subsequent researchers also travelled to canewdon to meet with maple's informants and confirm his account for themselves. in april 1967 ronald hutton visited the village where he met with elderly resident lillian garner, who had been one of maple's informants. he also found an informant that maple had not encountered, an old man named jack taylor, then living in a retirement home. taylor claimed that as a young man he knew pickingill, and that the latter had the power of horse-whispering—the magical ability to command horses to do his bidding. on the whole, hutton found that the account of pickingill among the local people to whom he spoke was entirely consistent with that provided by maple. in 1977 hutton was followed by the gardnerian wiccan initiate michael howard, who met with garner, then eighty-seven years old. on this occasion, she recalled pickingill being photographed with the first car to arrive in the village, and also gave howard the original copy of a photograph of him that was in her possession. she then added the information—which she had not given to maple or hutton—that her own mother had talked of pickingill leading a local coven, and that he received "many visitors" from "a long way away" who sought his magical knowledge.