Pin-Swallowing and Self-Destruction in Early Modern British and Irish Supernatural Narratives

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores self-destructive behaviours in early modern Britain and Ireland through the phenomenon of pin-swallowing, as depicted in cases of bewitchment and possession. It argues that the involvement of witches and demons enabled the expression of self-destructive feelings without condemnation for such thoughts and actions. As supernatural belief was increasingly located within the mind of the individual in the eighteenth century, people were deprived of this outlet. The suicidal connotations of pins and their supernatural cause also sheds light on the different explanations which men and women were able to ascribe such impulses and behaviours.