Search Results: witches

An estimated 2,500 to 3,000 people were executed for witchcraft in Britain, and the answer changes with every border. England hanged roughly 500, Scotland strangled and burned more than 2,000, and Wales executed five. This article sets out the figures, the methods and what a witch really was.

The Pendle witches were twelve people accused of witchcraft in Lancashire in 1612, and ten were executed. This article follows the case from a pedlar's collapse on a country road to the gallows at Lancaster, and separates what the records show from later legend.

Crystal balls have a rich history as tools of divination, evolving from ancient Druids to a symbol of witchcraft during the Middle Ages, and later romanticized in the Victorian occult revival. Today, they represent intuition and spiritual insight, embraced in modern witchcraft practices while maintaining their air of mystery and allure.

In medieval Europe, people lived side by side with animals, from working dogs and cats that kept vermin at bay to barn owls shrieking over fields. But in an age steeped in superstition, not all creatures were merely animals. Some were thought to possess supernatural powers, acting as spies or helpers for witches.

In 1612, ten people were executed as witches in Lancashire. Their story has long been shaped by fear and folklore. This book uncovers a different truth, revealing how power, pressure, and flawed justice transformed suspicion into guilt in one of England’s most infamous and enduring historical trials.

Pendle witch trials myths, audited against the surviving 1612 and 1613 record: not the largest English execution, no torture recorded, and a main source written to justify the verdicts.

Thomas Potts, clerk of the court at the 1612 Lancaster assizes, wrote the 1613 Wonderfull Discoverie, the main source for the Pendle trials. This article examines what the book is, what it is not, and why it has to be read as a partisan account.

Roger Nowell, the Lancashire magistrate of Read Hall, took the first statements in the Pendle case on 30 March 1612. This article sets out what the record shows of his role, and where the sources stop.

The Pendle witch trials aftermath: how the 1604 Act stayed law until 1735, why Jennet Device was named among the accused again in 1633, and how the case was retold and commemorated for four centuries.

The Salem witch trials of 1692 are usually told as an isolated American panic. They were not. The court, the statute, and the evidence that hanged nineteen people in Massachusetts had already been tested at Pendle eighty years before. Wales, under the same laws, escaped it almost entirely. Here is why.

A judicial audit of the 1612 Lancashire witch trials: how the 1604 Witchcraft Act, the magistrate's examinations and the evidence heard at Lancaster made the prosecution possible, and where the sources run out.

Jennet Device, a nine-year-old girl, became the star witness in the Pendle witch trials. Under King James I's Daemonologie, legal rules were suspended, allowing her to condemn her family to the gallows. This blog explores how the state weaponised a child to secure England’s most notorious witch-hunt conviction

The Pendle Witches were almost certainly innocent members of the community whose vulnerability made them easy scapegoats in an anti-Northern narrative. This course examines how local magistrates, such as Roger Nowell, used the hunt to prove his loyalty to the Crown by uncovering 'Satanic' conspiracies that were often merely thinly veiled Catholic recusancy.

Beneath Britain’s tranquil village ponds lurks a grim past. From ducking stools to chilling swimming tests, suspected witches faced trial by water in a desperate quest for “truth.” Discover true tales, dark legends, and the enduring legacy of witch hunts that still haunts our cultural imagination today.

The Green Witch has evolved from medieval herbalist traditions into a modern symbol of eco-consciousness and spirituality. Historically serving as healers within communities, they combined plant knowledge with magic. Today, green witchcraft emphasizes sustainability, mindfulness, and connection to nature, advocating for a lifestyle rooted in ancient wisdom and modern practices.

Historian and speaker Shaun Corkerry is bringing the story of the Pendle witch trials to the stage in a talk supporting Animal Care's fundraising efforts. The talk covers the 1612 trials themselves, the world of Lancaster that produced them, and the long afterlife of the case in literature, film, theatre and popular culture right through to the last witchcraft trials in Britain and echoes of witch-hunting as late as the Second World War. "As part of Animal Care's fundraising efforts I will be presenting my talk on the Pendle witch trials of 1612," Corkerry said. "Not just the trials themselves but the lead up to them and what the world of 1612 was like especially in Lancaster, and the afterlife of the trials in the form of literature, screen, stage and popular culture. I will also look at the last witchcraft trials and the echoes of witch trials even during World War Two." For readers who want to go deeper before or after the talk, Histories and Castles has covered the case in Pendle Witches: The Real Story Behind England's Most Notorious Witch Trials, and Simon A. Williams' book The Pendle Witch Trials offers a full account for anyone wanting a closer look at the trials and their aftermath.