Many people think of a funny-looking green lady in a pointy hat upon hearing the word’ witch. While this is great fun to dress up as on Halloween, witches were a little bit different in the past.
For centuries, witch panic swept throughout the United Kingdom. Witches were ordinary people, and these were dangerous times to live in. A simple thing, like having a birthmark or a pet, could be evidence enough for your death.
Witch trials in the UK were anything but just. They were the most terrifying trials in all of history. These four cases of witchcraft in the UK reveal some of the most horrifying truths about witch trials.
Forget Sabrina and Elphaba – this is the real deal…
Witch Trials in the UK
Blame Game: The Pendle Witches – Lancashire, England 1612
Witchcraft divided communities. It was a case of accuse or be accused – and most people didn’t wait for the latter to happen.
The punishments for being a witch were so horrific that friends, neighbors, and even families turned on each other to save themselves.
The most notorious example of this occurred in Lancashire, as part of the infamous Pendle witch trials of 1612.
Jennet Device, a nine-year-old girl, testified against her own mother and two siblings. Children were not usually allowed in court, but exceptions were made in cases of treason or witchcraft.
On her word, they were imprisoned in Lancaster Castle and later hanged on the aptly named Gallows Hill.