Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1884-05-13
Witchcran.

In 1883, Innocent VIII issued his famous
bull, in which he set forth the growing dan
ger to which the church was exposed from
the Vaccinations of witches. "Not only"
he said, 'sdid these deny their faith, and
profane the services of the church, but they
exercised the most baneful influences over
mems daily lives. They blighted the har-
vest; they destroyed men by magic arts or
by dreadful and loathsome diseases; they
stirred up destructive tempests; and, final
ly, from the unnatural union of the fends
and witches race of malignant monsters
was ever on the increase" The witch ma
mia now grew rapidly to its height. A class
of persons called witch-fnders sprang up
and displayed extraordinary zeal in bring
ing delinquents to justice. No rank or sta
ton was secure from their attacks. The
Duchess of Gloucester was punished for the
Ofense by Henry vi. Queen Elizabeth and
the Duchess of Bedford were arraigned on
it by Richard III. Several Peeresses in
Scotland, the Mareehale d'Aucre in France,
were a few of those indicted for the otfense.
But in this, as in all other popular infatua-
tions, the vast mass of victims were the
poor and helpless. In some of the German
towns there were annually burnt two, three
or four hundred-the total Of each years
victims in the entire country reaching many
thousands. In France and Switzerland al
most as many perished-the accused being
SO numerous that new conrts had continu-
ally to be opened and new judges appointed
to try the ever-increasing crowd of Offend
ers. In England, where the evil did not
attain such grave dimensions, the average
is said to have been about five hundred ev-
cry year. In Scotland the madness ran con-
siderably higher. Some one, generally a
woman, and most frequently an old woman,
had been seen to be looking hard at an OK
or pig. If the OK or the pig CHANGED to
be seized by any malady, the old woman
was charged with having bewitched it. If
she had scolded any child for jeering or
making faces at her, and the child soon af-
ter had measles or scarlet foyer, it was the
old woman's malediction that caused the
malady, Nay, the mere fact of being old
or ugly, or an object of dislike to any one,
was held to be sufficient ground for al
leging charge of witchcrafS and for caus-
ing the offending party to be brought before
a magistrate. Once in the witch-fnder's
custody, there was little hope of escape
For there really was no other hope of escape
than the least painful form of death that
could be obtained. AS it was assumed that
the witch was capable of making things ap-
pear the exact opposite of what they really
were, the better case she made out of he1
innocence, the greater was her real guilt
Some Piedmontese women were accused be-
fore the archbishop Of the province of hav-
ing attended a witch dance, at which the
Evil One was present on the Friday pre-
vious. Their husbands stood forward and
swore positively that at the time when theil
wives were charged with dancing in Satan s
company, many miles away, they were at
home This one would have Thought was
an unanswerable alib. But the archbishop
lucidly pointed out that this only proved
the diabolical cunning of the witches; who,
by their arts, had contrived to place the ex.
act likenesses of themselves in the midst Of
the family, while the real women we're ia,
away, celebrating their abominable orgies
The husbands were unable to disprove this,
and the poor women were condemned and
burnt accordingly Sunday at Home.