Thomas Sawdie allegedly begins to have fits whenever the Roberts family reads scripture or prays, in which he yells, roars, whistles and otherwise causes a disturbance until he is too exhausted to continue. After these fits, he would fall into a dead sleep around midnight in which it was difficult to tell whether he was alive or dead, his arms would spread apart, and his body be stricken with a stiffness such that they would break before they would bend; he would not come out of this state until 7 or 8 the following morning. In the mornings, he would be lifted out of his bed by an unknown force and thrown violently under it without disturbing the bedsheets.(4)

Dorothy Sawdie confronts her son Thomas Sawdie the morning after his third fit triggered by prayer and the reading of scripture, and presses him to tell her whether he had seen any evil thing, made any promise to it, or any other thing. Thomas is unwilling, but is said to have eventually confessed to making a compact with the Devil and to his agreement to meet in the field.(4)

Thomas Sawdie allegedly begins to have furious frantic fits, in which he attempts to run away while removing his clothes. Eventually, they are forced to bind him with a narrow towel tied into three knots at his wrist, but he soon demonstrates that he can remove his hands when he pleases from this confinement, and once leaps a high gate with his hands still bound behind his back. These fits include fitting himself through small spaces in attempts to make his escape; Sawdie claims that he could "put his body out at a Mouse-hole" and indeed manages to get himself stuck to the waist in a hole in a wall that should not have fit him.(5-6)

The Devil allegedly appears to Thomas Sawdie in the form of a little man with long fingers and large eyes dressed in black velvet after Sawdie confesses to his mother; the Devil threatens Sawdie with his fist and tells him that thereafter he will fall down dead whenever God is named. As promised, Sawdie continues to howl, whistle and be disruptive when Scripture is read or other religious activities, then fall into a death-like state.(5, 6)

Thomas Sawdie allegedly has a fit of roaring and whistling when Mr. Teag reads scripture, occasionally falling down as if dead, then starting to roar and whistle once more; this continued until Mr. Teag took the boy's hand. When the minister was holding Sawdie's hand, the boy would lie silently as if dead, but break into outrage again if Mr. Teag withdrew. Mr. Teag holds Sawdie's hand as long as he is able, occasionally seeming to feel a sudden vibration and quivering from the spirits within the boy.(9-11)

Toward the end of the day of prayer, The Devil allegedly tells Thomas Sawdie that if he turns his head away from Mr. Teag so that he can't see Mr. Teag's face, he would be able to open his eyes and roar again despite Mr. Teag's hand holding his. Sawdie does so and starts struggling with his head buried in the chest of the man holding him on the other side. Mr. Teag soon realizes that his looking Sawdie in the face ends the fit, and ensures that he is able to do so until the end of the day.(10-11)

Thomas Sawdie is allegedly found to be able to speak of God again while bound hand and foot in the field. He is pressed to repeat the Lord's Prayer, and when he does so, makes a noise and falls backward, crying "He is gone, He is gone." John Roberts, his master, asked what Sawdie meant by that, and the boy replies that the Devil has left him. Sawdie also asks for Mr. Teag. It is observed that this happens at the same hour that the prayers started the day before.(12)

Thomas Sawdie is said to have encountered the Devil for the first time on his way home from a Fair. The Devil appeared in the form of a woman dressed all in white, who asked whether he wants any money, which he refused. The appearance of the woman vanished muttering words Sawdie didn't understand, and in her place, a great black dog with fiery eyes stood before him; Sawdie fell to the ground in a dead faint at the sight. When he recovered, the dog had vanished.(1-2)

Thomas Sawdie is allegedly visited by the Devil in the shape of a black dog with fiery eyes on three consecutive nights, speaking with the voice of a man, and making tempting offers. On the third night, Sawdie accepts an offer of eight pieces of eight, on the condition that he meet the Devil near the Bakes-Park-Gate by his master's house on the Lord's Day in the afternoon eight weeks hence, which is the evening before the next Fair. The Devil promises that if Sawdie keeps the meeting, he will be carried to the fair and have all his desires.(2)

Thomas Sawdie allegedly wakes up the morning after his compact to find that the money the Devil gave him has vanished and that he is sick with a swelling in his stomach and belly that has robbed him of his appetite for meat. Over the next fortnight, the swelling spreads to include his neck and throat. The Devil tells him this is not a sickness at all, but "only to deceive the people, that they might not suspect any other thing by him."(2-3)

John Roberts, Thomas Sawdie's master, becomes concerned about the boy's illness and sends to Mr. Cary, a physician for help. Mr. Cary allegedly finds Sawdie's urine to be full of black dust and scraps of brown paper; he requests a second sample, thinking the first must have been contaminated by the container. When the second sample, brought in a vessel known to have been clean, proves to be the same, Mr. Cary declares it bewitched. He sends Sawdie a julep, a plaster and a cordial of Alchermes. The boy not only fails to respond to this treatment, he begins to have fits.(2)

Thomas Sawdie allegedly begins to suffer two kinds of fits. The first is like an epileptic fit, lasting up to eight hours, after which the swelling in his throat would reduce but the swelling in his belly remain. The second is convulsive, and he would have up to fifty in a day. The convulsive fits last for about two weeks, during which he tears the hair from his head and bites himself and anyone or anything else he can reach. (3)

Thomas Sawdie's confession to his mother allegedly triggers a fit in which he moves his body like a person ringing bells for five hours, while otherwise appearing senseless. During this fit, he sometimes neighs or sings strange musical notes and tunes, and then tries to scratch, bite and tear at those who hold him.(4-5)

Thomas Sawdie allegedly demonstrates uncanny knowledge when a visitor (Anonymous 377) speaks to John Roberts about his furious frantic fits and advises binding him. Though there was no way Sawdie could have overheard the conversation, he angrily confronts Anonymous 377 about the binding when the man comes into the house to see him. Sawdie later claims that the Devil had described Anonymous 377 and the man's business with Roberts.(6)

John Roberts allegedly consults with minister Nicholas Teag on the matter of Thomas Sawdie's possession, and appeals to Teag for help. Teag advised gathering together some knowing, experienced, pious Christians, or Ministers, or both, and setting aside a day to seek the help of God while Sawdie sits in their midst. Teag also rebukes Roberts for allowing Condy to be consulted, declaring his remedies dangerous. Roberts immediately secures the assistance of three other ministers, Mr. Toms, Mr. Travers and Mr. Lydston, in addition to Teag.(7)

The morning that John Roberts went to get the ministers' help, the Devil allegedly appeared to Thomas Sawdie and told the boy his master was gathering Black Rogues, describing each particularly, and makes Sawdie memorize false descriptions of their character. The Devil charges him to pay no heed to anything these Black Rogues say to him.(7-8)

The ministers Mr. Toms, Mr. Travers, Mr. Lydston and Mr. Teag met at the Roberts house for a day of prayer over Thomas Sawdie, along with numerous others drawn by the reports of the boy's affliction; they allegedly found Thomas Sawdie sitting in a chair looking fierce. The ministers spoke mildly to him, receiving angry, abusive words in turn as a furious spirit darted out at his eyes and flame out through his face. Sawdie struggled when held, and, while the Ministers consulted with one another, managed to leap out of the chair onto a table, then crawl under it roaring like a bull, forcing Mr. Teag to pull him out and set him back onto the chair.(8-9)

Shortly after the ministers arrive at the Roberts house, the Devil allegedly appeared to Thomas Sawdie, standing on a nearby staircase in the form of the man in black velvet, bidding him to pay no attention to these Black Rogues. Sawdie began to roar in response, with his eyes fixed on the staircase; a woman from the watching crowd stepped forward and asked him privately what he saw. When he answered, she interposed her body between Sawdie and his view of the stairs. Sawdie merely stood up on the chair and continued roaring.(9)

The day of prayer ends with little change to Thomas Sawdie's condition, though allegedly some improvement. He walks quietly about the house that evening, and makes no attempt to run away. He also quietly and modestly declares that the ministers had spoken ugly words, as if ashamed.(11)

The morning after the day of prayer, Thomas Sawdie attempts to go into the field to help with the harvest, but allegedly falls into a roaring fit in the field and must be bound hand and foot. Sawdie attempts repeatedly to hop, leap and, when he falls, writhe, his way toward a hedge in the ditch bordering the field, but the harvester return him to his place every time.(11-12)

Thomas Sawdie allegedly makes a confession following his dispossession, in which he claims that the Devil had exited his mouth in the form of a rat, which went into a fire in the same hedge Sawdie had tried to reach when bound in the field. The fire rose with the rat inside, and flew off into the sky over and past Saint Germans Town.(12-13)

The night immediately after the day of prayer, Thomas Sawdie allegedly fell into a dead sleep while three people watched over him; the watchers claimed to hear strange noises in the night, as if horses were running furiously in the courtyard, and as if the doors were latching and unlatching. In his confession, Sawdie claimed that he was not asleep at all that night, but rather "saw all the Chamber, and all the World (as he thought) in a flame about him," and that once the Devil had come to the top of the stairs, held up his fist and threatened that he would tear Sawdie into a thousand pieces if he had the power to.(11, 13)