A shopkeeper WitchThe only known shopkeeper witch in Wales was Richard Evans of Llangurig, Powys who lived in the middle part of the nineteenth century. His shop was on the main street of Llangurig, and he owned several other buildings including The Queens Head Hotel. One advantage of being a witch was that he could catch and punish any shop lifters himself, so had hardly any trouble. Some shoplifters were as cunning and clever as the modern ones, and felt they could even fool a witch. They were in fact fooling themselves if they thought that Richard Evans would not detect a theft, and know who did it. One day in the summer of 1858 a woman came into his shop and when she thought the witch was busy, stole a length of woollen cloth and hid it under her cloak. Richard Evans sensed what had happened, and at once cast a spell on the woman, making her stand in the middle of the shop, holding the cloth above her head. Everyone who came into the shop laughed at the woman who could not even drop the cloth. She cried and begged for forgiveness and pleaded to be set free from the spell. Determined to teach the woman a lesson he kept her there in his shop until the end of the day. In this instance hypnosis had passed for magic. As he left her out of the shop he shouted after her “Next time I will turn you into a frog”, and laughed as the terrified woman ran off. There was however one man who very nearly managed to steal something from Richard Evans’ shop. He was a local man called Ifor Llaw Flewog (Ifor of the hairy hand), which is a term used in Wales sometimes to describe a thief, so and so of the hairy hand. Ifor made off with a large stone jar of treacle, but made one mistake – he left behind the ladle, which was always kept by the side of the jar. Richard Evans picked up the ladle and using his gifts as a witch knew in seconds that it was Ifor who had stolen the jar, and where he had buried it. He willed Ifor to bring it back and before too long sure enough Ifor appeared carrying the heavy jar. Richard Evans then commanded the jar be put on Ifor’s head and he stood that way for four hours. When the time was up, Ifor was feeling dizzy and humiliated, but promised he would never steal anything from Richard’s shop again. As was the case in those superstitious days many people came to the witches for advice with their domestic and love related problems. They also sought cures for various ailments and illnesses and usually left well satisfied with the witch’s remedies. Richard Evans made a great deal of money not only from his magical potions, but from his shop as well. One morning he received an urgent summons to a mansion near Llanidloes which was supposed to be haunted by an evil spirit. The owner of the mansion wanted Richard to exorcise the spirit. The witch knew a fearless character from Llangurig called Baxter, and called on him on the way. Richard decided that a small paddock would be the ideal place to perform the ritual to remove this unquiet spirit. Telling Baxter to tether the horses, he drew a large circle in the middle of the paddock and told Baxter sternly “Get inside this circle and whatever you see, on no account step out of it.” Telling Baxter that he would soon be back, Richard strode off. As he stood in the circle Baxter heard a strange sound, which seemed to be coming nearer. The noise grew louder and in addition, Baxter heard the clinking of chains. Suddenly he saw a massive black bull standing in front of him , it’s heavy chain being the source of the clinking noise. The bull began pawing the ground and snorting furiously. Baxter was quite certain the bull was Satan in disguise, but knowing Richard Evan’ supposed power over the Devil, he was not in the least bit afraid so long as he stayed in the circle, and that was what he did. Unfortunately for him he had not reasoned correctly, for it was in fact a real bull that stood there and then charged and threw poor Baxter high into the air. He picked himself up smartly and dashed off in the direction of home, forgetting all about his horse and indeed Richard Evans. When the witch returned he was very angry at his companion’s disappearance, as he now had to complete the exorcism alone. This proved to be a lengthy task as the spirit did not wish to reveal itself. Finally however with a loud wailing noise the spirit did manifest itself into the form of a black goat with burning red eyes. It charged at the circle but could not enter, it quickly transformed into a huge black bear, but still could not reach the exorcist. The third time it changed it turned into an old man with a long white beard. This time Richard Evans knew he had won. “Now I have you. Go back to your grave, and stay for eternity” said the witch, using some more magic phrases.
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