A Hampshire village once home to a woman dubbed ‘Britain’s most famous witch’ is in the spotlight again.
Burley in New Forest has been recently hit with a series of ‘sacrificial killings’, with severed deer heads hanging from street lamps and bloodied lamb carcasses appearing on farms
For many, it will bring back memories or at least stories of Sybil Leek, who lived in the village in the late 1950s and early 60s.
Born near Stoke-on-Trent in 1923, Sybil first came to the world’s attention during her time in Burley when she announced she was a ‘white witch’ and wrote books on the occult.
At the time, the 1736 Witchcraft Act (yes, really) was in effect. The legislation imposed fines and jail time for people who claimed they had magical powers – an apparently softer alternative to the obsessive witch-hunting the century before.
With the Act only repealed in 1951, not many people had dared reveal their involvement in the practice so her brazen declaration caused quite a stir.
Tourists flocked to the area hoping to catch a glimpse of Sybil, who would often walk around the village in a long black cloak with a pet jackdaw Hotfoot Jackson, on her shoulder.
The frequent visitors didn’t go down too well with locals, however, who were uncomfortable with having a witch in their midst.
In 2002, Burley resident Dionis MacNair told the BBC: ‘People either thought she was a bit of a joke or a fraud.’
When Sybil’s landlord refused to renew her lease, she decided it was a good opportunity to move on and leave the country altogether.
In 1964 she emigrated to the US, a country she had fallen in love with while promoting one of her books.
American radio presenter Annie England was one of the first people to interview her that year and became lifelong friends.
Annie said: ‘Everyone wanted her on their show. She rubbed shoulders with all the celebrities of her time… Gypsy Rose Lee… Neil Diamond.’
According to The New York Times, in one interview Sybil described herself as ‘just an ordinary witch from the New Forest in England,’ saying her family had been involved in witchcraft since 1134.
‘It is a family failing,’ she said, ‘It has to do with glands and the nervous system.’
She claimed she was a descendant of Molly Leigh, who was accused of being a witch during the witch hunts of the 1600s.
However, Sybil, who came from a middle-class family, also once said she was not a mere witch but actually a druid.
‘Witches are the working class,’ she explained. ‘The Druids are the priests.’
She told an interviewer in 1969 that there would soon be a renewed interest in witchcraft.
‘We are entering the age of Aquarius, and people are searching,’ she said.
‘They are searching for a religion where they don’t have to live a God-like life, a religion that acknowledges them as human beings.’
During her life, Sybil wrote more than 60 books, which included The Diary of a Witch and The Assassination Chain. The latter discussed theories behind the assassinations of President Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King.
She also worked as a journalist and TV presenter.
Being a ‘white witch’, she didn’t support the dark arts. According to Bournemouth Echo, she once said: ‘I am a good witch.
‘Certainly, I studied black magic which is vicious and vile, but I have no desire to conjure harm. I have no capability for harm.’
One rather spectacular claim about Sybil was that the British Government recruited her during World War II.
Her role was to provide ‘phoney horoscopes for the Germans who believed in Astrology’, the BBC writes.
She apparently wrote a chart that convinced Nazi, Rudolf Hess to Fly to England where he was captured.
She died of cancer in Florida in 1982 at the age of 65 and was survived by two sons.
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