Here is some myth on medievil witchcraft I found in a book I have. Its rather interesting to know that there was a time when people were actually this cruel.
It is said that witchcraft was a form of demonology. In exchange for the witches mortal soul, the devil gave them powers and in the witches presents, the devil often came to them in a form of a goat, bull or horse. The devil was always the leader of all coverns and these myths came from humans torturing witches into confessions, these are the sorts of stories they would confess. It is unsure if they were telling the torturer what they wanted to hear in hope thet he would let her go or if it is all true. 5000 so called witches died during the torture process!!!!!
Witches increased in the 16th Century to the break down of medi-evil ideals for charity. It is said that an old woman with little money soon learnt that they could threaten curses on people to get food off them. A snaggle tooth, sunken cheek, hairy lip and many more silly facial features were said to be the true teller of a witch.
Sorcerors were said to control the spirits of fire, air, water and weather. They could influence fertility in crops, beasts and men and could kill in the means of spells. Sorcerors were considered as neither good nor evil, and held in great estemm.
Witchcraft on the other hand was evil. Some 200,000 supposed witches died, tortured, burnt or hung. It was said they were trying to overthrow christiananity. There was evidence of a genuine cult but thumbscrew, racks and hot irons wree the only means of confessions.
Witchcraft was made a capitol offence in Britain in 1563. Witchcraft was only practiced by the poor and many old women only asked for food or shelter from Satan. Some were utterly convinced of their powers and trials had to prove them witches. One witch was trialed and killed for wishing a 14 year old dead and she suddenly became ill and died. Curse was a extremely feared and valuable weapon.
The Accusation process involved the swimming ordeal. If they floated then they were guilty and if they sunk they were innocent. If they find the witchmark which is a scratch or a nip from the devil when entering the covern, then they were surely witches. Confessions were sort after by menal and physical torture. Starving or keeping them awake were the lighter forms and some were pricked and if they did not bleed they wree a witch. This became a business and trickery into retractable pins came out. Payments for finding a witch were high, so many innocent women died to trickery tools, retracting when touching the skin to look as though they entered the skin. Some were forced to be beaten, forced to sit on stools of daggers and stabbed in the face, others hung by their thumbs with candles alight under their feet. A witch bridle sat over the heads with prongs that went into their mouths, boots would break their feet with wedges and by the bundle, they were destroyed.
Pretty horrible stuff hey? It is unsure if all is fact, so I felt appropriate to put in Urban Legends just in case. But a lot of this torture has been proved and some men became filthy rich from finding and killing witches!!! Many, if not all, of course, were innocent women just looking for a feed and a warm bed.
You can join Unsolved Mysteries and post your own mysteries or interesting stories for the world to read and respond to Click hereScroll all the way down to read replies.Show all stories by Author: 60162 ( Click here )
Spring is coming |