WITCHES
SIR,—The reference in 'A Spectator's Note- 'book' to the current Sunday Pictorial sensa- tion, 'Virgin Births,' prompts me to wonder how so egregious a newspaper as the Pictorial can possibly have been so slow on the uptake as not to relate this subject to that of its pre- vious stunt, namely 'Black Magic in Britain. Surely the fertile brain of the Pictorial's reporter, Mr. Peter Hawkins. who, you remem- ber, set out with all the gusto of the Fat Boy in Pickwick to terrify the British public with tales of black magic, witchcraft, Satanism, etc., cannot have failed to grasp the real signifi- cance of these 'virgin births'? Why, Sir, they arc obviously the result of the activities of Incubi, no less!
Mr. Hawkins's favourite 'authority,' the late Montague Summers, wrote in his hook Witchcraft and Black Magic, 'The physiological and•psychological bearings of these unions are treated of in detail by all demonologists, who are further unanimous in believing that chil- dren can be generated by Incubi, The Malleus Maleficarum discusses this question at great length and is entirely convincing.'
In view of the fact thlt a few months ago the Pictorial was featuring the most solemn warn- ings to the public about the activities of witches, in accordance with the teachings of Mr. Summers, which it quoted. I look forward
to its being consistent enough to follow the previous series to its logical conclusion, with Mr. Hawkins as Witch-Finder General, and Incu-Bus Conductor.—Yours faithfully, GERALD B. GARDNER
The Witches' Mill, Museum of Magic and Witchcraft, Castletown, Isle of Man
Previous page
