The Wellington Witch Ladder
The first recorded witch ladder found was in an old house in Wellington, Somerset which was demolished in 1878. Six brooms, an old armchair and a ‘rope with feathers woven into it’ were found in the space that separated the roof from the upper room and was inaccessible from the interior of the house. The brooms had handles so decayed they snapped under pressure, but these had been replaced so they could be used. The chair and rope were stored in a ware- house. Due to the investigations of local antiquarians, (Abraham Colles & E.B. Tylor) the find was published in the Folk-Lore Journal. This article detailed the responses to local enquiries, but was followed by a number of letters to the journal which expressed a range of opinions as to the function of the rope.
Read more about this topic: Witch's Ladder
Famous quotes containing the words wellington, witch and/or ladder:
“An age and a faith moving into transition,
the dinner cold and new-baked bread a failure,”
—Alfred Wellington Purdy (b. 1919)
“The witch turned as red
as the Jap flag.
Her blood began to boil up
like Coca-Cola.
Her eyes began to melt.
She was done for.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“A funny business, a woman’s career. The things you drop on your way up the ladder so you can move faster. You forget you’ll need them again when you get back to being a woman.”
—Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–1993)