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Newspapers and the Popular Belief in Witchcraft and Magic in the Modern Period

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2014

Owen Davies
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Extract

The newspaper archive is, potentially, the largest untapped source of material concerning the popular belief in witchcraft and magic for the period after the formal cessation of the witchcraft trials in 1736. Several historians have successfully exploited the newspaper archive to examine popular customs in the modern period. However, little use has been made of newspapers to examine magical beliefs in the period defined by the decline of learned belief in witchcraft during the early eighteenth century and the eventual demise of popular belief in witchcraft two centuries later. Writing some fifty years ago, L. F. Newman noted that many witchcraft cases “only appear in the local Press of each district and extensive search is necessary to trace cases.” Newman hoped that his own very brief search would act as a catalyst for more intensive studies. Unfortunately, no one has conducted such work, and our understanding of the extent and influence of witchcraft and magic in the modern period is much the poorer for it. The present discussion, which seeks to begin that task, is based on short searches through various newspapers from around the country, the following up of secondary references, and an extensive, systematic ongoing survey of Somerset newspapers.

As Gustav Henningsen has observed, the newspaper has an important advantage over the folklore record in that it “always shows us the tradition in a concrete social context” and also provides a definite chronological basis. The combined exploration of folkloric sources and newspapers provides great potential for the regional study of witchcraft and magic in defined cultural settings.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of British Studies , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , April 1998 , pp. 139 - 165
Copyright
Copyright © North American Conference of British Studies 1998

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References

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4 There are practical problems which can certainly deter one from conducting newspaper research. The often dreary task of systematically searching through decades of irrelevant newsprint, without any prior knowledge as to the likelihood of finding relevant material, is initially off-putting. Unfortunately, research is not helped by the fact that, with the exception of The Times, national newspapers have not been indexed. A few local studies libraries have card indexes for one representative county paper, but while acknowledging the hard work which went into creating these indexes, most have not been indexed in enough detail to list untitled reports and, most important, to list the nature of crimes before the various criminal courts. For those studying popular beliefs these indexes are usually of little use. Furthermore, most local studies libraries only hold one or two of the many local papers which served their areas.

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