Curses!

After unleashing I ❤️ Small Museums on the world, I realized that there is one more small museum that I just have to show you.

The Museum of Witchcraft and Magic – Boscastle, England

https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk

We hired a car in Bristol intending to spend a month meandering down the north coast of Devon and Cornwall to Lands End, then winding our way up the south coast as far as time would allow. In the end, we made it as far as Exeter.

To say that anything was the best about Cornwall, would be folly. It would be like saying, “I found the best grain of sand on the beach.” But I will say that the best museum we saw was in one of our favorite villages.

Boscastle has odd geography. There is a lower village at sea level and an upper village high on the towering cliffs. We stayed above, the museum is below next to the small harbor.

img_2283-1-768x1024-1685236 — As in many Cornish harbors, these fishing boats will be sitting on mud when the tide goes out

The museum was not quite what I expected. What did I expect? The dark side of witchcraft, I suppose. Not to say that there wasn’t some creepy stuff, but there was also a lot of information about the persecution of people, women mostly, who probably could have better been described as “healers”.

img_2263-1024x768-4173690 — The entrance to the museum is on the right

img_2277-1024x768-7024455 — Making a soothing balm or poison? You decide

img_2268-768x1024-8103935 — Zoom into this photo if you can. The tales written on the chalkboards are interesting

img_2269-768x1024-7335316 — The Weighing Chair: a test for a witch. If the person in the chair weighed less than the two bibles, (s)he was a witch. Since almost everyone passed this test, there is belief that the clergy used it as a way to save many of the accused

img_2281-768x1024-9407717 — Ceremonial robe donated by the French occultist Philippe Pissier

img_2280-scaled-e1588548211508-800x1024-8938166

img_2273-768x1024-3045419 — Voodoo Dolls. I think it’s pretty clear that no one wished these three well

And that’s just a small sample of this encyclopedic museum. A person with sufficient interest could spend a long, long time reading all the information in the many displays.

Just to show that Boscastle isn’t all witches and torture, I leave you with a happier memory.

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