Written by E Lydiatt
The story of a supposed witch of Tywardreath as recounted to the author by an old inhabitant of the village
"Janie Broad lived in a thatched cottage; all the children were afraid of her and everyone said she was a witch. There was a lane near her cottage which is known now as Janie Broad's lane. She use to go down there at night times to look for toads. (When she died the village knew because there were so many toads walking around.)
It was said that she went to a communion service in the church and stole bread to feed the toads.
She claimed to be able to charm blood (ie. stop blood from flowing). One day she quarrelled with a family who lived near to her. This man killed a pig, but no blood would flow; Janie Broad had ill-wished it. This neighbour guessed that Janie had something to do with it, so he went to her and threatened that he would kill her in the same way as he had killed the pig. When he reached home he found that the blood had commenced to flow.
Her husband worked in the local tin mines. One morning she quarrelled with him. She told him that she hoped that he would fall down the mine shat and be brought home in a bag - dead! Sure enough, in the evening her poor old husband was brought home in the same way as she had wished - dead; through having fallen down the shaft and pieces of hs body in a sack."