Spheres of Influence: The Magical History of the Witch Ball
Witch balls are globes of glass, with a hole in the top, often suspended in doorways or windows. They were made in most glass factories across Europe as glassblowers’ ‘whimsies’ […]
Category Archives: Guest Posts
Coral: The Enduring Magic of the Medusa’s Blood
Coral is a complex marine organism and has a calciferous skeleton. It is sometimes blood red and is vascular in its form. Therefore in Greek legend it was said to […]
The Sphere of Magical Thinking: The Enchanting History of Crystal Balls
In 1582 John Dee (1527–1609), mathematician, astrologer, magician, and antiquary, claimed that he had been given a magic crystal by an angel called Uriel. Eventually this slightly purple rock crystal, […]
Intrigue and Incantation: Treasonous Magic in Medieval and Early Modern England
Between the 1320s and the 1620s a significant proportion of all accusations of high treason in England involved a magical element. People were accused of casting the horoscope of the […]
Creature Discomforts: Familiar Spirits in Early Modern English Witchcraft Pamphlets
In 1566 a sensational pamphlet was published in London that described the crimes of three women accused of witchcraft in Chelmsford, Essex. Elizabeth Francis, Mother Agnes Waterhouse, and Jone Waterhouse […]
‘Something Terrible at the Churchyard Gates’: The Strange Story of Mother Girling
A man hides under a bed, terrified. He has escaped, but is not yet safe. When asked from what exactly he is hiding, he cries out: ‘Mother is looking to […]
Requiem for a Bad Dream: The Nightmare as a Way in to Inner Lives
In 1781, Henry Fuseli painted his now-famous depiction of The Nightmare. The painting (above) depicts a woman lying on her back in bed. She appears asleep or in a deep […]
Ann Cammell: Witch of Southwold
Like many a small boy it was the witches in Macbeth that first focussed my attention on Shakespeare. I can remember thinking their melodramatic presence merited a more important place […]
Blood Work: Emotional Responses to Early Modern Vampires
If the Twilight films have taught us anything, it’s that vampires are brooding, irresistible creatures, with whom it’s possible to fall madly in love. Historical vampires did not usually instil […]
Superstitious Talk: Is It Time to Move On from the ‘S-Word’?
The idea for this post began with an exchange on Twitter with the Inner Lives project – stimulated by this innocuous-sounding Tweet promoting the excellent supernatural holdings of the Museum […]
