the first printed account of pickingill that described him as a cunning man appeared fifty years after his death. this was provided by the folkorist eric maple, who was making a systematic study of nineteenth-century traditions regarding witchcraft and magic in south-eastern essex, and who examined the case of canewdon in the winter of 1959–60. he had begun his enquiries by meeting with a number of elderly local residents at the home of the schoolmistress, from whom he gained a variety of tales pertaining to magical practices in the village. his initial findings were published in 1960 in the scholarly journal "folklore", produced by the folklore society. maple followed this article with a shorter piece written for 'essex countryside magazine' (vol.18 no.58 - november 1961). he subsequently produced a sensationalist popular history of witchcraft, "the dark world of witches" (1962), in which he repeated many of the claims regarding pickingill. in this work, he erroneously described south-eastern essex as the last bastion of english witchcraft beliefs, and ignored scholarly conventions in relating his information, resulting in a critical reception from folklorists; the book nevertheless was popular and sold well.