Witches Get StitchesLists about real practices of witchcraft and the occult and their pointy-hatted, warty-nosed, buckle-shod, broom-ridin', high-pitched cacklin' depictions in media.
Most people have heard of the Salem Witch Trials and know that in many cultures people have been sentenced to death for heresy. But what you might not know is that this is a practice that has been committed throughout human history and across the globe - it is even still practiced in some cultures today. But who were these witches? Why were they killed? The answers to these questions may be a bit morbid, but it's also hard to deny that they're downright fascinating.
If you've looked into witch trials before, you might've learned that the majority of these cases were pure hogwash - mass hysteria, political motives, and plain old hatred have all been used as reasons for an individual to be executed as a witch. However, in some rare cases, people killed as witches really did confess proudly to their crimes, and a few even committed acts so terrible, people assumed that they had to be supernatural.
So, keep in mind that a few of these stories are a little graphic, and climb aboard your boomstick as we look at the various souls who were killed for their witchy tendencies.
People accusing each other of witchcraft is hardly a new concept. Around the year 415 CE, there was a young woman by the name of Hypatia living in Alexandria, Egypt, who people thought was a bit unusual - unusual in the sense that she wasn't readily embracing the Christian religion and instead spent her time studying the pants off of the other mathematicians of her day. In fact, she is still known as the first female mathematician in the world, which, unfortunately, upset a lot of people. Peter the Lector in particular wanted to make sure that she and her pagan, math-loving ways were stopped immediately. The best means of doing so? Tell everyone she's a witch and kill her.
Unfortunately, Hypatia's end wasn't exactly quick. First, a mob dragged her from her carriage and stripped her clothes off at a nearby church. They then beat her with roofing tiles until she was dead or near enough. Then, for good measure, they tore her into pieces and burned what remained. In short, they really wanted to make sure this supposed witch was eliminated.
The first woman to be executed for witchcraft in England was Agnes Waterhouse, also called Mother Waterhouse. She was known for having a cat that answered to the name Satan, for possibly killing men, and for being labeled a witch when she was as young as 12. The cat supposedly spoke to her in a dark tongue, telling her to take the lives of children and certain people that she saw. It demanded to be fed blood and milk and had supposedly tormented her sister with these demands as well. Waterhouse also claimed to have had relations with demons who threatened to harm her if she did not do their bidding.
Once she was convicted, she was sentenced to death. At first, she stood strong and proud, acting unafraid; however, eventually, she began to plead for her life, saying that she believed and trusted in God. It was not enough, and she was executed in 1566.
Some people accused of witchcraft really were terribly nasty people. Case in point: Gilles Garnier. He was a hermit living in France up until 1573 and committed terrible acts for which he was accused of being not just a witch but a werewolf. When Garnier married, his new bride was not happy with the lack of food variety surrounding her husband's isolated way of life. To make up for this, Garnier began killing, butchering, and eating children. He also fed the meat of these children to his new wife to satisfy her craving for variety. He did this with at least four children.
When he was caught and put on trial, he claimed that he had come across a specter in the woods that gave him the ability to change into a wolf and do magic in order to hunt more easily. Witnesses claimed to have seen him eating the raw flesh of children in the fields, and a few even claimed to have seen him in wolf form. He was found guilty of witchcraft and lycanthropy, for which he was burned at the stake in 1573. From then on, he was known as The Werewolf of Dole.
When a village's harvest fails, it can be easy to blame it on witchcraft. Unfortunately, this was what caused the demise of Stedelen, a man who lived in the late 1300s in Switzerland and happened to make a very powerful enemy one day. Peter von Greyerz, a judge during that time, firmly believed that the occult was alive and well in Switzerland. He claimed that miscarriages, crop failures, marital disputes, storms, and more could all be linked to dark magic. Specifically, Greyerz accused Stedelen of sacrificing a black rooster on the Sabbath and of placing a lizard under a doorway. You know, usual witchcraft-y stuff.
The thing is that Stedelen actually admitted it - after being tortured, of course. He admitted that he'd made a pact with demons and was promptly burned at the stake. After his demise, Greyerz went on searching for other members of satanic cults and continued persecuting people for years. Women were tortured, men were killed, and it all began with this one incident.
The Inquisition definitely had its share of torture cases and gruesome killings, and that included executing people for witchcraft. In 1275, a French woman named Angéle de la Barthe was accused by the Supreme Chief of the Toulouse Inquisition of having relations with the Devil and giving birth to a monster that ate babies. A tall order, perhaps, but she didn't really claim to be innocent. During the course of her trial, she admitted that she had been feeding the monster babies for two years and even boasted about having slept with the Devil. She was burned alive for her deeds.
This incident is widely credited as being the first killing in a string of medieval witch persecutions, and there were many more that followed. Some people now believe the account is fictional, but either way, the time period was full of people being executed for witchcraft.
You might have heard this name before, or at least the name of his associate. Thomas Doughty was a nobleman, explorer, and soldier who lived in the mid-1500s before he met his untimely end. He sailed with famed captain Sir Francis Drake, who was also a slaver and politician - and who also ended up being his accuser. The two men started off as friends, but in the summer of 1578, Drake became separated from the rest of his fleet during a storm and slowly convinced himself that it was because Doughty was practicing witchcraft. The two argued, but Drake eventually snapped and had Doughty tied to the mast, accusing him of being a witch.
There was a brief trial once they landed, and although Drake later seemed to regret his decision, it was far too late. Doughty was found guilty of witchcraft and was sentenced to be killed by beheading - a decision that would haunt Drake for the rest of his life.
