Works of Sax Rohmer

by Sax Rohmer

  As soon as the fumigation was done, the Incubus came, but never dared enter the cell; only, if the maiden left it for a walk in the garden or the cloister, he appeared to her, though invisible to others, and, throwing his arms round her neck, stole or rather snatched kisses from her, to her intense disgust.

  At last, after a new consultation, the Theologian prescribed that she should carry about her person pills made of the most exquisite perfumes, such as musk, amber, chive, Peruvian balsam, etc. Thus provided, she went for a walk in the garden, where the Incubus suddenly appeared to her with a threatening face, and in a rage. He did not approach her, however, but, after biting his finger as if meditating revenge, disappeared and was never more seen by her.

  Here is the other story (according to Sinistrari). In the great Carthusian Friary of Pavia there lived a Deacon, Austin by name, who was subjected by a certain Demon to excessive, unheard-of, and scarcely credible vexations; although many exorcists had made repeated endeavours to secure his riddance, all spiritual remedies had proved unavailing. I was consulted by the Vicar of the convent, who had the cure of the poor clerk. Seeing the inefficacy of all customary exorcisms, and remembering the above-related instance, I advised a fumigation like unto the one that has been detailed, and prescribed that the Deacon should carry about his person fragrant pills of the same kind; moreover, as he was in the habit of using tobacco, and was very fond of brandy, I advised tobacco and brandy perfumed with musk.

  The Demon appeared to him by day and by night, under various shapes, as a skeleton, a pig, an ass, an angel, a bird; with the figure of one or other of the Friars, once even with that of his own Abbot or Prior, exhorting him to keep his conscience clean, to trust in God, to confess frequently; he persuaded him to let him hear his sacramental confession, recited with him the psalms Exsurgat Deus and Qui habitat, and the Gospel according to St. John: and when they came to the words Verbum car no factum est, he bent his knee, and taking hold of a stole which was in the cell, and of the Holy-water sprinkler, he blessed the cell and the bed, and, as if he had really been the Prior, enjoined on the Demon not to venture in future to molest his subordinate; he then disappeared, thus betraying what he was, for otherwise the young Deacon had taken him for his Prior.

  Now, notwithstanding the fumigations and perfumes I had prescribed, the Demon did not desist from his wonted apparitions; more than that, assuming the features of his victim, he went to the Vicar’s room, and asked for some tobacco and brandy perfumed with musk, of which, said he, he was extremely fond. Having received both, he disappeared in the twinkling of an eye, thus showing the Vicar that he had been played with by the Demon; and this was amply confirmed by the Deacon, who affirmed upon oath that he had not gone that day to the Vicar’s cell.

  All that having been related to me, I inferred that, far from being aqueous like the Incubus who was in love with the maiden above spoken of, this Demon was igneous, or, at the very least, aerial, since he delighted in hot substances such as vapours, perfumes, tobacco, and brandy. Force was added to my surmises by the temperament of the young Deacon, which was choleric and sanguine, choler predominating however; for these Demons never approach but those whose temperament tallies with their own — another confirmation of my sentiment regarding their corporeity. I therefore advised the Vicar to let his penitent take herbs that are cold by nature, such as water-lily, liver-wort, spurge, mandrake, house-leek, plantain, henbane, and others similar, make two little bundles of them and hang them up, one at his window, the other at the door of his cell, taking care to strow some also on the floor and on the bed.

  Marvellous to say, the Demon appeared again, but remained outside the room, which he would not enter; and, on the Deacon inquiring of him his motives for such unwonted reserve, he burst out into invectives against me for giving such advice, disappeared, and never came again.

  VIII. WITCH TRIALS

  In an age of such beliefs, what chance had a suspect to prove her innocence? I shall give examples, now, of some of the evidence upon which unfortunate women were convicted in England. The dreadful Salem Cases (1691-2) I cannot hope to touch upon in the space at my disposal. “In all the trials of this kind,” says Lowell in his History of the Salem Delusion, “there is nothing so pathetic as the picture of Jonathan Cary holding up the weary arms of his wife during her trial, and wiping away the sweat from her brow and the tears from her face.”

  The first example of evidence which I shall quote I take from Hutchinson’s Historical Essay concerning Witchcraft — written in 1720. The defendant in this case was acquitted.

  “Elizabeth Horner was tried before the Lord Chief Justice Holt at Exeter (in 1696). Three children of William Bovet were thought to have been bewitched by her, whereof one was dead. It was deposed that another had her legs twisted, and yet from her Hands and Knees she would spring five Foot high. The Children vomited Pins, and were bitten (if the Depositions were true) and pricked and pinched, the Marks appearing. The Children said Bess Horner’s Head would come off from her Body, and go into their Bellies. The Mother of the Children deposed, that one of them walked up a smooth plaistered Wall, till her Feet were nine Foot high, her Head standing off from it. This, she said, she did five or six times, and laughed and said Bess Horner held her up. This poor Woman had something like a Nipple on her Shoulder, which the Children said was sucked by a Toad. Many other odd things were deposed, but the Jury brought her in Not Guilty.”

  The defendants in the following case were not so fortunate. I transcribe some of the evidence from a report of the trial published in 1682. A certain amount of interest is attached to this trial, as it took place before Sir Matthew Hale, admittedly a virtuous and learned judge, and Sir Thomas Browne, of Vulgar Errors fame, was called to give expert evidence. Indeed, Hutchinson in his essay on witchcraft asserts that Browne’s evidence turned the scale against the unfortunate prisoners. I have selected some of the most interesting points that transpired during the trial, from a mass of tedious and irrelevant matter.

  “At the Assizes held at Bury St. Edmonds for the County of Suffolk the tenth day of March, in the Sixteenth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King Charles II before Matthew Hale, Knight... Rose Cullender and Amy Duny, Widows both of Leystoff (i.e.. Lowestoft) were severally indicted for bewitching Elizabeth and Ann Durent, Jane Bocking, Susan Chandler, William Durent, Elizabeth and Deborah Pacey: And the said Cullender and Duny, being arraigned upon the said Indictments, pleaded Not Guilty: And afterwards, upon a long evidence were found Guilty, and thereupon had Judgment to dye for the same.”

  Thus stands the grim official record.

  The account of the trial opens by stating that three of the “bewitched” persons, coming to the hall upon the morning of the trial, “fell into strange and violent fits, screeking out in a most sad manner, so that they could not in any wise give any Instructions in the Court who were the Cause of their Distemper. And although they did after some certain space recover... yet they were every one of them struck Dumb, so that none of them could speak... until the Conviction of the supposed Witches.”

  The first witness called was the mother of William Durent (an infant). She deposed that she had requested old Amy Duny to look to her child whilst she was from home. During her absence the old lady, in order to keep the child quiet’ gave him the breast. On the mother’s return, she remonstrated with Duny for having done so. Duny then used threatening speeches to her, telling her “that she had as good to have done otherwise than to have found fault with her, and so departed out of the House.”

  That very night, continued the mother, “her son fell into strange fits of swooning,” which continued for several weeks. A certain Dr. Jacob of Yarmouth, of local repute as a healer of bewitched children, was consulted. His advice was “to hang up the Child’s Blanket in the Chimney corner all day, and at night when she put the Child to Bed, to put it into the said blanket, and if she found anything in it, she should not be afraid, but to throw it into the Fire.”

 
; This was done accordingly, and at night there fell out of the blanket “a great Toad which ran up and down the hearth.” This, when caught and thrown into the Fire, “made a great and horrible noise, and after a space there was a flashing in the Fire like Gun-powder,” and the Toad disappeared.

  On the following day Amy Duny was observed to be in a lamentable condition, “having her face all scorched with fire.” On being asked by the deponent “how she came in that sad condition, the said Amy replied, she might thank her for it... but that she should live to see some of her Children dead, and she upon crutches. And this Deponent further saith that after the burning of the said Toad, her child recovered, and was well again.”

  Shortly afterward her daughter, Elizabeth, aged ten, was taken in like manner, “and in her fits complained much of Amy Duny and said that she did appear to her, and Afflict her.” The child died in a few days and the mother herself was shortly “taken with a Lameness in both her Leggs” and had to use crutches as the witch had prophesied. It is related that at the conclusion of the trial, when a verdict of Guilty was returned, her lameness vanished and she returned home without her crutches.

  Some very curious evidence was given with regard to the alleged bewitching by Amy Duny and Rose Cullender of the two children of Samuel Pacey, a fishmonger of Lowestoft — Deborah and Elizabeth.

  It appears that the old woman, on having been refused when desiring to purchase herrings of the parents of the children, threatened them, and soon afterwards the children became “grievously afflicted.” The father deposed that “their fits were various, sometimes they would be lame on one side of their Bodies, sometimes on the other... once they were wholly deprived of their Speech for Eight days together.... Upon the recovery of their Speech they would Cough extreamly, and bring up much Flegme, and with the same crooked Pins, and one time a two-penny Nail, with a very broad head, which Pins (amounting to Forty or more) together with the Two-penny Nail, were produced in Court.

  “The said Children after their fits were past would tell how that Amy Duny and Rose Cullender would appear before them, threatening that if they related either what they saw or heard, that they would torment them ten times more than ever they did before.” Another witness stated that “the children (only) would see things run up and down the House in the appearance of Mice; and one of them suddenly snapt one with the Tongs, and threw it into the fire, and it screeched like a Rat. At another time, the younger Child being out of her Fitts went out of Doors to take a little Fresh Air and presently a little thing like a Bee flew upon her Face.” The witness continued, “The Child fell into her swooning Fitt, and at last with much pain straining herself, she vomited up a Twopenny Nail with a broad head,... and being demanded by this Deponent how she came by the Nail? She Answered, That the Bee brought this Nail and forced it into her Mouth.

  “And at other times, the Elder Child declared upon this Deponent, that during the time of her Fitts, she saw Flies come unto her, and bring with them in their Mouths crooked Pins; and after the Child had thus declared the same, she fell again into Violent Fits, and afterwards raised several pins.”

  Upon yet another occasion, “being recovered out of her Fitts, the Younger daughter declared that Amy Duny had been with her, and that she tempted her to Drown herself, and to cut her Throat, or otherwise to Destroy herself.”

  Much similar evidence was given regarding the cases of these children which apparently did not satisfy some of the “divers Known persons” learned in the law, in court, viz., Mr. Sergeant Keeling, Mr. Sergeant Earl, and Mr. Sergeant Barnard.

  “Mr. Sergeant Keeling seemed much unsatisfied with it,” proceeds the account, “and thought it not sufficient to Convict the Prisoners.”

  “There was also Dr. Brown of Norwich, a Person of great Knowledge; who after this Evidence given, and upon view of the three persons in Court, was desired to give his Opinion, what he did conceive of them; and he was clearly of Opinion that the persons were Bewitched; and said That in Denmark there had been lately a great Discovery of Witches, who used the very same way of Afflicting Persons, by conveying Pins into them, and crooked, as these pins were, with Needles and Nails. And his Opinion was, That the Devil in such cases did work upon the Bodies of Men and Women, upon a Natural Foundation (that is) to stir up, and excite such humours super-abounding in their Bodies to a great excess, whereby he did in an extraordinary manner Afflict them with such Distempers as their Bodies were most subject to, as particularly appeared in these Children; for he conceived that these swooning Fits were Natural... only heightened to a great excess by the subtilty of the Devil, Co-operating with the Malice of these which we term Witches, at whose Instance he doth these Villanies.”

  It becomes painful to continue recording the puerile evidence upon which these poor old women were condemned; the deposition of one more complainant must therefore suffice:

  “Robert Sheringham deposeth against Rose Cullender, That about two years since, passing along the Street with his Cart and Horses, the Axletree of his Cart touched her House, and broke down some part of it, at which she was very much displeased, threatening him that his Horses should suffer for it; and so it happen’d, for all those Horses, being four in Number, died within a short time after; since that time he hath had great Losses by the suddain dying of his other Cattle; as soon as his Sows pigged, the Pigs would leap and caper, and immediately fall down and dye. Also not long after he was taken with a Lameness in his Limbs that he could neither go nor stand for some days. After all this, he was very much vexed with great Number of Lice of an extraordinary bigness, and although he many times shifted himself, yet he was not anything the better, but would swarm again with them; so that in the Conclusion he was forced to burn all his Clothes, being two suits of Apparel, and then was clean from them.”

  The Judge summed up briefly, leaving the matter entirely in the hands of the jury, remarking:

  “That there were such Creatures as Witches he made no doubt at all; for First, the Scriptures had affirmed so much. Secondly, the wisdom of all Nations had provided Laws against such Persons, which is an Argument of their confidence of such a Crime.”

  In less than half an hour the jury returned, and found both the accused guilty upon every count in the indictment, thirteen in all.

  The following day they were brought up for judgment, and the narration concludes:

  “The Judge and all the Court were fully satisfied with the Verdict, and thereupon gave Judgment against the Witches that they should be Hanged.

  “They were much urged to confess, but would not, no Reprieve was granted, And they were executed on Monday the Seventeenth of March following, but they Confessed nothing.”

  The chronicler remarks that “within less than half an hour after the Witches were Convicted,” the children were all restored to perfect health again.

  In Britain, then, as elsewhere, the Black Art died hard. The last witch executed in Scotland was an old woman — I have been unable to ascertain her name — who was burnt at Dornoch in 1722. It is related of her that “having been brought out for execution, the weather proving very severe, she sat composedly warming herself by the fire, while the other instruments of death were made ready.”

  Scotland thus has the honour, by six years, of having executed the last witch; for Mrs. Hicks and her daughter, aged nine, were the last sufferers in England. They were hanged at Huntingdon in 1716 for selling their souls to the devil, and raising a storm by pulling off their stockings and making a lather of soap!

  CONCLUSION: SORCERY AND SCIENCE

  TOWARD the conclusion of his address to the British Association at Birmingham, September 10, 1913, Sir Oliver Lodge said:

  Either we are immortal beings or we are not. We may not know our destiny, but we must have a destiny of some sort. Science may not be able to reveal human destiny, but it certainly should not obscure it. I am one of those who think that the methods of science are not so limited in their scope as has been thought; that they can be applied much
more widely, and that the psychic region can be studied and brought under law, too. Allow us, anyhow, to make the attempt. Give us a fair field. Let those who prefer the materialistic hypothesis by all means develop their thesis as far as they can; but let us try what we can do in the psychical region, and see which wins.”

  He expressed a conviction that occurrences now regarded as occult could be examined and reduced to order by the methods of science, carefully and persistently applied.

  “The evidence, to my mind, goes to prove,” he continued, “that disincarnate intelligence, under certain conditions, may interact with us on the material side, thus indirectly coming within our scientific ken; and that gradually we may hope to attain some understanding of the nature of a larger, perhaps ethereal, existence, and of the conditions regulating intercourse across the chasm. A body of responsible investigators has even now landed on the treacherous but promising shores of a new continent.”

  Thus, on the one hand, we have a quest of occult truth proceeding in the direction of a new continent, whilst the theosophists are looking for light toward a very old continent, i.e.. Atlantis!

  I am certainly disposed to believe that many socalled discoveries of modern occultism would more properly be called re-discoveries. Those advanced writers who have laid down certain dogmas, who have split man into his component parts, corporeal, intellectual, and ethereal, who have defined the relations of each part to the others, who have weighed the capacities of each — have they accomplished anything beyond that already accomplished by the Egyptians?

  The fact seems to me to be this: they have reached the same conclusions in a different way.

  Certainly we are better equipped to-day, in some respects, for exploration, than were the ancients. Could we but establish links between the exact sciences — or the sciences thus far rendered exact — and those at present termed occult, great progress would shortly be recorded.