Witchcraft, Magic and Mystery
Sark had a witch trial, and in 1627 it ended in an execution.
Rachel Alexandre kept a farm at La Sablonnerie on Little Sark after her husband, Jean Nicole, was accused of sorcery, imprisoned at Castle Cornet and banished following his escape. In 1627 a Guernsey court convicted Rachel of sorcery. Her surviving sentence names no specific evidence, while later correspondence says the case came down to sour milk and a cat that would not leave her.
- 01
Sark's Witch Trials
Sour milk and a cat that would not leave her: the story behind a Little Sark woman's 1627 conviction for sorcery.
- 02
Jean Nicole's escape from Castle Cornet
Jean Nicole of Little Sark was accused of sorcery, held in Castle Cornet and escaped at night with a prisoner accused of murder.
- 03
What counted as witchcraft evidence?
Guernsey's 1617 witchcraft accusations began with ordinary misfortune: sickness, dying livestock, failed milk, lice and objects believed to be charms.
- 04
Sex with the Devil: what Guernsey's witch trials recorded
Guernsey's 1617 witchcraft case began with illness and failed milk. The Devil, Sabbath and sexual confessions came after conviction and torture.
- 05
Put to the question: how Guernsey made witches name other witches
Guernsey's witch trials used torture after conviction to get confessions and accomplice names. A later account explains what 'put to the question' meant.
- 06
WITCH: Woman in Total Command of Herself?
How an accusation that once carried a death sentence became a chosen identity, through Jersey records and the modern revival.
- 07
Sark folklore, and the stories tied to the land
Sark's folklore is attached to real lanes, caves, chimneys and cliffs. The Tchico, the pouquelayes and the stories that still change how visitors see it.
- 08
Les Veilles: how Sark's stories survived
Les Veilles were Sark evening gatherings where islanders knitted, talked and passed on stories of ghosts, pirates and witchcraft.
- 09
Sark's Old Devil
In Sark folklore, Peter de Carteret was known as L'Vi Diable, the Old Devil, and his imps were said to forge money and build boats overnight.
- 10
The book that would not stay gone
Le Grand Albert and Le Petit Albert carry an uncanny reputation: books that could be burned, buried or thrown into the sea, and still return.
- 11
The Sark witch who became a duck
Sark folklore tells of a Guernsey hunter who shot a duck at Havre Gosselin with a silver bullet, then met a girl returning home with a wounded hand.
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