Strange Beasts: Familiars

I have heard old bedlams Talk of familiars in the shape of mice, Bats, ferrets, weasels, and I wot not what, That have appear'd, and suck'd, some say, their blood. --John Ford and Thomas Dekker, The Witch of Edmonton

Disclaimer

This is NOT a page about Wiccans or neo-pagans, and I do not advocate the belief that Wiccans are Satan-worshippers and/or baby-killers. I am well aware that they are not. This is a starting point for historical research into the great witch craze of 1100-1700 AD. And please, don't ask me for spells.

If a suspicious person (such as an old widow) had a pet, she or he could become a prime candidate for witchcraft accusations. Familiars were imps in animal form, creatures which drew nourishment by suckling from Devil's marks, a witch's breasts, or insensitive parts on a witch (Farrington 58).

A familiar, or an imp, is an attendant subordinate demon in the form of an animal. The idea of familiars was generally confined to England, although occasional cases crop up in other locales.

Familiars behaved in ways that no natural pet was believed to. They ran errands, brought messages, and aided in devil worship. These creatures were often described in chimerical terms, but no creature unknown to science was ever physically produced in a courtroom. Neither were any acts of a familiar reported by a credible witness which could not be attributed to a natural animal (Rose 43).

The following are some of the creatures believed to have been used by witches as familiars:

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Strange Beasts: Familiars copyright 1997-1998 to Shantell Powell.