Halloween Witches

London: 25th February 2007

A local woman living in the suburbs says she saw a witch yesterday. She was frightened when she called us up at the newspaper last night. She said she was only informing us about this because she felt that others should know that witches exist. This is what she had to say; "I got out of my car, when I noticed a lady on the street. She was well dressed and seemed preoccupied, I noticed her talking to someone but was not able to see who that was. After some time, I realized she was getting agitated as she was moving her hands about in frustration; she even raised her voice a little. I increased my pace and reached the door to my house, as I stopped to take the keys out of my bag, I looked back. This is when I saw that she had vanished, when I looked up I saw her and two other women using brooms to fly in the sky."

Warlocks and witches have been associated with Halloween for a long time now. Legends talk about witches gathering twice a year when the season’s change. The first gathering was held on April 30th, which is the eve of May Day and the other on the eve of October 31st, which is All Hallow’s day.

On these nights, it is said that on the nights mentioned above there would be a gathering of witches where they would come on broomsticks to celebrate a party hosted by the devil. There are superstitions that tell of witches casting spells on unsuspecting people, transforming themselves into different forms and also causing other magical mischief.

It is said that if you want to meet a witch, you have to put your clothes on wrong side out and walk backwards on the night of Halloween. Doing this is supposed to ensure that you see a witch at midnight!

The early settlers who came to America brought with them their belief in witches. Here the legends of the witch spread and mixed with other beliefs such as the Native Americans and later with the black magic belief of the African slaves.

The black cat is an animal that has been associated with witches for a very long time now, and because of this there are many superstitions surrounding it too. Some of the superstitions state that witches could change into cats; some even believed that cats were the spirits of the dead. But, the best superstition says that if a black cat crosses your path, you need to turn around and go back because many people believe that if you continue bad luck will strike you.

As Halloween is the time to wear scary masks, you could try out the Halloween witch costumes that are available for kids and adults and can be purchased at various stores. Costume, face paint and accessories, complete the whole witch’s ensemble.