Witches and the Dead: The Case for the English Ghost Familiar

Abstract

Descriptions of the early modern English witch frequently mentioned her familiar, an entity that most often appeared as an animal such as a cat and would harm the witch’s enemies and feed upon her blood. However, the animal familiar was not the only type of familiar that assisted the witch. Here, the case is made for the presence of the ghost familiar: a demonic entity that would approach the witch in the form of a dead loved one who requested that she align herself with the Devil and in return would enact her vengeance upon those who had wronged her. Using archival sources alongside published texts, this article examines these ghost familiars and their role in the emotional lives of the accused witches.

Archival Sources

CUL = Cambridge University Library. EDR E12. Assize Depositions from Ely, Michaelmas, 1647.

ESRO = East Sussex Record Office (Brighton).

KHLC = Kent History and Library Centre (Maidstone). Fa/JQs23. Unnumbered Sessions Papers related to the witchcraft case against Joan Cason, April 1586.

Notes

1 Cambridge University Library’s archival documents from the examinations related to Margaret Moore, 1647. Two particular files are relevant to this study: EDR E12, files 14 and 17.

2 ESRO, Rye 13/1: examination of Susan Swapper, 1607.

3 Taken from an addendum entitled ‘Some considerations about Witchcraft. In a letter to Robert Hunt, Esq.’

4 This is an unnumbered bundle of Sessions Papers held at the Kent History and Library Centre, including the examination of Joan Cason, the deposition of Katherine Kenwarde, the deposition of Robert Cowper, and the deposition of Alice Harrison, all 1586.

5 All data in this paragraph, aside from Topsell, are from KHLC, Fa/JQs23.

6 I have been unable to identify any male witches with ghost familiars. Amongst the wider categories of familiars, men appear just as likely to own an animal familiar as are female witches and it might be due to the rarity of this version of the familiar that men do not appear. Nevertheless, further research into the role of male witches and emotions associated with familiars may help to improve our understanding of this absence.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Victoria Carr

Victoria Carr is an independent scholar who has recently received her PhD from the University of Bristol, UK for her thesis on the witch’s animal familiar in early modern southern England. Her research interests concern early modern witchcraft beliefs in England and Scotland, particularly those about familiars and demons. Her previous publications include ‘The Countess of Angus’s Escape from the North Berwick Witch-Hunt’ in Scottish Witches and Witch-Hunters (Julian Goodare, ed., 2013).