Malcolm Gaskill: Hellish Nell: Last of Britain's witches

By MARGIE THOMSON

The title is a little misleading. "Hellish" Helen Duncan was indeed branded a witch when she was convicted in 1944 under Britain's Witchcraft Act of 1735, but she never called herself such. She was a Spiritualist medium, who made her reputation (and her living) by calling up the spirits of the dead for those left behind.

In the grief-stricken years around World War I there was much demand for the services of mediums. For people such as Duncan - an enormously fat, illness-ridden, poverty-stricken housewife and mother - a gift for "second sight", enhanced by some tricks of stagecraft, was the path from poverty to a reasonable livelihood.

While Gaskill's style is meandering at times, the story he tells is intriguing and provides an evolutionary framework and explanation for our own age's fascination with psychic phenomena, and our enduring desire to believe in more than just the material world.

Fourth Estate

$24.95