s
providing, and then they rid away.

"The children confessed the same thing; and some
added, that because they had very fine clothes put
upon them, they were very willing to go.

"A little girl of Elfdale confessed that, on naming
the name of Jesus as she was carried away, she fell
suddenly upon the ground, and got a great hole in her
side, which the devil presently healed up again, and
away he carried her; and to this day the girl
confessed she had exceeding great pain in her side.

"The children said they had seen sometimes a very
great devil like a dragon, with fire round about him,
and bound with an iron chain....

"Some of the children talked much of a white angel,
which used to forbid them to do what the devil bade
them do, and told them that those doings would not
last long: what had been done was permitted because
of the wickedness of the people, and the carrying away
of the children should be made manifest. And they
added, that this white angel would place himself
sometimes at the door betwixt the witches and the
children; and when they came to Blockula, their
meeting-place, he pulled the children back, but the
witches went in.

"The minister of Elfdale declared that one night the
witches were, to his thinking, upon the crown of his
head, and that from thence he had a long continued
pain of the head.

"One of the witches confessed that the devil had sent
her to torment the minister, and that she was ordered
to use a nail and strike it into his head, but it
would not enter very deep and hence came the headache.

"The minister said also that one night he felt a pain
as if he were torn with an instrument, and when he
wakened he heard somebody scratching and scraping at
the window, but could see nobody. And one of the
witches confessed that she was the person that did it,
being sent by the devil.

"The minister of Mobra declared also that one night
one of the witches came into his house, and did so
violently take him by the throat that he thought he
should have been choked; and waking, he saw the person
that did it, but could not know her; and that for some
weeks he was not able to speak, or perform divine
service.

"They con