'Witches beware! No ill-wish or...', Jean Macaulay, Daily Record, 7 March 1964

Daily Record, 7 March 1964, page 13, by Jean Macaulay. The longest of the inheritance reports, with a full-length photograph of Monique Wilson, "known among witches as the Lady Olwen", and one of the Witches' Mill. Flying from Glasgow to the island by chartered plane, she says other witches tried to win Gardner's property and will be "vicious" now it has gone to her, that a heart attack the previous summer was ill-wished on her, and that Gardner made her High Priestess of his own coven, kissed her feet and put his mantle on her shoulders. The piece describes the house at 77 Malew Street and its Ceremonial Room, a copper talisman made by "the Magician of the North", Campbell "Scotty" Wilson as a former RAF pilot and Gas Board statistician who is also a witch, and Monique's birth in Indo-China to French parents. It also notes Gardner's £3,000 bequest to Patricia Crowther of Sheffield. How to cite: Jean Macaulay, 'Witches beware! No ill-wish or...', Daily Record, 7 March 1964, p. 13. Alexandrian Witchcraft Timeline & Archive.

Witches beware! No ill-wish or … By Jean Macaulay Lady Olwen, Scotland’s Witch Queen. Below is her inheritance, the Witches’ Mill in the Isle of Man. A CAULDRON of jealousy and bad feeling is bubbling over the inheritance which has gone to Scotland’s Queen Witch. For this week the Queen, young, dark-eyed Mrs. Monique Wilson, inherited the home and Witchcraft Museum in Castletown, Isle of Man, which belonged to the late Dr. Gerald Gardner, the leader of Britain’s witches. But when she flew from Glasgow to the island by chartered plane yesterday Monique - known among witches as the Lady Olwen - was on her guard. VICIOUS Before leaving she said: “I am not afraid - I have had my warning and am now protected. “They cannot harm me, but last summer they almost succeeded. I had a heart attack which no medical man could explain. “It was ill-wished on me and I know what - or, should I say, WHO - caused it. “But using Power that way means it goes back to the sender threefold, so witches who ill-wish me will themselves be ill.” Monique known to close friends as “Nicky,” explained why trouble started brewing the moment Dr. Gardner’s will became known. “Many witches tried to influence Gerald Gardner to get his property,” she said, “and they will be VICIOUS now that they know it has gone to me.” Dark eyes flashing, she added: “He liked me, and made me the High Priestess of his own coven on the Isle of Man. “He kissed my feet and put his mantle on my shoulders.” What has really put venom in the hearts of Monique’s sister witches is the fact that she is now virtually Chief Wicca of Britain - for the late Dr. Gardner’s tremendous library is regarded as the centre of witch learning. In Dr. Gardner’s comer house at 77 Malew Street. Castleton [sic], last night Monique, her husband Campbell “Scotty” Wilson and daughter Vyvette, 7, were already settling in. Mr. Wilson, a 40-year-old former R.A.F. pilot and ex-pupil of Hillhead High School, Glasgow, is also a witch. He gave up his job as a Gas Board statistician - and the family’s prefab home at 45 Nimmo Avenue, Perth - to help his wife run the famous Witchcraft Museum… … And to help protect her from the trouble that has already come from all angles. NO IDEA Shortly after Dr Gardner’s death on February 12, his niece flew from America and made it clear she felt she had been hard done by in the will. Witches arrived and tried to get into the house before they knew who was to inherit it. Other members of Dr. Gardner’s family have written asking for some of his personal belongings. Witch Queen Monique has no idea yet how much of real value there is in the stone-flagged, 450-year-old house. Already she has found one old book with a £175 price mark inside. The late “front man” of British witches used the converted barn of the house - the “Ceremonial Room” for practising the cult - as his study. There he wrote his books and gathered the witches together for Sabbats. Under rugs on the floor are the symbols of witchcraft, and the room has four exits. When the Wilsons have settled in, Monique will hang a small copper talisman on the front door. It was made by a man referred to in Dr. Gardner's books as “the Magician of the North,” and will protect the ex-Witch Queen of Scotland and her new home from evil. She expects attacks from ill-wishers on the mainland, and hopes the talisman will bring happiness and acceptance on the island for little Vyvette. A GUIDE “The children in Perth stoned her because she was a foreigner,” explained Monique. “It has always been like that in Britain because I was born in Indo China of French parents.” Besides the house and museum, the woman who has now become the High Priestess of Witchcraft inherits £1500 - and the residue of Dr. Gardner’s £25,000 estate after several small bequests. In summer-time she will act as guide at the Witchcraft Museum which is a big holidaymakers’ attraction. Dr. Gardner, who died in Tunis aged 80, also left £3000 to ANOTHER witch - Mrs. Pat Crowther, of City Road, Sheffield. But there are others who feel they should have inherited witchcraft’s greatest prize, and an uneasy silence lay over the little cottage in Castletown last night.