detwiller

THE GODWIE SHAPE (An Unnatural Artifact for Delta Green)

Added 2019-02-24 17:45:53 +0000 UTC

“Perhaps the only physical remnant of the hysteria which once gripped Europe and the Americas concerning witchcraft, the shape is considered one of the few items that has raised more questions on the phenomenon than it has answered. Though its provenance cannot be conclusively proven, few doubt the story that accompanies the Godwie Shape.”

-New York Auction Lot Description, 1969

Isabelle Godwie, wife of a farm laborer, confessed to witchcraft and was put to death at Auldearn, Scotland, in 1662 for various crimes. Many today consider her a victim of hysteria, or ergot poisoning (bread often grew ergot fungus, which caused hallucinations sometimes confused with witchcraft), but others maintain her stories were all true. Indeed, she was one of the few witches to grant extensive testimony without torture, and unlike others, seemed eager to do so.

By all surviving accounts a strange woman, once exposed, Godwie did little to hide her beliefs, and instead confessed over several weeks to various crimes including having sexual relations with the Devil, flying, digging up the remains of the dead, poisoning people and crops, and interacting with “powers both lowly and on high.” Asked why she did not use her powers to escape incarceration Godwie crowed, “I have seen beyond this time, and the disposition, placement and final order of all things, hence I have already stolen away and remain free and shall always be so. Though my body shall die, the grave will not be my end.”