'I was never witch, says Susan: "Lost my friends"', Manchester Evening News, 7 January 1966

Manchester Evening News, Friday 7 January 1966, front page, with a photograph of Susan Bate. Susan Bate, 18, a former Levenshulme Grammar School pupil and shorthand-typist from Abbey Hey, Gorton, tells the paper she was never a witch. She had broken off her six-month friendship with Paul King, 22, the elder of three Manchester covens, three weeks earlier, and says her interest in witchcraft was mostly fascination with him. She was never initiated and never attended a ritual. She had earlier admitted being associated with the witches at the flat in Egerton Road North, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, but now says she did it 'only for publicity to help them out', and that the attention has cost her most of her friends. The story ran a month after the witches' wedding of Alex Sanders and Maxine Morris, at which Paul King officiated. How to cite: 'I was never witch, says Susan: "Lost my friends"', Manchester Evening News, 7 January 1966, p. 1. Alexandrian Witchcraft Timeline & Archive.

“I was never witch, says Susan: “Lost my friends” By A Staff Reporter EX-GRAMMAR schoolgirl 18-year-old Susan Bate was today trying to live down her reputation as a witch. Said blue-eyed Susan, of Abbey Hey, Gorton, “I was never a witch, anyway.” She said she had broken off her six-month-old friendship with Paul King, 22-year-old elder of three witch covens in the Manchester area. Some months ago Susan admitted she was associated with witches living in a flat in Egerton Road North, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. Then three weeks ago she finished her friendship with Paul King. “When I started going round with Paul I took a very great interest in witchcraft,” said Susan, a shorthand-typist… in a Manchester office. “But I realise now it was mostly fascination due to the fact I was going him. I was never initiated as a witch and I never attended any of their rituals. “Our friendship was off and on for five or six months, but it is absolutely finished now.” Susan formerly a pupil at Levenshulme Grammar School, made her denial today to save herself embarrassment. Said Susan: “Twice over Christmas while I was with a friend, people asked about witchcraft. It caused me a bit of embarrassment. “People I know ignoring me and I don’t if it’s due to the publicity I received or not, but I have now lost most of my friends. “I did say I was associated with witches for about three months but I only did it for publicity to help them out.”