A People Bewitched: Witchcraft and Magic in Nineteenth-Century Somerset

A People Bewitched examines belief in witchcraft and magic across 19th-century Somerset, where accusations could attach blame for illness, death and misfortune affecting people and animals. Davies presents these beliefs as part of local social life, showing how suspicion could lead to ostracism and physical attacks against those accused of witchcraft.

The book also considers the practitioners who supplied magical services. Cunning-folk treated people thought to be bewitched, searched for lost property, encouraged love and predicted the future, while astrologers and fortune-tellers attracted their own clients. Alongside these practitioners, the account follows victims, accusers and alleged witches, placing Somerset’s magical traditions within the county’s rural history and folklore.