Ball was supposedly the familiar (or demon) kept by Elizabeth Device, one of the Pendle or Lancashire Witches. Her 9 year old daughter Jennet, testified in the court room that he was a brown dog, and claimed she had seen her mother and Ball discuss the various murders he would carry out. He was described as a brown dog (nope, not a cat!)
This was one part of the evidence given by Jennet against her mother. In 1612, Elizabeth Device and 9 others would be hanged on Jennet’s testimony.
An A to Z of Witchcraft: C is for Cobham
Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester was one of the more high profile individuals to be accused of wielding magic. In 1441, she was accused of treasonable necromancy. She had consulted with Astrologers that had foreseen the King’s death in a matter of months. The Astrologers had told the court that Eleanor was the instigator. Eleanor…
An A to Z of Witchcraft: A is for Agnes Brown
Agnes Brown was a 12 year old girl living in Essex and was one of the many villagers who accused Agnes Waterhouse, also known as Mother Waterhouse, of witchcraft in 1566. It was on her evidence that Agnes Waterhouse became the first woman to be executed for witchcraft in England. In her testimony, Agnes Brown…
The Little Girl at the Centre of England’s Most Notorious Witchcraft Trial.
How one little girl changed the course of English Legal History, Jennet Device.
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Sources (because I don’t know everything)
‘A Wonderful Discoverie of Witches in the County of Lancaster’ by Thomas Potts. PDF accessed from https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/potts-s-discovery-of-witches-in-the-county-of-lancaster-1845
thehistorymonsteruk.wordpress.com 