Cyber Cauldron

The Burning Time is that period in history where women and men where persecuted and killed under Christian Church doctrine as witches or heratics.

This all started with Pope John XXII formalized the persecution of witchcraft in 1320 when he authorized the Inquisition to prosecute sorcerors. This was increased in 1484 when Pope Innocent VIII issued Summis desiderantes affectibus, a Papal bull authorizing two inquisitors, Kramer and Sprenger, to systemize the persecution of witches.

Has the hysteria increased and inquisitors starting being paid for every witch that confessed the ways of extracting a confession increased some of the more vicious included pulling bones from sockets twisting the muscle and pushing the bone backing to the socket or having brimstone/sulphur rubbed in to pubic and head hair and igniting it.

Any one could be accused of being a witch, most where accuse due to jealousy, fear or because they had argued with someone.

Once accused a person would be tested to see if they where a witch. The test would be :-

Dunking – The witch would be tied to a contraption known as a dunking stool, which would then be lowered into a fast flowing river, lake or large water container (usually blessed), to see if they would float. If able to float, then the accused was possessed with the ‘Spirit of Satan’ and ergo, a witch. Questions of whether clothing had filled with air and formed a convenient buoyancy aid were usually dismissed out of hand. If, however, the ‘witch’ drowned or died of hypothermia, they had obviously not been under Satan’s protective watch, and were therefore innocent. Unfortunately for the person concerned, they were also dead, so it all ceased to be of relevance.

Scales of Justice – An alternative trial was often to weigh the accused against a copy of the Holy Bible. If heavier than the book, the accused was being pulled down by the weight of the ‘Spirit of Satan’, and therefore a witch. If however, the good book proved the weightier, the person was not a witch and was free to go. Again questions of simple physics were discarded as irrelevant. Variations of this method were used, including weighing the witch against other holy relics, or indeed any object that was undoubtedly lighter than the accused.

Pricking the Flesh – This involved finding a mark of Satan upon the accused, usually a mole, wart, scar, skin blemish, birthmark or even third nipple. Once found, an accuser would push a knife or needle into the irregularity. If the wound drew blood, the ‘witch’ was innocent of the charge. If, however, no blood flowed from the wound, allegiance with the Devil was assumed. This test worked fairly well for the innocent, until some accusers found that a false knife, sleight of hand or even knowing places on the body where a needle could be inserted without pain or blood loss when ‘pricking the flesh’ could produce a more desired effect. The discovery of a witch!

Burning at the Stake – Self-explanatory really. The accused was tied to a stake and set fire to. If the witch survived the smoke and flames (highly unlikely), they were said to be in league with the Devil and able to endure the flames of Hell and thus taken from the flames and hanged. If they burnt to death however, they were innocent of the crime of being a witch. Burning was also the preferred way of disposing of a discovered witch, as it meant that holy ground was not tainted with a witch corpse.

There is an estimated that around 5 million people died due to the witch trials. In one Forfar Scotland it was recorded that 22 women where killed and as an acknowledgement of these women Mark and Marie Cashley who were shocked to find out how the often widowed or impoverished women were targeted, tormented and killed in the quiet, Angus market town of Forfar as recently as the 17th century.

Mark and Marie where even more shocked when they found out that there was no memorial or anything to give their deaths meaning.

So they have had constructed a dry stone “cauldron” and had it placed close to a public park popular with dog walkers, and commissioned a stonemason to construct a memorial stone in memory of the witches.

The memorial stone is simply dedicated to the “Forfar Witches”, and features 22 dots that represent each of the women who were killed for the “abominable crime of witchcraft.” At the bottom, the legend reads, “Just people”.

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