So I got curious about witch history the other night, right? Couldn't sleep, started down this rabbit hole. Figured, hey, why not actually dig into it properly instead of just skimming weird wikis? Grabbed my laptop around midnight, brew already cold, and just dove in.
The Deep Dive Begins
First thing first, I needed actual sources. No more random blog crap. Went straight for uni libraries online – JSTOR, Project Muse, the whole academic shebang. Took forever just to get access through my old alumni login; totally forgot the password. Once I was in, boom.
Hit my first brick wall fast. Everyone mentions famous names, but the real, raw details? Buried. Found this one paper about early modern Europe – crazy dense, footnotes longer than the damn article. Cross-checked references, looking for the big hitters everyone kinda knows about but maybe gets wrong. Like, seriously wrong.
Focus settled on five women whose stories kept popping up, surrounded by myth and gossip. Here's what I pieced together:
- Agnes Sampson (Scotland): Kept reading about her and King James. Dug into original trial accounts (super dry language). Turns out, the whole "conspiracy" thing? Nonsense. Felt grim realizing how little it took back then.
- Alice Kyteler (Ireland): This one’s wild. Found court records from the 1300s! Rich lady, four husbands dead, accusations flying. The escape to England detail? That took ages to confirm across multiple sources. Drama levels were maxed out.
- Merga Bien (Germany): Nearly missed her. Obscure outside German texts. Translated a historian's blog that cited actual witch trial logs. Her forced "confession" about flying to Sabbaths while pregnant? Horrifying. Made me put the coffee down.
- Mother Shipton (England): Oh man, the prophecy stuff. Easily the most "legendary." Had to sift through centuries of made-up tales tacked onto her name. Found early pamphlets – super different from the doom-mongering stuff popular later. Total PR makeover over time.
- Tituba (Salem): Everyone thinks they know her story. Wrong. Read trial transcripts and newer critical histories. Her status? Debated. Her confessions? Clearly coerced. The whole thing felt like watching a snowball turn into an avalanche.
The Ugly Truth Hits
By dawn, felt kinda sick. This wasn’t about broomsticks or cackling. It was poverty, fear, property grabs, neighbors turning nasty, and powerful dudes flexing. Those trial records? All theater. Most "confessions"? Beaten or scared out of folks.
How do I know? Tried reading original testimony translations from places like Bamberg. Language is circular, paranoid nonsense. You can practically smell the fear and the lies. Once you see the pattern – the vulnerable targeted, the same accusations recycled – you can't unsee it. It wasn't magic they killed; it was difference, and sometimes just convenient scapegoats. All fcking liars and cowards, hiding behind god and the law.
Finished around 7 AM, sun coming up. Felt heavy, honestly. History paints these women as monsters or martyrs, but forgets they were just people. People caught in a meat grinder of superstition and cruelty. So glad I pushed through the sleep deprivation though. You won’t believe the real story behind #3.
