346 – Wondrous Candle
- Physical description:
- Candle set in a fork of wood mounted on a wooden block, backed by a spider's-web-like spoked circle made of wire. From Charles Wade's collection at Snowshill Manor.
- Museum classification:
- Working Tools
- Size:
- 250 x 500 mm
- Information:
Charles Wade's inventory of the 'Witches' Garret' contains a detailed drawing of this object together with the following text:
''Secrets merveilleux de la magie naturelle et cabalistique' du Petit Albert. Published at Cologne in 1722. 'You must have a big candle composed of human tallow and it must be fixed into a forked piece of hazel-wood. Then if this candle, being lighted in a subterranean place, sparkles brightly with a good deal of noise it is a sign that there is treasure in that place, and the nearer you approach the treasure then the more will the candle sparkle, going out at length when you are quite close. You must have other candles in lanterns so as not to be left in the dark.''
See 129, 208, 209, 281, 1009, 1129 and 1396.
CWOLC 7894 reads:
"This strange arrangement of a candle set in the fork of treewood with a circular wire ring cris-crosses with wire thread so as to create a cobweb like structure was made and used by a witch living at Okehampton who, like the biblical witch of Endor, made a big thing of calling up the spirits of the dead and conversing with them. To that end she prowled the graveyards at the dead of night, where when the conditions were judged to be right she set up her spirit trap, making use of the old west country belief that night flying moths were the spirits of the dead. This contraption was a rather brilliant idea on her part for the candle flame attracted the night flying moths who in turn became entangles and trapped in the cobwed like strands of the wire covering of the circular frame. Thus enabling old Hilda Freeman to hold long conversations with her snared spirits. Hilda's spirit trap was discovered several years after her death concealed in a surface tomb with a loose side panel."
- Resource:
- Object
- Materials:
- Wood, metal, wax
- Copyright ownership:
- Copyright to The Museum of Witchcraft Ltd.
Charles Wade's inventory of the 'Witches' Garret' contains a detailed drawing of this object together with the following text:
''Secrets merveilleux de la magie naturelle et cabalistique' du Petit Albert. Published at Cologne in 1722. 'You must have a big candle composed of human tallow and it must be fixed into a forked piece of hazel-wood. Then if this candle, being lighted in a subterranean place, sparkles brightly with a good deal of noise it is a sign that there is treasure in that place, and the nearer you approach the treasure then the more will the candle sparkle, going out at length when you are quite close. You must have other candles in lanterns so as not to be left in the dark.''
See 129, 208, 209, 281, 1009, 1129 and 1396.
CWOLC 7894 reads:
"This strange arrangement of a candle set in the fork of treewood with a circular wire ring cris-crosses with wire thread so as to create a cobweb like structure was made and used by a witch living at Okehampton who, like the biblical witch of Endor, made a big thing of calling up the spirits of the dead and conversing with them. To that end she prowled the graveyards at the dead of night, where when the conditions were judged to be right she set up her spirit trap, making use of the old west country belief that night flying moths were the spirits of the dead. This contraption was a rather brilliant idea on her part for the candle flame attracted the night flying moths who in turn became entangles and trapped in the cobwed like strands of the wire covering of the circular frame. Thus enabling old Hilda Freeman to hold long conversations with her snared spirits. Hilda's spirit trap was discovered several years after her death concealed in a surface tomb with a loose side panel."