Book: Doctors And Witchdoctors Witch Doctors Are Witch by Larry Briskman
A Witch Doctor originally referred to a type of cunning man who treated ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. It is currently used to refer to healers in some third world regions, who use traditional healing rather than contemporary medicine. In the first world it usually refers to homeopaths, chriopractors and faith healers.In its original meaning, a witch doctor was emphatically not a witch himself. Witchcraft-induced conditions were his area of specialization.
In the north of England, the superstition lingers to an almost inconceivable extent. Lancashire abounds with witch-doctors, a set of quacks, who pretend to cure diseases inflicted by the devil. The Practices of these worthies may be judged of by the following case, reported in the "Hertford Reformer," of the 23rd of June, 1838. The witch-doctor alluded to is better known by the name of the cunning man, and has a large practice in the counties of Lincoln and Nottingham. According to the writer in "The Reformer," the dupe, whose name is not mentioned, had been for about two years afflicted with a painful abscess, and had been prescribed for without relief by more than one medical gentleman. He was urged by some of his friends, not only in his own village, but in neighbouring ones, to consult the witch-doctor, as they were convinced he was under some evil influence. He agreed, and sent his wife to the cunning man, who lived in New Saint Swithin's, in Lincoln. She was informed by this ignorant impostor that her husband's disorder was an infliction of the devil, occasioned by his next-door neighbours, who had made use of certain charms for that purpose. From the Description he gave of the process, it appears to be the same as that employed by Dr. Fian and Gellie Duncan, to work woe upon King James.
Free eBooks (Can Be Downloaded):
Tom Peete Cross - Witchcraft In North CarolinaHesketh Bell - Obeah Witchcraft In The West Indies
William Eliot Woodward - Records Of Salem Witchcraft Copied From The Original Documents Vol 2
Janet Farrar - A Witches Bible The Complete Witches Handbook
Larry Briskman - Doctors And Witchdoctors Witch Doctors Are Witch
