Observations placeholder
Lethbridge, T C – ESP Beyond Time and Distance – The Murrain
Identifier
021759
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
T C Lethbridge – ESP Beyond Time and Distance
To do ill by magic, to 'Work Black' as it was called, was always thought to be extremely dangerous to the performer. If any-thing went wrong, the whole force of the hostile magic returned to him. As it happens I do know at first hand of a case where this seemed to have occurred.
A quarrel arose between the magician and a neighbouring farmer. In spite of advice, the magician decided to put a murrain [a pestilence or plague especially affecting domestic animals] on the farmer's cattle. Something went wrong. The magician died suddenly in circumstances which to many people suggested murder. 'No names, no pack-drill.'
In due course the murrain did fall on the cattle, but it fell just beyond the farm of the intended victim. It fell on two farms in a line between the magician and the victim. A line about 100 yards wide includes the house of the magician, the house of the intended victim and the two farms inflicted by the murrain. There the visitation stopped, except for infected animals which had been moved to markets and such-like. This happened a number of years ago.
It was hard to take an objective view and to believe that everything was pure chance. The quarrel was violent. The magician had had many years of instruction. The proposed curse was widely known. The disease fell inexplicably in the wrong places. The magician died. This is exactly what should happen in theory. What happened in reality, I do not know and neither does anyone else. To anyone who knew the magician, the coroner's verdict was not convincing and the medical evidence improbable.