10 Women Convicted of Witchcraft for Ridiculous Reasons

By 1590 the Witch Hunt spread throughout the United Kingdom, and had already dominated the rest of Europe. King James VI was one of the most famous witch hunters and wrote Daemonologie, a book on demon science, which defined witchcraft as the highest "betrayal of God, " which justified any torture.

So now check out 10 women convicted of witchcraft for the most ridiculous reasons:

10. Blamed for Floating

Accused of witchcraft, because a black sow rushed into their homes, Mother and Mary Sutton, who were mother and daughter, were sunk into a dam, their waist tied by a rope at the bottom, and sank a little. Not satisfied, the accusers tied their toes and the women eventually floated a little, and swirled, as if in a whirlwind, and technically, it proved to them that they were witches!

So the two women were hanged for witchcraft.

9. Witch Storm

Agnes Sampson was a highly respected midwife who was involved in the witch hunt in North Berwick. The return trip, along with King James VI and his new Danish wife, was full of powerful storms, which was attributed to the Devil as a plot of Agnes to assassinate the King.

They used torture and sleep deprivation to get a confession from Agnes, who ended up saying she was really a witch, when they put a kind of "braces" in her mouth, but often tighter and attached to a wall. After confession, the woman was strangled to death and her body burned.

8. Accused by a child

Jennet Device, her mother Elizabeth, her grandmother Demike, her older sister Alizon, and younger brother James lived in a village, but Demike was not very dear. So when Alizon cursed a late traveler, several fingers pointed at her, accusing her of witchcraft with her grandmother, Demike.

When they went to court, Elizabeth fought with Jennet, who began to cry and scream for her to be removed. Then the spoiled girl came to the table and accused her own mother of witchcraft in a very quiet and calm way, saying, “My mother is a witch. I saw his spirit, and he looks like a brown dog named Ball. ” The court believed in the brat and condemned all women and some neighbors for witchcraft, and all were hanged.

7. Official Witch Hunter

Matthew Hopkins was hired to clean the city of East Anglia from female witches. Amid torture and sleep deprivation, he used a needle to test whether scars or nipples were immune to pain, which would “prove” that women had a pact. However, during torture, the needle would go back into the object he wore, so there was no way to hit the nipple or scar, let alone feel pain, right?

Then you can imagine how many women were burned in this one with this charlatan!

6. Post-resignation disease

Joan Flowers and her daughters worked at Belvoir Castle until Margaret, one of the girls, was fired for stealing. After that, the entire castle family fell ill, and the eldest son, Henry, died. So the palace owners were convinced that the Flowers women were witches and had them arrested.

Joan didn't confess and asked for a buttered bread, saying that if she wasn't innocent, she would die with him. And guess what? She really hit her boots! At that moment, Joan's daughters decided to confess to witchcraft, were condemned and hanged.

5. Kiss of Death

In Ireland, an elderly woman named Florence Newton ordered a loaf of bread from a house, but was soon shooed away by the maid Mary Longdon. A while later, you met Mary on the street and kissed her violently, asking them to be friends!

Records say Mary went into a trance, threw up needles, pins, nails, among other things! Newton was eventually arrested for witchcraft, and his test would be to recite the "Our Father, " who learned from his jailer Davy Jones. To thank him, Mary kissed his hand, and he died shortly afterwards, cursing the kiss! Vixe ...

4. Unable to pray

The last condemned witch in England in 1712 was Jane Wenham. During her trial, theoretically, she would have struggled to pronounce the words "forgive us for our trespasses" and "do not fall into temptation." In addition, they pricked his head, and instead of blood, a watery liquid came out, which was a "clear" sign of guilt.

3. Tile Test

In 1586, when Joan, daughter of Sara Cooke's daughter, became ill, the woman was ordered to take a roof tile from whom she suspected she had cursed her daughter. The tile should be thrown into the fire where it would “shine and fly around the cradle”! Sara took a tile from her neighbor, Joan Cason, and the ritual worked. OK.

In the end, the judge still tried to convict her only for the “conjuring” spirits, but a lawyer found the conviction light and in the end she was hanged!

2. Too brave for a woman

Janet could predict the weather with great dexterity! One morning she asked her boyfriend not to go to sea, but the fisherman insisted and went to his job. An intense mist descended and all was lost. From there she began to be seen as a witch.

However, in another situation, a ship was spotted in trouble, and Janet began trying to gather people from the village to help bring them safely to shore. But what people wanted most was for him to break and leave the load on the beach. Alone, Janet took a boat and did her best to help the ship.

When she returned, she was accused of witchcraft. To complete the mystery, on the day of its execution, Janet's dungeon was empty!

1. Writing backwards

Gwen Ferch was a woman well known for her "healing powers." But apparently their powers could also be used to make people sick.

The mistake Gwen made was to leave a spell written back and forth inside the local noble's room. As it was written backwards, it was seen as something that would harm them! The problem is that several people she helped testified against her, and Gwen ended up on the gallows.