Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Student research into the Museum archive...Day Five

For the past week, we have had seven wonderful American students working diligently in the Museum library.  They have been cataloguing notes and Museum interpretation texts/captions written by the Museum's founder, Cecil Williamson.  Here is what they unearthed on Monday...

Rachel discovered that members of different covens were not supposed to communicate with each other because they were supposed to remain secretive due to fears of hostility to witchcraft in the mid twentieth century.

Devin read a pamphlet written by Cecil Williamson that discussed all the trouble he encountered while the Museum was located at Bourton-on-the-Water.  He explained his financial troubles and mentioned a fire that made him move the Museum.  He talked about his plans to declare himself bankrupt (this never happened)  She also found a letter to Mr Hill asking for help as Cecil felt that he may face jail time!  These were difficult times for the Museum...



Stephen found an original Museum card for a magical act which called for the use of rope used by someone who had hanged themselves.  He found it "a bit macabre".

Heather found "an adorable good luck charm."  which she would like to make at some point for her friends as a gift someday.  The object card has now been catalogued as Record Number 8107 which states, "Wall-hanging pin cushion in the form of an anchor. The symbolic meaning of the anchor is security against the storms and buffetings of everyday life. So for honeymoon couples this because a favored gift, bearing the message from the man that he would hold his beloved safe and secure."

Isabelle: "I learned a story about three Cornish occultists who attempted a spirit conjuring on a cliff by the sea.  It got out of control when the image of a demon in smoke scared them so badly that two of them needed treatment for months after.  The cauldron was discovered half destroyed, and is now displayed in the Museum..."  Isabelle also found a painting which seems to have been originally displayed with the cauldron and this account (see image below).








3 comments:

onehundredandfiftyonereasons said...
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onehundredandfiftyonereasons said...

That cauldron was one of the first vivid memories I can recall of visiting the museum in the late 90's. Always loved the caption card describing the people who conjured the spirit of hellfire as being egg-heads! I don't suppose there was any mention of Snowshill in regard to the Bourton-on-the-Water material?

Museum of Witchcraft said...

I don't think any specific mentions were made of Snowshill in that particular document (it doesn't come up when you do a Snowshill search on the online archive). It was quite a lengthy document so has just been summarised by the student on the database. It was not transcribed. Next time you visit you might want to have a look at it and read the whole thing.