Centuries-old court records have revealed the hidden world of 17th-century England, where citizens hired mystical private investigators to locate stolen silverware, lost cash and missing clothes. These self-styled "cunning folk" used magical powers for a fee to solve neighbourhood crimes, long before modern detectives existed.
While authorities in most of England largely ignored these mystical sleuths, the city of Exeter took a ruthless stance, becoming the nation's final execution ground for witchcraft. The archival records, uncovered by University of Southampton historian Professor Mark Stoyle, show these "service magicians" were regularly recruited to find ordinary household belongings, including spoons, pewter jugs, coats, purses and coins.
Exeter's Hardline Magistrates
Across most of the country, such magicians operated largely unhindered. By 1630, senior judges and the Crown had grown increasingly sceptical and lenient toward witchcraft allegations. Yet Exeter's hardline magistrates refused to let them off the hook.
"In the early 1600s the Crown and senior judges were becoming increasingly sceptical and lenient towards cases of witchcraft, and by 1630 prosecutions were generally very rare in most of England," Prof. Stoyle said. "In Exeter, however, this was a different story. It was the last place in England to execute people for witchcraft and local Justices of the Peace took a hard line against accused individuals, including the relatively benign service magicians."
Bizarre Cases Uncovered
Among the most bizarre cases is the 1642 ordeal of Anne King, the wife of a local weaver. Anne was thrown into prison after using an occult ritual known as turning a sieve upon a pair of shears to trace a lost purse packed with 13 shillings and a sixpence.
Court documents record that Anne recited the names of individuals she suspected of the theft. She claimed the sieve only spun when she uttered the name of a woman called Marie Matthews, convincing Anne she had found the culprit. Instead of recovering her money, Anne found herself reported and locked away for witchcraft. She was eventually granted bail and is believed to have escaped with a stern warning.
Exeter's fierce witch-hunting frenzy was spearheaded by hardline magistrates like Ignatius Jurdain, a man of uncompromising religious zeal infamous as the "arch puritan of the west country". In 1629, Jurdain set his sights on Christabel Robyns, a local widow accused of using sorcery to hunt down a missing pewter jug and silver spoons.
Robyns looked destined for harsh punishment until one of England's highest legal officers intervened. The Chief Justice of the Court of the King's Bench stepped in, referring the case to a higher court in what appeared to be a calculated move to rescue her from Exeter's zealous magistrates.
Later Prosecutions and Lasting Paranoia
Even decades later, Exeter's magistrates remained determined to prosecute magical sleuths. In 1666, John Blachett was dragged into the dock after shoemaker Peter Pitts hired him to track down a hood lost at The Bull inn in the city's St Paul's district.
Blachett claimed his magic pointed to a neighbour's house. When Pitts searched the address and came up empty-handed, he turned Blachett over to city aldermen. Blachett was hauled before the bench accused of employing "certain devilish and hateful arts called in English Witchcraft, Inchantment, Charme and Sorcerie". Although indicted by a grand jury, the trial jury was unconvinced by the evidence, allowing the 17th-century detective to walk away unpunished.
Prof Stoyle, who scoured the archives for the latest edition of his book Witchcraft in Exeter (1558-1666), highlighted just how deep the city's paranoia ran. "The fear of witchcraft was rife in Exeter in the late 16th century and early 17th century," Prof Stoyle explained. "The city witnessed a long succession of indictments and prosecutions at this time, resulting in many unlucky women and men being banished, imprisoned or sent to the gallows."
"The plight of the service magicians underlines just how deeply rooted these feelings ran and the lengths to which some local authority figures would go to tackle witchcraft in their city." The second edition of Prof Stoyle's book, Witchcraft in Exeter (1558–1666), published by Mint Press, hit shelves on October 24, 2026.
