15 h 7 minAudiobook4 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when fear of a neighbour becomes a case for the courts?
In Witch Stories, Eliza Lynn Linton gathers historical essays on witch belief, trials and persecution in Britain. She traces fear back to old beliefs that people could secretly harm crops, cattle and children. Her concern is not just what people believe, but how ordinary neighbours come to hunt one another.
The essays move from folk beliefs to witchcraft laws, court cases and the suffering of the accused. The poor, the old and the friendless often stand against accusers and hunters. Writing with a Victorian journalist’s sceptical, often indignant eye, Linton asks readers to look closely at the fear behind the charges.
What you’ll discover
- The roots of fear Explore the folk beliefs that make harm to crops, cattle and children seem like witchcraft.
- Suspicion enters the courtroom Follow how witchcraft laws turn a neighbour’s suspicion into a matter for judges.
- People behind the accusations Look beyond the charge to the poor, old and friendless people who face it.
- Neighbours become hunters Examine the clash between accusers and accused, where shared fears turn neighbours against one another.
- A sharp Victorian gaze Meet Linton’s indignation as she challenges both belief in witches and those who persecute.
Who will love it
For readers who love social history, folklore and Victorian writing, and anyone who wants to understand how panic and law combined to turn neighbours into accusers.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The fear grew from old beliefs
- Law turned suspicion into execution
- Accusers, hunters and the accused
- A Victorian looks back
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Witch Stories
by Eliza Lynn Linton · 1861
Village gossip reaches the courtroom as Linton traces how witchcraft fears put neighbours' lives at stake.
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In short
Witch Stories is a book of historical essays by the Victorian writer Eliza Lynn Linton, first published in the 1860s. She gathers accounts of witch belief, witch trials and the persecution of the accused in Britain, and she writes as a journalist who wants her readers to see how ordinary people came to hunt their neighbours.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
The fear grew from old beliefs
Linton begins with the idea that belief in witches did not appear from nowhere. Across Britain, villagers had long held that some people could harm crops, cattle and children by secret means. Cunning folk, healers and wise women were trusted and feared at the same time. A person who could cure an illness might also be blamed for causing one.
Church teaching gave these village fears a larger frame. Learned writers described witches as servants of the Devil, bound to him by a pact. That turned a quarrel between neighbours into a crime against God. Linton shows how easily the two streams joined, the rural belief in spells and the scholarly belief in a Satanic plot.
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What is Witch Stories by E. Lynn Linton about?
It is a collection of historical essays on witchcraft in Britain. Linton covers the old beliefs, the laws against witches, the trials and the suffering of those accused, writing for a general Victorian audience.
When was Witch Stories written?
It was written and first published in the 1860s by Eliza Lynn Linton, a Victorian journalist and novelist. It is nonfiction, drawn from older trial accounts and pamphlets rather than invented tales.
Is Witch Stories a true account?
Yes, it is a work of history and not fiction. Linton retells real trials and beliefs, though she writes in a lively Victorian style, and modern historians have since refined many details.
The author
Eliza Lynn Linton
1822–1898 · English novelist and journalist
E. Lynn Linton was Eliza Lynn Linton, an English novelist and journalist. She was born in Keswick in 1822 and died in London in 1898. Her first novel, Azeth, the Egyptian, appeared in 1847. She also wrote Witch Stories, published in 1861, and contributed articles to newspapers and magazines.
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