At Whit Cost

Behind The Poem:

This poem focuses on the story of Janet Confoot (Corphat), a woman accused of witchcraft alongside 2 other people as part of a hunt in Pittenweem. She managed to escape prison and ran back to her home, from which she was found, and an angry mob tortured her.

Janet Cornfoot would have died a slow and terrifying death, being murdered by her friends and community. They reportedly strung Janet up between a ship and the harbour where they stoned her. Once they were done with her, Janet was then taken down and crushed underneath a door that was weighted by stones. This would’ve killed Janet, but the crowd persisted for good measure and ran Janet over with a horse and cart 3 times. She was buried in a mass unmarked grave. She has no memorial.

The mod responsible for Janet’s death were never brought to justice for what they did to her. The acusor, a blacksmith’s son Patrick Morton, was later found to be a liar, having given the courts 3 names, Beatrice Lang, Janet Cornfoot and Thomas Brown, all 3 of whitch died.

This poem is a memorial for Janet and her last moments, the horror she saw and hopefully an attempt to capture what her last few thoughts might have been. Or an attempt to imagine what any woman who was murdered as a witch might have been thinking before the end.