…on the nature of the Craft and its practitioners….

The following is quoted from M. Howard’s ‘Children of Cain’, although the actual quote itself comes from ‘Welsh Witches’, I personally think it’s good for all, not just the Welsh.

(From ‘Welsh, Witches and Warlocks’ Pugh 1987)

1) The black witches, male and female, who traded their souls in exchange for magical powers, using them for evil and cursing. Quick to take umbrage they were liberal with their use of curses

2) The white witches, who used their powers for the lifting of curses and healing. They sold love potions, foretold the future and were widely consulted by the gentry of the times as well as ordinary folk. They could, when aroused to extreme anger, curse people.

3) The third type were also practicing white witches, always male, and called a wizard or wise man. He could also cure diseases and lift curses and usually travelled through the country selling his magical powers. In addition to these three types of witches there were men who could exorcise spirits by means of the cross and the Trinity and passages from the New Testament. They were classed as wise men and conjurors, but never referred to as witches, and were many times more successful at exorcising spirits then the clergy (Pugh 1987). (there certainly were and are Wise Woman too! My great grandmother was one - and she was Welsh!)

Personally I’d like to think I fit best with type 3, indeed I'd never call myself a witch, and certainly not a warlock

Although I don’t sell magic powers or travel the country and neither am I a Christian. I do however work in a profession that could be seen as ‘magical’ not so long ago and I imagine that some ‘cunning folk’ did exactly what I do without realising that’s what it was!  

I will be returning to The Dragon Book of Essex soon, however I''d like to draw you attention to the article below. 

'Which craft is Witchcraft' was written specifically for this blog, by a close friend of mine, and looks at the use and potential miss use of the idea that 'traditional witchcraft' must have a genuine lineage to be considered genuine. The article also examines the relationship between 'witchcraft' and 'folk magic'; asking whether or not they are actually the same thing.

Enjoy and feel free to comment at the end.

Which Craft is Witchcraft?

A Short Introduction to English Folk Magic in Myth and Tradition

So, what exactly is witchcraft? Witchcraft, at its most basic, is folk magic, and although folk magic and witchcraft are a worldwide phenomenon, English folk magic displays its own idiosyncrasies that specifically characterise it. Folk magic is not, and never has been a religion, although this in no way infers that it is does not require a spiritual awareness, for that is close to its heart. Witchcraft has always existed and always will, all be it in a state of constant flux and continuous evolution. Such evolution has seen many changes in the way that it is conceived and practiced. It is no longer the sole preserve of a tribal member existing on the edge of society, and since the final repeal of the witchcraft act in 1951, the witch sought to become absorbed into mainstream society, or so it would seem.

Gerald Gardner’s Wicca, the first publically acceptable face of witchcraft had burst into the media unashamed in 1954 with the publication of Witchcraft Today. Although the measure of the laws against witchcraft had mellowed over time, it had been an offense since Anglo-Saxon times, meaning that Gardner’s first revelations of the Craft had tentatively appeared in 1949 in fictional guise. As an added precaution, that novel- High Magic’s Aid bore his witch-name ‘Scire’ as the only clue to its authorship.

Under Gardner witchcraft became a religion with a new set of rules, backed by Gardner’s astonishing claims that he was the member of an English coven of unbroken oral tradition dating from pre Christian days. Sadly, the origins of Gardner’s rituals didn’t even extend back a hundred years, betraying clear influences from a number of sources including the works of Robert Graves and Aleister Crowley. Although English Wicca incorporates aspects of English folk magic within it, Gardner’s basis is found amongst a variety of other traditions such as the C.G Leland’s Aradia, a small publication that appeared at the close of the 19^th century detailing Italian witch rites that he saw as ultimately drawn from the religious and magical practices of the ancient Etruscans. This is not to say that Wicca and folk magic are worlds apart, as both exhibit similar methodologies in terms of magical working, but Wicca is a new pagan religion rather than a revitalisation of what is often termed “the old ways” from an English perspective.

It is no surprise that Gardner’s claims attracted a counterblast from those aligned to what are referred to as more traditional witch practices, all claiming to be based on other traditions, and more often than not, even more arcane lineages, but do they have any real substance? The evidence for such is scant, and in most cases seriously lacking. For example, the story of Alex Sanders, Gardner’s biggest rival, contains a number of inconsistencies, most notably the two widely differing accounts of his own witch initiation. Sanders had largely tried to put a little more of the folk magic back into Wicca, but had retained much of Gardner’s basic religious structure and penchant for dubious history.

Others claimed a still more ‘traditional craft’ as it is now widely known. For instance, Robert Cochrane’s Clan of Tubal Cain, or 1724 tradition as it is often referred to, has been revealed as a similar hotchpotch of borrowed goods to that of Gardner, with its date of inauguration seemingly a fallacy if the evidence revealed by Doreen Valiente is to be believed, and certain elements are difficult to refute. Her Rebirth of Witchcraft also highlights many other questionable aspects of its claimed lineage.

Regardless of the validity of claim or counter claim, of which the real truth may never be known, there is a clear pattern emerging here; one of a disparate need to outdo each-other in terms of their specific archaic origins and unbroken working lineage, with the emphasis on the latter. Whereas English witchcraft itself may predate all of these spurious claims, it bears little relation to their formal structure and religious observations. It was, and still is, in its purest form, largely a solitary pursuit, and where any direct conference of powers from one person to another is concerned, this has been shown to have been relatively short lived, spanning no more than a few generations. Similarly, whereas these solitary witches probably had contact with each other on occasion, the formalised covine structure underpinning these traditions is derived from Dr Margaret Murray’s now largely discredited ideas first put forward in the early 20^th century.

So, the conundrum remains, just what is real witchcraft and is it still accesible as such today? The answer is yes, although it is not that simple. As already stated, true witchcraft is folk magic, and as such, is constantly evolving. Its only element that survives in terms of any long standing continuity is the land itself, the source of its power. It is the only verifiable point of connection to the magic of the past in this context, and one that can still provide the witch with all that is required to interact with it on both spiritual and practical levels.

With regard to the former, this can be achieved by ritual interaction with its places of power; its woods, wells and fields, its rivers, coves and seas, its places of the ancestral dead, all those sites that have been sacred through the ages. These are the only verifiable lineage of folk magic, and it requires nothing more to continually exist. Such sites also provide the witch with the practical elements essential to the arte, as well as teaching its ways to those willing to listen to its genius loci, their spiritual personifications.

Such an approach seems lost to many modern pagans in their desire for arcane knowledge, preferring to put their trust in dubious traditions. This is not to say that Gardner’s Wicca and other modern pagan traditions are devoid of any merit, but they are not witchcraft in its purest sense, and often clouded by emphasis on an ancient continuity of physical lineage which does not exist. 

To some degree, there are modern pagans who have attempted to revitalize witchcraft as folk magic in a purer sense. Those of particular note that rose to some prominence include the late Andrew Chumbley, who incorporated aspects of traditional East Anglian folk magic within his own diverse praxis. The connection to the land is one also understood by Peter Grey and Alkistis Dimech of publishers Scarlet Imprint. Having found the modern pagan traditions wanting in the sense of their comparitive safety and compromise, they have all sought to return the figure of the witch to one who resides outside the confines of modern society. Redefined as such, their respective witchcraft may not be to everyone’s taste, but undeniably connects to its folk magic roots with no overt emphasis on claims of dubious lineage, merely concentrating on its own existence and practice.

There are also practitioners and writers such as Michael Howard and Nigel Pennick who have chronicled many facets of traditional English folk magic, the latter having particularly championed its Scandinavian ancestry.  There is no doubt that European, and in particular Scandinavian folk witchcraft, with its inclusion of both Christian and pagan elements, does parallel English folk magic in terms of its method and practical application as part of its natural evolution. Such acknowledgement and inclusion of Christian elements in English folk magic are an alien concept to many neo-pagans, but it is now a valid part of the whole nevertheless.

Such breathing of new life into tradition is not confined to Essex and East Anglia, just one such example being the renewal of the Pellar path of Cornish witchcraft recently popularised by Gemma Gary. Within her work we find no pretension of arcane lineage, but a clear mandate to follow long standing folk tradition augmented by personal communion and practice. As such, it represents a valuable insight into a rural tradition that has seen little change over the past couple of centuries, and is founded on that vital connection to the land itself. Acknowledging both Christian and pagan elements, it clearly parallels the Cornish folk magic of the 19^th century according to both oral and written tradition. This fusion is also shown through the practices of the cunning folk, particularly here in East Anglia. These show similar methods of working that can be dated through written record to the 19^th century, with some accounts dating to the 18^th century. The rise of this dual observance for this new kind of witch only came to prominence in the 16^th century. As an antidote to malevolent witchcraft, the cunning folk specialised in removing curses and other magical afflictions. That is not to say that they could not effectively curse if they wished, and in some cases, probably did. The moral stance of the true folk-Witch has traditionally been one of ambivalence, cursing and curing as they saw fit or were employed to do, each according to their own conscience. Some continuity of this position may be found amongst the chovihani or ‘gypsy witches’, who have always practiced both ‘black’ and ‘white’ magic, woefully inadequate as those terms may be.

Having potentially muddied the murky waters of Craft tradition as much as having provided answers, an annotated reading list of books is in preparation for posting which will hopefully serve as a primer to further research. Whereas they will undoubtedly clarify some of the issues already raised, the lack of verifiable witch tradition is scant amongst their pages, and it is left up to the reader to distinguish truth from half truth or outright lie. The land itself remains the only verifiable constant, and its many secrets are not revealed easily!

Author 'The Fork in the Road' 

FINALLY!! This arrived today - The Dragon-book of Essex 

More images and info to come :)

New arrival today...

 

 Cecil Williamson's Book of Witchcraft.

In 1996, whilst helping the then new owner Graham King in refurbishments to the Museum of Witchcraft, Steve happened upon a handwritten manuscript entitled simply ‘Witchcraft’ and containing an intriguing pot-pourri of esoterica from the hand of the Museum's founder; Cecil Williamson. It is this manuscript which provides the basis for Steve's book which includes a full annotated transcript of the ‘Witchcraft’ manuscript, a history of Cecil Williamson and the Museum of Witchcraft, a treatise on Cecil Williamson’s vision of traditional Witchcraft - the practices and the philosophy of the wayside witches, an account of his meetings with Aleister Crowley and Gerald Gardner, and a controversial account of his witnessing of the birth of ‘Wicca’. The book is both a valuable reliquary of practices for the traditional witch, and a resource for folklorists and historians alike; telling the tale of a hitherto largely ignored, but hugely influential episode in modern occult history, and one of the great unsung heroes of the twilight world of folklore and witchcraft.

Although not yet listed on their website the book is available from Tory Books (unless sold out) Troy Books link is on the right

  

Another great article on my adopted great grandfather Mr. Murrell

Hadleigh's White Witch - how should we remember him?

By Robert Hallmann

An office block stands on a narrow lane called Endway, just south of the church in Hadleigh. It has taken the place of a row of six old weatherboarded cottages, the second of which, coming from the church, used to be the home of James ‘Cunning’ Murrell, shoemaker. We don’t know if he was a good shoemaker, though his fame, which reached as far as London and Kent in his time, seems to be quite remarkable. Even today, people around the world are researching his background and connections and publishing them on websites. It was his sideline that spread his name, for he claimed to be the seventh son of a seventh son – a witch, but a white one and he had the angels on his side.

He had been baptized at St Mary the Virgin, Hawkwell, on 9 October 1785. His place of birth was given as Rochford in the 1851 Census. That survey lists the widower James Murrills (then 66) as living with his son Edward (26), his daughter Eleanor (16), another daughter Louisa Spendale (20) and her son of six months William Spendle (!).

Of James and Elizabeth Murrell’s children, 16 were counted in the parish registers of St James the Less – though it seems that more died in infancy. Murrell left this world in Hadleigh on 16th December 1860, and if his date of baptism is correct, which usually took place only days after a birth, he was 75 years old, having foretold his own death to the day and the hour.

Around 1890, when the writer Arthur Morrison visited the cottage and met the new tenants who were in their nineties, they still believed in and praised the remarkable wizard, who had lived there before them. They talked of the cures he had performed, the amazing recovery of stolen goods, his prophecies aided by the stars and his triumphs over the designs of witches. The front door of the cottage opened into the little room where he had received his clients ‘amid walls hung about thick with the herbs that he was always gathering,’ though there are also reports of stashed contraband in that cottage.

Morrison borrowed a trap from Mr. Cracknell, the landlord of the Castle Inn at the time. They drove over to Thundersley, where they found Murrell’s son, Edward ‘Buck’ Murrell, working in a field – an illiterate, stocky, white-haired labourer, who soon became the centre of attention and a mine of anecdotes about his mystic father at the promise and deliverance of a pint of mild.

Murrell’s landlord had buried the little old man’s chest and other possessions in the back garden, but Buck had recovered them and they opened that promising chest in the parlour of the Castle Inn.

On Buck’s father’s death a sack full of letters had been destroyed, yet there were still many left in the wooden chest among other scraps of paper covered in ‘crabby’ writing amid calculations, horoscopes, exorcisms and conjurations and obscure ancient books on Arthur Morrison’s visit.

Among books on astrology and astronomy, old medical books, a bible and a prayer book were home-made books and manuscripts. Some of these dealt with conjurations and magic, astrology and horoscopes.

Not surprisingly, perhaps, to the cynic, there were also collected many notes carrying intimate details of persons, which, if revealed at the right time, would no doubt impress the gullible…

The letters proved the immense faith people put into Murrell’s powers, like the one that read: “I have took the powder it made me verrey quear in the stummuk pleas send sum more.”

Yet for all his fame he had remained poor. Even when Morrison was shown his grave and those of his family around him by his son Edward ‘Buck’ Murrell at the east side of Hadleigh church, the graves were unmarked. And even then most were just a discolouration in the turf. Mysteriously, Morrison recalls, he lay at rest there with twenty of his children about him! Another amazing feat of the ‘Cunning’ magician and conjurer?

Arthur Morrison published both a novel and a ‘Strand’ magazine article on ‘Cunning’ Murrell in 1900.

CUNNING MURRELL LANE?

The idea was first suggested by a neighbour and has been welcomed by some, if not all of those I have spoken to since. Hadleigh's former resident James Murrell (1780-1860), colourful hero of print and fiction as well as many folk memories, has no local recognition. We don't acknowledge him anywhere in Hadleigh apart from his inclusion in the relief on the Library wall, not even with a blue plaque on the site of his former abode.

There is, however, a path roughly connecting Castle Lane and Chapel Lane just north in the Salvation Army complex that is known as Fitzwilliam Road or more colloquially as Piggery Lane. (Who is or was Fitzwilliam?) It's not much of a road, but it takes in great views, is a bit devious and slippery and could have been part of the little man's herb gathering walks? It's a small, local idea, but it would add a little zest in an about to be much publicised area, so close to the Olympic site.

While I would welcome a commemoration of the little man out in nature, others are not too happy with renaming ‘Piggery Lane’. Naming one of the newly planned commercial ‘lanes’ as part of the council’s regeneration plans in the town centre have been suggested as possible memorials, or even a statue in the middle of Hadleigh? Something more prominent than a country lane? Another suggestion is an annual Cunning Murrell award at a local school to provide ‘a maintenance-free, vandal-proof memorial’. Perhaps on a history subject? Or on traditional medicine? Or on folklore?

Local artist David Hurrell has added another interesting alternative: ‘…there is an ancient lane running from the Chapel Lane Recreation Ground through to Benfleet Road (across the old Hadleigh Common) which has never been named (except the school-kids used to refer to it as Dog Pooh Alley!). Nowadays, since dog-owners have cleaned up their act (and the pooh) it is a pleasant cut-through for school children and other locals. There is a natural water-course (ditch) which could provide scope for some useful planting, and it runs alongside the Allotments. The path could easily be extended down to the War Memorial Gardens and the Chapel Lane hedge improved for wildlife. Maybe Lady Olivia Sparrow also deserves a mention in the town? (Incidentally, there is another old track from the bottom of Chapel Lane in danger of disappearing into obscurity -- Snipes Lane -- which could do with re-instatement.)’

So, how about David's idea for a CUNNING MURRELL LANE or PATH?

Others may have different ideas still. Perhaps it can be discussed and a local accord arrived at?

Illustrations by an unknown artist from my 2009 book 'Essex Ghost Stories'. The drawings were first published with one of the stories in Essex Countryside (now Essex Life) magazine some years ago, and include quotations from the wizard's own writings. Here 'Cunning' Murrell meets the author...?

My own favourite: 'Cunning' Murrell, the Devil's Master...

An illustration by Jean Westell based on descriptions of James Murrell.

Jean Westell

The Psalter without Cain

Stuck in a small German town following the cancellation of our flight I thought I'd post up this image...
Recently bought Xoanon's Psalter of Cain (very good book) from an online book dealer (very good dealer)  All was fine until I looked inside and found that Cain had escaped the page!!

  My copy

It's supposed to look like this

I contacted the dealer and he offered to replace it but I've kept it as it's probably quite rare, and, you never know, Cain might come back! :)

The Toad Bone Amulet

The Cunning Craft - Toad Bone ritual 

One of the most intriguing areas of Cunning Man Magic is the Toad Bone Ritual.
The ritual itself was made popular by Andrew Chumbley in his book 'Grimoire of the Golden Toad' (which is next to impossible to get hold of) and  the much more readily available 'Leaper Between' But is has been around a lot longer. As the writer here mentions the ritual first popped up in Pliny's Natural History, but more definitely described by Albert Love.

In addition to the descriptions below it is also mentioned in George Ewart Evans'

'The Crooked Scythe: An Anthology of Oral History' and Briefly in 'The Pattern Under the Plough'.

I have also discovered it being described in a children's TV show called 'Moon Stallion'. I've found a clip on Youtube   showing the kids discovering the ritual, or part of it...

Youtube video

Moon Stallion - Toad Bone ritual  

This is taken from American Folklore/witchcraft site and thought it well worth republishing...

The Toad Bone Amulet

Witches are infamous for deriving a bit of their power from a magical amulet known as The Toad Bone. The toad bone is first mentioned in Pliny's Natural History, and it disseminates throughout the western world from there. We are primarily interested in the motif of the Toad Bone in the British Isles, and its influence on American folk Craft. Given below is a first hand account of the Toad Bone ritual by Albert Love (b.1886) published in 1966.

‘Well, the toads that we use for this are actually in the Yarmouth area in and around Fritton. We get these toads alive and bring them home. They have a ring round their neck and are what they call walking toads. We bring them home, kill them, and put them on a whitethorn bush. They are there for twenty four hours till they dry. Then we bury the toad in an ant-hill; and it’s there for a full month, till the moon is at the full. Then you get it out; and it’s only a skeleton. You take it down to a running stream when the moon is at the full. You watch it carefully, particular not to take your eyes off it. There’s a certain bone, a little crotch-bone it is, it leaves the rest of the skeleton and floats uphill against the stream. Well, you take that out of the stream, take it home, bake it, powder it and put it in a box; and you use oils with it the same as you do for the milch. While you are watching these bones in the water, you must on no consideration take your eyes off it. Do [if you do] you will lose all power. That’s where you get your power from for messing about with horses, just keeping your eyes on that particular bone. But when you are watching it and these bones are parting, you’ll hear all the trees and all the noises that you can imagine, even as if buildings were falling down or a traction engine is running over you. But you still mustn’t take your eyes off, because that’s where you lose your power. Of course, the noises must be something to do with the Devil’s work in the middle of the night....’ "

This description of the Toad Bone ritual contains many of the elements common to Toad Bone folklore, primarily the stripping of the toad's flesh by placement on an anthill, and the ability of the Toad Bone to float upstream.

In Haggard (ed., 1935, pp. 13-14) we read the following account of the full toad-bone ritual. This version is recounted by an old Norfolk poacher, who states that he had learnt the charm from his grandmother, a person who was quite evidently a typical rural wise-woman. The indications given in the text for the ages of the poacher and his grandmother probably locate the grandmother’s version of the charm approximately around 1850.

‘There was one charm she told me of wich was practiced wen any one wanted to get comand over there fellow creaturs. Those that wished to cast the spell must serch until they found a walking toad. It was a toad with a yellow ring round its neck, I have never seen one of them but I have been told they can be found in some parts of the Cuntry. Wen they found the toad they must put it in a perforated box, and bury it in a Black Ant’s nest. Wen the Ants have eaten all the flesh away from the bones it must be taken up, and the person casting the spell must carry the bones to the edge of a running stream the midnight of Saint Marks Night, and throw them in the water. All will sink but one single bone and that will swim up stream. When they have taken out the bone the Devell would give them the power of Witch craft, and they could use that power over both Man and Animales.’

Natterjack Toad (Epidalea calamita, formerly Bufo calamita)

The toad in question is the British walking toad, the Natterjack Toad, beloved by Doreen Valiente. Natterjacks have short legs that give them a distinct "walking" gait, and possess a yellow line trailing down their back which could be the "yellow ring" sought for.

The Toad Bone was a common element of the society of the Horseman's Word, a group associated with folk magic.

I am indebted to the late Andrew Chumbley for his treatment on the Toad Bone, The Leaper Between, which is, alas, no longer available online other than via the Google Wayback Machine.

original post -  http://afwcraft.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/toad-bone-amulet.html

The Cunning Man

By Robert Hallmann

When the Wizard walked these acres
Ever watchful. Herb and heal.
All the creatures of his maker
Knew the worth of his appeal. 

Mr. Murrell, can you help me?
Can you help me, Mr. Murls?
I have lost my father’s fobwatch.
Do you know who stole my pearls? 

Mr. Murrell, I am anxious.
That’s why I appeal to you.
My intended still avoids me,
Can you tell him what to do? 

Will you send another potion
That will make my stummic heal?
I have taken what you sent me –
Now I’ve got a funny feel… 

My poor horse has got the colic,
Can you make him pull his load?
And my cow has dried up udders.
Should I boil a frog and toad? 

Does my husband have a lover?
Oh, I think he’s gone astray.
Will he leave me? Can you make him
See the error of his way? 

She is evil. My suspicion
Is, she doesn’t wish me well…
Can you make your special bottle
To explode my neighbour’s spell?

The Beggining....

This is my first post here. I intend to update this page with thoughts and ideas over the coming months however, due to having a career that's certainly not 9 to 5 means that I'll not always have time to post new material. So, from time to time, I shall re post essays, articles and writings of fellow 'crafters, sorcerers and 'brethren of the path'. 

First, the name of the site. - The Cunning Craft

I have never thought of myself as a 'witch' of any persuasion. I recognise the importance and significance of  Gerald Gardner for breathing new life into an old way of life, but I'm certainly no wiccan!
 I am more drawn to the 'traditional witchcraft' of Robert Cochrane, Even John Jones, and the Clan of Tubal Cain, but have my own misgivings, which I'd sooner not go into here.

Quite naturally I am drawn to the now famous fellow Essex magician Andrew Chumbley and have managed to acquire copies of most of his works. (Still awaiting the arrival of The Dragon Book of Essex) But since his departure from this world I've not really kept up with the releases of 'Three Hands Press' which, along with Xoanon, is the only real source of information of the works of the Cultus Sabbati (although I love the term Sabbatic craft!)

There is however an Essex character I am certainly drawn to, especially as he was born, lived and died only a few miles form me. James 'cunning' Murrell, was a truly fascinating man!

The following article has been borrow from 'Time-Travel Britian'and is by Sue Kendrick
(When I borrow articles i'll always credit and add a link to original at the end.)

If you think witch doctors lived only in remote regions of darkest African, then you obviously haven't visited the county of Essex and heard the tales of "Cunning Murrell."

Dubbed the last witch doctor in England, James Murrell was born in 1812 in the village of Hadleigh, just inland from the coastal town of Southend-on-Sea. He was the seventh son of a seventh son, which is said to confer the gift of second sight. A secretive man who travelled only by night, he was a skilled astrologer and herbalist and was often seen collecting plants by the light of the moon and suspending them from the rim of his umbrella.
It was his astrological knowledge that elevated Murrell to the status of a true "cunning man", rather than the more usual hedge witch, wizard or conjuror. Frequently of good education, cunning men (or woman) were thought to practise a form of high magic and ritual largely unknown amongst their more lowly peers. Their knowledge of traditional herbal-based medicine was generally extensive and in some cases ran parallel to orthodox medicine. Whether James Murrell had any formal medical training is unknown, but his skill as a herbalist was legendary.

Like most of his kind, his skills were not confined to humans, but were also dispensed to the animal kingdom. In fact, most cunning men were called upon to treat sick animals as often as their human counter parts. After all, in an age where the death of a pig could spell starvation or at the least a very lean winter, the life of a one child too many often carried less weight than that of the family's main food supply.

Murrell's talents, however, extended far beyond those of simple herbal cures. He had a mirror that had the useful attribute of being able to locate lost or stolen property, while his magic telescope allowed him to see through walls -- which came in very useful should an enquirer suspect his wife of unfaithfulness. The copper bracelet he wore on his wrist had perhaps the most useful function of all: the power to detect dishonest men. No doubt it contributed much to Cunning Murrell's material success.

These were by no means the extent of James Murrell's talents. He often referred to himself as the Devil's Master and claimed to be an adept at exorcising spirits, lifting curses and chastising witches. His witch bottles were well known and were used in conjunction with nail parings, blood, urine and hair. His success at dealing with witches who worked on the dark side was legendary.
One case involved a young girl who barked like a dog and was said to be cursed by a gypsy woman. Murrell made up a witch bottle, which was heated at midnight until it exploded. The next morning, it is claimed, the girl was cured and the charred body of the gypsy was found face down in her campfire.
True to form, James Murrell foretold his death to the day, dying on the 15th of December, 1860. His grave lies unmarked in Hadleigh churchyard."

Acknowledgement -  http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/history/cunning.shtml

Personally I'd love nothing more than to find his grave and give it a proper gravestone!