AS Halloween approaches this week thoughts will turn, perhaps a little apprehensively, to witches, ghosts and other beings. In Wales, perhaps more so than in other parts of the British Isles, the landscape is full of reminders of the spirit world: many places are associated with witches (gwrach), sprites (bwbach), ghosts (yspryd) and other ghastly beings.

But what is the historical background to these place-names? A new book by Richard Suggett, senior architectural investigator at the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (RCAHMW), explores the documentary evidence relating to witchcraft in Wales and reveals some disturbing stories from our past.

Written evidence surviving from some 20 cases from the 16th and 17th centuries has been fully transcribed in the book, revealing some remarkable events and personalities that have remained hidden for 300 years. Suspected witches, cursers and healers all feature alongside users of love magic and charms, believers in fairies, and several confidence tricksters who offered wealth and cures through supernatural means.

There were some forty prosecutions for witchcraft in Wales with five suspects hanged for the offence and Flintshire revealing itself as something of a hotbed when it came to alleged magic practitioners.

"The Welsh have always had a reputation for having a mystical and magical knowledge, especially to those living outside Wales," says Richard. "It was often referred to as one of the dark corners of the land in the mid 17th century and of course, purely as a fluke really the traditional costume of witches is not unlike the traditional Welsh costume with its tall pointed hat.

"There were panics about witches all over Britain, but there were actually fewer witches prosecuted in Wales compared to other parts of the island partly because the Welsh courts were clogged up with prosecuting other felons, primarily thieves, who squeezed witches out of the system.

"Wales was also seen as somewhere where there were a lot of helpful witches or 'white witches' and people were more accepting of those despite the fact they could have the reputation of being able to harm as well as heal."

By the end of the 15th century, witchcraft and religious heresy were seen as objects of fear and sporadic persecutions at a local level were transformed in some areas into a determined campaign to eliminate every trace of witchcraft. Organised 'hunts', primarily the persecution of women, were common during the 17th century and fuelled accusations of witchcraft, torture and execution throughout much of Europe. Evidence from the gaol files of the Court of Great Sessions, which Richard has reproduced, show that witches were persecuted in Wales, including a number in Flintshire and Denbighshire.

As far back as 1594, Gwen Ferch Ellis, of Llandyrnog, near Ruthin, became the earliest person convicted and executed for witchcraft in Wales after she was accused of causing the madness of a child, and of murdering a sick man who died shortly after being treated by her. She was also accused of having "a vengeful nature", all through the use of witchcraft. Gwen’s friends advised her to run, but adamant she’d done nothing wrong, she refused, and was arrested by William Hughes, Bishop of St Asaph, who took her for questioning at Flint Castle. She was executed by hanging in Denbigh town square

60 years later in Penley, allegations of witchcraft were brought against Anne Ellis, a beggar on the margins of society, accused of acts of "magic, good and bad, against livestock and children". Six of her neighbours spoke up for her as well as the local constable and the accused was later discharged. Meanwhile, in Llanasa, in 1656, William Griffith, a mariner who was returning to his ship lying off the Point of Ayr, came across one Dorothy Griffith who "appeared between him and several lanterns and lights". After a few minutes Dorothy vanished but the lights led him to Thomas Rogers's alehouse, where he fell into a trance. This time as many as 31 people leapt to the accused's defence and she survived the threat of the hangman.

"There were some pretty big cases in Flintshire," says Richard. "Once you take the stopper out of the bottle the fizz comes out and witchcraft would often be used as an explanation for misfortune. So if you had a sick cow or a sick child it was often explained as being the result of witchcraft especially if this coincided with a beggar woman knocking from door to door.

"In many ways it's the same tension that exists with trick or treat today: if you don't give a treat to the kids when they come around they will pay a trick on you. It preserves the witchcraft situation of the mid-17th century to this day."

Today, it's still possible to see the impact of witchery across north east Wales, most obviously in some of the region's place names. Nant y Cythraul at Flint, Ffynnon Bwbach and Rhyd y Bwbach at Cwm, Goblin's Well in Maes Garmon Field and Cae Coblyn in the township of Talardd, St. Asaph, and Bryn yr Ellyllon in Mold are all names associated with the supernatural, while Ffynnon Deg, a quarter of a mile to the north-east of Caerwys, was once called Ffynnon Sarah after a witch who lived on the outskirts of the town.

Flintshire's 51 wells also hint at a mysterious and superstitious past with Ffynnon Fihangel in Bodfari said to cure sore eyes and warts, whilst victims of rheumatism and nervous disorders resorted to Ffynnon Asa in Cwm. Ffynnon Elian, a ‘holy’ well near Abergele, developed a grim reputation as a 'cursing well'

"In north east Wales there was a residual interest in the saints post-reformation and there was a real hangover from the Catholic period," adds Richard. "It's never really left Flintshire when you look at somewhere like Holywell."

In 2012, the Reverend Dr Felix Aubel, who served as a minister in Camarthenshire and Cardiganshire claimed occult practices in rural Wales were on the rise saying there was an "unusual connection" between Christianity and witchcraft in some chapel circles in Wales. A quick look at the results of 2011's Census suggests perhaps the Reverend and Richard might be right. According to the statistics there were 117 Pagans in Flintshire and 92 in Wrexham, while the one person who stated they were a witch in Flintshire had four colleagues in Wrexham. Add to that seven self-confessed Satanists in Flintshire, and eight in Wrexham and perhaps the case for this being 'a dark corner of the land' remains...

Welsh Witches: Narratives of Witchcraft from 16th and 17th century Wales by Richard Suggett is published by Atramentous Press.