support for liddell's story came from cecil williamson, founder of the museum of witchcraft, who claimed to have known about pickingill through his acquaintances with both crowley and gardner. however, williamson was an unreliable source, and was known to repeatedly fabricate claims regarding past events. another figure, known only as colonel lawrence, also supported liddell's story, asserting that his own great-grandmother had studied under pickingill and thus had been introduced to crowley; as with williamson's, however, lawrence's claims are unreliable, particularly as he has made the unsupported claim that his great-grandmother studied witchcraft under the american folklorist charles leland. also supporting liddell's claims was the wiccan ralph harvey, who, following the publication of liddell's material, publicly declared that in the 1950s or 1960s he had been initiated into one of pickingill's nine covens, located in storrington, sussex. following the publication of liddell's claims, a number of covens appeared in both the united states and australia claiming to be practitioners of a tradition originating with pickingill. liddell himself has been critical of such groups, expressing his regret that the material he published led to their formation.