Matt Adcock uncovers the dark history of Hitchin 

I'm a fan of scary stories, writes Matt Adcock

So I was intrigued when I found out that Hertfordshire holds the dubious 'honour' of being the last place in England to condemn a witch to death – one Jane Wenham of Church End in Walkern.  

Further investigation uncovered that chief among her accusers was Francis Bragge – a vicar based in Hitchin - so I got to thinking about some speculative 'what if' scenarios for a short story. 

Wednesday evening will be fun as well as a little scary as I share the tale I came up with where a witch drowned in the Hiz near St Mary's exacts revenge from beyond the grave.

Gusto's Italian is only a few metres away from the spot so it should add to the ambiance (and they do incredible food and wine – some of which is included in the price of the ticket!). 

I got a graphic designer pal to make the photo of the river / church that I took look a bit more sinister – and it makes a great cover.

The scary story has been for sale in Harvest Moon and the Hitchin Information Office and both have sold out several times. Next up will be another local tale about ghostly highwaymen, but that's for next year… 

Writing fiction partially based on 'real' events adds the opportunity to elaborate and go wild with things that are far over the top like a strange modern day cult being linked to the witch.

There a few tickets left for Weds evening at Gusto's if you're brave enough – so might see you there!

Matt Adcock, Hitchin author.

Matt Adcock (above) is a science fiction and horror writer, he co-hosts the cyberpunk podcast 'Hosts in the Shell' and is Chair of the Society of Authors Hertfordshire Branch. His first novel Complete Darkness was published in 2019 and was picked as a 'Book of the Year' by Den of Geek alongside the new books from Philip Pullman and Margaret Atwood. It is now being turned into a comic too.

Find Matt on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram by searching for @cleric20 

PS: Did you know Matt just had another sinister short story published in an anthology of scary stories called Dread Cold, which is available now.

Matt's debut novel Complete Darkness is still selling well (more than 200 copies this month as it was included in a Cyberpunk bundle) and is being turned into a comic book- "which is just an absolute joy," Matt says.

You can find Matt's work online – best site is www.completedarknessnovel.com which has links. Or on amazon, Waterstones etc.