#witchtrials

[morbidhistory]

The Hysteric Witch Trials of Sweden (1600) Pt. 1!

[ahomelibrary]

Book Review — “The Witches: Suspicion, Betrayal, and Hysteria in 1692 Salem” by Stacy Schiff (2016, @hachetteus)

Categories: Nonfiction, US History, 17th Century, Puritanism, Witches and Witch-hunts

Ratings: 3.25 on GR (20k ratings), my rating 3 stars ✨

My Summary + Thoughts ⤵️

Presented by a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, this book is a lengthy exposition of what scholars and historians know and theorize about the infamous Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s.

In the colonial Massachusetts lands, the witch trials resulted from a town’s mass hysteria involving people claiming possession by devil or knowledge of those working with demonic forces. Puritan sensibilities made this accusation detrimental to one’s reputation… and eventually, their lives and freedom.

Topics this book substantially covers:

• Salem: what was the town like?

• Church + Religion: What was its importance in Salem and how did town politics get involved in the church?

• Members of Community: Relevant people such as prominent families, those afflicted with bewitching, those accused of witchcraft, the authorities + ministers, skeptics.

• The Bewitching: How the first young girls acted and theories held by community, Tituba’s involvement, getting info about the accused from known people to strangers from afar

• Accused: interrogators/investigators, jailing and its conditions, trial and jurors + accusations & defenses

• Symbols: Things the puritans described as signs of guilt or trouble, including their elaborate stories of the accused’s antics and seeing black cats, red books, brooms, different types of animals, etc.

• Hysteria & Sociology: the social contagion + mass hysteria of the witch-hunt and high profile cases. Some theories on why this happened.

And much more. The book fills in gaps and bridges material with details contextualizing the trials. Anything from pointing out influences of feuding families to describing PTSD from Indian attacks, the book provides some padding to the sources. At some points, it’s a bit of a slog because it takes a lot of winding away from the point it’s making, but in all, a decent collection of info presented in a narrative style.

Goodreads Page: www.goodreads.com/book/show/24819449-the-witches Bookstagram Post: A Home Library 🌸 #Bookstagram (@ahomelibrary) • Instagram photos and videos

[booklalaland]

The final challenge for #tcwitchyoctober22 was to talk about witch trials. "The first written mention of witches in Zagreb goes back to the 14th century, to be precise in 1360, when a document tells about the trial of Alice and Margareta, who must not repeat their witch crimes or they will be punished without trial and defense. They, just like the witch Dragica two years later, could be acquitted by jurors standing up for them and swearing on their honesty. In our country, this old Slavic custom of defense was replaced by an investigation under torture at the beginning of the 17th century. However, the burnings started happening in Croatia not long after the publication of the book Malleus Maleficarum - this time, Croatia did not wait long for the movements in Europe. Thus, history testifies to the burning of Ursula, daughter of shoemaker Luka, who was sued for destroying her brother's marital happiness with magic. both were burned on September 6, 1496." #witchtrials #alessoninvengeance #victorialee #darkacademia #halloweenreads #bookworm #bookstagram #witchtrialsincroatia #malleusmaleficarum #instabook #currentlyreading #halloween #halloweendecor #🎃 (at Rukavac, Primorsko-Goranska, Croatia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkYlbyyI56H/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[ofgraveconcern]

19th September 1692, Salem resident Giles Cory refuses to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty being accused of being a Wizard, after his wife was accused of Witchcraft. Due to the proceeding of the law in 17th century New England, without a plea the Witchcraft court of Oyer and Terminer could not proceed with a trial, and the action was taken to proceed with ‘Peine Forte Et Dure’ or pressing under stones to force a plea; the only time this form of turture was ever used in American history. After two days of rocks and boulders being piled up on top of boards which covered the naked 80 year old Giles Corey, he finally died, all the time refusing to plead. His last words were recorded as either “More rocks.” orr, "Damn you. I curse you and Salem!" Three days later, his wife Martha Cory alongside Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Willmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, and Mary Parker are hanged upon the charges of Witchcraft. The last people to be executed during the Salem Witch Trials. As well as the ghosts of those executed recorded as being seen after their death, such as the ghost of Mary Easty who proclaimed their innocence to Mary Herrick of Wenham, MA on the 22nd of September, the same day the last victims of the trials were executed; some Salem legends also proclaim the sightings as a curse. One legend states that Giles Corey’s ghost is seen before a disaster is about to strike Salem. His ghost was reputedly seen the night before the ‘Great Fire’ of 1914, in which large areas of the city were destroyed. The position of Sheriff of Essex County, also was said to have been cursed, due to the involvement of (continued in the comments). #darkillustration #darkillustrations #witchcrafthistory #witchhistory #17thcentury #17thcenturyart #superstitions #folklore #strangehistory #witchtrials #witchfindergeneral #witchartist #morbidhistory #witchtrials1692 #historyofwitchcraft #witchpersecution #salemmassachusetts #salemwitch #salemwitchtrials #witchcraft #witchcrafttrials #historyofwitches #newenglandhistory #newenglandwitch #newenglandwitches #colonialnewengland #witchesofnewengland #newengland #witchcraftaesthetic #16thcenturyhistory https://www.instagram.com/p/CUNdnOVFBsu/?utm_medium=tumblr

[tiktoks-we-like]

[wiccan-shitposting]

Ye Olde Witche Trials

English Magistrate: Ye may aske, what maketh this woman a witche? What proof do ye haveth? Behold! The devil's marks!

*yanks up my sleeve to reveal my Sonichu tattoo*

Court Room: *recoils in horror*

[uispecialcollections]

Matthew Hopkins Witchfinder General

In 1563, Witchcraft was deemed a capital offence in Britain. Between 1645-1646 East Anglia became increasingly concerned about witches. Matthew Hopkins known as the Witchfinder General did his part in putting “witches” to death during this time.[1] 

In 1647, Hopkins published his book The Discovery of Witches. In it, he answers questions posed to him about his way of finding witches. These include: 

“Many poore People are condemned for having a Pap, or Teat about them, whereas many People (especially antient People) are, and have been a long time troubled with naturall wretts on severall parts of their bodies and other naturall excressencies, as Hemerodes, Piles, Childbearing, &c. and these shall be judged only by one man alone and a woman, and so accused or acquitted.”

“How can it possibly be that the Devill bring a spirit, and wants no nutriment or sustentation, should desire to suck any blood? and indeed as he is a spirit he cannot draw any such excressences, having neither flesh nor bone, nor can be felt, &c.”

“When these Paps are fully discovered, yet that will not serve sufficiently to convict them, but they must be tortured and kept from sleep two or three nights, to distract them, and make them say any thing; which is a way to tame a wilde Colt, or Hawke, &c.”

During his time as a witch hunter, Hopkins and his associates are thought to be responsible for the deaths of 300 women. The means of identification usually involved some form of torture, such as sleep deprivation to coerce a confession, cutting the accused arm with a knife, needle or pin to see if they bled, and the classic “swimming test” where the accused were bound by the arms and legs and thrown into a pond (if they drowned they were not a witch.) Hopkins was paid by the towns where his “services” were provided and is estimated to have collected £1000. [2]

[1] https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Witches-in-Britain/

[2] https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/Matthew-Hopkins-WitchFinder-General/

[raincrowstudios-official]

A Witch’s Mark or a Devil’s mark was the imprint of the Devil’s initials on a witch using his claws or a hot iron. During witch trials in the 1600s, the practice of “pricking a witch” came about where witches had pins driven into old scars or calluses to find an area free of pain that proved a communion with the devil.

Painting -  "Examination of a witch" by Tompkins Harrison Matteson (1853)