Robert Plot, first Keeper of the Ashmolean, on mysterious circles, from 'The Natural History of Staffordshire' (Oxford, 1686).

 

And here perchance, by the way, it may be no great digression to enquire into the nature and efficient cause of those rings we find in the grass, which they commonly call fairy circles, whether they are caused by lighning, or are indeed the rendezvouzes of witches, or the dancing places of those little pygmy spirits they call elves or fairies. 

And the rather because,

1 - a question - perhaps by reason of the difficulty - scarce yet attempted,

and

2 - because I met with the largest of their kind - that perchance were ever heard of - in this county; one of them showed me in the grounds between Handsworth Church and the heath being near forty yards diameter, and I was told of another by that ingenious gent. - one of the most cordial encouragers of this work - the Worshipful Sir Henry Gough, Knight, that there was one in his grounds near Pury-Hall but few years since - now indeed plowed up - of a much larger size, he believed near fifty. Whereas, there are some of them not above two yards diameter, which perhaps may be near the two extremes of their magnitude. 

Nor is their difference only in the extent of their diameters, they varying also in divers other respects, though not proportionably so much; for I have always observed that the rims of these circles, from the least to the biggest, are seldom narrower than a foot, or much broader than a yard; some as bare as a pathway in many parts of them, others of a russet singed colour - both of these having a greener grass in the middle - and a third sort of a dark fresh green, the grass within being of a browner colour; the first kind seldom less than five or six yards diameter, and the other two of vaarious magnitudes.

And all these again, as well imperfect as perfect, some of them obtaining three parts of a circle, others being semi-circular, some of them quadrants, and others not above sextants of their respective circles.

Now, that wizards and witches have sometimes their field conventicles, and that they dance in such rings, we have ample testimony from divers good authors, some of them judges, who received it in confession from the criminals themselves condemned by them, all agreeing - if to be believed - that their dances were always circular, but that as they served a different master, so they performed this exercise in a different manner from other mortals.

Porro circulares esse omnes choros qui sic agitantur, atque ab aversis saltoribus tripudiari affirmant, says Nicholaus Remigius (Nich. Remigii Demonolatria Sag. Lib. 1. cap. 17), i.e., that they affirmed all their dances to be circular, their faces being turned away from one another, for which he alleges the confessions of Achen Weber, Johanna Gerardina, Dominicus Petronius, Hennel Armentaria, Anna Ruffa, Zabella the wife of John Deodat, Odilla Gaillarda, and many others. To which Sybilla Morelia it seems added another circumstance, that the circle was always led to the left hand, as Pliny observes the ancient Gauls did, though they danced single, totum corpus circumagendo, quod in Lævum fecisse, Galliæ religiosius credunt (Nat. Hist. Lib. 28. cap. 2. vid. etiam Lucanum Belli Civilis Lib. 1. v. 450).

Which relations - especially if compared together - being somewhat obscure may in part at least be cleared out of Baptista Codronchius, who speaking in like manner of the same conventicles and dancings, which they call Dianæ ludos, the sports of Diana. Choreas, says he, a nostris penitus absimiles ducunt; fœminæ namque post dorsum masculis inhærentes retrocedendo saliunt, terga dando inclinant, caputque non ante, sed retro, &c. (Bapt. Codronchii de Morb. Venef. Lib. cap. 8.); that the dances they lead are quite unlike ours, for the women's faces standing to the men's backsides, they dance retrograde, bowing their bodies forward and their heads backqard, as the same Conronchius says they worship the Devil, non faciem, sed terga illi obvertentes, caputque non in pectus, sed in scapulis inclinantes (ibidem), not turning their faces, but their backs towards him, and bowing their heads not downward toward their breasts, but backwards upon their shoulders, which though it pretty well explain the phrase of Remigius - ab aversis saltatoribus - yet how this posture can agree with leading the ring, always to the left hand according to Sybilla Morelia's information, I freely confess I do not understand. 

But to come close to the business, let us return again to the forecited Remigius, who was a judge in Lorraine, and perhaps the best skill'd in matters of this nature that the world has yet known - having had the examinations, confessions and condemnations of no less than nine hundred wizards and witches in fifteen years' time - who, to omit many others of the like kind, gives us a most remarkable relation of such a conventicle, and no less suitable - if true - to our present purpose. 

On the eighth of the Calends of August - says he - An. 1590, one Nicolæa Lang-Bernhard having been grinding at a quern not far from Assenuncuria, and returning about noon, as she walked by a hedgeside saw in an adjoining field an assembly of men and women dancing in a ring, but in a quite different manner from the usual practice of others, for says my author, aversi terga ostendentes id faciebant, i.e. that they did it turning their backs upon one another; but at length viewing them more attentively, she perceived some amongst them to have cloven feet like oxen and goats, at which being sore astonished and almost dead with fear, and calling upon the auxiliary name of Jesus to help her well home, they forewith all vanished except one Petter Gross-Petter, whom quickly after she saw snatched up into the air and to let fall his malkin - a stick they make clean ovens withal before they set in their bread - and herself was also driven so forcibly with the wind that it made her almost lose her breath, and when she was got home to keep her bed no less than three days. 

The same of which matter being quickly spread by herself and relations through the whole village, this Petter at first brought an action of slander against Nicolæa, but knowing his own guilt and fearing to proceed too far, he desisted again, which breeding suspicion in the judge; upon enquiry into his life and manners, he was at length apprehended and at last freely confessed the whole matter, and discovered others of his companions, as Barbelia the wife of Johannes Latomus, Mayetta the wife of Laurence Super Major, both which though examined apart yet confessed expressly in the same words, de saltato a se aversis una cum intermediis cornupedibus choro, &c., i.e. that they had danced internixed with those cloven-footed creatures at what time Petter was amongst them. 

And for further evidence of the business, John Michael, herdsman, did also confess that while they thus danced, he played upon his crooked staff, moving his fingers upon it as if it had been a pipe, sitting upon a high bough of an oak; and that as soon as Nicolæa called upon the name of Jesus, he tumbled down headlong to the ground, but was presently catch'd up again with a whirlwind and carried to Weiller Meadows, where he had left his herds a little before.

Add hereunto - which is most of all to the purpose - that there was found in the place where they danced a round circle wherein there were the manifest marks of the treading of cloven feet as plain as are made by horses than run the ring, as was testified by Nickel Clein, Desiderius Vervex, Gasper Sutor,  and divers others that had been to see it, and were examined by the judge as witnesses upon it. Which circle remained from the day after Nicolæa had discover'd the business, till the next winter when the plow cut it out. 

And as devils and witches do sometimes leave the lively marks of their dancings after they have held such conventicles, so Athanasius Kircher expressly acquaints us from the informations of Cysatus and Schulzius that the Viruli or Virunculi montani, little pygmy spirits that infest the mines of Helvetia and Hungary do sometimes also leave the prints of their feet in the moist sand and soft tenacious earth of the mines, about the bigness of the feet of children of three years old (Athanas. Kirch. Mundi subterr. Tom. 2. Lib. 8. §. 4. cap. 4). Whence some men perhaps may think it probable enough, that some few of these circles - especially the bare ones that have but little grass - may sometimes indeed be made by the forementioned mix'd dances of devils and witches, and others by those little dwarf spirits we call elves and fairies.

Not that there are any creatures of a third kind distinct from men and spirits of so small a statue, as Paracelsus fancied, which he was pleased to style non-Adamical men, but that the devils, as they are best pleased with the sacrifices of young children - which are frequently offered by midwife witches in some countries, their fat being the chief ingredient wherewith they make the ointment indispensably necessary for their transport to their field conventicles (Bapt. Codronchii de Morb. Venes. Lib. 3. cap. 8. & Joh. Bodini Mag. Demonomania. Lib. 2. cap. 5.) - so it seems they delight themselves chiefly in the assumption of the shapes of children of both sexes, as we are credibly informed by sober authors, such as Georgius Agricola (Geo. Agricola de Animantibus subterraneis sub finem), Wierus (Joh. Wieri de præstigiis Dæmonum Lib. 1. cap. 22.), and others who affirm them so frequent, especially in the German, Hungarian and Helvetian (Mr. Bushell seems also to hint the same in our Welsh silver (Bushell's Remonstrance of his Majesties Mines Royal in Wales An. 1642. see also Mr. Hook's Lecture de Potentia Restitut. p.41.) mines, that they have given them divers names in their respective places, as in Germany those in the shapes of men they call Cobales, and those in the shapes of women, Trullas and Sibyllas albas; so also in Italy, they call them Foletos and Empedusas, and in other places Screlingeros, Gutelos, Bergmanlin, &c. (Athanas. Kircheri Mund. Subterr. Tom. 2. Lib. 8. §. 4, cap. 4. & Lib. 10. §. 4. cap. 11.). 

More particularly, such were the Annebergius and Snebergius of Agricola, and the Hutgin of Trithemius. Nay, so frequent has been the appearance of these Demunculi - as some report - in the more northern parts of the world that perhaps it has given the occasion to the stories of pygmies mentioned by Olaus Magnus (Olai Magni de mira natura Rerum Septeutr. Lib. 1. cp. 11.), and the ancient geographers, Ctesias having given them a most agreeable colour, making them all negroes, and placing them in the midst of India, [Greek here omitted, because I am very lazy - PSY]  are his very words, i.e. that in the midst of India there are a sort of black men called Pygmies ,which are very little ones (Ex Cresiæ Indicis excerpta Historia a Photio p.681. Edit. Steph. An. 1592.). For 'tis hard to believe there is, or ever was, any such dwarfish sort of people, considering them nationally, and not as rare and single instances, notwithstanding the testimonies of the ancient poets and historians, or now of late of Van Helmont, whou would persuade us from the relation of a Canary merchant, that there were formerly of them in those islands (Joh. Bapt. Van Helmont Demonstr. Thes. p.432. Edit. Venet. An. 1651.); or of Marcus Marci, who believes Pigafetta, making him say that he saw pygmies in the Isle Aruchet near the Moluccas (Joh. Marc. Marci Idearum Operatr. Idea. cao. 6. de Pygmais & Gigantibus.), whereas indeed he only says that an old pilot of the Moluccas told his company of such that lived in caverns there, and had so very long ears that they slept upon one, and cover'd themselves with the other. But that the wind and stream being against them thither, and his men distrusting the relation, would not go to see them (Viaggio de'l Sign. Ant. Pigafetta atorno il Mondo. tra gli Viaggi raccolti di Gio. Bart. Ramusio p.368. Stamp. Venet. An. 1588.). Which makes me also suspect that he may also abuse the two Oderici, whom also he cites to have found such in their Travels. 

And not only the bad but the good genii also appear in the shape of young children, if we may credit the relation of a pious man, an acquaintance of Bodinus who had constantly the assistance of such a guardian angel, which indeed he never saw but once, and that when he was in great danger of his life, it appearing to him in the likeness of a child clad in white raiment somewhat inclining to purple, of a most lovely visage and delicate form. (Joh. Bodini Mag. Dæmonomaniæ Lib. 1. cap. 2.). 

And to come nearer home, if we may believe the story of Anne Bodenhom, the witch of Fisherton Anger in the county of Wilts., set forth at large by Edmund Bower, and the Reverend and Learned Hen. More D.D. The spirits which she raised - as confessed by Anne Stiles, who was frequently at her conjurations - always appear'd in the shape of little ragged boys, who ran round the house where the witch has drawn her staff, her dog and cat danicing with them, &c. (Dr. More's Antidote against Atheism, Lib. 3. chap. 7.). Some of the witches also executed at Exeter An. 1682 unconstrainedly confessed that the Devil appeared to them like a short black man about the length of one's arm. 

All which put together seems not a little also to favour the opinion that such demunculi may be the fairies so much talk'd of, and that they may indeed sometimes occasion such circles; but herein every man is left to choose his own creed. 

For my part, though, my faith be but weak in this matter - notwithstanding it cannot be deny'd but the bad as well as good angels may be ministering spirits and converse with mankind - yet if I must needs aloow them to cause some few of these rings, I must also restrain them to those of the first kind, that are bare at many plcaes like a pathway, for to both the others, more natural causes may be probably assigned. As first, according to the opinion of the ingenious Mr. Lister that at least some of them may be pccasioned by the working of the moldwarps, which however for the most part irregular they may be, yet may have a time when perhaps by instinct of nature they may work in circles, as 'tis certain fallow deer do in the time of rutting, treading the same ring for many days together; indeed, the strange fertility of these green circles, even upon the most barren heaths beyond any place else about them, doth argue some extraordinary dung or compost, which he supposes to be the excrements of moles or moldwarps. Others have fetch'd their origin from the dung and urine of cattle fed in wintertime at the same pout of hay, for their heads meeting at the hay as the centre, and their bodies representing, as it were, so many radii has made some imagine that such circles are described by their dung and urine falling always from them in due distance, and fertilising the ground in a more than ordinary manner by the largeness of the quantity. 

Others again have thought them described by the water and some of the hay itself falling plentifully in wet weather from the eaves of round haystacks that have been situate within them, which rotting into dung thus fertilises the earth in a circular manner. And indeed, 'tis possible that some of them may be made either of these ways. 

But for the circles mentioned §. 17. of this chapter of thirty, forty and fifty yeards diameter - too large for the situation of any hayrick, or to be described by cattle feeding at a hay-pout - and some of them running through hedge and ditch, as shall be shown in fit place, we must seek for other causes.

In order whereunto - having good opportunity in new parks near the City of Oxford, where there is always plenty of them - I thought fit to examine the nature of the soil under the rims of them, especially how it differed from the adjoining earth, and found by digging up several that the ground under all of them was much looser and dryer than ordinary, and the parts interspersed with a white hoar or vinew, much like that in mouldy bread, of a musty rancid smell, but to taste insipid, and this scarce anywhere above six inches deep, the earth  again below being of its due consistence and genuine smell, agreeable to the rest of the soils thereabout. 

Whence it being equally plain that I was no longer to enquire for the origin at least of these larger circles, either from anything under or upon the ground. It remained that I should look for some higher principle, and indeed after a long and mature deliberation, I could think of none nearer than the middle region, viz. that they must needs be the effects of lightning, exploded from the clouds, most times in a circular manner, perhaps for this very reason by the ancient naturalists called fulmen discutiens, which though of a viscous sulphureous consistence, yet taking fire and violently breaking the cloud wherein it was pent, must naturally expand itself every way obliquely, for the most part in a uniform conical manner, so as at due distance to become a circle as in Tab. 1. Fig. 6. and in that form to strike the earth as may be seen sometimes in arable grounds, but chiefly in wide and open pastures, whether meadows or uplands, where trees and hedges interrupt least.