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this power‘psychobolie’ in an attempt
to find a universal theory applicable to
all psychic manifestations. But it fails to
explain why people might wish distant
volcanoes to erupt or tsunamis to occur or
why widely reviled figures such as Hitler and
his ilk did not die much sooner, since their
deaths must have been fervently wished by
millions.
As myAgistri experience shows, ghost
hunters and folklorists may still find such
beliefs around the world today. In Latin
American countries where witchcraft is
accepted as a day-to-day reality, informants
will garrulously speak of such powers,
often recommending where witches may
be found should onewant their services,
black or white! A similar enthusiasm for
discussing the topic is displayed in some
Asian countries. In contrast, in Africa and
the Middle East more reluctance may be
shown when speaking on such topics,
unless a dispensation or permission to
do so is issued by a local priest or imam.
Since some of these countries still retain
penalties for sorcery and witchcraft in
their legal codes, such inhibitions are
understandable. Many languages retain
phrases thatexpress the equivalents ofa
‘penetratinggaze’, ‘a withering glance’ ora
‘dirty look’ or to‘look daggers’, harkening
back to such ancient beliefs.Even speaking
of such things can be considered unlucky.
In the UK, ghost hunters and folklorists
have come acrossexamples, with such
survivals being most prevalent in eastern
England. Country writer and journalist
JamesWentworth Day (1899-1983) told
in hisEssex Ghosts(1974) of once going
to interview a well-known and friendly
blacksmith in the village ofTolleshunt
D’Arcy, taking a photographer with him.
Upon seeing the camera, the normally
mild-mannered blacksmith flew into arage,
shouting “It’s the evil eye” and demanding
its instant removal from his forge,
threatening to throw a hammer at them if
they did not comply. The sameyear Enid
Porter, curator of the Cambridge Museum of
Folk Life, referred to“an East Anglian village
which must remain anonymous” where one
womanwas said to possess the evil eye,
being blamed for accidents and misfortune
among children and neighbours (The
Folklore of East Anglia, 1974).
In Cambridgeshire and theFens, some
stories of bewitchment from the late 19th
and early 20thcenturies sound more like
poltergeist manifestations. Forexample, in
October 1804 at Sawston, near Cambridge,
strange events occurred at the home ofa
Mr and Mrs Thomas and Susannah Adams.
A letter from Jane Huddleston of Sawston
Hall recorded how:
“Mrs Adams since last Sunday has had
her gown torn every day in a manner she
could not account for... so it continueduntil she had put on five. She went to Mrs
Murphil’s house. No-onewas there but Mrs
M and Sally Cooper [a 13-year-old girl]. She
told of her misfortune and shewed her the
gown, whichwas quite whole when she sat
down, upon rising to their astonishment it
was slit in several directions. She put on six
gowns on Thursday and they were all rent.”
The phenomena were not confined to
Mrs Adams;“Almost everyone that has
been in the house have had their clothes
torn, men and women, old Adams’ coats,
etc...” The clothes of a niece anda
maidservant were“shivered torags”, and
two witnesses saw one piece of agarment
“drop off and not a person near or touching
it.”
Other victims included “two gentlemen”
and a Mrs James who “was so frightened
she ran out of the house andwas very
near fainting.” Similar assaults afflicted
Mrs Adams’s 15-year-old niece, who“had
only the body part of her gown remaining,
the skirts having dropped off as she
moved about.”Local belief ascribed this to
witchcraft and curiosity-seekers flocked to
the village. Specimens of the torn clothes
were laterexhibited at Cambridge and the
attacks ceased thereafter. (Cambridgeshire
Customs and Folklore, 1969, by Enid
Porter).
Charles Fort, in his last bookWild Ta lents
(1931), cites another Cambridgeshire
case from 1923, the Gorefield poltergeist,
near Wisbech, attributed to witchcraft by
locals. As recently as December 2013,
when I visited a reportedly haunted flat
in Peterborough, residents told me they
feared black magic by a hostile neighbour
might be to blame.
Later that same day onAgistri I hiked
up to the abandoned village site, findingthe remains on a small plateau and slope
among the hills, shaded by a profusion of
towering trees. The crumbling stonewalls
and scattered boulders seemed peaceful
enough in the late afternoon sunshine,
though it might well prove different after
nightfall.
I finally rounded off my enquiries back at
the Agistri Club, where I shared details of
what had happened earlier. Iwas reassured
and told no lasting upset would have been
caused, with such superstitions only to be
expected and being avery minor aspect
of community life. Fortunately, popular
fears turn out to be regularly allayed by the
activities of other islanders claiming gifts
to exorcise evil eye influences; theAgistri
Club itself had once employed such a lady
named Stamatina. She had worked in the
kitchens andwas the source of many of the
Club’s successful home-cooked dishes.
Stamatinawas also credited locally for
being able to banish the effects of the
evil eye by magical means. Charginga
small sum (sometimeswaived entirely),
her routine technique of dispelling evil
eye afflictions involved performinga
simple ritual, releasing a droplet of olive
oil into a small retsina glass full ofwater
in the presence of a sufferer. Moreover, in
emergencies, Stamatina could bring relief
to victims remotely, over the telephone. She
had many clients and also promoted the
use ofvarious charms that she maintained
would inhibit any malevolent power. She
died 10years ago at theage of 80 and
is buried at the cemetery of Milos. Her
powers are still celebrated onAgistri, as is
the Club itself for its commitment to equal
opportunities in so readily having employed
a neighbourhood white witch without any
qualms.GHOSTWATCHABOVE: Stamatina, who once worked at theAgistri Club,was able to banish the effects of the evil eye.