the medical knowledge we have today, it's more likely that he had suffered a stroke, but the community believed that Alizon had used withcraft to hurt John. In addition to the 10 Pendle defendants, the so-called Samlesbury Witches – John Ramsden, Elizabeth Astley, Isabel Southgraves, Lawrence Haye, Jane Southworth, Jennet Brierly and Ellen Brierly – along with Isobel Robey from Windle, near St Helens and Margaret Pearson, the Padiham Witch, were also tried.

The defendants were also not allowed to call witnesses to speak on their behalf. It is said that when nine-year-old Jennet gave evidence about those who had attended the meeting at Malkin Tower - which included her own mother, sister and brother - her mother Elizabeth had to be forcibly ejected from the court when she began to scream and curse the child.

The practice of walling up a cat, with the animal sometimes still alive, is known to have been a medieval precaution against evil spirits. The tradition survived into later centuries in remote areas such as the high Pennines.

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