Dr Gregor in his work on Folk-lore describes a famous
charm known as "Willox’s Ball and Bridle," which at one time was held in
great repute throughout the North-East of Scotland. "The ‘Ball’ is the
half of a glass ball, whose original purpose it is not easy
to divine. It was concealed for untold ages in the heart of a
brick, and was cut from its place of concealment by
a fairy, and given generations ago to an ancestor of the present owner as
payment for a kind service." The" Bridle" is a small brass hook, and is
said to have been cut from a Water-Kelpie’s bridle by an ancestor of
Willox. The story of the meeting with the Kelpie and capture of the
"Bridle" is given by Dr Gregor and at greater length by Stewart, the
latter of whom states that he had the details from
"the celebrated Mr Wellox" of that time. It it therefore unnecessary to
repeat the story here. The manner in which the Ball
and Bridle were used in order to effect a cure was as follows: "A small
quantity of water is poured into a basin. The stone is put into the water
and turned three times round while the words, ‘In the name of the Father
the Son and of the Holy Ghost,’ are repeated. The bridle is then dropped
into the water and turned round in the same way, and with the same words.
The water so treated has the power to cure all manner of disease."
Willox’s Ball appears to have been held in great repute
in the early part of this century, and two instances of its use are
recorded by hall, who says:- "There are in the Highlands quacks and
pretenders, even yet, to prevent witchcraft,
enchantments and barrenness in women. There is a Mr Willox, near Tamintoul,
a man of some information, and who always wears scarlet clothes, that
pretends he possesses this art; and, I am sorry to
hear, is not unfrequently applied to." A man on the banks of the Spey,
"who had been married nine years, and had no children, went to the said
Willox, and laid down his guinea, the ordinary fee. Willox, having a large
black pebble of a curious shape, which he keeps in an elegant gold and
silver box, and which he says came from Italy, being handed down to him
from his grandfather, took it, went out to a well, near his house, brought
in about half an English gallon of water; and, with the pebble or stone in
his hand, moved the water quickly, several times; then, saying the Lord’s
prayer three times, in Latin, and other Latin
prayers, which, as he is a Roman Catholic, he can do, he bottled up the
water, desired the man to say his prayers regularly every evening, and
give his wife three wine glasses of this water at bed time, and there was
no fear. The man did so, and actually, I am assured, has had a child every
other year since. This seems to exceed the miracle of what made so great a
figure in advertisements in London newspapers, some years ago, of the nine
times died blue flannel." The second case was that of a farmer, who lived
at a distance of more than forty miles from Tamintoul, "whose wife had
lingered for years, without any physician being able, and many were tried,
to discover what was the matter with her was at length persuaded by his
neighbours that she was witched, as they term it. . . He
sent to Willox, paid him a guinea, and all expenses. When Willox came, in
his scarlet coat, breeches, &c., he perambulated the house, garden, barns,
&c., frequently standing and holding out his nose, as if to smell where
the witchcraft was lodged. At length he pretended he had discovered it;
and, running hastily, put his hand into a hole of the wall of the house,
and pulled out a fowl’s stomach, broiled, and cut into certain bits, which
he said had been put there by some person, in concert with the devil. The
poor woman, it seems, got a little better; and, so credulous was the
farmer, as well as his neighbours, as to believe that Willox cured her."
