The Witches of Northamptonshire

Suspicion arose as to whether the mother advised the daughter, or the daughter the mother; I do not know, but I am certain the devil never gives advice to any man or woman to be cautious in any wicked act.

While the matter lay dormant (for rage and revenge never rest), it was soon awakened, which Mistress Belcher felt all too soon, to her intolerable pain. For while she was alone in her house, she was suddenly seized with such a griping and gnawing in her body that she cried out and could scarcely be held by those who came to her aid. And after being carried to her bed, her face was many times so disfigured by being twisted awry that it caused both fear and astonishment in all who saw her; and whenever she had breath, she cried, "Here comes Joan Vaughan; away with Joan Vaughan!"

This gentlewoman being afflicted in this strange manner for a long time, to the great grief of her friends, it happened that her brother, a Master Avery, hearing of his sister's sickness and extreme condition, came to see her. As a sorrowful witness to what he had previously only heard about, he was deeply moved by his sister's pitiful condition—especially because he did not know the nature of her disease and was utterly ignorant of any direct way to provide a cure or help for it. He often heard her cry out against Joan Vaughan, also known as Varnham, and her mother, and he heard from the neighbors' reports what had previously happened between his sister and the said Joan. So much so that, having confirmed his suspicion that it was nothing other than witchcraft original: "Witch-craft"; in this era, witchcraft was a recognized legal and spiritual crime involving the use of supernatural power to cause physical harm. that thus