Accused of being witches, a mother and her daughter go through hell
When fate strikes. Between the 16th and 17th centuries, there were countless men and women sent to the stake pour witchcraft on dubious, even far-fetched accusations. It is clear that in modern times, witch hunts have become rarer, with the exception of the United States during the Cold War. However, even at the beginning of the 20th century, popular beliefs around witches still had a hard time, especially in the French countryside. A “stupidity” and a “stupidity” of which a mother and her daughter were victims, in May 1930, on the faith of the eccentric predictions of a bonesetter from Pas-de-Calais.
To read the various press articles published at the time – and read on Retronews – on this affair, we sent all the contempt of the journalists towards those who spread the rumor. The story takes place in the hamlet of Cornet, in the town of Wittes, near Aire-sur-la-Lys, in Pas-de-Calais. “A sexagenarian, Mrs. widow Wallart, and her daughter Marie, 30, are the subject of an accusation unlikely in our time: that of witchcraft”, says in its columns The Little Parisian dated May 8, 1930. “The ”witch”, the bonesetter and the farmer’s wife”, title for its part The Intransigent, released the next day. “Two women are victims of a stupid popular belief”, adds even The Echo of Algiers.
“In the hamlet, the rumor goes crescendo”
This story, “which takes us far back, to the time of stupid beliefs in sorcerer’s spells”, writes The Echo of the Lys, the voice. In April 1930, a farmer calls on the services of a bonesetter after being the victim of an accident. The healer, who is also the local postman, is convinced that his client is the victim of a bewitchment. He then predicts to the farmer’s wife that “the first woman who will enter your house tomorrow will be the one who cast a spell on you”, narrates the flash west. Bad luck, it fell on Hermance Wallart, an agricultural worker who normally worked twice a week for the client of the bonesetter. That day, she was fired on the spot. “In the hamlet, the rumor went crescendo, they were unanimous in claiming that Mrs. Wallart was a witch”, writes the Little Parisian.
Always by the pure fruit of chance, it is then on Marie, the daughter of Hermance, that the fate is relentless. Unable to treat a sick cow at another farmer’s, the same bonesetter assured that “the culprit must be the first woman who would stop coming”, can we read in The Echo of the Lys. Marie used to go to this farm to draw water from the well. But, feeling that the farmer’s wife was watching her cross since the story with her mother, she had decided not to go any more. “A second witch was born,” laments the regional newspaper. In the aftermath, as soon as an animal died or as soon as a crunchy had a crooked fart, we blamed the Wallarts.
“Without resources, because no one wants employers anymore”
The affair could lend to laughter or to make fun of, which the journalists of the time did not deprive themselves of. “This ridiculous story” for The Intransigent. Of the “phenomena of popular suggestion” that The Echo of the Lys attributed to “the silliness of some”. So many superstitions that could have cost Hermance Wallart and his daughter dearly: “The two alleged witches […] have just fallen ill, and find themselves destitute, because no one wants employers anymore, ”says the reporter from West Lightning. Except that the press is not interested in the rest of the story.
It is Hervé Faucon, former mayor of the municipality of Wittes, who sheds light on the fate of the Wallarts. “It was not a family of notables, rather workers or employees. They were no less respectable, especially because the son, Victor, died in combat in 14-18, ”explains the former elected official. Respectable, but penniless, which explains why Hermance and Marie could not bring those responsible for their disgrace to court. However, they did not die as a result of this affair: “No one from this family lives in the hamlet anymore, their houses were razed, but I knew one of the descendants well, remembers Hervé Faucon. This story of witches ended up settling without going any longer. »