Where It All Goes Down
The County
Some fantasy novels, like Harry Potter, are set in different versions of our own world. Some, like A Game of Thrones, are set in completely different worlds. Revenge of the Witch is an example of the latter.
Wherever it's set isn't named, other than being called The County. So we just know it's set... elsewhere. And there are a couple of notable landmarks that let us know we're not on planet Earth-as-we-know-it.
How's it Hangin'?
One of the first landmarks Tom mentions is Hangman's Hill, which is near his family's farm. No, this is not a place to play word games. It's a place where hundreds of soldiers were hanged, although we don't know why or when they were hanged.
The ghosts of these soldiers (or ghasts, as they're called in the book) still linger on the Hill. Tom tells us, "I could hear the dead, strangling and choking" (1.91). Dogs and people generally stay away from there, even though they can't see the bodies. If they could, they'd probably move to another county. Or country. Or world.
The Haunted Mansion
The Spook's house is where Tom spends most of his apprenticeship. His house kind of reminds us of a Southern plantation home: a gated entrance, huge kitchen, beautiful grounds. Oh, and a ghost or two who linger around the place.
Tom and the Spook kind of have it made when they're home. The invisible boggart opens doors for them and cooks all of their meals. Plus, there's a library full of notebooks, handwritten by the Spook himself, and diaries that go back hundreds of years. Endless hours of entertainment!
The Spook's mansion is also set apart from any noisy neighbors. The Spook says, "I like to keep my distance from the folk who live there. They prefer it that way, too" (5.16). Um, yeah. You know why?
We think they stay away because of something we haven't mentioned yet: the bodies of witches that're buried on Spook's property. Some of them aren't even dead yet. It's hard to imagine a live witch being buried, feet up, a few hundred yards away from a beautiful garden
But this unusual living arrangement shows us that evil and beauty often intermingle every day. They're closer together than you might think. Perhaps it's true that we can't have one without the other.