Women who cast a spell
Bewitched, bothered and bewildered ... Sue Wilkinson shines a seasonal spotlight on crones who cast a spell across the county.
Witches conjure up images of old crones, dressed in black with pointy hats, crooked noses and long gnarled fingers.
Casting their spells over a bubbling brew in a cauldron, they are the epitome of evil.
They populate fairy tales such as Hansel and Gretel and Snow White.
And they cast curses on adults and predict dark days, as in Macbeth.
In reality, witches were often ordinary women of the village who attracted attention for their ability to heal.
Around 2,000 people, most of them women, were put before the English courts for witchcraft between 1560 and 1706.
Here are some Yorkshire
folk whose names have been associated with witchcraft.
Mary Bateman
Born Mary Harker in around 1768, she graduated from a common thief and trickster to Yorkshire's only known female serial killer.
Her ruthlessness, greed and claims to have supernatural powers earned her the nickname "The Yorkshire Witch".
Bateman conned vulnerable people out of their money and possessions with false prophecies, quack potions and worse!
She eventually graduated to killing people in order to enrich herself.
Aged 40, Bateman was hanged at York Castle on March 20 1809, in front of 5,000 people, some of whom still believed she had superpowers
and would be saved by divine intervention.
They bought cured cuts of her skin as charms.
Mary Pannell
She is known to have lived in a small hut in Ledston, where she is said to have mixed enchantments and frequently had encounters with evil spirits.
Other rumours say she was merely a herbalist but, when she gave a mixture to a young child named William Esquire of Ledston Hall in 1593 and he subsequently died, she was strongly accused of witchcraft.
The exact details of Mary’s death in 1603 varies widely.
Some believe she was hanged at York after her trial, whereas some say she was burned alive in woods just outside Castleford.
For those who say she was burnt to death, it is said she was the last ever witch in Britain to be burned for involvement in witchcraft.
Many now believe she haunts the woods that bear her name, Pannell Hill, located on the edge of Castleford.
Rumour has it that, if you see her ghost leading a horse in the woods, somebody close to you will then die.
There are echoes, here, of Susan Hill’s horror story The Woman in Black.
Mother Shipton
Mother Shipton, also known as Ursula Southeil, is believed to have been an English soothsayer and prophetess.
She lived from 1488 to 1561, born in Knaresborough in a grotto now widely known as Mother Shipton's Cave.
The tale of Mother Shipton is she foretold the fates of several rulers within her lifetime, predicted the invention of iron ships, Great Fire of London in 1666 and defeat of the Spanish Armada.
It is also believed that she predicted the end of the world!
Ursula was odd in nature, her nose believed to have been large and crooked, with bent back and twisted legs. This is where she got her reputation as a witch.
At the age of 24 she met a man called Tobias Shipton and, although he died a few years later, Ursula kept his name.
Her life continues to be celebrated and relayed today, her cave being a place for visitors to explore and learn more about one of Yorkshire’s most renowned witches.
Isabella Billington
The story goes that Isabella, a Pocklington witch, was hanged for witchcraft in York in 1649 after crucifying her own mother in some kind of satanic ritual.
Her story is immortalised at York Dungeon.
There are Halloween events across the county featuring witches.
They include ... Witches and Wizards, Pontefract Castle, October 26 to October 30. Meet the witch brewing her secret potions, create creepy crafts and follow the eerie trail.
All activities are free and there’s no need to book.
Hocus Pocus, Kirkstall Abbey, Leeds, October 28 and 29
The film from the '90s starred Bette Midler and featured witches, zombies and Thackery Binx, the talking cat.