The Somerset ‘Witch’s Ladder’ and an Uncertain Interpretation
A record in The Hawthorn Archive, preserving folklore with its place, type and source context attached.
A string threaded with feathers, found in a Somerset attic in the nineteenth century, became famous after being interpreted as a so-called “witch’s ladder”. Even early scholarly discussion acknowledged uncertainty about what the object had actually been used for.
Later occult and modern witchcraft traditions gave the object a much clearer ritual identity than the original evidence supports. It is therefore a valuable archive example of an object whose later interpretation became more definite than its provenance.
Source trail: Pitt Rivers Museum collections and historical discussion of the Somerset object.
Related Journal record: Folk Magic in Britain.