Witch-on-Witch Crime

Witch Says Fellow Pagan out To Get Her

from News-Journal Online

PALM COAST, FLORIDA - It was close to midnight on Sunday and Jill Pagan - who practices paganism and calls herself a witch - was getting settled into bed when she heard a crash. It sounded like something might have fallen.

Upon investigation, Pagan discovered that her home's white aluminum door had a large gash in it. And just to the right, a large chunk of concrete was sitting in a flowerpot with a note attached to it by rubber bands. She immediately recognized a handwritten note in an ancient language called Theban, which she said is used almost exclusively by witches.

Pagan called a Flagler County sheriff's deputy to her family's home, but no report has been filed on the incident, sheriff's office spokeswoman Debra Johnson said Monday.

Pagan later translated the message as, "'You've been warned. Stop what you're doing,'" she said Monday. And it was a way to scare her, her husband and daughter.

Pagan thinks the suspect is someone known to the local pagan community - perhaps another pagan familiar with Theban script.

Pagans in Volusia and Flagler counties are a loose-knit group with various beliefs. Some believe in multiple deities, while some follow the Wicca, Celtic, Norse, Egyptian, Druid, African, and Native American traditions.

"Someone knew damn well that I was a witch and that I would recognize Theban for what it was," Pagan said, angry at what she calls a hate crime on her Belvedere Lane home.

"If you wanted to ask me a question, knock on my door - don't throw a brick through it," she said. "All my neighbors know and most of them are very cool with it."