Are you related to a witch? News Article

[Boongie Pam]

Saw this in today's (29/10/04) Metro (southern Scotland edition)

Pardon for witches of the East

Women put to death for such crimes as living on their own or owning a black cat are to be pardoned - 400 years too late.  Scores of women and a handful of men were executed in one of Scotland's hot-beds for witch-hunting, East Lothian.

Now, 400 years later, pardons will be bestowed on them in a ceremony in Prestonpans onSunday.  As many as 81 of the victims will be pardoned by the 14th Baron of Prestoungrange in the Halloween ceremony.  The event has been designed to vindicate the individuals condemned by the 16th and 17th century trials, as well as commemorating a dark part of the region's history.

Descendants and namesakes of those executed will commemorate the injustice and suffering endured by their forebears.

I'm trying to find a website that may have names of women and men executed - no luck 

Cheers,
Pam
 

[RJ_Paton]

I too serached unsuccessfully for further details of the victims but this (possibly wrongly) comes across as a publicity stunt organised specifically to take place on Halloween.

The full article explains that the women concerned could only be pardoned of the alleged witchcraft but they still stood convicted of treason .
Many of the women were implicated in a plot by James VI (later to be James I of england) to kill initially his betrothed who tried to come from Norway and then when he went to fetch her himself giant storms blew up which could only have been created by witchcraft ......thus began the persecution and hundreds of men &  women were murdered.

If they cooperated with the authorities (ie named other witches) they got a more merciful death as they were strangled before being burnt at the stake..

[RJ_Paton]

serached = searched   

PS. There's an alleged witch burial spot in Paisley which has a horseshoe impression set into the road junction.
After killing the witch the body would be taken to a nearby crossroads (to confuse the devil who would come for revenge and wouldn't know which path to take) and a piece of iron planted above the body to prevent resurrection.
The victorian council of Paisley when re - aligning some of the roads decided that the story was an old wives tale and dug up the horseshoe. Within 6 months half of the town council had died ...... the other half decided to replace the horseshoe and it or its impression has been there ever since and is always replaced when road is resurfaced.

[Renee]

 
   Hi Pam,
             Decided it might be a good idea to make my reply more open for others to read since there seems to be a lot of interest on your topic.
             On Google.com type in "East Lothian Witches execution list"  And on the first site "Historical Witches and Witch trials in Scotland" there appears to be a lot of info on names and other facts.
              Hope it's of interest .
                                      Renee

[Boongie Pam]

Hi,

Thanks Renee very useful.

I too thought it was a publicity stunt and a tad naff for it to be done on Halloween but it throws up names of the women and their stories it is a useful history lead.

Cheers,
Pam

[RJ_Paton]

A further link re witches in Scotland is http://webdb.ucs.ed.ac.uk/witches/ which is Edinburgh University datbase re survey of Scottish Witches.

This contains details of many who were suspected or named by others but  who were never convicted as well as those who were murdered in the name of justice.

[Tailhooker]

Baron Pardons Witches

Spent most of the day surfing the Web for the list of names of those witches that were pardon by the Barons Court of Prestonpans.

Success, see news articles and .pdf files posted on the Web below.
 
Historical Society in Prestonpans - news articles posted on the Scottish Baron Pardons Witches:
http://www.prestoungrange.org/prestonpans/html/news/show_news.asp?newsid=224
http://www.prestoungrange.org/prestonpans/html/news/show_news.asp?newsid=222
http://www.prestoungrange.org/prestonpans/html/news/show_news.asp?newsid=230
http://www.prestoungrange.org/core-files/archive/RoyPugh.pdf
http://www.prestoungrange.org/core-files/archive/trinity_session/06_absolute_pardon_for_witches.pdf
 
List of 81 names:
http://www.prestoungrange.org/core-files/archive/witchnames.pdf
 
Copy of Pardon Document, also, lists full names and dates.
http://www.prestoungrange.org/core-files/archive/abspardon.pdf
Also, lists full names and dates.

A complete story of the Scottish Witch Persecutions can be found in Roy J.M. Pugh book, "The Deil's Ain", ISBN 0 9540465 0 1.

Aye,
Dave

[Welsh Jen]

Some links: 

English Witch Trials:
http://www.hulford.co.uk/familiar.html

Witches of Warboys:
http://fenpast-pub.camcnty.gov.uk/MASmedia_SB/viewSite?requestType=viewPage&siteId=238&pageId=2844

Museum of Witchcraft.
http://www.museumofwitchcraft.com/

American site including the Salem witchcraft trials:
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/SALEM.HTM

[T]

PS. There's an alleged witch burial spot in Paisley which has a horseshoe impression set into the road junction.
After killing the witch the body would be taken to a nearby crossroads (to confuse the devil who would come for revenge and wouldn't know which path to take) and a piece of iron planted above the body to prevent resurrection.
The victorian council of Paisley when re - aligning some of the roads decided that the story was an old wives tale and dug up the horseshoe. Within 6 months half of the town council had died ...... the other half decided to replace the horseshoe and it or its impression has been there ever since and is always replaced when road is resurfaced.

A very interesting (and scary) story Falkryn,thanks for posting it

Mojo