The period of witch trials from the 16th to 18th centuries was one of the darkest chapters in human history. There is no counting how many people were killed as the result of official investigations of witchcraft and sorcery. Conservative estimates are as low as 35,000 with the highest estimates (not official sources) stating that it could have been as high as one million.

1. Salem 1692

The most famous witch trial certainly in the history of the Americas, if not the world, would see hundreds of people tried for witchcraft in the small town of Salem, Massachusetts and the eventual conviction of twenty individuals. Though popular culture would suggest that they were all women, there were in fact a number of men tried and convicted with one ‘guilty’ party pressed to death for refusing to enter a plea. The other nineteen were hanged. In 1992, it was finally proclaimed that all individuals were innocent of all charges.

2. Pendle 1612

The most famous witch trials in English history is also one of the best documented anywhere in the world. Pendle, Lancashire is the scene for the trial of eleven people ‘ nine women and two men. Ten were eventually found guilty and hanged, the final person was found not guilty and freed. There was some political feeling that the people of the area were not to be trusted and that this provided the motivation to investigate them. They stuck to the old Catholic ways and when Mary I re-established Catholicism, they were one of the first areas to accept a Catholic priest.

3. Doruchów Witch Trial 1783

One of the last witch trials in Europe and the last trial in Poland saw six people accused of witchcraft. Once again, it began with the illness of a single person ‘ a woman of high standing in the community. Fourteen women were arrested and convicted, three died of the torture they experienced and the other eleven were burnt at the stake. The whole horrendous episode led to the Polish government outlawing witch trials for good and the first instance of the banning of torture in criminal trials.

4. Anna Göldi ‘ Switzerland’s Last Witch 1782

At a time when Europe was losing the stomach for witch trials, this woman was the last to be tried and convicted for witchcraft-related crimes in the country. She was accused of putting needles into a baby’s milk by supernatural means and under torture, confessed to having made a pact with Satan. Officially, she was convicted of poisoning but the supernatural element of the accusations against her meant that she was considered a witch. The outrage at her death led to governments reconsidering the whole concept of witch trials.

5. Torsåker Witch Trials 1675

The largest witch trial in Swedish history saw the execution of an enormous 71 people in a single day ‘ 65 women and 6 men were put to death by beheading and their bodies burnt. This was not begun because of any particular incident which makes it even more bizarre considering that Sweden had not been a country gripped with witch hysteria before this point. It was the actions of an overzealous priest who paid two boys to stand at the door of the church and examine the congregation as they walked in for a service. They were looking for invisible marks and one accidentally pointed at the Priest’s wife, only to retract when she struck him.

6. Trier Witch Trials (1581’1593)

The Rhine Valley town famous for its Roman history is also famous for a series of witch trials that spread over twelve years and is considered the biggest witch trial anywhere in Europe. It resulted in the deaths of in the region of 370 people within the city and an undocumented number within the wider diocese (outside of the city). Gender, age and standing were no barrier to accusation or conviction. One of the victims was Rector of the University and Chief Judge of the Electoral Court.

7. North Berwick Witch Trials 1590

This most unusual case from Scotland saw the personal involvement of King James VI (later King James I of England). He sailed to Copenhagen to be married; on the return journey his ship was hit by a terrible storm. Believing that witchcraft had been the cause of the storm, witch trials began in both countries with nobility on both sides of the North Sea being implicated in the proceedings. Over seventy people were arrested and one of the accused was taken to the court of the King for examination.

8. Fulda Witch Trials 1606

Like Trier, these trials lasted three years and resulted in the deaths of at least 250 people. It started at the command of the Prince-Abbot Balthasar von Dernbach who had returned to Germany after 20 years of exile. The highest profile victim was Merga Bien, a woman of high-standing who had recently married for the third time. Under torture, she confessed to having killed both of her previous two husbands and holding a black mass to celebrate it.

9. Kenya 2008

Witch trials are not limited to the period of Renaissance and Reformation; in the modern day, there are on-going modern witch trials across the third world including Arabia, Somalia and Kenya. The biggest of these modern witch trials (though not an organised witch trial in the conventional sense), the biggest year on record was 2008. In one shocking incident, eleven elders in one village in May of that year were attacked and burnt alive.

10. Hartford, Connecticut 1662

If Salem was home to the most famous trials of the American colonies, then Hartford has the dubious honour of having the first trials in the American colonies. Eight year old Elizabeth Kelly died suddenly. Having returned from a trip with a family friend, the parents turned on the woman (Goody Ayres) and accused her of possession. A number of townspeople would fall ill in the weeks that followed and accused their neighbours of bewitching them. Alice Young would be the first person in the colonies to be convicted and executed for witchcraft.

Conclusion

Hysteria about those who are different can affect all of us from time and is usually limited to isolation and ostracism of those who are different. From time to time however, it reaches epic proportions and leads to organised hysteria, mob rule and deaths. The examples above demonstrate some of the worst instances of mob rule leading to deaths borne out of superstition.