| Show r ak r- r RU LE B 1 4 4 s 9 s s Accounts o of Recent Hex ex Doctor Murder in in Y w Pennsylvania Stir it Amazing Revelations in British Isles Concerning Superstitious ito us l B Beliefs e 1 te f s an and d P Practices 1 ac t St Still I ell r The popular I 1 r t r C k it i v book nursery jj conception concepti n of or a s w E Extant X ta 11 t Th Throughout h OU witch riding her Iter a v t td over d broomstick over I the moon moo r Europe Y x j jA j U 5 5 t ti j s w l' l T i I v no not before sile she had had the thing tiling pio pho photo A A vampire the the ghost of a dead person person S graphed When the plate plat was wa devel developed p o that sucks the he blood fro from Its as ts victims caus- caus as ron m what tat appeared on it was was' so 50 terrifying ging g in ins ing b them in turn to 0 become vampires vampires- that she at once destroyed destroy d it itt according to popular conception ts t.'s The rhe mummy case was wass as next sen sent to too t the e British Museum being involved in n a 8 London Loudon DEPORTS in England of or the recent REPORTS hex disturbances in York County Pennsylvania have opened up a largo controversy on superstitions and lectures ra t have ave been given consistently during the thelast thelast last few months on the gullibility of man throughout the agest ages t 1 One lecturer touring the provinces with witha t a view to widening the outlook of or the country agriculturist gave it up after I three weeks reeks I r What is the use said he of trying tring I r 1 t to convince people that superstition holds holdst t no place in modern affairs when half haIr R. R your our audience make the sign of the horned fingers protection fingers protection against the r f evil whenever eye eye whenever the name of the devil f Is mentioned 1 He might have saved himself the trouble of his lecture tour hi hl the first r 9 Instance by never having made any dates at all for the British husbandman for f. f r all alI his island stolidity is still r tion-ridden tion a believer belie in ha witches ghosts and black magic He does doe not mention t these things any more than he pan can an help f but he fears the unseen just as the Germans Germans Germans Ger- Ger mans fear the hexes THE HE word hex is not used for that Islow la Is lalow low German Gennan but werewolf sprite leprechaun witch and vampire are names names which you will hear mentioned f quite casually and hi In ordinary conversation conversation conversa- conversa tion lion in the village market squares and public houses in the remoter districts of Scotland Wales and in the agricultural counties of England proper The belief in witches is common to f England Scotland and Wales alike and andI I this firm belief is shared equally with the French ench Germans Italians and the in inhabitants inhabitants inhabitants in- in habitants of the Balkan States All of them strange to say endow their witches with the same outward aspects as the fairy books show them They are thin bony looking haggard-looking old women with ith dark hair hanging down the sides of their if cheeks and with conical hats on their heads And all of the tribe no matter matter- t whether they be dwellers of Moravia or orthe f the fife British Midlands are said to ride on broomsticks Indeed few a months ago I f there was a case in the English County of Northampton where a farmer alleged p f that the whole of or his herd of Jersey cattie cattie cattie cat- cat tie had been visited with mouth foot-and-mouth r. r disease disease by an old woman who had a ar r grudge against him He sued the woman In the public magistrates magistrate's court and in his hist r t evidence c he declared on oath that one oner r i night when the wind was soughing in the ther thea r a trees and the moon was half hidden in hi scurrying cloud flecks he had heard a lowing of cattle and opening his bedroom window he had seen the old jold woman i complete with her witch's hat and broomstick sitting on the crooning croon- croon 1 Ing tog a a. magic ditty with evil intent He Her Hei i r shouted to her to go or he would shoot her down he declared whereupon with a at t t. t fiendish yell of demoniacal laughter the ther I f r old woman bestrode her broomstick and f flew away in the direction of a town called Market Harborough The cattle had to be destroyed ten days afterward but the farmer got no redress against the theold theold thet t old woman although he claimed the Government Government Gov- Gov t bounty for the loss of his cattle r. r j 1 After AUr all the magistrate who dismissed the case could do nothing else To ha have vo f accepted the evidence of the broomstick broomstick- a 1 flying warlock would have been to uphold the superstitious beliefs of the whole i British countryside r s But nobody passes the old woman on fc the road without making the sign of or the their ir to Corned orned ned fingers She is thought to possess I the evil eye in addition to other powers I t which no villager will mention and she Is is' given a wide berth That case is one of or a thousand similar o ones es In Essex a short time ago a country f squire died a perfectly natural death of ij old age His heir a well neer had hadj j j Just t r returned turned from foreign parts TWO 5 nights before the old mans man's death he was J seen coming through the woods with a bunch of or flowers Rowers in his hand The whole village w was s afterward willing to attest r that he had boiled down the flowers into a potion which he had caused the o old d dI I man to drink causing his death He inherited inherited in- in r the dead mans man's riches but he lie had to sell the house and leave leiVe the vicinity Actually he be had picked the flowers ber be- be r I A k kS S S S 0 s wa cwi Y y t M A Ayi yi s M aS 1 i Lv L- L v ff v t tl l i y f S 'S Sf r f r e w wi 5 i S S. S 4 r 1 r A L werewolf killing 1 1 its S prey The Thc belief in in tl this creature su P J a b ed person i has IX t Y prevailed th throughout p cause ause the old man was very fond of forest primroses r Most of the practices carried out by alleged British wit witches hes are harmless A Afew Afew Afew few pence will purchase a love potion in inthe inthe inthe the mountain hamlets of Wales charms against cold grip and fevers are obtainable obtainable obtainable obtain obtain- able for next to nothing and no surprise is expressed at their use The charms and the potions and the disease cures arc are hundreds of years old Some of them date back to the days days' when William the Conqueror Conqueror Conqueror Con Con- reigned S SAILORS are are said to be superstitious but they cannot hold a candle to the average British villager For every ailment ail ailment all ail ment there is a mystic cure for every happening there is a magical reason It Itis Itis Itis is a fairly common sight to see dogs in inthe inthe inthe the early stages of distemper running around with tarred barbed wire tied round their tails You will see ses cattle with crosses branded on their hind quarters to prevent Satan from carrying them off and barns and cowsheds with weird hieroglyphs painted on them as a charm against the witch fire-witch who leaves only a a. smoldering ruin in her path If you wish to kill your enemy there is isan isan isan an old woman living in Ayrshire Scotland Scotland Scotland Scot Scot- land who will make for you a waxen image of the person you would destroy All AIl you have to do according to local beliefs is to mutter the following incantation incantation incantation incan incan- tation over it and then prick it thrice with a pin Body of him thou art his body Satan has be witness Come night and steal his breath come fire to dry his blood Stone crack thou his lils bones If It the object of your hate is not dead in the mOrl morning ng then it is your fault for you h have ve not sufficiently concentrated concentrated concentrated con con- your hatred on the wax ax figure Though there is no proof in these days of or the success of such black magic the theold theold theold old woman lives Ilves respected and feared and is provided with food by the vil vil- lagers Belief In the powers of darkness can never be stamped out in Europe In Germany Germany Germany Ger Ger- many particularly in Ea East t Prussia the belief belle in wisps the and vampires is isso isso isso so great that no sane villager will go out alone after it is dark unless the reason leason Is extremely urgent If he is forced to go Europe since d ancient Roman noman times X s i e. e YS A AS J x a K 1 i i 5 s 4 t th h 5 9 s Y q C r 4 a ar IX Sj r 1 1 One of the devils which the thc professional proCessional in Japan is called on to destroy on New Years Year's E Ev Eve he slings a little little cross around his n neck k kand and in each pocket he will will place place a piece of on on which a spell is written which no vampire would attempt to frus frus- And if his course lies though thi-ough a graveyard he must kneel outside the gate gate- before entering and recite the following rigmarole Sleep fast ye dead Eyes close Mouths shut Groan never Sleep Sleep He who passes is a mighty one One of the most popular superstitions in England refers to the ill fated m Titanic That gigantic liner the biggest in the world at the time when she ran full tilt Into an iceberg and sank with thousands aboard was said to be carrying the car- car tonnage case of oI a famous mummy from London to New York because the author author- sties of the British Museum were too frightened of or its influences to keep it According to the story the had been bought by the proverbial rich hence American American hence its place on board the big liner HE story t told Id time and again in England England England Eng Eng- THE land begins in Upper Egypt where two sportsmen hunting gazelle In the desert camped one l night near some rockcut rockcut rockcut rock- rock cut tombs Hard lIard by their camp they came on the rubbish-filled rubbish entrance to toan toan toan an eighteenth dynasty tomb which had been rifled by tomb robbers hundreds of or yea years s before lefore Cleopatra Digging down they found the mummy shaft and lowering lowering low low- ering themselves into the dark place they i J. J r ro o y rV h v i j Y N n Y The three iv itches of Macbeth I h Y w which fx m Shakespeare hakes care Ya introduced Y 6 Fy according to s r old Scottish superstition fJ 1 to 4 0 yv I a r. r 1 Xh ee S 55 r t c cX X n k yr a ra si Nw e S NA Y YV t y h foIX X o V 5 t F A spiritualistic table table rapping rapping common in England today where people from all walks of life gather to attempt to communicate with the dead and penetrate the veil of the future j saw a mummy lying in a golden sarcophagus sarcophagus sarcophagus sar sar- or rather what remained of the gold for the precious metal save in a afew afew afew few corners corners had been ripped of off the wood They left lef the mummy where it was but took the case and brought it up Now a case is the wooden outer cover of the mummy made in human shape and lettered with chapters from the Book of the Dead and sometimes as in this instance with witha a curse inscribed against the disturber of rest who should come to rifle the tomb and so wake the dead person from the long long sleep which the ka ika or astral body of the deceased enjoys in the tomb The curse on this so the story goes was very potent and the day after its discovery one of the sportsmen sportsmen sportsmen sports sports- men was killed His rifle burst at the breech when he was firing at a jackal His friend promptly struck camp and made for Cairo taking the mummy case with him In Cairo he too fell sick and within three weeks died of the fever The mummy case in the meanwhile had found its way into an antique dealers dealer's s hop shop where it was purchased by a British British British Brit Brit- ish collector who had it packed up and shipped to England History does 0 not re relate rc- rc late that any mischance came to the purchaser but the ill fated mummy case arrived at its destination destination-a a house in the Kensington district of London London after after a stormy tormy and most violent sea voyage In Inthis Inthis Inthis this house i it remained for two weeks during which time the mistress of the house fell down the tho stairs and injured herself internally so that she is a cripple to this day She had a friend a psychic- psychic minded clairvoyant who coming into the house to inquire after the accident de declared declared declared de- de There is something ng terribly wicked in hi- this house It must be taken out at once Explanations disclosed that the mummy case cas was upstairs in one of oftie tie tio attics and the psychic psychic-n psychic minded woman at once ordered it out but of the house But motorcar smash en route wl which ch broke both the drivers driver's legs lens o and caused the lo loss lass i of an eye to the chauffeur of the other car involved in the accident But the vicissitudes attached to tl the e case did not end there The keepers of U Uthe the museum ex-army ex sergeants who wh patrol patrol patrol pa- pa the galleries night and arid day refused I to walk in that room in hi which the case was exhibited Fame came cameto to the mummy case and crowds of people flocked t to the museum Some gazing reverently at y this relic of a past age went away unharmed unharmed un un- harmed wl while le others scoffers others scoffers according S a to the story were story were almost immediately I overtaken with accidents and in some cases with death The London newspapers newspapers newspapers pers were full fuU of the story and it became a superstition in Fleet street that those persons who wrote Jokingly about it were t i s courting trouble Alan famous correspondent of v the Daily Dally Express drew a picture of the tha case on the walls of the r reporters reporter's re reporters reporter's re- re porters porter's newsroom and broke Ills his l s arm arm within the week He was later killed hi in n 1 the war A famous crime writer of the same journal committed suicide in Paris in-Paris Par Paris 3 1 a few months after the tho story had been featured by his own pen A famous fa fa- fa mons inous director of the British Museum who arranged with Sir Ernest Budge the then director di director di- di rector of the Egyptian and Assyrian Societies So Societies Societies So- So to photograph the ia m mits its case died before the plates could b be developed His arrangement was that thaI the photographs should be taken and the camera handed over to the museum officials officials officials sealed and unopened It was to be kept in a safe for three weeks taken out a and the plates developed On the day that the director died they took the i camera out broke the seals and retired v to the darkroom for the developing But j i they never put the plates in hi solution for when they were taken take out of their sheaths they were wen found ground into V powder I THE HE alleged is still on view in the museum but is popular f eel eel- posed to be a substitute for or that winch was sent abroad in tho the ill-fated ill Tit Titanic ft Whether the case on view is gel genuine or not cannot be stated Sir Sir Ernest Budge would not dIsc discuss ss it when he was director director direr direr- tor and he will net r-c talk of it tOd today y The British Museum Is strangely enough not known to many Londoners Londoner as a regular mausoleum for objects rf d VV I magic and witchery Fur For not even the V t Metropolitan l Museum with i its s great f riches of or ancient times can offer a better 5 col collection of alleged magical figures gure and 1 potent charms than are gathered together together together to- to gether under the roof of tl the e British Museum They arc are th the relics of a superstition born thousands of years year before the i Christ gazed at today by men and women 3 SJ j who will not willingly spill salt have three candles on a a. table or walk walls under undera a |
