Devon's Forgotten Witches

Devon’s Forgotten Witches examines accusations of witchcraft recorded in the county between 1860 and 1910, drawing on newspaper reports and archive material. Tracey and Mark Norman bring together cases involving ordinary people whose lives were affected by suspicion, belief and reputation, including the figure remembered as the White Witch of Exeter.

The authors set these accounts against the social attitudes of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, asking what may have stood behind reports of bewitchment, quarrels and alleged magical harm. Alongside accusations, the book considers witchcraft used as an insult, the violence that could follow such labels, and the press’s efforts to present belief in witchcraft as superstition.