The Pendle Witches

My essay in conjunction with “Legendary Witches” assignment in History of Magic.

The Pendle Witches

The Pendle Witches are, perhaps the most famous witches in the history of English folklore. Hailing from the Pendle Forest area of Lancashire, they were accused of witchcraft in 1612.

Subsequently, they were hanged on August 20th, accused of murdering seventeen people through witchcraft. In this period of time, suspicions were rife, people were always being accused of witchcraft, it was a fear of a lot of people. There were, of course, the ‘tests’ for witchcraft. One of the most well known of these is the swimming test, to see if they would float or sink. Such tests have been parodied in modern-day comedies such as “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”, where the logic is thus:

There are ways of telling whether she is a witch.
Peasant 1: Are there? Oh well, tell us.
Sir Bedevere: Tell me. What do you do with witches?
Peasant 1: Burn them.
Sir Bedevere: And what do you burn, apart from witches?
Peasant 1: More witches.
Peasant 2: Wood.
Sir Bedevere: Good. Now, why do witches burn?
Peasant 3: ...because they're made of... wood?
Sir Bedevere: Good. So how do you tell whether she is made of wood?
Peasant 1: Build a bridge out of her.
Sir Bedevere: But can you not also build bridges out of stone?
Peasant 1: Oh yeah.
Sir Bedevere: Does wood sink in water?
Peasant 1: No, no, it floats!... It floats! Throw her into the pond!
Sir Bedevere: No, no. What else floats in water?
Peasant 1: Bread.
Peasant 2: Apples.
Peasant 3: Very small rocks.
Peasant 1: Cider.
Peasant 2: Gravy.
Peasant 3: Cherries.
Peasant 1: Mud.
Peasant 2: Churches.
Peasant 3: Lead! Lead!
King Arthur: A Duck.
Sir Bedevere: ...Exactly. So, logically...
Peasant 1: If she weighed the same as a duck... she's made of wood.
Sir Bedevere: And therefore...
Peasant 2: ...A witch!

Of course, such an instance is not historically accurate; however it does show the lengths people of the time would go to to prove witchcraft.

To this day, people are still questioning the validity of the Pendle Witches. At the time, the ‘tests’ were carried out by Matthew Hopkins, and he, together with a trial, came to the conclusion that the accused were witches, and should therefore be hanged.

A lot of documentation still exists about this trial, and modern psychiatrists have said that it is possible the accused were actually suffering from psychotic illnesses, such as schizophrenia, and its hallucinations and delusions. Others claim that it was the hallucinogenic Psilocybin mushroom was the cause, for it grew in abundance around that area.

Another theory is that the accused were simply innocent bystanders in a time where everyone was afraid of witchcraft, that they were sacrificed by local political figures to gain power and prestige amongst the monarchy.

To this day, Pendle Hill, near where the trials took place is still associated with witchcraft, and every Halloween hundreds of visitors go there to celebrate.

Sources used: www.wikipedia.org, www.imdb.com

I'm going to give you 50 points for this Duck - you're lucky I love Monty Python and the rest was well looked into as well.