Supernatural Horror in Literature Sidonia von Borcke (1548-1620) was a Pomeranian noblewoman who was tried and executed for witchcraft. In posthumous legends, she is depicted as a femme fatale, and she has entered English literature as Sidonia the Sorceress. Amongst all the trials for witchcraft with which we are acquainted, few have attained so great a celebrity as that of the Lady Canoness of Pomerania, Sidonia von Bork. She was accused of having by her sorceries caused sterility in many families, particularly in that of the ancient reigning house of Pomerania, and also of having...

Everyone who has heard of the animadversions which "The Amber Witch" excited, many asserting that it was only dressed-up history, though I repeatedly assured them it was simple fiction, will pardon me if I do not here distinctly declare whether Sidonia be history or fiction. The truth of the material, as well as of the formal contents, can be tested by anyone by referring to the authorities I have named; and in connection with these, I must just remark, that in order to spare the reader any difficulties which might present themselves to eye and ear, in consequence of the old-fashioned mode...