Fear and Persecution: Extremism and Torture Practices during the Early Modern Witch Hunts

Content Warning: This article contains detailed descriptions of torture, bodily mutilation, and execution.

The early modern period has become synonymous with the witch-hunts that took place over the course of four centuries throughout Europe and Colonial America. Those who found themselves standing accused of witchcraft, predominantly women, were subjected to a rigorous process that often resulted in execution. As suspicions arose within communities, neighbours began to turn on others, including widows, midwives and older women, accusing them of poor harvests, sudden illnesses, and infanticide. These rumours soon escalated into full-on interrogations, where people were tried and tortured based primarily on whispers within communities. This article will focus on the torture methods used within witch trials, and how these extremist beliefs shaped the witch hunts into such a complex phenomenon. 

The first form of torture that will be explored is one that became a commonly used practice to determine whether a suspected witch was innocent or guilty – the ‘swimming test’. This type of water torture was recorded in England in 1613 in Witches Apprehended, Examined and Executed. This entailed the case of the Bedford witches, Mother Sutton and her daughter, Mary, who had been accused by their community for various crimes, including bewitching animals and causing the death of a seven-year-old child. As a result, these two women became one of the first reported cases of this form of torture. They had been taken to a mill dam, where the water was deep enough to ensure they could sink if they were innocent, and a rope was then fastened to their torsos. This rope ensured that if they sank, they could be pulled out before they drowned. Unfortunately, they both stayed floating at the surface, and the test was repeated with the same result. This resulted in their verdict, and they were later executed. 

Another form of torture that was prevalent during the witch hunts was the use of ‘the rack’, which was a device commonly used in Scotland, Germany and by the Spanish Inquisition. This torture instrument was a bed-like frame that was positioned above the ground, where the suspected witch would be tied with rope via their ankles and wrists. This rope was tied to the axles of the frame, which would be gradually turned, resulting in excruciating pain, where the victim’s joints would become dislocated. Similarly, strappado was used to suspend a person by their wrists, which typically resulted in dislocated shoulders (it is commonly referred to as ‘reverse hanging’). This form of torture was often used alongside squassation, which caused further dislocation of the joints. This followed the same method as strappado, but with weights added to the victim’s ankles, causing further distress and damage to the joints. 

Many forms of torture used during the witch hunts were specifically designed for women. Forced mastectomy, for instance, stands as one of the more extreme forms of punishment a woman could endure. This method was used predominantly in Bavaria, where women accused of witchcraft were stripped naked, with their flesh being torn by hot pincers. The trial of Anna Pappenheimer gained significant attention for the violent measures used. It was reported that her breasts were cut off, with her nipples being forced into her own mouth, as well as the mouths of her two sons. The mutilation of her body offers insight into the extreme methods of torture used during the witch hunts to extract confessions, emphasising how deeply entrenched mass hysteria and social anxieties were within early modern society that resulted in these methods being utilised to persecute those suspected of witchcraft.

Whilst this article has focused on certain methods, there were certainly other punishments used and devised specifically for the witch hunts. This includes, and is not limited to: burning, hanging, beheading, disembowelling, gouging out the eyes, removal of body parts, sleep deprivation, pressing (heavy weights were placed upon the body until confession or suffocation) and the boot (an instrument placed around the legs that was then tightened, crushing the bones of the victim). 

These extremist beliefs ultimately shaped how the witch hunts were conducted and perceived by victims, accusers and those carrying out and inflicting these punishments. Witchcraft was viewed as a crime against God through pacts with the Devil and the gathering of witches to perform rituals (sabbaths), which acted as justification for these torture methods to be used. Moreover, the legality of witch trials and torture methods reflect legal forms of extremism, where confession, whether it was given under extreme pain or not, was viewed as the ultimate form of proof needed to execute a suspected witch. Social extremism was also prevalent through the collective fear that was felt throughout Europe and America, as communities feared disease, economic crisis and war, consequently fuelling the anxieties created, further justifying the use of torture as a suitable measure that needed to be taken. 

Ultimately, extremist beliefs regarding the witch hunts played a central role in the forms of torture and punishment used to extract confessions and execute those accused of witchcraft, regardless of their innocence. Once a confession was made, this acted as concrete evidence, despite these admissions being made whilst the victim was in excruciating pain. This, therefore, demonstrates the power that fear-driven speculation and extremist beliefs had in normalising the forms of punishments that thousands endured across the continents during the early modern period. 

Bibliography

Price, Merrall Llewelyn, ‘Bitter Milk: The “Vasa Menstrualis” and the Cannibal(ized) Virgin’, College Literature, 28.1 (2001) pp.144-154 

Roper, Lyndal, ‘Witchcraft and Fantasy in Early Modern Germany’, History Workshop, 32.1 (1991) pp.19-43

Zguta, Russell, ‘The Ordeal by Water (Swimming of Witches) in the East Slavic World’, Slavic Review, 36.2 (1977) pp.220-230