28 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Witches are people without their right minds. They make disease 

 and spread sickness to make the Hving die. They cut short the 

 numbered days, for the Creator has given each person a certain 

 number of days in which to Hve in this world. 



Now this must you do : When you have told this message and 

 the witches hear it they will confess before all the people and will 

 say, " I am doing this evil thing but now I cease it forever, as long 

 as I live." Some witches are more evil and can not speak in public 

 so these must come privately and confess to you, Handsome Lake, 

 or a preacher of this Gai'wiio'. Now some are most evil and they 

 must go far out upon an abandoned trail and there they must 



of what is described by informants as analogous to " malific mental sugges- 

 tion," either verbal or telepathic. Such witches were able to assume the 

 form of ancient monsters, the nia"gwahe or mammoth bear being the favorite 

 form. They had power of transforming people into beasts, of imprisoning 

 them within trees without destroying the human nature or sensibilities of 

 their victims. Many stories are related of how chivalrous young men fresh 

 from the dream fast were able to release the unhappy prisoners from the 

 spells that bound them. 



The second and modern class of witches work their evil spells by intro- 

 ducing into the bodies of their victims by supernatural means a small needle- 

 like splinter pointed on either end and having a central eye to which was 

 tied the hair of the witch, a splinter of bone from the fibula of a deer, a 

 worm or some like object. Instances where such things have been drawn 

 from bewitched persons are commonly reported. 



A witch can work fearlessly and successfully as long as she remains un- 

 known to the victim and under some circumstances even when known. A 

 " witched " person is often able to see as in a vision the witch wherever she 

 goes and is likewise able to tell when she is about to approach the house. 

 Witches fear the threat of an angry person to kill them. Such a threat if 

 an earnest one is an effectual charm against further annoyance. To burn the 

 object that a witch has introduced into one's body will torture the witch and 

 kill her. Such objects are not often burned. If revenge is desired the 

 victim, if sufficiently angry, can throw the object through space and injure 

 the witch wherever he wishes. A person who successfully resists and de- 

 stroys another witch's power may become a witch if so desired. 



To torture a witch, force a confession and exact a promise of repentance, 

 take a living bird, black in color (a hen is now usually employed) and carry 

 it into the woods at midnight. Here build a fire and then split open the 

 bird's body, extract its beating heart and hang it by its chords over a small 

 fire to roast slowly. The witch will then exert every possible means to reach 

 the spot and beg that the heart be taken from the fire before it is consumed. 

 At such a time any promise may be exacted, for the witch is powerless. 

 If the heart is consumed the witch will die of a " burnt heart." Witch poison 

 may be extracted by putting fine sifted ashes on the afflicted part and staying 



