Confessions of a Witch
by Why did the condemned witch confess.
An accused witch was subjected to all kinds of terrifying tortures, all in the aide to get a confession that condemned them to death regardless if the confession was made.
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Witch dunking:
In a trial by order, supposed witches were immersed into a vat full of water or a pond, and taken out after some time and given the opportunity to confess. This was usually repeated until the supposed witch drowned or gave up and confessed, leading them to being executed in other ways, like hanging which was the most used by the witch hunters.
Witch submersion:
An supposed witch was subjected to having their hands and feet tied and submerged in water and left there. If they floated they were guilty of witchcraft, if they sank they were innocent, in the end they usually drowned anyway.
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Witch burning:
dry sticks were piled high and surrounded the alleged witch, they were tied to a long wooden stake in the centre, the bonfire was then lit and they were burned alive at the stake.
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Red hot tongs:
Red hot tongs were applied to different parts of the body, at regular intervals, giving the victim so called time to confess.
Pressed by stones:
the accused would be led on the floor and heavy stones would be placed one by one on the accused’s body, resulting in their body eventually being crushed to death under the weight, of the stones, if a confession was not made in time.
With all these horrific forms of torture its not surprising that just about every accused witch confessed.
Confessions usually came with a condemned witch to implicate other witches, keeping the witch hunters in, business.
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In the period from about 1450 to 1750 the numbers reached some were around 40,000 to 60,000 individuals were tried as witches and condemned to death in central Europe. Because getting a confession from a condemned tortured, witch seemed an acceptable practice in the period of the witch trials, it seemed the accused witches had no choice but to confess, and their fate was to die any way no matter how much they confessed, by implicating other witches they might have just surrendered to their fate and wanted to bring others down with them, as the feeling of being mistreated unfairly and helplessness over took them.
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Post Commentlillyrose
On October 4, 2009 at 11:08 am
fantastic article Cardy! you are becoming my resident witch expert! I remember learning about the dunking stool at school and some of the other things, what a monstrous life we all used to lead. I think the torturers enjoyed what they were doing and it was the exciting highlight of the week!
Darla Cooke
On October 4, 2009 at 11:10 am
Very interesting article.
fishfry aka Elizabeth Figueroa
On October 4, 2009 at 1:01 pm
To be dunked and brought up to the surface only to be dunked again and again, is an horrific act of torture.
I guess torture comes in many forms for many individual, races, cultures and religions.
Great article thou
Aleena
On October 4, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Great article
Scary content
Im really glad i didnt live in that age
giftarist
On October 5, 2009 at 8:33 am
Interesting though scary…^_^..nice piece
Jane Jane
On October 5, 2009 at 9:15 am
interesting and creepy.
martinpm
On October 5, 2009 at 10:21 am
nice article, yeah a scary.
Peter Cimino
On October 6, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Awesome article!
oldster
On October 8, 2009 at 8:33 am
Love the subject Cardy.
“Witchfinder General was a good film about thisvery subject.