Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall, England Cecil Williamson tried to open a museum to hold his collection of witchcraft and occult artefacts in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1947, but faced local opposition and had to abandon his plans. In 1951, Williamson opened the museum, under the name of the Folklore Center of Superstition and Witchcraft at Castletown on the Isle of Man. He had it set up in a dilapidated old mill known locally as the Witches Mill which he had purchased in 1948, and, at the advice of his wife, opened an adjacent restaurant, known as the Witches Kitchen. Video here > https://youtube/watch?v=c6zPWf0BauM Williamson employed Gerald Gardner, to work at the museum as resident witch. Gardner fell out with Williamson over what he saw as sensationalist displays. Williamson, in retaliation, removed a photograph of Gardner from the display. Williamson decided to return to England, and took most his collection of witchcraft artefacts with him. In 1954 Gardner bought the Witches Mill from him, and renamed it The Museum of Magic and Witchcraft, filling it with his own collection of artefacts along with some items on loan fropm Williamson. During the 1950s, Gardner discussed moving his museum to London with his then friend, Charles Cardell, but decided not to. Gardner continued to run the museum till his death in 1964, when it was briefly run by his High Priestess Monique Wilson before it was shut down and the collection sold off. Ripleys Entertainment Inc. bought the collection and in 1972 opened the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic at Gatlinburg, Tennessee and San Francisco, California. In 1975, due to pressure from the local church and religious groups, Ripleys changed the name of the museums to the World of the Unexplained. More attractions and items were added to the present witchcraft collection. In 1985, Ripleys closed both museums due to poor ticket sales. The collection was disbursed to other Ripleys museums. A lot of the witchcraft collection was sent to Ripleys Believe It or Not museum at Blackpool. Much of the collection was eventually sold off on eBay and other auction sites - some was purchased and donated back to the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle. On his return to England in 1954, Williamson opened the museum, now known as the Museum of Witchcraft, to Windsor. Here it stayed open for the tourist season, and was quite successful, but local opinion was still against it, and so Williamson decided to move it again. In 1954 Williamson moved the museum to Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire. In 1960 Williamson moved the museum to Boscastle in Cornwall. Williamson sold it at midnight on Samhain 1996, and died in 1999. The new owner, Graham King has since appeared on BBC TV series such as A Seaside Parish and Antiques Roadshow. He organised the burial of Joan Wytte, a woman who died in Bodmin Jail under accusations of witchcraft in 1813, and whose skeleton had been at the museum for many years. She was buried in a local area of woodland in 1998. The museum was damaged during heavy floods in 2004. On the 31st Oct 2013, Graham King donated the entire museums collection, archive and library to the Museum of British Folklore and Simon Costin was appointed the new director. In 2011, The Occult Art Company published an anthology entitled The Museum of Witchcraft: A Magical History, edited by Kerrian Godwin. The anthology was reviewed in peer-reviewed academic journal The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies by Pagan studies scholar Ethan Doyle White. There are various rooms displaying different exhibits. There are sections devoted to the Wiccan wheel of the year, Horned God, Mother Goddess, divination, stone circles, village white witch and cunning folk, protective charms, and mandrakes. There is also a small section on Satanism that explains that it is different from Wicca, and it contains a medallion given to the museum by the Church of Satan. The Museum also has the largest occult library in the South West and is viewable by appointment en.wikipedia.org This fascinating footage shows the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle as it was under the ownership of Cecil Williamson in the late 1960s. It is amazing to see some of the very familiar exhibits along with the way this wonderful museum that has developed and changed over the years.VIDEO HERE > https://youtube/watch?v=x6mPFpyxzcU Photo 1 by clraven.wordpress-Witch Dunking Chair and Other Impleements Photo 2 by alllightandbeauty.blogspot- Photo 3 by manxwytch.wordpress- Photo 4 Various skulls used in ritual workings (Museum of Witchcraft Boscastle)blog.travelpod Photo 5 by THE STORY OF THE FAMOUS WITCHES MILLAT CASTLETOWN, ISLE OF MAN by G. B. GARDNER read here > https://manxwytch.wordpress/tag/witchcraft-museum/ All photos from blog.travelpod/travel-blog-entries/nateandglenn/Museum of Witchcraft at Boscastle Photo 6 blog.travelpod/ Photo 7 human-bone-rings Photo 8 pin-and-candle-spell Photo 9 athames Photo 10 scourges Photo 11 magic-bullets Photo 12old-nick-and-pan
Posted on: Wed, 13 Aug 2014 14:50:02 +0000
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