The Witches' Hallowmass Ride

On such a night the very elements themselves seemed in sympathy.The wind ,rose, gust following gust in angry and ever -increasing intensity, till it hurled itself in angry blasts that levelled hat-rick and grain -stack and tore the thatched roof from homestead and cot ,where the frightened dwellers huddled and crept together bin terror. Over and with higher note then the blast itself , high-pitched eldritch laughter ,fleeting and mocking , skirled and shrieked through the air. Then a lull ,with a stillness more terrifying than even the wild forces of angry blast, only to be almost immediately broken with a crash of ear-splitting thunder ,and the flash and the glare of forked and jagged flame, lighting up the unhallowed pathway of the "witches'ride".
The journey itself or rather the mode of progression in passing to the "witch gathering" was itself steeped in "diabolerie" of varying degree. The simple broomstick served the more ordinary witch for a steed. Another vehicle was the chariot of "rag- wort or ragweed" , harnessed to the wind" for sisters of higher rank ,broomsticks specially shod with bones of murdered men, became high mettled and most spirited steeds,and the iron bits forged at the "smithy" of the Evil One himself gave to its possessor the power of the most potent spell.