ABSTRACT
Richard Hathaway, a London blacksmith's apprentice, was convicted of fraud and imposture in 1702 for falsely accusing Sarah Morduck of bewitching him. Historians of English witchcraft have cited this case as evidence of judicial skepticism toward the crime of witchcraft and of continuing popular belief in it; however, detailed and thorough analysis of the primary sources has been lacking in the scholarly literature. Through a comparative analysis of the four major contemporary accounts, this article explores the motives and representational strategies of the participants in the case and of those who composed the accounts. Hathaway's accusation against Morduck was malicious; a desire to profit from selling the story of Hathaway's bewitchment was a likely motive for the false accusation. The very different versions of Hathaway and Morduck that emerge from this research illustrate the dangers of relying on single sources for witchcraft cases.
