Real Live Witch Awaits Thursday
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The Beckley Post-Herald - Beckley, West Virginia
October 28, 1963
October 28, 1963
BURLEY, England (AP) - Mrs.Sybil Leek -- a real live witch and proud of it -- has everything ready for Hallowe'en, including a
big black cauldron.
"But I'm not riding any broom," she explained.
The witch and the other 12 members of her coven will build a fire under the cauldron and brew some soup from herbs to keep
them warm on Hallowe'en.
Asked what time the coven would meet, she replied: "At midnight, of course, and we'll be up there until about dawn."
Mrs. Leek lives in the heart of the New Forest, a spooky stretch of dense woods about 100 miles southwest of London.
Mrs. Leek's coven includes both men and women. A coven is 13 witches or warlocks gathered in a witchcraft session. A
warlock is a male witch.
"I'm a witch," she went on, "and I practice witchcraft because witchcraft is the only true religion. And please don't get any
notion that we're a lot of cranks."
She said witchcraft is a great deal older than Christianity.
Asked how many witches and warlocks live in Britain, she said: "I know of at least 600 covens."
This works out to 7,800 practitioners of witchcraft on this island, which is about the size of Indiana.
Mrs. Leek, who is married and has a 12-year-old-son. Her husband, Brian, helps her with her sideline of witchcraft -- running
an antique shop in the New Forest.
Asked how he felt about his wife being a witch, Mr. Leek said; "Let's put it this way -- I'd rather have her on my side than
against me."
Mrs. Leek said the world's first midwives were witches.
About 10 years ago," she said, "the newspapers reported that a doctor had enabled a woman to have a baby quite painlessly
through hypnotism. It was hailed as great news. But thousands of years ago witches were doing the very same thing, and
some of them got burned at the stake for it.
"And there's another thing. Witchcraft is a very serious business. You have to apply yourself. There's no such thing as instant
witchcraft."
big black cauldron.
"But I'm not riding any broom," she explained.
The witch and the other 12 members of her coven will build a fire under the cauldron and brew some soup from herbs to keep
them warm on Hallowe'en.
Asked what time the coven would meet, she replied: "At midnight, of course, and we'll be up there until about dawn."
Mrs. Leek lives in the heart of the New Forest, a spooky stretch of dense woods about 100 miles southwest of London.
Mrs. Leek's coven includes both men and women. A coven is 13 witches or warlocks gathered in a witchcraft session. A
warlock is a male witch.
"I'm a witch," she went on, "and I practice witchcraft because witchcraft is the only true religion. And please don't get any
notion that we're a lot of cranks."
She said witchcraft is a great deal older than Christianity.
Asked how many witches and warlocks live in Britain, she said: "I know of at least 600 covens."
This works out to 7,800 practitioners of witchcraft on this island, which is about the size of Indiana.
Mrs. Leek, who is married and has a 12-year-old-son. Her husband, Brian, helps her with her sideline of witchcraft -- running
an antique shop in the New Forest.
Asked how he felt about his wife being a witch, Mr. Leek said; "Let's put it this way -- I'd rather have her on my side than
against me."
Mrs. Leek said the world's first midwives were witches.
About 10 years ago," she said, "the newspapers reported that a doctor had enabled a woman to have a baby quite painlessly
through hypnotism. It was hailed as great news. But thousands of years ago witches were doing the very same thing, and
some of them got burned at the stake for it.
"And there's another thing. Witchcraft is a very serious business. You have to apply yourself. There's no such thing as instant
witchcraft."
