In 1597, a Scottish woman named Christiane Grieve was strangled and burned at the stake for confessing to flying through the air with the Devil. Her confession, extracted under torture, described a coven of thirteen, a baptism of blood, and a kiss on the Devil’s anus. She was one of thousands. The witch trials were a series of legal persecutions of people accused of witchcraft, peaking between 1450 and 1750 in Europe and colonial America. They were not a single event but a complex phenomenon rooted in religious, social, and political upheaval.
Explore the history, symbols, and practices of the witch trials, from the Malleus Maleficarum to the Salem panic, and understand what they meant for those accused.
Where Did the Witch Trials Come From?
The idea that witchcraft was a heretical conspiracy did not exist in the early Middle Ages. The Canon Episcopi, a church document from around 900 CE, declared that anyone who believed in night-flying with the goddess Diana was deluded. Witchcraft was seen as superstition, not a crime. That changed in the 15th century.
In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII issued the bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, which acknowledged the reality of witchcraft and authorized inquisitors to prosecute it. Three years later, the Dominican friar Heinrich Kramer published the Malleus Maleficarum (“The Hammer of Witches”) in 1487. It became the handbook for witch hunters. Kramer argued that witchcraft was a heresy that required extermination. He claimed that women were especially susceptible because of their weak faith and carnal nature.
The Malleus was not universally accepted. The Faculty of Theology at the University of Cologne condemned it. But it found an audience among secular magistrates. The witch hunts that followed were not church-run affairs. They were conducted by local courts, often driven by community accusations and the promise of confiscated property.
The peak of the trials came between 1560 and 1630, a period of religious wars, climate crises, and economic instability. In the Holy Roman Empire, entire villages were decimated. The city of Trier executed over 300 people between 1581 and 1593. In Scotland, King James VI (later James I of England) personally attended witch trials and wrote a book, Daemonologie (1597), to argue for their necessity.
England had its own wave under the “Witchfinder General” Matthew Hopkins, who operated in East Anglia between 1645 and 1647. Hopkins used sleep deprivation and “pricking” (searching for the devil’s mark with a needle) to extract confessions. He was responsible for the deaths of about 300 people.
The most famous American case, the Salem witch trials of 1692, was comparatively small: 20 executed. But it has become the symbol of mass hysteria in the popular imagination.
By the early 18th century, the trials declined. Courts began demanding stricter evidence. The last execution for witchcraft in Europe took place in Switzerland in 1782. Anna Göldi was beheaded for allegedly poisoning a child.
What Symbols Did the Accusers Use to Identify Witches?
The witch trials created a visual and symbolic language that still haunts our culture. These symbols were not drawn from any actual pagan practice. They were invented by theologians and judges to make the invisible crime of witchcraft visible.
The witch’s mark (also called the devil’s teat) was the most damning evidence. Accusers believed the Devil marked his followers with a spot that felt no pain. Witch hunters would prick the accused’s body with a needle, looking for a place that did not bleed or flinch. Any mole, scar, or wart could be declared a mark. Matthew Hopkins employed a female assistant who would insert a long pin into the suspect’s skin. If the suspect did not react, the mark was confirmed.
The sabbat was the imagined gathering of witches. According to trial records, witches flew to these meetings on broomsticks or animals. They danced, feasted, and worshipped the Devil in the form of a goat. The sabbat was a inversion of Christian worship: the kiss of shame (on the Devil’s anus), a black mass, and the renunciation of baptism. No evidence of actual sabbats has ever been found. The descriptions came from confessions made under torture.
The broomstick became the iconic witch tool. In folk tradition, brooms were used in domestic magic: sweeping away evil. But in trial narratives, the broom was a vehicle for flight. Some historians suggest that the broomstick may have been used to apply hallucinogenic ointments (made from nightshade, henbane, and mandrake) to the mucous membranes of the vagina or anus, which would explain the sensation of flying. The broom handle was a convenient applicator.
The familiar was an animal spirit given by the Devil to assist the witch. Cats, dogs, toads, and hares were common. In English trials, the familiar was often described as a small creature that suckled from the witch’s mark. This belief allowed accusers to interpret any animal seen near a suspect’s home as evidence.
These symbols served one purpose: to make the abstract crime of witchcraft concrete enough to prosecute. They turned ordinary people into monsters.
How Did the Trials Actually Work?
The process began with a rumor. A neighbor fell ill, a cow died, a crop failed. Someone whispered a name. The accusation was brought to a magistrate, who issued a warrant. The accused was arrested and interrogated.
In continental Europe, the inquisitorial system allowed the use of torture. The accused was asked to name accomplices. The names given under torture became new accusations, creating a chain of confessions that could consume a village. The most common torture methods were the strappado (hoisting the victim by their tied wrists), the rack, and the thumbscrew. In Scotland, the “witch’s bridle” was used: an iron cage with spikes that pressed into the tongue.
If the accused confessed without torture, they were considered repentant and could be beheaded or strangled before burning. If they maintained their innocence, they were burned alive. In England, torture was technically illegal except by royal warrant, so witch hunters used sleep deprivation and “walking” (forcing the accused to walk until they collapsed).
The swimming test was a folk method: the accused was bound and thrown into water. If they floated, they were guilty (water, as a holy element, rejected them). If they sank, they were innocent — but they often drowned anyway.
The accused were not random. Studies of trial records show that the typical victim was a poor, older woman who lived alone and had a reputation for quarreling. But men were also accused, especially if they were married to a suspected witch or practiced folk healing. In Iceland, 90% of those executed were men. In Russia, the proportion was similar.
How Do the Witch Trials Compare to Other Persecutions?
The witch trials are often confused with the Inquisition, but they were different. The Inquisition targeted heretics (people who held unorthodox beliefs) and had strict rules of evidence. The witch trials targeted people accused of maleficium (harmful magic) and relied heavily on torture and spectral evidence (dreams and visions). The Spanish Inquisition, in fact, executed very few witches because its procedures were more rigorous.
Modern Wicca and neopaganism are not continuations of the witch trials. They are 20th-century religious movements inspired by the work of Margaret Murray (1921) and Gerald Gardner (1954). Murray claimed that the witch trials had targeted a surviving pre-Christian fertility cult. That theory has been rejected by historians. There is no evidence that the accused were members of an organized pagan religion. They were Christians accused of heresy.
The Salem trials stand out because they involved spectral evidence: the afflicted girls claimed to see the spirits of the accused tormenting them. This type of evidence was later ruled inadmissible, and the trials were condemned by many of the judges who had presided over them. Samuel Sewall, one of the judges, publicly apologized in 1697.
What Do People Get Wrong About the Witch Trials?
The most persistent myth is that nine million witches were burned. This figure was invented by 19th-century German historian Wilhelm Gottlieb Soldan and later popularized by feminist writers. Modern scholarship estimates the total executions between 40,000 and 60,000. That is still a horror, but the scale matters.
Another myth is that the trials were a medieval phenomenon. The peak was in the 16th and 17th centuries, the early modern period. The Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution happened alongside the burnings.
A third myth is that only women were accused. Women made up about 80% of the accused in most regions, but men were also targeted. In some areas, such as Finland and Estonia, men were the majority.
Finally, the idea that the accused were actual witches practicing a pre-Christian religion is not supported by evidence. The confessions were coerced. The practices described in trial records match the stereotypes created by demonologists, not any real tradition.
FAQ
How many people were executed in the witch trials?
Between 40,000 and 60,000 people were executed for witchcraft in Europe and colonial America between 1450 and 1750.
Were men also accused of witchcraft?
Yes. About 20% of those executed were men. In some regions, such as Iceland and Russia, men were the majority of the accused.
What was the Malleus Maleficarum?
It was a 1487 book by Heinrich Kramer that became the most influential witch-hunting manual. It argued that witchcraft was a heresy and provided instructions for identifying and prosecuting witches.
Did the witch trials happen in America?
Yes. The most famous American witch trials were in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692, where 20 people were executed. Smaller trials occurred in Connecticut and Virginia.
The witch trials are not a distant horror. They are a mirror of how societies create scapegoats in times of crisis. Understanding their history, symbols, and practices helps us recognize the patterns when they appear again. For more on the broader context of occult persecution, see our guide to occult history and explore the symbols of the witch trials. You may also find our analysis of the Salem witch trials illuminating.