Devil’s Mark

The Devil’s Mark is a supposed bodily sign of witchcraft, not an objectively established supernatural mark. In the story, the belief links Elnor’s persecution in Thomas Woolgar’s account to the attention paid to Alice Pagett’s accessory breast, exposing how fear and inherited ideas can recast physical difference as evidence of guilt.

Meaning and Folklore

In recalling witchcraft folklore, Monsignor Delgard describes several kinds of supposed marks: colored spots, sunken areas of flesh, and other bodily irregularities. The belief made scars, moles, warts, and natural growths seem diabolical when found on someone already suspected of being a witch. A further bodily swelling, however, was treated as especially conclusive by those who accepted the superstition. The concept thus operates less as a stable physical description than as a rule for interpreting a body: ordinary variation could be made to signify hidden evil.

The Accusation Against Elnor

The Devil’s Mark takes on a specific role in Thomas Woolgar’s account of Elnor. When villagers turn against her, Woolgar urges them to search her body for the supposed sign; he knows that she has an extra nipple, which the superstition identifies as a witch’s means of nursing a familiar. Its discovery is treated by the crowd as confirmation of the accusation. The episode shows how the belief supplies apparent proof after suspicion has already taken hold, rather than establishing guilt through independent evidence.

Connection to Alice Pagett

Delgard recalls the folklore while considering the unusual physical feature associated with Alice Pagett. That juxtaposition invites a comparison between Alice and Elnor, but it does not establish that the bodily trait proves witchcraft or that the two women share the same identity. Instead, the mark becomes a lens through which observers may interpret Alice: a feature that could be described physically is burdened with an older, accusatory meaning.

Narrative Significance

The account of the Devil’s Mark comes through Thomas Woolgar’s manuscript, whose claims are presented within a narrative shaped by guilt, fear, and a contested explanation of past events. Its description therefore records both the superstition and the way Woolgar’s account uses it to frame Elnor as a witch. The concept also connects the historical narrative to the present investigation: the same bodily difference can be read as a neutral fact or as a sign of evil, depending on the beliefs brought to it. That interpretive gap is central to the mark’s force—and to the danger of mistaking culturally produced suspicion for proof.