"Reading Witchcraft explores the stories told by and about 'witches' and their 'victims', and questions what can be recovered from their trial records, early news books, pamphlets and personal accounts. In her wide-ranging selection of original sources, Marion Gibson uncovers truth, fiction and incertitude in stories of witchcraft. Who told them and why? How were they recorded? And how might they have been distorted or stereotyped?" "Reading Witchcraft looks closely at these legal documents and printed pamphlets and shows that their representations of witchcraft are far from straightforward. Even the simplest story can mask a complex creative process which sometimes led to the deaths of innocent people. We are left with a challenging record of the power of the human imagination."--BOOK JACKET.