Witch Trials Around the World
By Joy J. Fine
When we think of witch trials the first thing that comes to mind for many of us are the trials in Salem, Massachusetts. It is these stories that most North Americans are familiar with. But there were similar trials occurring at about the same time in France, Sweden, England, Spain and Germany. It was a period of just over a hundred years, from the late 1500s to the early 1700s that people began to accuse others as witches, to torture them to confess, and ultimately to murder them. Depending on where it was the trials implicated either a handful of people or hundreds.
In Spain it began in the early 1600s with the continuation of the Spanish Inquisition. The Inquisition was a serious effort to wipe out anyone who might be a witch. The Basque witch trials accused not only women, as was so common, but men and even children as well. It is believed that by the time they were finished over seven thousand people were investigated. The age or gender of the accused did not matter as all were treated the same. They tortured the children just the same as the adults. They even accused, and tortured, priests for using charms while healing. Many of them were burned to death for being witches, including some who were burned even after they had died being tortured. This was done to prove that they were serious about getting rid of those who they believed to be witches.
Horrific as the witch trials in Spain were they were nothing in comparison to what occurred in Germany. It is estimated that over a period of closer to two hundred years there were in excess of one hundred thousand people accused of being witches who were tortured and put to death. The worst of it happened in Bamberg where they built a special prison just to house the witches. The ruler of the tiny state was so fanatical about locating witches that he had informers all through the state and people who did nothing but torture the witches for confessions while others waited to execute them. It was not just the peasants who were accused. Many wealthy people lost everything they had, to the ruler of Bamberg before they lost their lives to his torture chambers. This man who ruled Bamberg, Gottfried Johann Georg 11 Fuchs von Dornheim, even allowed for the torture of children under a year of age.
The trouble in Salem began with a sick child. This may seem odd, but she showed some strange never before seen symptoms and worse still, shortly after she became sick friends of hers began to exhibit the same odd behaviors. The doctor, unable to explain the strange illnesses instead blamed influences he could not fight. He claimed that witches must be responsible for the sickness. Then two of the girls claimed they knew how had made them sick. From there it just got worse. The girls even accused another girl, this one only four years old, of being a witch, claiming they saw her from come to them at night to attack them. She was put in jail and her mother was hung. The poor child went insane shortly after. They were not particular who was brought before the judges. These witch trials saw peasant and bishop alike accused and put to death on Gallows Hill. Though this was not the largest group to have been accused it nonetheless was a black mark on the history of Salem.
They hanged nineteen women they accused of being witches, put heavy stones atop a man accused of being a male witch, killing him because he would neither admit guilt nor say he was innocent. As well, twenty odd women died in prison. They were going to clear their homes of the witches who lived among them until Governor Phipps condemned what was being done, especially after his own wife was facing accusations, and brought it to an end. Yet, the people must have believed that the witch trials were the right thing to do since they elected the man responsible for them as their next governor.
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