The Witch of Endor

The "Witch of Endor" was the woman consulted by King Saul when the hosts of the Philistines were arrayed against him. See I Sam. xxviii. 7-21.

A tradition preserved by Jerome makes her the mother of Abner, therefore the aunt of King Saul.

It is supposed to be on this account that she escaped from the wholesale slaughter of witches made by order of Saul. Abner was his first cousin and the commander-in-chief of his armies. Abner and Amas are also named by tradition as the companions of Saul, and eye-witnesses of the facts recorded in the First Book of Samuel, chapter xxviii.

Pope Innocent VIII. issued a bull against witchcraft in 1484.

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries an incredible number of persons were put to death for witchcraft.

The laws against witchcraft in England were repealed in 1736, during the reign of George II.

The last victims were Mrs. Hicks, and her daughter aged nine years: they were executed in 1716.