We designate the spirit of the well as ‘she’ because in most of her personifications she takes a female form, though not invariably. She appears in many guises – ghost, witch, saint, mermaid, fairy, and...

In the Scotland of the early seventeenth century, an old woman living alone in Kirkcudbrightshire was accused of witchcraft and on conviction was rolled downhill in a blazing tar barrel. One of the charges against...