BELIEF IN WITCHCRAFT

Grey River Argus, 13 September 1930, Page 9

BELIEF IN WITCHCRAFT

WILD FOLK OF WALES. ! FEAR OF “THE EVIL EYE.” ' Herefordshire has been up in arms at. I the suggestion made before the Licensing Commission that excessive drinking of home-made cider was a. source of mental deficiency in the county. Hereford town says in effect: “It is nothing to do with us. The wild folk ( of the Welsh mountain border have I brought this indictment on us. The medical officer of health for the I county also spurns the suggestion, but ; at the same time defends the people ; •of the mountain district. In this,! frankly, a correspondent says, he found ■ him in a distinct minority. j I Investigations made in the wild hil-' ly district along the border would seem ) :to substantiate in some measure the j | tales heard in Hereford of a race made - - up of isolated communities left far be- | hind in the march of progress. Here scattered farmsteads stand cut off | from the world and in many cases attempts on the part of authority to I ' approach them have resulted in flight . “for fear of ‘the evil eye,’ ’’ and on at least two occasions recently there has been violence. In this wild country there is still a very lively belief in witchcraft and spells and a great ! faith in the efficacy of “the evil eye.” j A County Council health visitor, who ' was chased down the mountain side by a man whose house she visited, told a remarkable tale. In the house to 5 1 which she had been sent, she said, she ' • found a woman who had been held | prisone? in one room for 20 years be- ! cause “she had been looked upon with i ‘the evil eye’. ” “On my second visit to this homestead,” the woman said, “one of the I brothers who held the woman prisoner : accused me of having ‘the evil eye’ j and threatened me with a gun. When > 1 turned and ran he chased me down j the mountain, uttering terrible cries.” , • The medical officer of health for the I county strongly resented the opinions expressed regarding the people. “They' are bv no means the decadent, ieebleI minded people they are made out to jbe by some in Hert ford.” he, sand. I “There are (ofres, of course, and w<* rather take the view that they are [best left alone until they do any hurt •to other people. Dull they may be. I ' but not mentally deficient in the main. 1 have no difficulty in administering I the Health Acts up there and find the people very willing tn respond. I “As a stranger they would. of course, be nervous of you and Tefn=o to speak. Superstitious, y '--,'; hut do I you walk under ladders, ->r om.r * .• 'throw the spilled salt over ■