THE ARGUS

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

18 September 1950

(page 2)

Did ‘flying broom’ bring death?

Hunt for witches is on in England.

A little old lady who this week uncovered what she claims to be a case of sacrificial murder in England, is on the trail of more witchcraft.

She is Dr. Margaret Murray, 74-year-old fellow of London University and Britain’s foremost authority on witches, spells, bubbling cauldrons, and black magic.

For years chubby Dr. Murray, standing four feet six in her flat-heeled shoes and rough tweed suit, has said: “Witches still exist in England.” Everyone at her lectures has been delighted to hear it.

No one took her seriously until this week. Now even Scotland Yard detectives are interested in her theory of ritual murder in Lower Quinton.

[ . . . ]

Black Mass Practised

Before the war police received a number of reports of Black Mass being celebrated in London.

Most notorious of the self-confessed believers in witchcraft and black arts was Aleister Crowley, who died three years ago.

He was called the “wickedest man in Britain,” and said to be a believer in blood sacrifices—“human sacrifices being best of all.”

He celebrated Black Mass—or Satan worship—raised devils, and held obscene rituals.

He was even accused of causing the death of a young man in Sicily whom he employed as a secretary.

The only recent case of Satan worship in England was in the little village of Yarcombe (Devon).

There on the eve of Twelfth Night; all gravestones which bore the Cross were overturned, the image of Christ in the church doorway was turned upside down, and all hymn books placed face downward.

The altar frontal had been reversed, and near one altar candle was a white cat’s paw recently amputated and singed at both ends.

The vicar was convinced a ritualistic service of black magic had been performed, and carried out a service of reparation and pronounced his church “clean, wholesome, and holy.”