Molly was born in 1685 and lived in a cottage on the edge of the moors at Burslem near Stoke-on-Trent. Molly was a solitary character who never married; she talked to the animals and kept a pet Blackbird. She made her living selling milk from a herd of cows to travellers and passers-by. An eccentric person, the Blackbird was often seen perched on her shoulder as she delivered milk to the dairy in Burslem.
Molly was known for her quick temper and the people of Burslem were suspicious and frightened of her. This was not uncommon in those times, for throughout the country ‘women’ and particularly elderly women who lived on their own in remote places, were labelled as witches.
In Molly’s case it was the local vicar the Rev. Spencer who made witchcraft accusations against her. He claimed that Molly sent her Blackbird to sit on the sign of the Turk’s Head pub, a pub that the vicar frequently visited, and when it did the beer turned sour. She was also blamed for other ailments suffered by numerous townsfolk.
Molly died in 1746 and was buried in the Burslem churchyard, but then many claimed that her ghost haunted the town. A short time after her burial, the Rev. Spencer along with clerics from Stoke, Wolstanton and Newcastle went to open her cottage and retrieve her pet Blackbird. When they arrived they were shocked to see Molly (or an apparition of her), sitting in a favourite armchair knitting with her pet Blackbird perched on her shoulders (just as she had often been seen in real life). Frightened, the vicar and others returned to the graveyard and reopened her grave. They drove a stake through her heart and threw the living Blackbird into the coffin. The vicar then decreed that as she was a witch, she would not rest easy until her body was buried lying North to South. To this day, Molly's tomb is the only one that lies at right angles to all the other graves in the churchyard.
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Walter Scott - Demonology And WitchcraftMontague Summers - Malleus Maleficarum
Anonymous - The Legal Basis For Wicca
Aleister Crowley - Concerning Blasphemy
