"My father and grandfather had this shop before me, and before them it was kept by a warlock, and people daursn't owe him anything!
"There was a woman lived where our kitchen is now, and she kept a cow, and when she churned she used to lock the door for fear the warlock cast an evil eye on the milk and turned it sour. His shop was upstairs, that's his window that's walled up.
"No, he never did anybody any harm. He lived to be a very old man."
- Mr George Handyside of Cambo, Northumberland, collected by Rosalie E. Bosanquet of the Cambo Women's Institute, in 1922. Included in 'In the Troublesome Times' (ed. R.E.B., published 1929), for entry into the competition for the best book compiled by a Women's Institute on old customs, beliefs, stories, and ancient monuments.
According to Mr Handyside, the warlock was still alive in 1814.
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#northumberland #folklore #folkhistory #witchcraftbeliefs #oldbeliefs #ruraltradition #stories #storytelling