1450 — Present
A historical chronicle of accusations, trials, and their enduring lessons for humanity.
A timeline spanning centuries of persecution, from medieval Europe to the modern day.
Alice Kyteler of Kilkenny, Ireland, becomes one of the earliest people accused of witchcraft in Europe. She flees; her maid Petronilla de Meath is burned at the stake.
Pope Innocent VIII issues the papal bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, authorizing the Inquisition to prosecute witchcraft throughout the Holy Roman Empire.
Heinrich Kramer publishes Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches), which becomes the handbook for witch-hunters across Europe for nearly 200 years.
The Chelmsford witch trials in Essex, England — the first major witch trial in England. Agnes Waterhouse is convicted and hanged.
The Pendle witch trials in Lancashire see twelve accused of murder by witchcraft. Ten are found guilty and executed at Lancaster Castle.
The Salem Witch Trials begin in colonial Massachusetts. Over the following months, 20 people are executed and five die in jail, fueled by mass hysteria and spectral evidence.
Britain’s Witchcraft Act replaces criminal persecution with fraud prosecution, marking a legal turning point in the treatment of alleged witchcraft.
Helen Duncan becomes one of the last people prosecuted under the British Witchcraft Act, after allegedly conducting fraudulent séances during wartime.
Saudi Arabia establishes the Anti-Witchcraft Unit, demonstrating that accusations of witchcraft continue in parts of the world into the 21st century.
Historical records and accounts from some of the most significant witch trials in history.
In the forest of Pendle, Lancashire, twelve individuals were accused of murder by witchcraft. The trial at Lancaster Assizes became one of the most famous in English history, documented extensively by court clerk Thomas Potts. The accused came from two rival families — the Demdikes and the Chattoxes — who lived in poverty on the edge of Pendle Forest. Their confessions, likely coerced, described familiar spirits and clay images used to curse their neighbors.
Source: Potts, Thomas. “The Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Lancaster,” 1613.
One of the earliest recorded narratives of necromancy consultation, when King Saul sought the spirit of the prophet Samuel through the woman of Endor, despite his own prohibition against such practices. The account reveals how deeply fear of the supernatural permeated ancient societies and how rulers themselves were not immune to seeking forbidden knowledge in times of desperation.
Source: 1 Samuel 28:3–25, Hebrew Bible.
One of the largest mass trials in European history, the Würzburg persecutions saw an estimated 900 people executed under Prince-Bishop Philipp Adolf von Ehrenberg. Victims included children as young as nine, clergy, and members of the nobility. The Chancellor of the Prince-Bishop wrote a desperate letter describing how the persecution had spiraled beyond all control.
Source: Robbins, Rossell Hope. “The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology,” 1959.
Over seventy people in North Berwick, Scotland were accused of using witchcraft to raise storms against King James VI’s ship. The king personally oversaw the interrogation of suspects, and his experiences inspired him to write Daemonologie (1597), which became influential in later witch persecutions both in Scotland and in England after he ascended the English throne.
Source: Normand, Lawrence & Roberts, Gareth. “Witchcraft in Early Modern Scotland,” 2000.
Experience the accusation-evidence-verdict process from different perspectives. Select a role to begin.
How well do you know the history of witch trials? Answer these questions to find out.
In the Salem witch trials of 1692, what type of “evidence” was controversially accepted by the court?
What was the Malleus Maleficarum?
Approximately how many people were executed during the European witch trials (15th–18th centuries)?
Which monarch personally participated in witch trial interrogations and wrote a book on demonology?
The “swimming test” for witches was based on what principle?
Remembering the victims — these are but a few of the tens of thousands who suffered.
First person executed in the Salem witch trials. A tavern owner whose colorful lifestyle drew suspicion.
A 71-year-old woman initially acquitted by the jury, but convicted after the judge asked them to reconsider.
Pressed to death with heavy stones over two days for refusing to enter a plea. His last words: “More weight.”
One of the first women executed for witchcraft in England, accused of bewitching her neighbor’s livestock.
A healer and midwife whose own son testified against her. Her skeleton was discovered in 1921 with iron rivets.
Among the earliest accused of witchcraft in Ireland. She escaped; her servant Petronilla was burned in her place.
Mayor of Bamberg who wrote a secret letter to his daughter from prison describing his torture and false confession.
One of over 70 victims of the Great Noise witch trials in Sweden, accused by children of abducting them to Blåkulla.
An estimated 40,000–60,000 people were executed during the European witch trials alone. Many more suffered imprisonment, torture, and social exile worldwide.