The Witch Who Became a Hare

In March our thoughts turn to hares.

Maria Hale, the witch of Aldermaston (Berkshire) was able to turn herself into a hare. 

Between the 1850s and '60s it was reported that the transformed Maria would sit outside the local pub and listen to the gossip, nose and ears twitching.

A local gamekeeper shot this hare in the leg and thereafter it was said that Maria Hale walked with a limp.

Maria was considered to be a most wicked woman. 

She scammed the vulnerable and lonely selling them expensive curses or cures.

The local people were very frightened of her.

The following are some of her reported sins:

1. She sold a local shopkeeper what she said was ham, though she kept no pigs. Apparently it was the most delicious ham in all of Aldermaston, yet she kept no pigs...

2. If she asked you for flowers and you refused to give them to her then all of your plants would wither and die.

3. When her son tried to leave home she cursed him, this caused him to become ill so he had to return home.

She died in 1879 (aged 88) and was buried in the Graveyard of Aldermaston Church.
The villagers planted her under a yew tree in a hole at least 12 feet deep (most graves are 6 feet deep).
The placed rocks on the coffin and jumped up and down upon the grave to ensure she wouldn't get out.
It is said that if you place a pin on the steps of the church and run around it three times she will appear.

The adventures of Maria Hale (in life and after her death) alongside other strange characters from the Berkshire area can be heard in "Deadman's Lane" a Folk Horror School Play. 

A radio version is below...

Source: David Nash Ford's "Royal Berkshire History" 2001
http://www.berkshirehistory.com/villages/aldermaston.html