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The Dark Shore / [Witchbone]

1961 , Grantchester (Cambridgeshire)

Cat no. 783

The mysterious power of the 'witchbone' as told by John Saltmarsh for a local television series.

John Saltmarsh, Fellow of King's College Cambridge, stands on the riverbank at Grantchester Meadows, Cambridge. He describes in graphic detail how to get a witchbone, “to be master of the devil, to do just what you like”. The bones of a Natterjack toad have to be flung into a river at night. The bone that drifts against the current is the witchbone. He finishes with the tale of a man who tried to perform the ritual, but who fled the river in terror at the sounds he heard before he could retrieve the witchbone from the water. The final shot rests on the flowing water of the river.

Keywords

Folklore; Supernatural

Background Information

This film is one of a series of programmes about the supernatural shot by Malcolm Freegard for BBC East for an episode of Outlook entitled The Dark Shore, broadcast on 31st May, 1961. In the studio for that episode were Dick Bagnell-Oakley, Tyler Whittle and James Wentworth Day.

Manifestations

The Dark Shore / [Witchbone]

  • Barcode
    INV387274
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Carrier Type
    MP4 H264 digital
    Dimension
    Duration
    0:02:23
    Modification Date
    11/11/2011
    Parts
    Reference
    733840
  • Barcode
    INV383742
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Carrier Type
    MP4 H264 digital
    Dimension
    Duration
    0:02:23
    Modification Date
    11/11/2011
    Parts
    Reference
    733838
  • Barcode
    INV394815
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Carrier Type
    MP4 H264 digital
    Dimension
    Duration
    0:02:23
    Modification Date
    11/11/2011
    Parts
    Reference
    733836
  • Barcode
    INV387715
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Carrier Type
    DV digital
    Dimension
    Duration
    0:02:23
    Modification Date
    11/11/2011
    Parts
    Reference
    733777
  • Activities
    Barcode
    INV325515
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Carrier Type
    master digital
    Dimension
    Duration
    0:02:23
    Modification Date
    10/11/2011
    Parts
    Reference
    733318
  • Barcode
    INV227051
    Canonical Identifier
    A-1712
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Carrier Details
    Carrier Type
    16mm film
    Dimension
    Has Image
    N
    Has Sound
    Y
    Identifier
    Image Polarity
    neg
    Modification Date
    18/01/2011
    Parts
    Reference
    700106
    Sound
    sound
    Sound System
    optical
  • Activities
    Barcode
    INV284500
    Canonical Identifier
    A-1712
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Carrier Type
    16mm film
    Identifier
    Image Polarity
    neg
    Modification Date
    25/06/2021
    Parts
    Reference
    565359
  • Barcode
    INV227728
    Canonical Identifier
    VP-798
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Duration
    0:03:00
    Identifier
    Modification Date
    25/06/2021
    Parts
    Reference
    563363
  • Barcode
    INV213657
    Canonical Identifier
    VP-104
    Canonical Title
    Unknown
    Duration
    0:03:00
    Identifier
    Modification Date
    25/06/2021
    Parts
    Reference
    563362

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