Marks of Witches.
Some witches are believed to learn the secrets of their craft by eating filth. We have already seen that this is also believed to be the case with evil spirits. Such a woman, in popular belief, is always very lovely and scrupulously neat in her personal appearance, and she always has a clear line of red lead applied to the parting of her hair. Witches have a special power of casting evil glances on children, and after a child is buried, they are believed to exhume the corpse, anoint it with oil, and bring it to life to serve some occult purpose of their own. On the same principle the Kâfirs believe that dead bodies are restored to life, and made hobgoblins to aid their owners in mischief.[48] Indian witches, moreover, are supposed to keep a light burning during the ceremony of child exhumation, and if the father or the mother has the courage to run and snatch away the child just as it is revived, and before the witch can blow out the light, the child will be restored to them safe and sound.[49]