The strange story of the sorcery of the old woman who turned into a hare

Rather than darting about the field trying to avoid capture, the hare would run a true course into the old village of Easington where it mysteriously disappeared into thin air, leaving the hounds at a complete loss.

The huntsmen came to believe there was something supernatural about the hare, and from there suspicion fell on "an ill-natured, wrinkled old hag", Mary Shaw. The unfortunate woman scraped a living in the fields, but was shunned by villagers because of her cantankerous nature – she was blamed when crops failed or livestock ailed.

According to a Victorian version of the story: "In seed time, turnip time, weeding time, hay time, harvest time, and all through the year, she was generally left to work in a place by herself: yet scarcely a day elapsed in which she did not give somebody offence with her vile randy tongue, while anyone who was rash enough to offend her... were certain before long to repent what they had done."

To discover whether there was any sorcery involved in the appearance of the hare, the master of the hunt was advised to acquire a black bloodhound which had suckled at the breast of a woman.

Where he found such a creature is not recorded, but he did, and the next day, the black bloodhound led the hunt.

Easington Village green in 1969. The houses in the top are on Clappersgate

The dogs latched onto a fox’s scent and, as if by magic, the hare appeared and dashed off in the direction of Easington. The hounds followed, with the black bloodhound always stuck like glue to the heels of the leporine animal.

It led the hounds into the village, across the green, by the church and down to the hovel where the old woman lived. It ran round the rear, aiming for a hole in the bottom of the back door through which Mary Shaw’s chickens came and went as they pleased.

But the hole was small. The hare had to slow to get through, which gave the pursuing bloodhound the opportunity to snap at its heels, nicking off some fur with its teeth.

The hare, though, got through, leaving the hound stuck outside with a pelt of fur and a drip of blood in its mouth.

The huntsmen burst through the door into the cottage but, of course, there was no hare to be seen. But sitting on a chair in the kitchen was the old woman, sweating profusely as if she had been chased across the fields, and dripping blood from a leg wound.

Her game was up. She confessed that she was a witch but pleaded with the huntsmen for mercy, saying that her spell had been broken and her powers lost because the bloodhound had tasted her blood.

They agreed, so she lived on, even deeper into old age, shunned even more by every right thinking soul. When she eventually died, she was buried in the churchyard – but, even to this day, it is said there are times, even to this day, when a white sheep can be seen rolling and rolling along the top of the churchyard wall. That is a sure sign that there is still witchcraftery in action in Easington.

And it explains why, in 2002 for the Golden Jubilee, Easington Colliery Parish Council gave every child in its area a souvenir mug which has a logo featuring pithead winding gear and a large white hare on it…