Thread by @MikeStuchbery_

Every year, as the nights draw in, I like to dig about through my library to find strange and grim tales from history for your enjoyment.

This year, my first tale concerns the strange case of the Witch of Newbury... 1/

In the Year of Our Lord, 1643, the first English Civil War had been underway for almost three years.

Royalist & Parliamentarian armies had met a number of times, but neither had much of an advantage.

That was about to change at Newbury in Berkshire. 2/

The Royalists, attempting to head the Parliamentary forces off, arrived outside the town of Newbury.

Hungry and tired, some of the royalist troops went among the hedgerows, trying to find some more game & food to supplement their rations... /3

What comes next we draw from a pamphlet, 'A Most Certain, Strange, and True Discovery of a VVitch', printed in London at the end of September, 1643 - just over a week after the battle.

A soldier climbing a branch to get some fruit was met by a strange sight... 4/

The men present claimed to see a tall and slender woman, seemingly walking on the water of the river Kennet - strange magick indeed!

On closer inspection, it seemed that she stood on a board, and was able to skilfully balance as she moved about. /5

Racing back to their commander, the men explained what they had seen (most probably embellishing the tale greatly).

He told them to secure this woman, who must be a witch of some sort - not the sort of evil one wanted about. /6

The men went back and grabbed the woman, who didn't seem particularly perturbed by the soldiers.

Not knowing exactly what to do, tired and exhausted, they chose to summararily dispatch her against a mud bank. /7

According to the pamphlet, to their horror and amazement, the woman seemingly grabbed the musket balls from the air and ate them.

Then men, terrified, with guns trained, debated what to do. All the while, the woman did not utter a sound. /8

Finally, one of the soldiers remembered the old belief that a witch could only be harmed if her blood was spilled.

The woman was promptly cut, at which point, she began to show fear. Only now did she speak. /9

Cognizant that she was in danger, she proclaimed, 'this come to passe, that I must dye indeed? Why then his Excellency the Earl of Essex shall be fortunate and win the field...'.

One of the men put his pistol to her head & pulled the trigger.

This time, she perished. /10

True to the 'witch's' words, on the 20th of September, 1643, the forces of the Earl of Essex, the Parliamentary commander, defeated the Royalist forces at the 1st Battle of Newbury.

Undoubtedly, some of the soldiers that killed her were among the piles of dead. /11

Now, I don't hold much truck in prophecy. I don't believe in witches.

What chills me, however, is the fear and superstition that drove tired & hungry men to murder a woman - probably a camp follower, or local reed-cutter - who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. /12

What chills me even more is that the pamphlet that recounted this story would be used by Matthew Hopkins, the 'Witchfinder General', as proof of the existence of witches.

His witch hunts across East Anglia resulted in the hanging of least nineteen women. /13

Some posit that Matthew Hopkins hunts - and thus the story of the 'Witch of Newbury' - even informed the Salem Witch Trial.

Don't fear witches, or ghosts, or the devil.

What creeps, grows and kills is fear itself. /FIN