The age old practice of witchcraft has seen an explosive resurgence over the last few decades. In the past it provoked wild and insane persecutions that led to ridiculous witch hunts in which thousands died. The criteria for conviction were often based on hearsay and poor evidence, and the penalties were cruel and unwarranted. Most of the madness subsided by the 19th century, having been nearly eradicated in the west by that centuries' end. However, the hysteria surfaced again briefly during the second world war. In the midst of war, madness rules the day and invariably comes home, infecting legal matters. Few wartime cases in the courts of Britain are as bizarre as the 1944 witchcraft trial of Helen Duncan. It happened just before D-Day. Helen Duncan was a spiritualist and medium from Scotland who traveled the UK during the war performing seances. Her customers are reputed to have included George VI and Winston Churchill, and she was one of the most widely known mediums of the day. Channeling for the parents of a missing sailor in 1941, she revealed that he had died when his ship HMS Barham had been sunk by the Germans. The ship had indeed sunk with a loss of 861 men, but the admiralty had kept the affair secret to mislead the Germans who weren't aware that the ship had gone down. The cover-up made sense, since the germans would invariably spend resources on trying to track a ship that no longer existed. Plus it prevented an unnecessary blow to British public morale during the infamous blitz.

The Germans found out in 1942 and the whole thing became public, but the fact remained that Helen Duncan had known about the sinking, allegedly through channeling the dead sailor, and had revealed information that could have been potentially damaging for the Admiralty's coverup. Nothing came of it at the time, and Helen Duncan continued her seances. Fast forward to 1944. The D-Day invasion was being prepared amid unprecedented secrecy. The British government was prepared to do anything to keep the invasion plans under wraps as the defeat of the Nazis depended on the success of the operation. In January, Helen Duncan was in Portsmouth performing a seance in the presence of two superstitious naval officers. The officers were alarmed that she might reveal secrets of the impending invasion that could get back to the Germans, so they arrested her. The authorites charged her under the British Witchcraft Act of 1735, along with charges of conspiracy and fraud. Strangely, only the charges of witchcraft stuck and she was convicted and sentenced to nine months in prison.

View: Full Article | Source: The Paranormal Report

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Unbelievable that in this age and time in a modern, western country people can still be superstitious -and intolerant- enough to press charges on witchcraft

Well... if the kid says she cursed the teacher and the teacher got sick, I see no problem with punishing the kid.

If you don't think witchcraft is real, then it's a different story.

But, if you do think it's real, then making someone sick via witchcraft should be punished at the level as making someone sick via poison... I see no difference. And it's not intolerance of witchcraft, it's intolerance of maliciousness... which I don't think even witches would have a problem with.

JS

This story reminds me of our local myths of a 16 year old girl named Rebecca Lutes.

The Myth:
She was apparently practitioner of witchcraft and was accused of being a witch. All these weird events began happening around the vicinity of Riverview any many local residents began to blame Rebecca for it.

After local livestock began mysteriously disappearing in the community, the townspeople accused her of using these animals in occult ceremonies and tried her for witchcraft. After she was found guilty, she was executed for her crime. Some stories claim that she was hung by a tree which stood near the site of the grave until pronounced dead.

The Grave:
After it was decided that she was indeed dead, she was cut down and buried face down so that if she was to come back to live and try to escape the tomb, she would end up digging a hole down into hell. I heard as a child that she was buried face up, and then the townspeople began seeing her wandering the fields at night. So they dug her back up, put her face down and buried her a second time. Another version of the story is that she is actually buried upside down.

To make sure her grave would not be disturbed; the residents poured a 4 block concrete casing into the grave to seal her up. This was also in case anyone had the macabre idea of digging her up. Other claims about this cement are that it was placed there to protect the graves of the Lutes family which may also be buried in the same location. The graves are actually buried further underneath the slab of concrete.

The Black Cat:
Many people will claim to see a black cat either sitting on, or roaming near the gravesite. Sightings of this cat have supposedly happened in the daytime and at night. Most people will say that one minute its right there, then it is gone in a flash. Some people claim that it’s waiting for her to return.

The Mist (Fog):
People have also claimed to see a mist or fog emanating from near the grave. Other witnesses have said that it would get very cold when you pass by there, even in the middle of the summer when it’s really muggy out. I have also heard stories of car windows fogging up and even freezing over.

The Cabin:
Rumors has it a cabin once stood near the gravesite. A house also stood there afterwards for years and years but had been long abandoned and was torn down a while back. People have claimed to hear strange voices and sounds near or inside the cabin and the house and still claim to hear things at the site where the buildings once stood.

Agreed. As a Wiccan, she violated her religion in harming others with her power.