by Liz Baalham | Dec 31, 2025 | Rattlesden, Victim Stories
Meribel Bedford was also named among the Rattlesden accused.
by Liz Baalham | Dec 28, 2025 | Rattlesden, Victim Stories
Henry Carre was also named among the Rattlesden accused.
by Liz Baalham | Dec 28, 2025 | Rattlesden, Victim Stories
John Scarfe, related to two other Rattlesden accused Mother Orvis and Elizabeth Deekes and known locally as ‘a heathenish man’, admitted to keeping three grey rats – Tom, Will and Harry – and feeding them from his body.
by Liz Baalham | Dec 28, 2025 | Rattlesden, Victim Stories
Elizabeth Deekes – whose mother had also been executed as a witch – confessed that she had been instructed to renounce God and had made a pact with the Devil. “First, ignorant people whose eyes are blinded by Satan and are led captive by him, as is said in another...
by Liz Baalham | Dec 28, 2025 | Rattlesden, Victim Stories
On his return journey to Lawshall, Stearne revisited Rattlesden, where suspicion had settled on a boy of about eight or nine (name unknown), who had previously been questioned at Rougham near Bury. He had reportedly accepted the service of an imp, not understanding...
by Liz Baalham | Dec 28, 2025 | Rattlesden, Victim Stories
A woman known as Old Mother Orvis, a local matriarch, was accused by a woman named Bedford who claimed that Orvis had sent her a spirit called Meribell, who promised power and prosperity and then left her with four imps.
