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It's commonly believed that children must reach a certain age to truly comprehend the consequences of their actions. Yet, this wasn't always the case.
For centuries, children were frequently at the center of witch hunts and trials—both as victims and accused witches. Vulnerable, impressionable, and young, they were seen as prime candidates for the Devil's influence.
10. The Witch Hunt in Navarre
In 1525, the Navarrese witch hunt marked the debut of a professional witch-hunter in official records. Sent into the mountains to maintain spiritual order, this mysterious figure went on a murderous rampage. These events unfolded amid the harsh backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition.
Accompanying the Navarrese commissioner into the hills were two sisters, aged nine and 11, who were known witches (or brujas). These girls were his tools. Once they arrived in a village, they were stationed in separate homes.
The girls would examine each villager for signs of witchcraft. Villagers willingly submitted to these inspections to prove their innocence. As the two young witches either cleared or condemned each villager, the Navarrese officer continued his journey across the countryside, arresting and overseeing executions.
By the time the girls had finished, they had seen approximately 400 people. Ten women and two men were identified as witches. The results of two other examinations were inconclusive. Meanwhile, the enormous hunt had drawn the attention of the Supreme Council of the Spanish Inquisition, which questioned who held jurisdiction over the accused.
As expected, the Spanish Inquisition prevailed, and 30 of Navarre's accused witches were brought to trial. New precedents were established, confirming the reality of the witches' sabbat (no longer just a figment of the imagination of the accused). Guidelines were also set for the future prosecution and punishment of these witches.
It was determined that witches should rarely be sentenced to death unless clear evidence of malevolent spells and spirits was present. Efforts shifted more toward the witches' reeducation. Unfortunately, this lenient approach lasted only until around 1610. The reign of inquisitor Alonso de Salazar y Frias, “the witches' advocate,” had shielded the witches from more severe punishment.
9. Little Murgin
In 1862, French historian Jules Michelet released his influential work La Sorciere (“The Sorceress”). It was among the first books to explore the personal stories of those accused of witchcraft, ranging from peasant healers to nuns. Michelet portrayed these witches as rebels against an oppressive society, trailblazers in medicine, and victims controlled by men, particularly in the clergy.
In his chapter on Basque witches, Michelet described a group of women who were born witches, told fantastic tales from a young age, and learned to swim like fish. They were also privy to secrets carried by the winds. Part of their danger came from their beauty and charm, which concealed darker motives and a power that allowed them to summon the Devil at will.
The gatherings of the French Basque witches became increasingly popular, akin to a fashionable social scene. When Seigneur de Saint-Pe hosted one such gathering, he became convinced that one of the witches was continuing to drain his blood. As a result, he appealed to the Basque government to rid the region of witches. Between 60 and 80 witches were put on trial, including a 17-year-old beggar named Margarita (also known as Little Murgin).
Michelet recorded that Little Murgin told the judges how she and her companion, Lisalda, had sacrificed children to the Devil. Strangely, Little Murgin was later assigned the task of examining others for the Devil's mark and signs of witchcraft.
One of the infamous signs that the Devil had marked someone was their ability to insert needles into specific spots on a person’s body without pain. Little Murgin was placed in charge of pricking the youngest suspects with needles. Although Michelet doesn’t reveal much about her fate, he suggests that many individuals met a harsh and agonizing death at her hands.
8. The Paisley Witches
In 1696, 11-year-old Christian Shaw caught Catherine Campbell, one of the maids in her family’s household, stealing milk without permission. When Shaw reported this to her mother, Campbell allegedly cursed the young girl, saying, “The Devil hurl your soul through Hell.”
Soon after, Shaw began experiencing all the classic symptoms of witchcraft torment. Marks appeared on her body, she suffered from seizures and convulsions, and she claimed she was debating scripture with the Devil. She also began spitting up objects that witches supposedly placed inside her through sorcery. When she spat out a hot coal in front of a local doctor, her father urged the authorities to arrest the 21 people she had accused.
Shaw insisted that she had witnessed some of the accused in the company of a black demon. Twelve-year-old Thomas Lindsay was arrested after claiming his father was the Devil. He supposedly saw his father fly. The trials began in March 1697 after Shaw was brought near some of the accused, causing her to fall into convulsions. By that time, several suspicious deaths had occurred, including that of a local minister and some otherwise healthy children.
Fourteen of the accused were exonerated and released. However, three men and four women—Catherine Campbell among them—were found guilty. They were hanged and then burned at Paisley’s Gallow Green. After the executions, Shaw claimed that she had been completely cured.
After the ordeal, Shaw was initially left to live out her days as a spinster. At 34, she eventually married, but the marriage ended abruptly with the early death of her husband. She then turned to spinning to earn a living. At the time, the Netherlands was renowned for its high-quality products, and Shaw persuaded a merchant to smuggle Dutch equipment into Scotland.
Shaw established her own Bargarran Thread Company, amassed a considerable fortune, remarried, and spent the rest of her life in unexpected contentment. However, Paisley’s future was less prosperous. As the witches were hanged, one cursed the town and all its descendants. The town began to decline in the 1960s when the witches' mass grave was disturbed and the horseshoe that had sealed the evil inside was removed.
7. The Accused Children of the Salem Witch Trials
While it’s well-known that the Salem witch trials were instigated by children, it’s less commonly known that many children under the age of 12 were also accused of practicing witchcraft.
At least eight children were accused, all of whom had mothers among the accused. The evidence presented was spectral in nature, and all eight children confessed to the charges. Some claimed that their mothers had turned them into witches, while Johanna Tyler and Sarah Carrier provided more detailed accounts of their conversations with devils.
Sarah and Thomas Carrier were just seven and 10 years old when they were put on trial alongside their mother, Martha. Within a week, their mother was hanged. However, Sarah went on to accuse her aunt and 10-year-old cousin, Margaret, whose parents were also implicated.
Dorcas Good was around five years old when she was accused of witchcraft. The accusations against her actually preceded the others by several months. Dorcas was believed to have caused spectral torment to her peers. She testified that her mother controlled three birds and used them to harm those she disliked. It was also claimed that Dorcas’s mother had given her a snake as a familiar. Despite her protests of innocence, her mother was among the first to be hanged.
Puritan belief held that children were among the most likely to become servants of the Devil. Due to their impressionable nature, they were seen as easily influenced and manipulated. In some cases, these children’s environments made them feel like they were wicked sinners, which likely made their confessions sincere.
6. Juliusspital
In the 17th century, Germany was a hotspot for witch hunts and persecutions. Though much of the first-hand documentation and records have been lost, some accounts suggest that hundreds of children were accused, tortured, and in some cases, executed. In 1627, Juliusspital, the city hospital of Wurzburg, was repurposed as a detention facility for those accused of witchcraft.
Unfortunately, the hospital also housed a school and an orphanage. It wasn’t long before people started suspecting that the children there were being influenced by the so-called witches.
By January 1628, 10 children, aged between eight and 13, came under suspicion of witchcraft. All of them confessed to the charges. They spoke of being baptized and pledged to the Devil, of participating in secret dances, and how their parents had led them into witchcraft. Two of the girls confessed to having had relations with the Devil and were immediately executed.
While there was still hope for the other children to be reformed, they were handed over to the district’s witch-hunters. In October 1628, 13-year-old Hans Philipp Schuh was brought to trial. Despite initially denying the charges, he confessed to being a witch after receiving 123 lashes.
Hans later admitted that a classmate had introduced him to witchcraft. He offered explicit details by describing the sexual encounters he allegedly had with his peers—specifically with the girls he had allegedly lured into witchcraft. He was executed that November.
5. The Witch Children of Finnmark
At the age of 12, Maren Olsdatter confessed that her father, who had already been executed for witchcraft, had taught her the craft. She initially stated that she had resisted the Devil, who appeared to her first as a black dog and then as a man with clawed feet, hands, and horns growing from his knees.
After swearing her allegiance to him, the Devil took Maren on a journey through Hell. She described seeing a lake of fire where countless souls were lying with their faces aflame. To demonstrate just how scorching it was, the Devil dipped a piece of ham into the lake. When he retrieved it, the ham was fully cooked.
She recognized people who had assumed the forms of various birds. Maren herself had transformed into a crow, only returning to human form when she came back to the mortal realm. Her vivid descriptions were so compelling and startling that she was rebuked by another woman who had also claimed to have visited Hell, though she had never seen the Devil’s ham-cooking spectacle.
Other children were also accused of witchcraft. Ingeborg Iversdatter allegedly attended parties hosted by the Devil, while eight-year-old Karen Iversdatter confessed to learning witchcraft from her parents, who had already been executed for it. Karen Nilsdatter, Kirsten Sorensdatter, and Sigri Pedersdatter also admitted their involvement, following the examples set by their parents.
Maren recounted the music, dancing, and drinking that occurred during their witches’ gatherings. She described how the Devil provided her with her cat’s blood and fur to transform into a cat. She also claimed to have learned how to milk a cow in a way that produced both milk and blood. The other children’s confessions also mentioned a black dog and included claims of drinking milk and renouncing God.
When it came to deciding the fate of children who appeared to have a relationship with the Devil, there was debate over their youth. It was argued that they were too young to truly understand or to have received the full protection of the Church. The girls were acquitted.
4. Hans Merckler And The Witches’ School
In 1628, 12-year-old Hans Merckler was one of the children in Wurzburg, Germany, accused of witchcraft. However, according to testimonies from witnesses, it wasn’t merely his parents who led him to do the Devil’s bidding. Merckler aspired to establish his very own witches’ school.
The ordeal began when Merckler played a game with two younger boys, aged six and eight. They set a milk bucket and a chair on top of a dung heap. The boys raced to the top and recited a diabolical catechism. What began as an innocent game of king of the hill soon turned sinister, with claims that the Devil resided in the bucket. Each boy took turns sitting on the chair at the top, renouncing God and all his saints, while pledging allegiance to the Devil.
When other parents learned of the supposed events, Merckler was accused of trying to create a witches’ school to lure his peers into worshiping the Devil. He appealed his case, requesting to attend a Jesuit school. After six months of presumably good behavior, he was transferred into the care of a guardian who pledged to keep him from causing further trouble.
3. Loyse Maillat
Henri Boguet is known as one of the most influential witch-hunters in history. In 1590, he published Discours des Sorciers (“A Discourse on Witches”), a guide detailing everything an unseasoned judge needed to successfully prosecute witches. In 1598, Boguet took charge of a case involving a young girl, which triggered one of France’s largest witch hunts.
Loyse Maillat was just eight years old when she mysteriously began walking on all fours. When her parents sought an exorcism for her, Loyse claimed that she was possessed by five demons: Cat, Dog, Wolf, Jolly, and Griffon. It wasn’t until hours of prayer that the young girl finally expelled the demons from her body.
Both Loyse and her parents testified that four of the demons were red, while one was black. When the demons were expelled, two were already dead. The remaining ones danced around for a moment before leaving, and they were certain of who had caused the possession: Francoise Secretain.
Secretain had been at the Maillat household the day before Loyse suddenly fell ill and became possessed. Loyse later revealed that Secretain had given her a piece of bread and told her to eat it. Initially, Secretain denied any wrongdoing, but after three days of intense torture, she admitted to causing hailstorms, dancing at sabbats, murdering a woman with bread sprinkled with the Devil’s dust, slaughtering livestock, and sending demons to possess little Loyse.
For Boguet, this was a significant victory. Secretain’s confession served as proof that witches had the power to send demons to possess others. This discovery opened the floodgates for identifying many more witches who had previously gone unnoticed. A large-scale witch hunt followed, though Secretain didn’t survive to witness it. She was burned at the stake.
2. Helena Curtens
Helena Curtens was one of the final individuals to be executed for witchcraft in Germany. A fragile child, she was only 14 when her father took her on a pilgrimage to a sacred site at Kevelaer.
The legend tells that in 1641, a merchant passing through the city heard a voice directing him to build a chapel there. Simultaneously, his wife had a vision of the Virgin and Child. They obtained the portrait from her vision and erected a chapel around it. Today, hundreds of thousands of pilgrims visit the site each year to witness the “Comforter of the Afflicted.”
While many pilgrims found solace, Curtens had an entirely different experience—and she couldn’t stop talking about it. She claimed she was surrounded by ghosts during her pilgrimage. Soon, her stories caught the attention of the wrong individuals.
When Curtens was arrested, she openly confessed that the Devil had instructed her to perform several sacrifices for the ghosts. After each sacrifice, she was given a towel to ease her chronic ailments. She wasn’t acting alone, however—her neighbor, Agnes Olmans, was also accused of working with the Devil.
Although Olmans denied the accusations, Curtens spoke of her sexual relations with the Devil, presented her magical towels, and failed the needle test. The trial continued for a long time, and by the time she and Olmans were executed, Curtens was just 16 years old. They were burned at the stake on August 19, 1738.
1. Maria Bertoletti Toldini
Maria Bertoletti Toldini, a 60-year-old widow from a small town in the Italian Alps, was executed by beheading and burning as a witch. While justice has been a long time coming, her case was reopened in October 2015 in an effort to rectify a historical injustice that occurred 300 years earlier.
Toldini was arrested in 1715 on accusations of witchcraft, and the evidence against her seemed overwhelming. A massive collection of documents was presented to support the charges, which included accusations of blasphemy and cursing the local farmlands.
The prosecution alleged that at the age of 13, Toldini's aunt introduced her to witchcraft. After renouncing her Christian faith and undergoing a re-baptism by the Devil, she supposedly promised to offer a child to him each month. These horrifying accusations led to the people's contempt and ultimately a death sentence for her.
A strange list of children supposedly killed by Toldini emerged. She was blamed for the death of a baby in 1714 and a girl who suffered from dropsy. Toldini was accused of using an ointment made of holy water, sacramental ashes, and blessed oil and wax to poison them.
Another child allegedly succumbed to cancerous tumors after eating butter that Toldini had mixed with poison. But the most shocking claim was that she threw five-year-old Pietro into a vat of boiling cheese after breaking into his family's home.
Toldini was tried, found guilty, and executed by beheading and burning at the stake in Brentonico’s Palu Park.
Historians have revisited the documents from her trial and speculate that the initial accuser was likely a family member seeking an inheritance. One of the last people charged with witchcraft in her region, Toldini refused to follow the usual path of implicating other witches.
