{"id":"MWM2026-001","label":"Williamson's West Country wind roarers","people_or_site":"West Country witches (Cecil Williamson's account)","country_current":"United Kingdom","historic_region":"West Country (Devon and Cornwall)","macroregion":"Europe / British Isles","local_name":"wind roarer","source_term":"wind roarer; 'Wind/Bull roarer' (museum)","source_language":"English","object_description":"Two hardwood blades pierced at one end: one about 9 × 2 in. with shallow angular carving, the other 7 × 1.5 in. carved with a spiral. Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle, catalogue 506.","function_summary":"Swung at arm's length around the head by a witch working in open country, to draw spirit forces to her; the museum files the pair among working tools 'for summoning spirits or raising spirit power'.","attestation_type":"museum_specimen","source_key":"mwm_506_wind_roarers","source_type":"museum_collection","source_url":"https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/object/bull-roarers-wind-roarers/","page_or_plate":"MWM catalogue 506 (Information, text by Cecil Williamson)","map_confidence":"high","plot_status":"plot","coordinate_basis":"West Country representative point on the Devon-Cornwall border near Launceston; Williamson's account names only the West Country, and the Boscastle museum is the holding place, not a findspot.","jade_complex_role":"","blurb":"When a West Country witch wanted to draw spirit forces to her while working out in open country, Cecil Williamson wrote, she took up a wind roarer: a flat, shaped piece of hardwood on a length of stout, pliable string, swung at arm's length around her head as fast as she could turn it. The size of the blade and the speed of the swing set the pitch, and out came a strange wailing. \"Little wonder,\" he added, \"that the spirits come flocking in to see what all the ghastly moaning is about.\" Williamson wrote it for a pair of carved roarers, one cut with angular chevrons and one with a spiral, in the Museum of Witchcraft he brought to Boscastle in 1960.","pull_quote":"Little wonder that the spirits come flocking in to see what all the ghastly moaning is about.","pull_quote_translation":"","pull_quote_cite":"Cecil Williamson, catalogue text for Museum of Witchcraft and Magic no. 506","term_gloss":"wind roarer: West Country witchcraft name for the bullroarer, in Cecil Williamson's usage.","cls":"sacred","class_label":"Sacred / spirit","color":"#8A5A2B","is_candidate":false,"flags":["women_special"],"f_jade_complex":false,"f_women_taboo":false,"f_women_special":true,"f_snake":false,"sources":[{"citation":"Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle, catalogue 506, Bull Roarers: Wind Roarers x 2 (text by Cecil Williamson)","url":"https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/object/bull-roarers-wind-roarers/","archive":"https://web.archive.org/web/20260410135324/https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/object/bull-roarers-wind-roarers/"}],"source_citations":"Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle, catalogue 506, Bull Roarers: Wind Roarers x 2 (text by Cecil Williamson)","source_display":"Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle, catalogue 506, Bull Roarers: Wind Roarers x 2 (text by Cecil Williamson)","date_citation_display":"","object_display":"Two hardwood blades pierced at one end: one about 9 × 2 in. with shallow angular carving, the other 7 × 1.5 in. carved with a spiral. Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle, catalogue 506.","function_display":"Swung at arm's length around the head by a witch working in open country, to draw spirit forces to her; the museum files the pair among working tools 'for summoning spirits or raising spirit power'.","confidence_display":"high","attestation_label":"museum specimen","etymology_hedge":"","people_key":"west country","display_name":"Williamson's West Country wind roarers","image":{"full":"assets/objects/MWM2026-001_mwm_wind_roarer.jpg","thumb":"assets/objects/MWM2026-001_mwm_wind_roarer_thumb.jpg","alt":"A dark wooden blade about 23 cm long, deeply carved with angular chevron patterns and pierced near one end, above an 8 cm scale.","credit":"Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle","license":"Copyright to The Museum of Witchcraft Ltd. (as stated on the museum record)","source_page":"https://museumofwitchcraftandmagic.co.uk/object/bull-roarer/","rehosted":true,"representative":true,"caption":"A carved bullroarer in the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic, Boscastle.","last_modified":"2026-11-12"},"slug":"mwm2026-001-west-country-witches-cecil-williamson-s-account"}