Buzz
The term 'witch hunt' still resonates with the memory of the Witch Craze from the early modern period, a tragic period now synonymous with superstition, fear, and irrational cruelty. Yet, the history of witchcraft and its persecutions is often misunderstood. For example, the stereotype of the 'Puritan witch-burner' is misleading, as Puritans did not execute more witches than High Anglicans or Catholics, and witches were rarely burned in either England or America. Similarly, the ‘medieval superstition’ narrative is a misconception—there were far fewer witch accusations and executions during the Middle Ages than in the later periods of Shakespeare or Charles II, or even in ancient Rome. Finally, while the British Witchcraft Act of 1736 officially banned witch hunts, fear and violence related to witchcraft persisted well into the 20th century. Alleged witches remained at risk in Britain, Europe, and North America for centuries thereafter.
10. The Romans: A Surprising History
Belief in witchcraft is likely as old as human fear itself. According to Ronald Hutton, traces of this fear can be found in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. What is particularly striking, however, is the intensity and danger of witchcraft fears in Ancient Rome. While the Romans are often seen as symbols of order, efficiency, and cultural achievement, their fear of witches was equally powerful and deadly. This paradox, where intellectual progress coexisted with irrational fear, would later be echoed in early modern Europe, where the height of artistic, musical, and scientific advancements—sparked by figures like Robert Boyle, Thomas Willis, and Isaac Newton—coincided with witch hunts and trials.
Throughout history, and even in much of the developing world today, witches have often been blamed for bad weather, crop failures, and, most notably, disease. Hutton references a Roman epidemic from 331 BC, during which over 170 women, including two noblewomen, were executed for practicing magic. Between 184-180 BC, two waves of epidemics swept across Italy, resulting in the deaths of thousands of accused black magicians, with the first wave claiming 2,000 lives and the second a staggering 3,000.
9. Clairvoyance: The Power to See Beyond
Lara Apps and Andrew Gow estimate that between 1450 and 1750, approximately 110,000 people were put on trial for witchcraft, and around 60,000 of them were executed. Most of these victims lost their lives due to superstition and rampant misogyny. However, there is evidence to suggest that a small number of those accused of witchcraft may have actually possessed genuine psychic abilities.
A particularly notable case of alleged clairvoyance occurred in Scotland in 1591. During a wave of witch accusations in North Berwick from 1590 to 1592, a woman named Agnes Sampson was tortured and interrogated, eventually brought before King James VI. Initially skeptical of her occult claims, James became a believer when Sampson accurately recounted a private conversation between him and his wife, Anne, on their wedding night in Norway. Upon hearing this, James reportedly declared that ‘all the devils in hell could not have discovered the same,’ and he began to take her claims much more seriously.
Today, clairvoyance is still associated with mediums, and its modern applications, such as Remote Viewing, have been employed by organizations like the CIA and law enforcement in cases of missing persons. Agnes Sampson, however, met a tragic fate; she was garrotted and burned at the stake in Edinburgh on 28 January 1591. Her execution marked the beginning of a deadly witch craze in Britain, which James later took with him to England after ascending to the throne as James I in 1603.
8. The Witch of Edmonton: A Tale of Tragedy and Folly
On 14 April 1621, Elizabeth Sawyer of Edmonton was accused of a range of crimes attributed to witchcraft. Just five days later, on 19 April, she was executed by hanging at Tyburn. A key piece of evidence in the case was the death of her neighbor, Agnes Ratcliffe, following a quarrel between the two women. Ratcliffe’s husband claimed his wife had been cursed by Sawyer and later died in agony, foaming at the mouth and passing away within four days. This case is often cited in discussions of Voodoo Death, suggesting that Ratcliffe’s demise may have been brought on by sheer fear.
The case became widely known due to the play that was quickly adapted and staged in December of the same year by Thomas Dekker, William Rowley, and John Ford. While the play may have been partially inspired by the success of Marlowe’s *Doctor Faustus*, *The Witch of Edmonton* stood apart in its portrayal. Audiences were likely drawn to the story’s terrifying themes and its timely relevance, but more astute viewers might have recognized that the true villains were those who ostracized and vilified a lonely old woman, leaving her with only two companions: the Devil and his dog. Modern audiences may feel discomforted by the portrayal of the black devil dog, who was played by an actor in a dog suit, especially in scenes where Sawyer interacts with the mutt. One memorable moment shows her promising the dog her 'witch's teat,' to which it responds, 'Bow wow! I’ll have it now!'.
7. Witch Cannibals: The Darkest Taboo
Witches seemed to embody every taboo imaginable, breathing new life into each one. Time and again, accusations of cannibalism arose, particularly concerning the consumption of babies or children. Witches were often thought to rob graves, grinding bones for their spells, but their supposed hunger for human flesh as food was a common theme. One infamous confession came from Barbara Lierheimer of Nordlingen in 1590, who allegedly admitted to eating ‘a roasted child’s little foot.’ The fact that Lierheimer died as a result of torture casts doubt on the credibility of her accusers, yet between 1590 and 1598, rumors spread that Lierheimer, along with several other 'respectable' citizens, were secretly eating children.
On 30 April 1611, a male witch named Louis Gaufridi was burned at the stake in Aix-en-Provence. Among the bizarre details of the case was Gaufridi’s refusal to touch his food. When questioned about this behavior, the priest admitted, somewhat too candidly, that he had no interest in 'pottage and eggs,' as he feasted instead on 'good flesh, the bodies of infants, which are invisibly sent unto him from the synagogue.' Further reports from the same case described how Gaufridi and his coven were accused of consuming 'young sucking infants,' whom they allegedly strangled, dug up from graves, and used to make pies.
6. The Life-Sucking Witch
One central belief about witches that underpins much of the folklore surrounding them is this: witches were believed to drain the life force from their victims. They were frequently blamed for miscarriages, infertility, and sudden infant deaths. Additionally, witches were scapegoated for poor harvests, bad weather, and livestock illnesses—all of which threatened the life and fertility of crops and animals.
These beliefs culminated in a recurring fantasy: that witches could somehow drain life from food, animals, crops, and even people. In Shakespeare's time, the soul was regarded as a real, biological force, and fat was considered an essence of life comparable to blood. Though there are accounts of witches drinking blood, the accusations made in Samlesbury, Lancashire, in the summer of 1612, are more representative of the imagined acts of witchcraft. Two sisters, Ellen and Jennet Bierley, were accused of using occult powers to murder an infant. After allegedly exhuming the child’s body, they were said to have roasted, boiled, and consumed parts of it. They claimed that by seething the child's bones and using the fat that came from them, they could anoint themselves and transform into different shapes. Jennet Bierley allegedly murdered the child by thrusting a nail into its belly button, followed by a pen, and sucking on it for an extended period. The child, after this, began to waste away and died soon after. Many early-modern observers would have believed Jennet had sucked the child's soul out.
In 1888, near Capitalo in Mexico, a man named Medina stood trial for the murder of a woman believed to be a witch. She was accused of extorting ‘protection money’ from parents, threatening them with the ability to suck the breath from their children and kill them from a distance.
5. Male Witches: The Forgotten Sorcerers
While about 80% of those accused and executed for witchcraft were women, Normandy stands out for its unusually high number of male witchcraft cases between 1564 and 1660. As William Monter points out, of 380 witchcraft defendants in this region, approximately three-quarters were men. By 1630, ‘men virtually monopolized Norman witchcraft cases.’
In Britain, the notorious 'Witch Country' of Essex saw two remarkable ‘male witches’ in the final decades of the Victorian era and the reign of Edward VII. In 1864, Emma Smith and Samuel Stammers from Sible Hedingham were sentenced to six months of hard labor for assaulting a deaf-mute Frenchman known locally as ‘Dummy.’ They beat him and dunked him in a river, after which he contracted bronchitis and soon died. The assailants believed that Dummy, who was a fortune teller, had cursed them. His French nationality and deaf-mute status likely fueled this paranoia.
In Canewdon, Essex, George Pickingale (or Pickingill) lived to 93, dying in 1909, after a long life as a feared male witch. It was said that Pickingale could stop farm machinery simply by staring at it, leading farmers to pay him to keep his distance. Villagers were terrified of his ‘evil familiars,’ believed to be white mice, and in his later years, Pickingale forced them to fetch water for him, claiming his immense occult power. He was also rumored to be a healer and possibly even clairvoyant.
4. Cutting a Witch: The Ritual of Suppression
Vigilante attacks on suspected witches, sometimes fatal, were likely driven by fear, hysteria, or personal grudges in many instances. However, the persistent and widespread practice of ‘cutting a witch’ was rooted in the belief that this violent act could nullify the witch’s powers, making it a form of magical defense.
In Scotland, there was a practice called 'cutting a witch above the breath,' which meant slashing the forehead of a suspected witch. Lizanne Henderson recounts an instance in 1706 when Reverend Peter Rae, a former law student at Glasgow University, performed this ritual on a woman he believed had cursed him. In 1826, Reverend Monilaws from Kirkpatrick Fleming, Dumfries, was called to a cottage by the river after a miller's pigs drowned. He suspected his neighbor, a woman, to be the cause and decided to cut her forehead, allowing the skin to hang down over her eyes. He and his son later stitched it up. In 1842, a brickmaker named Radley from Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, became convinced that a woman he believed was a witch was responsible for his ongoing health issues. One day, he attacked her in the street, slashing her arm until it bled heavily. This woman turned out to be Radley’s own mother.
3. Witches and Poltergeists
A few years ago, I embarked on a study of poltergeists, only to discover through conversations with my colleagues that these malevolent spirits seemed to be haunting their homes too. The more I delved into the subject, the more cases I encountered. To my surprise, I came to the realization that poltergeists are real. Further research revealed that poltergeists had occasionally been blamed for witchcraft accusations. These spirits seem to draw energy from a young person in the household, typically a female, and the strange occurrences surrounding them often lead to the suspicion of witchcraft.
In 1661, Florence Newton from Cork, Ireland, was accused of witchcraft after an argument with Mary Longdon resulted in Longdon suffering from mysterious fits. Around Longdon, stones began to fall from the air, an eerie phenomenon characteristic of poltergeists. While the records are lost, we are left uncertain about Newton's punishment, though formal witch trials were rare in Ireland. In 1821, a violent poltergeist that threw stones in Cornwall caused widespread panic in Carelew Street. At one point, a mob of children chased an elderly woman, intending to strip her and draw blood. In 1896, in Edithweston, Rutland, strange, repeated hammering sounds in a house led its owners to contemplate demolishing the building. Villagers blamed a young 14-year-old servant girl, accusing her of being 'in league with the Devil.' The girl was likely the focus of the disturbances, though she was not the instigator.
In 1983, Carole Compton, a young Scottish woman, traveled to the island of Elba to care for a family's child, only to find herself at the center of bizarre happenings—spontaneous fires and objects falling from thin air. During a dramatic trial, she was accused of casting the 'evil eye' on the child, with the word 'witch' frequently thrown in her direction. She was likely an unintentional agent of poltergeist activity, with the strange events being beyond her control.
2. The Witch Dynasty of Dettingen
Many witch hunters of the time believed that the evil magic of witches was passed down from one generation to the next, often from diabolic parents to their children. In Dettingen, southern Germany, the Gamperle family became notorious for being both witches and serial killers on an immense scale. The family, led by husband and wife Paul and Anne, formed a coven with their sons Simon and Jacob, as well as with tailor George Smaltes and armorer Ullrich Sehelltibaum. The coven was discovered on 23 July 1600 when a dog, fleeing from a storm, wandered into a cave and interrupted their dark rituals.
The confessions given before the Governor of Munich were chilling and unforgettable. Paul admitted that his grandmother had trained him in the family’s dark craft, and he claimed to have murdered 100 children, two of his uncles, and sixteen neighbors. Anne confessed to the deaths of 100 children and nineteen elderly individuals. She also revealed that she had cursed an innkeeper’s wife, who, driven to madness, ran into an oven, and her husband, who drowned himself in a tub. The sons had killed over a hundred people, with Jacob even overcoming six men who attempted to mug him. With the additions from Smaltes and Sehelltibaum, the coven’s total body count reached 527 murders, a number rivaling the notorious count of murders attributed to Hungarian Countess Elizabeth Bathory at the same time.
On 29 July, a large crowd gathered outside Munich’s city hall to witness the brutal execution of Anne Gamperle. Her breasts were severed, and the executioner used them to strike her face. She was then whipped with wire, stretched on a wheel until her arms were broken, and seated on a spiked metal chair to be burned alive. Her sons were also roasted alive on the same stake, while Paul Gamperle met his end by being impaled and roasted.
1. Child-Witches
What could be more adorable than little ones dressed as witches for Halloween? However, this contemporary tradition would have stunned and shocked many parents from the 15th to the 19th century. Back then, children were often the victims of witchcraft accusations. But at times, they were even labeled as witches themselves.
In the 1620s, more than 40 children were put to death as witches in Wurzburg. In 1669, a wave of fear swept through the Swedish village of Mohra, where the local minister endured sleep paralysis nightmares and lost his ability to speak for weeks. Investigations revealed that as many as 300 children were allegedly attending Witches’ Sabbaths. In August of that year, 14 women and one man were executed by beheading and burning. 15 children were executed, and 148 were whipped. In 1723, in Augsburg, Germany, more children were accused of participating in Witches’ Sabbaths and placing teeth and diabolic powder in their parents’ beds. Lyndal Roper documents that around 20 children, aged six to sixteen, were imprisoned for a year. One child was jailed at the request of his father, and another wasn't released until 1729.
