Put someone in a small, dark prison cell, question them repeatedly over weeks, and serve them what probably set a new low for institutional food, and a lot of people will succumb and confess what they’re told to confess. “Freely confessed?” That’s what the notary wrote on her confessions. She used magic to work evils on her enemies and neighbors. And there were a lot of Scottish witches, so this is no small thing! Yes, she claimed to have sex with the devil. She offered four confessions, collectively the longest record of what a Scottish witch claimed to have done. She was married, probably just a peasant’s wife with a difficult reputation.īut she does tell an interesting story. There’s no evidence, despite the cover’s claim, that she was convent-raised. Best guess is that Isobel was in her 40s. And the author of this novel is Jane Parkhurst. Grady Hendrick’s “Paperbacks from Hell” featured this cover to illustrate the art of Rowena Morrill. How lurid? Well, here’s the cover of a 1977 novel about her: 1622? – 1662?), often described as the only witch who freely confessed to her lurid crimes. One of the witches I’ll be taking about is Isobel Gowdie (c. (Given the Internet’s limitations, I don’t advise foreigners to enroll. You could even sign up for it, if you live in the United States. This is because I’ll be teaching an online course on that subject at the Cambridge Center for Adult Education, starting Wednesday. I’ll be posting articles on the history of witchcraft and witchcraft trials in the coming weeks.

I have a history blog as well, Sillyhistory. Which, rather irrelevantly, is both Queen Elizabeth II’s actual birthday, and the birthday of my deceased mother: they were born one year and 400 miles apart. Tollon’s story will resume Tuesday, April 21. If you have been reading it, know that I’m taking a two-day break. If you haven’t been reading it, the entire story can be found here. I thank so many of you readers for following the tale of Tollon, the Magician’s Apprentice, for the last thirty days.

Isobel jane parkhurst