The Last Witch of North Berwick House by T J Podger

Author:T J Podger [Podger, T J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-01-06T06:00:00+00:00

The following morning Adrian packed his notebooks and pens into his satchel and, after a brief kiss on Agnes’ cheek, he left for the library. He was sure they might have some information he could access. In the past he’d used microfilm to research articles in his local library so he was sure, something as significant as a witch or even the history of North Berwick House would be documented somewhere.

It was a short drive to the local library and he was dismayed to discover they had no microfilm, nor any newspapers that dated back beyond the past ten years. It seemed all were destroyed after a fire had ravaged the property. He was, however, directed to the main and much larger library in Edinburgh, which was a little over a one hour drive away. Adrian deliberated about whether to make the journey that day or not. He had told Agnes he’d only be gone an hour or so. However, he came to the conclusion there was no time like the present. Of course, the Jaguar relished the journey, having spent most of its life pottering around the village. Adrian was in his element, having put his foot on the accelerator and cruising down the open road at a speed that would have Agnes screaming. He felt quite manic and also liberated.

The journey was a pleasant one, finding somewhere suitable to leave the Jaguar near enough to the library wasn’t so. However, he did and a short walk later he found himself inside the impressive building. After a conversation with a rather charming young librarian, whereupon Adrian explained he was researching for his latest novel, he was shown to a desk with a microfilm reader. He was astonished to learn the library had newspaper articles going back as far as the eighteen hundreds. Research was something Adrian was great at and he started with the property name.

It wasn’t long before his desk was covered with newspapers and notes. Every now and again, Adrian sat upright to stretch his back and he sighed. His newly acquired home certainly had some history, but more importantly, it appeared North Berwick itself was rather famous.

Adrian had discovered that back in King James VI’s day, North Berwick had been the site of one of the countries largest witch-hunts. Somewhere between seventy and two hundred witches had been executed. That figure had astounded him. He was amazed there were that many residents back in the fifteen hundreds, let alone witches.

The sensible part of Adrian’s brain took the information on the witches with a pinch of salt; that was until he came across a name.

Agnes Sampson had been one of the last witches to be executed in North Berwick.

A cold sweat beaded on Adrian’s forehead and upper lip. He patted his jacket pocket for his handkerchief and mopped his brow. He picked up the mug of tea the kind librarian had made for him and noticed his hand shook.

He wrote the name and underlined it many times. The old man had been correct.

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