The Owl Killers

by Karen Mailand

  ULEWIC-WHICH IN OLD ENGLISH MEANS the place of the owl-is a fictional village, but is based on villages found on the coast of west Norfolk. Many of these villages became depopulated and eventually abandoned over the centuries from the time of the Black Death onwards.

  Churches and chapels dedicated to the Archangel Saint Michael were often erected on former sacred Celtic sites where the gods of air and earth met. Such sites were also said to be the entrance to the underworld, which is perhaps why old churches with the name of St. Michael have frequently been associated with both black magic and the disappearance of bodies from graves.

  The old woman with the gaping vulva carved above the church door is typical of what in recent years have come to be known as a Sheela Na Gig. These are found on medieval churches all over Britain, although most villages have their own local names for the carving. In style, the Sheelas are unlike any of the other medieval grotesques carved on these churches.

  Some people argue the origin of these carvings is pagan and that the figure represents a much older Celtic goddess which was later incorporated into the Christian building. Others claim they date from between the eleventh and twelfth centuries and are purely Christian in origin, put there as a warning against lust. The problem with this theory is that many of the figures are hidden on church roofs or places where the ordinary populace would be unable to see the warning. And although some of these carvings may have been moved in later centuries, when the church was altered or repaired, it doesn’t account for all of these hidden carvings.

  Black Anu or Black Annis stories are to be found all over England and Ireland. Anu was originally the “mother” form of the triple Celtic goddess, but like Lilith, as Christianity spread, she was transformed into a monster who was said to snatch and eat children. Black Annis is still remembered in the Dane Hills near Leicester where she was said to inhabit a cave called Black Anna’s Bower, which is supposed to be connected by a series of tunnels to Leicester Castle. Black Annis would scuttle back to her lair through these tunnels after prowling the town at night. Black Anna’s Bower has since been destroyed in building work, but the tale lives on. Her name also survives in many landmarks across Britain such as Black Anne Pool in the River Erne in Devon.

  Right across Europe the owl was in ancient times sacred to the goddesses symbolising wisdom, and many of the Celtic and tribal goddesses had the power to change themselves into owls; for this reason the owl was never harmed. But when the goddesses themselves were demonised by Christianity, so was their symbol the owl, which became hunted and persecuted as an evil omen, a harbinger of death.

  The Owlman was a familiar monster of the Middle Ages, part of the pantheon of strange and dangerous beasts such as the griffin, which had the wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. Like the Basilisk, the Owlman was believed to inhabit old church towers.

  But unlike the other medieval monsters which have been consigned to ancient myth, the Owlman lives on in the human psyche. In 1995, an American student of marine biology wrote to a newspaper saying that she had witnessed a “vision from hell” near the church in Mawnan, Cornwall, England. “It was the size of a man, with a ghastly face, a wide mouth, glowing eyes, and pointed ears. It had huge clawed wings and was covered in feathers of silver-grey. The thing had long bird legs which terminated in black claws.”

  This was not the first sighting in Cornwall, for in April 1976, two young girls staying on holiday with their family ran screaming to their father claiming they had seen a gigantic feathered bird-man hovering over the church tower. The Owlman was also seen in July of that year by two girls camping in the woods near Mawnan church and in a separate incident by three young French girls who reported their terrifying ordeal to their seaside landlady. The Owlman put in another appearance two years later when he was seen by a young woman, and was eventually seen by a man. However such sightings are explained-hoax, adolescent fantasy, too much cider, or a trick of the light-such reports demonstrate that we today are not so very different from our medieval ancestors, for we share with them the same lusts, ambitions, and hopes. And like them, we are still afraid of the dark.

  acknowledgements

  I would like to express my deep gratitude to my wonderful editor, Kate Miciak, for her amazing editorial insight and for the suggestions she offered to improve the text of this novel, as well as her unfailing patience throughout the many revisions. I would also like to say a huge thank-you both to my British agent, Victoria Hobbs, and to Kathy Anderson in the States, for their brilliant support and constant encouragement during the entire writing process.

  glossary

  BID-The old name for a “familiar”-that is, an animal or bird with magical powers kept to do the bidding of its owner. Women who owned a cat or even a chicken were often accused of having a bid, a sign of witchcraft, an association which has given rise to the derogatory term for elderly women, biddy.

  BLACK BANE-The deadly disease anthrax. It was named black bane because the sores on the animal or human skin develop a black necrotic centre.

  BOUGH CAKE-A long stick was threaded with a mixture of dried fruits such as apricots, apples, and plums. The fruit was coated in batter and spit-roasted over an open fire. More batter was spooned over the fruits as they cooked until they were covered in a thick layer. Once cooked, the bough cake was rolled in honey and spices before being served.

  BULL OAK-An ancient hollow oak tree. There were several names for different shapes of hollow oaks. A bull oak was one with a hollow reaching to the ground which was large enough for sheep or pigs or even bulls to take shelter in it.

  COMMISSARIUS-Within the Church, he was a man who was personally commissioned by a Bishop to exercise spiritual authority within the Bishop’s diocese or See. The Commissarius could preside as a judge in court on behalf of the Bishop.

  CUNNING WOMAN-The term cunning comes from Old English cunnende and Old Norse kunna, which both mean to know or to have the knowledge. A cunning woman, later called a wise woman, was highly skilled in herbal medicine, folk magic, and divination. For many centuries after the coming of Christianity, they were the keepers of the old pagan practises. Although they mostly used their knowledge to help and heal, the Church and medical profession frequently denounced them as witches.

  DEMON STAR-Also known as Lilith’s star or Algol, is in the constellation Perseus. It was considered the most dangerous star in the heavens, bringing evil and death, for it seems to wink like a great eye. A girl born under its astrological influence was said to bring a curse upon her family and any man she married. The star appears to wane in brightness over four and a half hours, remaining dim for twenty minutes, then increases to its original intensity for sixty-nine hours. We now know this is caused by a dimmer star eclipsing a brighter one.

  DRINDLE-East Anglian dialect word for a trickle of water or tiny stream.

  HARROW-In some places, the name derives from Hearg, which is Old English for a pagan site of worship.

  GREEN SICKNESS-Serious, often fatal, anaemia caused by what today would be labelled anorexia nervosa. Common in the Middle Ages among pious teenagers and “saints” who regularly starved themselves to mortify the flesh.

  HENBANE-Botanical Name Hyoscyamus niger. “The seed that breedeth madness.” Known since A.D. 1000, the leaves, which are the most poisonous part, can cause giddiness, restlessness, hallucinations, and, if ingested, death. It was used widely in medieval medicine, when the seeds were heated over charcoal and the fumes inhaled as an effective painkiller or anaesthetic.

  JACK-IN-THE-GREEN/DEVIL’S PRICK-Botanical name Arum maculatum. Also known as Lords and Ladies, because of its resemblance to male and female genitalia. This poisonous herb had many medicinal uses in the Middle Ages including inducing menstruation. It was also used by young men as a love charm. It was said to have grown at the foot of the cross where drops of Christ’s blood fell on it, marking it from that time onwards.

  KA-A cry of affirmation, meaning “so may it be,” traditionally used in t
he Norfolk and Suffolk area to seal a spell.

  LILITH-In the book of Genesis in the Bible there are two different accounts of the creation of “woman.” In medieval times this was explained by the idea that Adam had two wives. Lilith, his first wife, was created at the same time as Adam from the dust. Therefore, regarding herself as equal to him, she refused to lie beneath him when they made love. She fled Eden, and God was forced to create a second woman, Eve, from Adam’s rib. Lilith remained immortal, but she was transformed into a demon who made men get erections in their sleep, and caused the death of newborn babies.

  MOULD-When the high spring and autumn tides wash over a beach they leave behind salt water, which is dried by sun and wind, forming a salty crust in the top layer of sand or silt. This layer is known as mould. In the Middle Ages the mould was scraped off by the salt-makers. It was then washed and filtered to extract the salt in the form of brine. This was the first step in the salt-making process. (See also Weller.)

  NEED-FLAME-On Samhain night, what we now call Halloween, all hearth and cooking fires in the village had to be extinguished and relit from a need or neid fire, that is, one that had been kindled by friction, usually by striking a flint. This was to drive away evil and encourage the sun to return. In some areas people made their own need-fires; in others a communal fire was lit, with every householder collecting a need-flame from the fire to kindle their own hearth fires. Where a communal need-fire was lit, debts or disputes had to be settled before the householder was allowed to take a flame from the fire.

  ORDEAL BY WATER-Under King Athelstan (925-939) and later, Edward the Confessor (1042-1066), trial by water (íudícíum aquae) was enshrined in law as one of the tests of guilt or innocence for all crimes. The suspects were bound hand and foot, then thrown into water. If they sank, they were innocent. If they floated, they were guilty. This was based on the belief that water was used for baptism; therefore water would not receive anyone who was guilty and refused to confess it. Ordeal by water was officially abolished in 1219, under Henry III, but its use continued unofficially for many centuries, increasingly reserved for those suspected of witchcraft.

  PUREFINDING-Collecting dog dung to sell to leather tanners. Dog excrement was vital to purify skins and hides by breaking down the collagenous proteins prior to curing and tanning. Treating the skins with dog excrement was called puering. Dog dung was therefore a valuable commodity in the Middle Ages, with white dung being the most highly prized.

  RECKLING-(Also written as recklin.) Lincolnshire and East Anglian dialect word for the smallest pig in the litter. A runt. Often applied to a weak and sickly child.

  ROUGH MUSIC-Sometimes know as ran-tanning, it was a way of expressing social disapproval of such things as adultery or wife-beating. Neighbours would gather outside a wrongdoer’s house for three successive nights banging metal objects. If by the third night the victim hadn’t taken the hint and left the neighbourhood, he or she would be dragged out of the home and beaten. It was erroneously believed that if a “ran-tanning” was in progress and the victim was badly injured or died as a result of the beating, the assailants could not be punished by law. This custom, often used on those thought to be engaged in sexual immorality, continued well into the nineteenth century all over Britain, and in one sense still continues today when local people surround houses of suspected paedophiles to try to force them out.

  SOUL-SCOT-As well as each household having to give tithes, a percentage of livestock, grain, candles, et cetera, to the Church on pain of minor excommunication, the Church also demanded scots, or sums of money to perform certain rites such as christenings and marriages, including a soul-scot, money paid to the priest to perform the burial rites, in addition to money which also had to be paid for a Mass to be said for the soul of deceased. This scot was enshrined in law by King Alfred, A.D. 871-901, and was hated by the poor, who saw it as a tax on death.

  TOADSMAN-An East Anglian term for a horse whisperer. A man could gain extraordinary powers over horses, pigs, and people, by killing a Natterjack toad and carrying the corpse against his chest until it rotted to bones. The bones were floated in a river at midnight. The bone which floated upstream was magic and the person who took hold of it would be pulled across the river by it, after which they would possess the power.

  WELLER-Along the East Coast a common method of producing salt in the Middle Ages was by sand and silt washing. The brine washed from the sand would be boiled in lead pans over peat fires. This was done by the wellers who had the most difficult job in the salt-making process. Brine contains six different salts, each crystallising out at a different rate. Only the third, sodium chloride, was used for preservation and flavouring, so that the weller had to be adept at collecting this particular salt at precisely the right time without its becoming contaminated by the others. The remaining salts, collectively known as the bittern, were usually discarded.

  about the author

  KAREN MAITLAND has a doctorate in psycho-linguistics. Her British debut novel, The White Room, was shortlisted for the Authors’ Club of Great Britain Best First Novel Award. Her U.S. debut, Company of Liars, came out to widespread critical acclaim. She lives in the beautiful medieval city of Lincoln, England.

  ***

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