‘Winifred the Wonder Witch’ features two stories: ‘The Witch Who Lost Her Magic’ and ‘Saving the Dragons.’ In the first story, Winifred loses her magic, and she has to find a way of getting it back. In the second story, we meet the princesses who want to save the dragons; because ‘there aren’t many dragons left in the world.’ Winifred, as she does in ‘Flying Santa,’ comes to the rescue in her inimitable, dramatic and exciting style.

Here is a delightful tale that is much more than just another Halloween story. "One Wish for Winifred Witch" is a truly magical tale with a surprising twist. Each year the witches of Haunted Hollow eagerly await the arrival of Halloween. All, that is, except for little Winifred Witch. You see . . . When the sky grows dark and the moon glows bright, Little Winifred Witch is nowhere in sight. Of course, none of the witches in the Hollow know why young Winifred seems to magically disappear when nighttime comes, nor do they know about the "one" secret wish she makes every night. But with a little help from her wise Aunt Broomhilda, Winifred Witch discovers that sometimes it takes more than Magic to make a wish come true.

It is a historical phenomenon that while thousands of women were being burnt as witches in early modern Europe, the English - although there were a few celebrated trials and executions, one of which the play dramatises - were not widely infected by the witch-craze. The stage seems to have provided an outlet for anxieties about witchcraft, as well as an opportunity for public analysis. The Witch of Edmonton (1621) manifests this fundamentally reasonable attitude, with Dekker insisting on justice for the poor and oppressed, Ford providing psychological character studies, and Rowley the clowning. The village community of Edmonton feels threatened by two misfits, Old Mother Sawyer, who has turned to the devil to aid her against her unfeeling neighbours, and Frank, who refuses to marry the woman of his father's choice and ends up murdering her. This edition shows how the play generates sympathy for both and how contemporaries would have responded to its presentation of village life and witchcraft.

"In 1993, Walt Disney Pictures released a movie that would change a generation...but it took a while. Hocus Pocus flopped upon release, and critics everywhere scoffed at this oddball comedy about three wacky witches back from the dead. But then something changed. Far from the forgotten relic it was destined to become, Hocus Pocus has taken its place alongside The Wizard of Oz, Harry Potter, and Home Alone--a bona fide classic that's sure to stay alive for generations to come."--Back cover.

On 19 April 1621, a woman named Elizabeth Sawyer was hanged at Tyburn. Her story was on the bookstalls within days and within weeks was adapted for the stage as The Witch of Edmonton. The devil stalks Edmonton in the shape of a large black dog and, just as Elizabeth Sawyer makes her demonic pact, the newlywed Frank Thorney enters into his own dark bargain in the shape of a second, bigamous marriage. Torn between sympathy for Sawyer and Thorney and a clear-eyed assessment of their crimes, the play was the finest and most nuanced treatment of witchcraft that the stage would see for centuries. Lucy Munro's introduction provides students and scholars with a detailed understanding of this complex play.