I hasten to add I do not find them appealing in the biblical sense, not that witches are necessarily biblical at all, but in the legal way. There are two major events this February looking at the 17th Century witch trials held in the east of England, and both are well worth visiting so everyone can accept they were not guilty at all and wonder how a supposedly law abiding, God fearing, country could be so unjust.
I find relevance from those historical, indeed hysterical, events and from these it can clearly be seen that the wrongly convicted were innocent of all the bitter, prejudiced, accusations they faced, and should be absolved of all crimes.
The first event was a re-enactment in Huntingdon’s Georgian Courtroom on the site of trials in the 17th Century. It showed the conviction of six women and three men for witchcraft under the malevolent gaze of infamous Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins, who carried out the prosecution. He made a considerable amount of money out of persecuting innocent people, torturing the accused, and feeding the public’s unjustified fears and prejudices by turning them against innocent people. His motive, cash.
Huntingdon is infamous for a number of trials that were held spread over two centuries and was at the heart of the hysteria, where all crop failures and other personal difficulties were blamed on local hard up residents alleged to be in league with the Devil.
Not far from there is Lowestoft, and in Lowestoft Museum, the records of a trial of two witches are to be put on public show for the first time. The two women, Rose Cullender and Amy Denny, were both widows. All unmarried women were prone to be accused of being in league with Satan. Even though the judges who sat for the trial were considered respectable and the accusations risible, Rose and Amy were found guilty and executed.
We still use the phrase “witch hunt” when we blame people for things that we perceive with no evidence. Today’s equivalent perhaps is to lump the blame for our failures on “wokeness” and “two tier government.” There are no witch trials now but plenty of trials by social media. Four hundred years ago people were vilified and many ended up dead. Now people of different religions, or different colours and traditions, are blamed for shortage of housing, problems with rising prices, and everything but the weather, and face intimidation, abuse, and threats. And those broadcasting and spreading the accusations are also doing it for money, just like Matthew Hopkins.
And as for those who are today keen to blame all their own problems and failings on others, remember this. Had Rose Cullender and Amy Denny really been witches, they would have vanished from the dock whilst the judge, jury, and accusers would have been turned into toads and been forced to just hop it.