A singular, yet melancholy, accident lately happened at Blackshaw, near Stansfield. The following are the particulars, which plainly demonstrate that the age of superstition is not yet passed. An aged man, of the name of Robert Sutcliffe, a weaver, possessed the silly idea that his house was troubled by a witch or devil, by whose supernatural agency and nightly excursions the clothes of his family were cut, the threats broke in his looms, and several other injuries committed.
He at length applied to a person of the name of John Hepworth, near the Cock and Bottle inn, in Bradford, a kind of fortune-teller, for his assistance to deliver him from the power of this mischievous tormentor! The pretended exorciser went in consequence to the haunted house, where he procured a large iron bottle, into which he poured human blood, previously drawn from the arm of a boy, a quantity of hair, with other materials, and, after a few incantations, he corked the bottle well up, and carefully deposited the same in the middle of a hot fire. In a short time the bottle burst with a terrible explosion: the windows of the house were driven out, and a great part of the chimney fell down.
It is melancholy, however, to relate, that the poor unfortunate old man, who had been repeatedly importuned to leave the room, but had strenuously persisted in refusing, received a dreadful wound by the bursting of the bottle, and died a few days afterwards.
Bell’s Weekly Messenger, 13th May 1804.
We copy the following from a country paper: –
“A melancholy accident lately happened at Blackshaw, near Halifax, which plainly demonstrates that the age of superstition is not yet passed. An aged man of the name of Robert Sutcliff, a weaver, possessed the silly idea that his house was troubled by a witch or devil, by whose supernatural agency the clothes of his family were cut, the threads of his looms broken, and other injuries committed. He at length applied to a John Hepworth, of Bradford, a fortune-teller, to deliver him from his tormentors.
The pretended exorciser went to the haunted house, where he procured a large iron bottle, into which he poured human blood, a quantity of hair, with other materials, and, after a few incantations, corked the bottle well up, and deposited it in a hot fire. In a short time the bottle burst, with a terrible explosion; the windows of th ehouse were driven out, and a great part of the chimney fell down.
It is melancholy to relate, that the poor unfortunate old man received a dreadful wound by the bursting of the bottle, and died a short time afterwards.”
Saint James’s Chronicle, 19th May 1804.