soc.history.war.world-war-ii

"William Black" schrieb :
> "Michael Kuettner" wrote :
>> "Rich Rostrom" schrieb :
>>> Louis C wrote:
>>>
>>>>The wild card is will the deception plan hold on.
>>>
>>> The Germans _never_ saw through it, even long after
>>> the invasion.
>>
>>> But the arrest was only a month before D-Day
>>> and afterward the Gestapo was busy with other
>>> things, and Jebsen was largely ignored.
>>
>> The Brits plugged even the supernatural leaks ;-).
>> Helen Duncan was tried and convicted for witchcraft shortly before D-Day.
>> The authorities were afraid that she would reveal the top-secret plans for
>> the landing.
>>
>>
>>
>
> Nope.
>
> Duncan was convicted after she revealed the sinking of HMS Barham in a séance
> in 1941, after the authorities tried to conceal it. The relatives of the dead
> had been informed and it is reasonable to assume, as she was operating in
> Portsmouth, that she'd heard something. The conviction wasn't for
> witchcraft, but for being a fraud, when she was giving the right answers,
> which seems more than a little odd.
>
Nope.
Duncan was accused because of the Vagrancy Act of 1824 (section IV)
for that one.
Originally.
> The authorities revealed the sinking in January 1942.
>
> She wasn't arrested until early 1944, but the authorities in Portsmouth did
> have other things on their minds in 1942...
>
Jannuary, 1944.
Then the charges included the Witchcraft Act from 1735.

> Jane York was also convicted under the Witchcraft Act in 1944, July 1944, a
> bit late for D-Day...
>
What does York have to do with Duncan and the D-Day paranoia ?

> I do have to add that the 1735 Witchcraft Act assumes that all magic and
> witchcraft is the work of charlatans and that all witches and magicians are,
> by definition, frauds.
>
Then why was there a Witchcraft Act until Churchill did away with it ?
Why wasn't she simply tried for fraud ?

As an aside : The most comprehensive archive of witches' trials in Europe
was assembled by the SS.

Cheers,

Michael Kuettner