OLD FOXY

By BSPICS

"A Witches Tale"

In 1697, when witchcraft was against the law in Scotland, Paisley saw a famous case of witch-hunting. Christian Shaw, the ten-year-old daughter of the laird of Bargarran near Erskine, fell mysteriously ill after accusing one of the servants Katherine Campbell of stealing a cup of milk.
Katherine had shouted curses at Christian in a fit of rage, but nowadays we do not think that Christian was bewitched. Perhaps, after their quarrel, she accused Katherine out of spite. Perhaps, afraid of witches and shocked by Katherine's words, she believed that she had been bewitched, and the belief itself made her ill.
Whatever the explanation the men and woman she accused were tried as witches, and seven of them were found guilty. One Hung himself in prison and the others were executed on Gallow Green, at the west end of Paisley. Their remains were buried at a crossroad's and a horseshoe set in the road; this was supposed to prevent their spirits from returning to trouble the living. The horseshoe can still be seen where Maxwellton Street crosses George Street, a reminder of an unhappy part of Paisley's history. So today's Blip is from the busy junction where Maxwellton Street crosses George Street the centre of which is where they were buried. Thought it was a nice gloomy day for a tale like this but when I got to the spot the fog had lifted.

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