An elderly woman sits in a dark room. Blood drips from wounds all over her body.
She had been scratched and poked with sharp needles as examiners looked for witches' marks
like an extra nipple. She begs for mercy, but there is none to be had.
The woman has been accused of being a witch by influential people in the town,
and there seems to be no way to prove her innocence. The witch hunter outside her cell holds
a goblet filled with urine. He claims that the next test will prove her guilt once and for all.
The witch hunts began in the 1400s and lasted for almost two centuries. During this time, hundreds
of thousands of people would be put through tests to see if they were witches or wizards,
and close to 80,000 people would be sentenced to death as a result of these accusations. No
one was immune to the witch hunts of Europe, and some of the most gruesome practices for
testing witches made their way across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. It’s here
where arguably the most famous witch hunt in all of history took place in Salem, Massachusetts.
In 1428 the first systematic witch-hunt began in Valais, Switzerland. At least 367 people were
tortured and put to death for being witches during this time. Surprisingly almost all of
them were actually male peasants. Most of the accused were burnt at the stake after having
undergone several tests to definitively prove that they were witches or wizards.
But what were these tests? And how gruesome were they?
We are about to dive into the deep dark world of witch-hunting. Many accounts tell tales of
witches who were accused of cursing a neighbor or stealing children. It was said that these men and
women sold their souls to the devil and would use black magic to do Satan’s will. However,
in reality, witches were innocent people who were condemned to horrible deaths based on
tests that had no real merit. It was the masses who carried out these tests and killed innocent
people out of their own irrational fears that were the real monsters during this time.
Many of the tests used in the witch hunts came from a book called “Malleus Maleficarum,” which
roughly translates to “The Hammer of Witches.” This book was written by a German inquisitor
named Heinrich Kramer. He may have had help writing it from a man named Jacob Sprenger,
but this is still debated. In the book, the authors explain that witchcraft is synonymous with
heresy and that all witches need to be punished and put to death. The Malleus Maleficarum outlined
ways to identify witches, how to test someone to see if they are a witch, and the best way
to kill them once they were identified. The most unbelievable part is that for more than 100 years,
the Malleus Maleficarum sold more copies than any other book in Europe except for the Bible.
Now let’s see if you’re a witch based on the tests of the time.
Look at your skin. You can probably find a mole, birthmark,
or some other small imperfection. This was enough to prove that you were a witch. The Witch’s Mark
or Devil’s Mark test was conducted on people who were thought to be engaging in witchcraft.
The accused was brought to a public place where they would be stripped of their clothes,
and anyone who wanted to participate would scour their body, looking for any imperfections of the
skin. Obviously, these were almost always found as everyone has some form of blemish on their skin.
It was believed that when witches made their pact with the devil, they were given the
“Devil’s Mark.” This mark on the body was said to change shape and color. Any mole, freckle,
or scar could be used as proof that someone had communed with satan and was, therefore, a witch.
The “Devil’s Mark” was also said to be numb, and even if stabbed or pricked, it would not cause
the witch any pain. When this part of the test was carried out, the person inevitably screamed
out in agony as their body was sliced into, but the witch hunters just chalked their shouts and
pleas up to trickery. Since the witch hunters had already condemned the accused of witchcraft,
there was no way that they could actually feel anything being pressed into their witches’ marks.
Even tattoos were used as evidence of a witch’s mark. It was assumed that if you were accused
of being a witch and had a tattoo, there was a sinister purpose behind it. Even if the tattoo
was a beautiful flower or a family member's name, the devil likely had something to do with it,
and there was a hidden meaning that only the witches knew about.
There were professionals who got paid a lot of money for their expertise in identifying
Witch’s Marks and witches as a whole. For a long time, this was a lucrative business,
which didn’t provide much incentive for hunters to stop accusing people of being witches.
But there was an even stranger marking that people would look for when trying
to identify a witch called the “Witch’s Teat.”
The Witch’s Teat was exactly what it sounds like. The witch hunters would examine someone
for a third nipple. Having a third nipple, which is also called polymastia or polythelia, is a rare
condition, but it does occur naturally. Scientists aren’t entirely sure why third nipples develop,
but it can happen during development when the milk line tissues are forming.
The third nipple normally isn’t functional and does not cause the person any harm.
During the witch hunts, it was believed that a witch would have a third nipple for her animal
helpers to suckle on. It was also thought that Satan himself would drink from the third nipple.
Since the third nipple doesn’t normally produce milk, this belief was obviously founded on
hysteria and ignorance rather than fact. The Witch’s Teat test was carried out on many people,
but one of the main problems was that if you had a mark that even slightly resembled a nipple
on your chest or midsection, it was assumed to be a Witch’s Teat. A lack of fundamental
knowledge of anatomy resulted in many people being sentenced to death during this time.
These false accusations got so bad that some people resorted to cutting off any
marks that might have resulted in them being called a witch.
People would literally burn their own skin or slice imperfections from their
bodies just to be safe. Unfortunately, the scars left behind would often be used
as evidence that they had made a deal with the devil, so they were screwed either way.
Even if you didn’t have any clear markings indicating you were a witch,
you weren’t safe. There was another horrible test that no one was protected from,
and this one caused a considerable amount of pain.
The Pricking Test was used to determine if someone’s Witch’s Mark was being hidden.
It was thought that since the accused person was a witch, they could have used magic to hide their
third teat or any witch identifying marks. In both books and pamphlets about witch-hunting,
it was suggested that if someone was suspected of being a witch, but they didn’t have any marks,
their skin should be pricked or scratched to see if anything was hidden just below the surface.
Witch hunters would use special tools to prick people's skin until they found a spot
that did not cause them pain. This was then used as proof that there was a Witch’s Mark
on that part of the accused’s body. However, until that spot was found, the accused had
to endure excruciating pain as needles poked into their bodies. In some situations, mobs of
people would use their fingernails to scratch away a person’s skin as they screamed in agony.
There were even people who specialized in the Pricking Test known as prickers.
This was a particularly lucrative profession in England and Scotland during the witch hunts. The
prickers would be paid exuberant amounts of money. These “professionals” would go around the country
and prick whoever was accused of being a witch. They would often use dull needles to con people
into thinking that they had found a Witch’s Mark when the accused didn’t immediately yelp in pain.
And there was an even more gruesome side to this process. Instead of just identifying hidden
Witch’s Marks, some experts suggested that if you thought you were under the spell of a witch,
it might help you break the curse if you scratched the witch who was ailing you.
People would scratch the accused witch with their fingernails until they drew blood. The supposed
witch would be in severe pain, but if the person who did the scratching felt better, it was used
as evidence that the person being scratched was, in fact, guilty, and they would be put to death.
One of the most well-known witch tests is the swimming test.
This was somewhat of a no-win situation for the accused,
yet it was used in both Europe and the Americas as a means to determine if someone was a witch.
This test was also known as the Trial by Water and was derived from an ancient practice where
criminals and wizards were thrown into a rushing river where fate would determine
their outcome. The swimming test for witches was a little different. The suspected witch
would be stripped of their clothing, bound, and have a rope tied around their neck or waist.
They would then be thrown into a body of water to see if they would sink or float.
It was believed that since witches allied themselves with the devil
and therefore rejected the sacrament of baptism, the water would reject them and cause the person
to float. If an accused person was thrown into the water and floated, they were automatically
confirmed to be a witch. On the other hand, if they sank, they would be declared innocent.
The problem was that since the rope to pull them out of the water was tied to their neck or waist,
the knot would sometimes come undone, and the person would drown as a result.
Other times the rope would cut off their air supply long enough for
them to asphyxiate as they were being pulled to shore. In both circumstances,
the person was no longer thought to be a witch, but they would also be dead.
At this point, it should be pretty clear that the
witch hunts were by no means fair or unbiased. This next test seemed
to be geared towards condemning the illiterate more than actual witches.
The Prayer Test required that someone accused of witchcraft recite verses from the Holy Bible
verbatim. The Lord’s Prayer was the scripture most often used in this test. Most people knew
these verses word for word. However, it would be pretty nerve-wracking to recite it perfectly
when your life was on the line. This often caused people to make mistakes, stutter, or omit words.
In all of these circumstances, the person was declared a witch and sentenced to death.
Other times people who had never been taught to read were asked to recite verses straight
from the Bible. Obviously, they would fail miserably as they were illiterate,
which then proved to the witch hunters that they were guilty. But even if someone could
repeat scripture without any mistakes, it didn’t necessarily mean they were safe.
During the Salem witch trials, George Burroughs was tried as a witch and found guilty. He was
sentenced to death by hanging. On the day of his execution, George Burroughs stood on the gallows'
platform and recited the Lord’s Prayer perfectly as the noose was placed around his neck. Even
still, it was determined that his words were nothing but a clever trick orchestrated by the
devil. The logic doesn’t really check out, but nothing about the witch tests made much sense.
Even though people were afraid of witches, they didn’t mind poking and prodding them.
In fact, there was even a touch test that was used to determine if someone was a witch.
The Touch Test was carried out by the victims who were affected by the accused witch.
To see if someone was really a witch, the person who had been cursed or ailed would touch them to
see if a special reaction occurred. For example, people who fainted or had seizures might suspect
witchcraft had made them sick. If they then blamed someone for casting a spell on them, that person
would be brought into the room, and the so-called victim would touch them. If nothing happened,
then the accused person was innocent. However, if the sick person felt better
or even stated they felt a slight change, it was proof that the other person was a witch.
This likely led to many innocent people being labeled as witches. It wasn’t uncommon for
people to declare that someone they didn’t like or get along with was a witch. If someone was
pretending to be sick just to get another person in trouble, all they would have to do was change
the way they were acting after they touched them. This would be enough to condemn the other party.
A perfect example of how the Touch Test was misused happened in England in 1662. Two
elderly women named Rose Cullender and Amy Denny were accused by two young girls of being witches.
The girls would act as if they were possessed or suffering fits of pain.
They would clench their fists so tightly that no one could open them.
Rose and Amy were brought into the room to see if this elicited any change.
The Touch Test was then used to see if the old ladies were actually witches. When they
touched the girls, their fists would magically open. It was as if the spell had been broken.
In this circumstance, the judge was slightly skeptical. Rose Cullender and Amy Denny had been
a part of the community for a very long time, and they always attended church. Something just
didn’t add up. The judge had the girls blindfolded and then had them touch different people in the
courtroom. The young girls unclenched their fists for people other than Rose and Amy,
which proved that they were lying about the elderly women being witches.
Unfortunately, that was not the end of the story. Even after passing the Touch Test,
both Rose Cullender and Amy Denny were sentenced to death as they were still
believed to be witches. As the women were led to the gallows, they pleaded with their
fellow townspeople to spare them as they were innocent, but their cries fell on deaf ears.
Witch Cakes are probably the most disgusting of all the witch tests. They consist of a victim’s
urine being used to bake a cake and then feeding the cake to an unlucky taste tester.
Witch Cakes were used to help locate an unknown witch or as evidence that an
accused person was a witch. To do this, witch hunters would gather urine from a victim,
mix it with rye-meal and ashes, and bake it. This concoction yielded the Witch Cake. It was
believed that dogs were the “familiars” of many witches and helped them in their devious ploys.
Witch hunters hoped that after the dog ate the Witch Cake,
it would become possessed by the witch's magic and reveal who they were and their location.
Even though black cats are most often associated with witches,
it was dogs who were almost always fed the Witch Cake. In some cases, the dog would not reveal
any information. In other cases, they would find their way home or into a random house,
and the person living there would be declared a witch, even if they had never seen the dog
in their entire life. This was definitely one of the grossest tests for discovering witches,
especially if someone mistook the Witch Cake for a normal cake and took a bite.
A lot of the witch tests didn’t make any sense. The incantations test was one of
the least reliable tests during the witch hunts. It was easy to fake, and if someone was falsely
accusing a neighbor of being a witch, this test would all but ensure that they were found guilty.
Incantations, or charging, were tests where an accused person was forced to order the devil
to release a victim who had been possessed or put under a spell. This was often done
in front of a jury. If they refused to order Satan to let the victim go, it was used as evidence that
they were a witch. If they continued to refuse, the accused person would be tortured until they
gave in and said the incantation. The problem was that the person who was faking being possessed
would hear the words and immediately get better. Of course, this was all just one big con.
Even still, the witch hunters wanted to be sure that the incantation test was as fair as possible,
so they had other people recite the words as well. If the victim didn’t come out of
their trance when the other people spoke but did when the accused was speaking,
it was clear evidence that the accused was a witch.
Incantations and charging were used in the 16th-century trial of Alice Samuel
and her family. The judge forced the Samuel family to read the words, “As I am a witch…so
I charge the devil to let Mistress Throckmorton come out of her fit at this present.” The girl
who claimed she was under the spell of the Samuel family immediately came out of her fit,
which was definitive proof that the Samuels were all witches. The entire family was hanged.
Incarnations were some of the easier witch tests, other tests required elaborate contraptions. One
of the most notable witch testing devices during this time was the ducking stool.
The ducking stool was originally a medieval torture machine that was
constructed to humiliate a person into confession.
Most often the ducking stool was used on women. It had a chair attached to one end
and a counterweight or rope that someone could hold on the other end. During the witch hunts,
this device was used to secure an admission of guilt from someone who was thought to be a witch.
The ducking stool would be rolled up to the edge of a raging river.
The accused would be strapped into the seat and dunked into the water for varying periods of time.
They were held under until their lungs burned from lack of air. When the accused person was
pulled out, they would gasp for air. The witch hunter would tell them to confess.
Many resisted, but after being practically drowned for an entire day, they would eventually submit.
The ducking stool didn’t necessarily prove someone was a witch on its own, but instead,
it forced them to admit guilt just to save themselves from being dunked another time.
This may have been a precursor to the Swim Test that was later used to see if someone
would float or sink to determine if they were a witch. Like the Swim Test, many people drowned
from not being pulled out of the water in time. When their lifeless body was brought onto land,
they would have been declared innocent, but it would have been a little too late.
Sometimes the witch tests were thrown out the window,
and people resorted to good old-fashioned torture methods to get a confession.
One of the most famous examples of this was Giles Corey during the Salem Witch Trials.
The town had been swept with witch madness. People were being hung left,
right and center. Giles Corey and his wife had been accused of being witches.
He was innocent but knew there was no way out of the situation
as the town had already made up its mind. But Giles was smart, and he had a plan.
In order to force a confession out of him, Giles was pressed with heavy stones.
He was forced to lie down on his back, at which point stones were placed on top of his chest.
As more and more stones were stacked on top of him, it became harder and harder for Giles to
breathe. The judge told him to confess to being a witch or to plea not guilty.
Giles knew, either way, the jury would still find him guilty. The problem was that if this happened,
all of his land would be taken, and his sons would be left with nothing.
There was a loophole, however. His land could not be seized if he did not enter
a plea and go to trial. By abstaining from declaring himself guilty or not guilty,
he would ensure that when he died, his family would still retain the rights to their land.
As the judge yelled at Giles to confess, plead innocent, or just say something,
Giles looked up at him with a smirk and said two words: “more weight.”
Giles Corey was crushed to death by the heavy stones. Even though the judge and witch hunters
believed he was a witch, there was no way to prove it. Therefore, his family retained
the rights to their land, and Giles Corey’s sons inherited what was rightfully theirs.
Another interesting way witches were identified was by weighing them against a stack of Bibles.
This test was done to identify if someone was lighter than the holy books.
It was widely believed that since witches could fly on broomsticks and float on water,
they must have been incredibly light. If someone weighed less than a stack of Bibles,
it meant that they must have been a witch. Unfortunately,
like with most of the witch tests, the results could often be tampered with.
It wasn’t uncommon for the witch hunter conducting the test to be paid off. In these circumstances,
they might put extra weight on the side of the Bibles or would physically push the
scale down. This would cause the person on the other side to appear lighter than the books.
They would be declared guilty of being a witch and either be hung or burned at the stake.
It’s slightly ironic that a test using the Holy Bible, which was the moral
compass of the day, would often have its results skewed in a very immoral way.
But nothing during the witch hunts made much sense. In fact, one of the most used tests for
identifying witches wasn’t even a test at all. If you looked like a witch, it was enough to condemn
you to death. This happened to older women who may have had a crooked nose or blemishes on their
faces. One English Puritan cleric named John Gaule even declared that "Every old woman with
a wrinkled face, a furr'd brow, a hairy lip, a gobber tooth, a squint eye, a squeaking voice,
or a scolding tongue... a dog or cat by her side, is not only suspected but pronounced for a witch."
It is not clear what Gaule had against innocent old ladies, but it was this sentiment that
condemned countless innocent people to their deaths during the witch hunts in Europe and
America. We have come a long way since the witch hunts, and now people can dress up as
witches for Halloween with little fear of being accused of witchcraft and sentenced to death.
You may be wondering how things could have gotten so bad so quickly during the 1400s. Some believe
that it was the battle between Catholicism and Protestantism for the control of people’s immortal
souls that launched the witch hunts. Others think that the loss of crops and resulting starvation
due to the Little Ice Age may have led people to look for someone to blame for their hardships.
It is not totally clear why the witch hunts started, but the Malleus Maleficarum
definitely helped fuel the fire once they began. The witch hunts ended around the same time as the
Thirty Years' War. This may have been the result of political stability returning to the region.
It was also the beginning of the Enlightenment when science and
critical thinking started to take more of a prominent role in society. Rational thought
and witches could not coexist, and therefore, the witch superstitions fell by the wayside.
Witch tests and deaths seemed to have stopped where they started. It is claimed that the last
witch to be executed during the witch hunts of Europe was Anna Göldi in Glarus, Switzerland. She
was decapitated on June 13, 1782. It is unknown which tests were used to prove she was a witch.
Now watch “Who Were The Most Famous Witches And What Were Their Powers.”
Or check out “Catholic Church Most Terrifying Ghost Stories.”